restoring a Up-Tite 87 250 XC...

its a nice bonus these years have the repairable alum covers with the bushed bores. that bumper is kind of a PIA but the screw seems to always come out, even as the head is always busted off. the ones phil sells seem to hold up well, and come with a new ss screw

You're right, that bumper is a pain. It always suffers when the bikes are abused.
The older bikes have a worse design.
Phil's unit is nice with the SS screw. I will have to re-thread the screw hole on this cover.

Here's the back side of the primary cover at the kicker stop. Cracked and bent in so the ignition wore a groove.
This probably all happened when the PO couldn't get it started and kept kicking and kicking.



I've been cleaning the cases. On this case, the black powder coat just peeled off. But the other case the black is hanging on.
Here's what clean magnesium looks like:

Got the pipe back from the media blasters last week, sent it off for dent repair. It has 8-10 dents in it. I hope he gets them all out.
Hopefully, I should get it back this week.
Also the frame is supposed to be powder coated this week. Can't wait to see it and start adding parts back on. And the engine is ready to assemble.

More progress...
Got the pipe back from the pipe repair guys. Nice work and all the dents are out.
And got the frame and Ohlins shock spring back from powder coating. Looking like new again.

real nice start to the resto! who did the pipe work?

Thanks.
Pacific Crest Pipe Repair here in Oregon. $130 + shipping for vintage pipes.

Does anyone know....
I'm working on rebuilding the '87 250 XC forks and I was comparing 250 XC fork legs to my '86 430 Auto fork legs.
The same length, which surprised me. I thought the 86 Auto had a WR-type suspension.

As you know, the XC has longer travel and longer fork legs than the WR. Its been that way since the early 80's.

Does that mean the 86 Auto came with long travel XC forks?
In '86, I think there was only 1 Auto model, not like earlier years.
I have not taken the 86 Auto forks apart yet, since I've only had the bike a short while.

Evapo-Rust rust remover sure works great.

Here's the front brake disc after a few hours soaking... a little buff and it will look like new.
I'm sorry I didn't get a "before" picture. It was brown with rust.

funny I was thinking the same about my 86 510 Enduro, seems like they are as long as my 87 XC ones
have not measured them as I have not begun working on it

Everfree, seems I've got most of an '87 lower end if there's something you need.

Darrel78, thanks for the offer, much appreciated. Would you have a good kickshaft, part # 16-11-678-01 ?
I'll see what else I could use.
Thanks.

Probably the same forks as both bikes are 86 Enduro models. I need to look into this further.

I'll get you some pics mid week.

I have a question..my fork tubes have several rusted pits..on mine not yours lucky you are..Biggest is maybe 1/4", all near the top of the seal travel.

What is a workable Bodge here?

my bodge: I am going to derust the pits and epoxy them and wet sand carefully and hope the seals work on the epoxy bits...and cover with gaiters..(don't judge me, it's a rider.. )

I suppose the right fix is welding and grinding and re-chroming...okok...or buy good used.

Is there a better seal I can use to get away with an attempted repair like that?

What do y'all do?

buy good used tubes..they are fairly common to a degree..but you asked what i would do! altho this question should really be a new thread, not sure why its part of everfrees restoration thread..that way when someone else has this problem they can also find it in a title

hah, yeah, I know, thanks, but everfree was talking about fork tubes up top there and we have the same forks.

If I wait til I have enough cash to do a perfect job, it will never be run.

'Perfect is the enemy of the good' enough to ride.

I think you also once recommended the 87 forks to allow the better/bigger disc, that would be nice too, good advice, on The List.

Given the pits are in the upper fork tube - the maximum compression point ( if I read that right), I think the de-rust and epoxy is a short-term option. If you can get the epoxy to hold...
But... there's always a but... if you are going to repair them then maybe epoxy in the holes is not a good idea as you would have to grind it out to weld/chrome. If they don't leak too bad, just leave them and use a fork boot?

indeed! you said it..good enough to ride. i suppose everyone has different ideas about what that means, whats safe, what works well, whats "rideable", or what someones time is worth. i would hardly call replacing fork tubes with pitting as big as 1/4" with good used units "perfection". there is middle ground between fixing things cheaply as possible and restore the bike to never ride.
sorry to derail your thread everfree..

As a working repair it might be good for keeping the oil in, I'll see..any later welding, regrinding, rechroming would be by a specialist...and cheaper to buy good used as pointed out by many. And as Justin has said before, the 87 forks allow the better front brake's bigger disc, so that's good enough for me. After I get it running and happy.

( and a bit of meta from Justin's earlier remark still has me thinking about it..Part of my 'restoration' path is the necessity to prioritize repairs, in my case, getting it running to better evaluate the bike's needs as well as my own. Others restorations have different priorities. Different strokes.)


As these pits are near the very top range of the seal travel that may not even leak now, we will see...first priority is to finish moving and house repairs, then the Husky ignition replacement etc..

Fork boots would cover the repair pit horror, and as to getting the epoxy stuck and shaped, it will be some trick drawing on my house and boat worker skills.
Not everbody would like the boots, haha, but from my brit bike days, (you know, the 350 pound 'dirt bikes'?..re-purposed knackered out street bikes with knobbies) the fork boots look like they should, but these kids today just don't like 'em.

well, keep at it everfree, you're doing good!

and in SE Portland so you have a great dealer up there and lots of places to ride.