250-500cc New V-Force 3 Install on 2007 WR250 - PICS! Questions?

So I ordered the Honda V3 cage for my 2007 WR250. It's for a Honda CR 250, years 1986-2001. It has the same V305 number stamped in it as the new WR V3 cages do,
but the air inlet insert is different. It looks smaller, offset, and more "oval" shaped.

Can someone who has replaced their V2 cage with this cage let me know if this insert will work, and how good it works? I'm a little concerned... MOTORHEAD...?

My new cage:






2009 WR 300 Cage taken from another thread:

I have an 09' WR300 that came with the Vforce stock and it does not have that insert.
Also, get two Honda CR250 reed cage gaskets... one to seal the cylinder to the cage and another to seal the cage to the spacer.

They can and will leak air since they stamped the part number onto the sealing surface.

My 2010 WR300 dont seem to have an air leak.
Is the 2010 have different VForce than the 2009 ???

I think they're the same. And there's no guarantee they will leak, but they can.
There was a thread on TT where someone's new 09' 300 went belly up cause the reed cage was leaking air.

I dont think mine was leaking either, but I still installed two CR250 gaskets as cheap insurance.

I bolted the manifold to the cage / insert, marked them and matched them with a die grinder, and used a gasket on each side.

See if you can flip the insert over and see if they line up closer. Seems like I may have done that, but I can't remember for sure.

PC,

Do you have a part number for those Honda gaskets? If not, what year CR250 did you use?

86-01 CR250. Fit's perfect.

The V-Force Kit actually came with 2 nice gaskets. I did purchase the Honda ones prior to receiving the kit because I didn't know the kit came with some.

MOTORHEAD - I will do what you did as far as bolting the manifold up, checking alignment, and possibly Dremeling, thanks. In regards to flipping the intake insert, I'm not sure that would be so great because that will invert the angle that is cast into the insert. That angle matches the angle of the carburator....I'd say it's about 15 degrees. If I flipped it the flow would have somewhat of a corner to go around.

It would be interesting if someone with a 2008-2010 WR250 could check their inlet insert for a part #. Maybe the WR300 inlet insert that is pictured is different than the WR250's..? Maybe the WR250's is the same as what came with the Honda cage? The V-Force paperwork actually states that the inlet inserts are developed specifically for the engine you buy the cage for. Anyone with a 2008-2010 WR250 have their intake manifold off...?

Yeah, that's probable right. I just remembered playing around with it, but couldn't remeber if I ended up doing it.

Well I have an update. This cage was a "no go" in my 2007 WR250. There was no way I could get the cage in without some grinding on the cage or the cylinder. I tried for some time to carefully install it into the intake tract and came to the conclusion it would not work in my bike, so I decided to leave the V2 installed.

As you can see from the pictures the cages are the same width, but the overall height is different. The V3 cage is much higher which causes it to get wedged on the cylinder casting while trying to insert it.

I'm sure the newer bikes that come with the V3 cage have different castings/porting.

I know some guys have got this cage to work. Maybe they have different castings, or they went at it with a grinder...?

Anyway - just and FYI for guys wanting to install the V3 cage on older bikes.

There has got to be some variations in the reeds or the cylinders. That picture of the '09 300 cage taken from the other thread appears to have the same numbers on it as the one you have.

Mine went in my '07 cylinder, but that's two others now that I know of that say they won't fit.

Can you tell where the problem spot is?

Is there casting flash in that area?

I couldn't feel any casting flash in the area it was hanging up. I tried wiggling and pushing, but I didn't want to screw the cage up at all. I could see where it was hanging up on the cage, which was the very tip, or high point. It was definitely hanging up there.

I'm sure if the cylinder was off a guy could "blue print" it and make it fit perfecly by filling, grinding, and polishing, but my bike is new so hopefully that won't be going on for some time.

I personally can't believe they're the same part from the V2 years to the V3 years. I'm a mechanical engineer for a living and have worked on bikes since I was 12 years old (41 years old now). I would not "jam" this cage into my cylinder. It just didn't fit, period. Bummer.

I don't know what the deal is.

The only thing I can come up with after checking the microfich for a 2007 and 2009 WR250, which does in fact show they do have the same part #..... They either changed the casting and left the part # the same, or they hand grind each cylinder to allow the deeper cage to fit.

I've owned a ton of Cagiva built bikes over the years.... From Cagiva's, Ducati's, MV Agusta's, and 5 different Husky's. They are all known for hand working their cylinder heads/cylinders. I've seen it with my own 2 eyes!

That's all I can come up with

I have two 08 WR250's. One has the VForce 2 installed, while the other came with a VForce 3 installed. I switched the VForce 3 between the bikes and had no problems with the installation. As I did this a few months ago I'm a little sketchy on the number stamped into the base plate of the VForce 3, however, from memory I'm pretty sure it was a V305.

Huskynox, I'm wondering if the reed assembly that has been installed into the base plate of the reed valve is the correct one for that model. Perhaps they stuffed up in the factory and put a different model petal assembly into the V305 plate???

I'll take both of them out this weekend and compare the dimensions. I'll also measure the height from the base to the apex and post the result so that you can make a comparison. Hopefully this might shed some light on this.

I've been coodinating with Jeff at Moto Tassinari about this issue. He says they are aware of the problem with older cylinders. They know of Husky's part numbers and that Husky HAS NOT changed the part number for the cylinders throughout the years, BUT the cylinders ARE in fact DIFFERENT from the older V2 days to the newer V3 days.

So, guys that are getting the V3 cage to fit their bikes have a different cylinder than guys that are having no luck. If a guy was to rebuild his older bike with a new cylinder ordered from Husqvarna (part # 8000 97233), he would get the newer casting which is made for the V3 cage.

Jeff says they are working on a fix to retro-fit V3 cages to fit the older cylinders.... possibly a spacer to space out the taller V3 cage.

So there ya go. Moto Tassinari is aware of the issue and will hopefully come up with a solution for older bikes.

That's good. Gets me out of the loony bin anyway.

Both of my WR 250's are July 07 builds (08 model) which I would assume have older cylinders and both came stock with the V2 (on one of the bikes the previous owner had fitted the V3). And I was able to swap the V3 over to the other bike without any problem.

Were Husqvarna building cylinders to accommodate the V3 back in 07? I thought the V3 only came out a couple of years ago!

Also adding a spacer is going to make it a very tight fit for the carby, especially if you're running a PWK as I discovered during my installation.

Who knows when Husqvarna changed the cylinder casting as they didn't change the part #.

My bike is an '07, but was built in August '06 and it obviously has the old casting.

dusta,

Can you place a measuring scale on the top flange of the cylinder intake tract and measure from the cylinder wall to the mounting flange
of the reed cage? I'd like to know if that dimension is taller than mine (I have to measure mine also).

Huskynox,

I measured the distance from the top flange (centre of top outside face) to the piston at 5.5 cm (2.17 in).

I also measured my VForce 3 reed cage. From the base that sits against the intake to the apex the distance is 4.5 cm (1.77 in). This gives me about 1 cm (0.39 in) clearance from the piston.

Hope this helps you resolve your issue.