• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

1972 Husqvarna 250 WR and 1971 400 Cross barn finds! Help me bring these beauties back to life!

DeathFromAbove said:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PkPm1WQHNzQNiLyY
These are a sample but i will lay them all out and get some thing definitive after work
Click to expand...



Looks like I can't see what is in this link.

I'm probably going to set the bike up with a Mikuni VM38-9 or some such because its gonna be a rider, and I think those may take a different throttle cable. Maybe I can use some of that bicycle cable housing for that, as there are some good options there in the grey color for either brake housing or shifter housing (which is slightly smaller).
 
I fixed the link. Looks like the cables are all 2mm but the sheaths are different sizes. These are old cables with the oiler attached so they should be for huskys they all came off of huskys!
 
Vinskord said:
'I'm probably going to set the bike up with a Mikuni VM38-9 or some such because its gonna be a rider, and I think those may take a different throttle cable."

You may want to read this regarding carb size:

https://www.vintagebikebuilder.com/choosing-aftermarket-carbs.html
Click to expand...


That was a good read, thank you for that. Unbeknownst to me, the '71 400 Cross actually came with a Mikuni on it, and I'll leave it on there for now. Not sure what model it is, but when I spoke to a Husky restoration guy (actually in Colorado), he said the VM38-9 was a good option for these bikes. I'll definitely need to read up on jetting and setup, but my hope is to set these bikes up for running well and taking advantage of some advancements in tech to get there.

Today just working on cleaning. Really relaxing!

EDIT: sorry this thread it so slow, but I haven't really done much motorcycle resto work before, of at the very least, did it with my dad when I was a kid, so not really able to count it.

Looks like this WR 250 engine has a Femsa ignition, and so I'm probably going to grab a flywheel puller in anticipation of splitting cases. Anyone know the exact size / threading? Also, anyone have a favorite case splitter or recommendation for one?

Thanks all!
 
DeathFromAbove said:
Hahaha
My guy welds like i drink vodka
They weld up nice but takes time and patience.
I wish i had someone to weld the magnesium covers
Rarely are the undamaged.
Thanks for the look back Daryn
One day I'll finish it.
Still working on the Lister now.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eK97WbdioC5KWt1h7
Click to expand...


I didn't look it up, and I'm usually pretty good with 'what's it?' type posts, but I have no idea what that is? It almost looks like a horizontal mill, but I don't think it is. It is beautiful!
 
Crashaholic said:
You won't have a problem fixing that if you're as talented as this guy.
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/oval-case-motors.89732/page-5#post-660753
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/oval-case-motors.89732/page-5#post-660754
Click to expand...


Wow! Kudos @DeathFromAbove ! Nice to know they can be fixed! Looks really nice, and I'll be definitely tapping the hive mind here for thoughts on paint and such.

Regarding the '72, after perusing so many resto threads, my 1st goal is a basic mechanical restoration, and then we'll take the cosmetic thing one step at a time. The peanut tanks seem very rare w/out any damage, and are pricey, so I'm going to see if I can get the dents out of this one and try repainting (eventually).

I don't know why, but the chrome side panels on the tanks are my pet peeve. I see a surprising number of them that look wrong on resto'd bikes, and I have no idea why. Real easy to tell if its original or a repaint. I'd like get as close as possible when I do it. Lots of tracing, reference material, pictures, etc.
 
Holy cow, I'm back in! Somehow I lost my password again (D'oh!) but it was saved on another computer. I'm never losing it again, I'm making sure of it!

I have been really busy at work, but now that the weather has started to shift a bit, I've been getting back in the garage and looking at Huskies!

Since I am *probably* going to split the cases on the 250WR, I figured I'd start planning that out and while I'm stopped there, I'd also start taking a look at the 400 cross/CR.

Got a bunch of work done on it, and pulled the cylinder head off to see what was going on in there. The bad news was that it was seized, that much I knew. Good news is that it was only seized about an inch from the top, so not TDC, nor BDC, so we are in business there. I did some nutcracker spray around it on the inside and found out it was a 020 over piston, so maybe something funky with a previous rebuild, who knows. In any case, tried whacking on it w/ a piece of wood, wouldn't budge.

I went ahead and got the clutch cover off, second bad thing - completely dry inside, so no oil protecting bottom case. Got the clutch basket off, so that the crank is removed mechanically from the rest of the lower end. 3rd bad thing: even with the basket gear removed, the lower end still not turning on it's own. But now I can get a little be more 'excited' with getting that piston to move without worrying about busting any gear teeth or anything else.

Tried some heat, and some paraffin wax, based on what some folks had used from reading up on a different antique engine forum, still no dice. I figured it would be a battle, no surprise there.

Well, I'm about ready to start to work on the 250WR. The only reason I wanted to split the case was because I detected a bit of rotational play on the flywheel, and then with the cylinder off, and the piston and connecting rod exposed, I can wiggle the connecting rod a bit side-to-side, which somehow doesn't seem right. Still, I'm committed to the rebuild.

I'll be getting bearings, seals, and gaskets.


Does anyone have any recommendations for a case splitter? Or anyone that does engine work in the Denver or Front Range area? I haven't mic'd the piston yet, but I figure a bore out to .5mm or something was baked in, since I was getting at most 60psi on compression (that was w/ oil in the top of piston as well).

I've been reading through the service manual, still feel a bit over my head, but I really, really want to get one of these bikes running this year, and I'm prioritizing the engine above all else at this point.

I continue to be extremely appreciative of all pointers, tips, hints, and tricks. Let me know if you have a favorite splitter. I'm also going to get the right flywheel puller for the Femsa ignition on the 250 and we'll get that off as well.

I need to cut off the input shaft sprocket still. That's also up next. I did happen to see a '473' shaft on ebay, but the seller wanted $150 for it. They are rare, but it is steep. Was strongly considering it, now it's gone. Oh well, work moves forward!

Many pictures to come!
 
Red Leader said:
I can wiggle the connecting rod a bit side-to-side, which somehow doesn't seem right. Still, I'm committed to the rebuild.
Click to expand...
Thats normal. Its the up and down play thats bad news.

Red Leader said:
Does anyone have any recommendations for a case splitter?
Click to expand...
Husky made one back in the day but finding one for sell may take time. I made my own cus I'm cheap, actually I was broke at the time. You can modify most any motorcycle case splitter to work by drilling holes to match the 3 bolt pattern on the clutch cover. This allows you to push the crankshaft out of the left center case. Being able to pull the cases together upon assembly is another thing. I fabricated a puller out of 2 inch pipe, some flat plate, and some all-thread. Let me know if you'd like a couple of pics.

Red Leader said:
I did happen to see a '473' shaft on ebay, but the seller wanted $150 for it. They are rare, but it is steep. Was strongly considering it, now it's gone.
Click to expand...
Email Jef Bens, he may have one or two. https://www.vintagehusqvarnaparts.be/parts/
 
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