1992 Honda CR 250 back to mostly stock.

Good to see you Brian and Chance. Thanks for stopping by. I try to follow what is going on for restores here. Make no doubt I am inspired also by what you guys are doing.
This stuff is no different then when I used to paint. There were only a few innovators in that field when I started but even they were inspired by things they saw out in life. I think there is a very few amount of persons who can say they created an original concept. It's what you do with your inspiration that makes it unique to you and others. Talk about a digression... Apologies.

Anyways this bike was in amazingly horrible shape. That 1st 95 I did has now established itself as being pretty all original. Sure it needed loads of attention but it was just about all there and original. Not so with the (4) others I have.

More images of the bike as I received it...

Thanks for the consideration Brian. I am actually quite a way into this restore. I ended up replacing the sub-frame with another used one I had to fix and he also had a used silencer I purchased and restored.
Yes the forks were shot. I didn’t even bother opening them up and tossed them along with the silencer. It was just way too damaged to spend any time on.

Anyways I have saved up some content for this thread finally and a few new approaches to cleaning up parts. At least new for me.

Thanks for joining me on this restore.

So after doing that 95 I was initially burned out on taking before pictures and what not. When you see sudden transformations of restores from members and limited imagery leading up I can totally understand.
As I got further in on the 92 and began to see what I was doing with this one I thought what the heck. I tried some new things and will certainly cover those as well as I can so you can get an idea of what I did and with what.

So I really did not see the case damage nor the frame rails upon my initial inspection. Not that this would have mattered anyways. I gave my word to buy the bike if he traveled.
My approach on this one was to address that first and the engine at the same time.






That above is the repair someone had done. It actually was not horrible and the sanding material possibly for sheetrock to strengthen it was a good idea. That was quite a big area to repair. It offered no real sealing capabilities and this showed in the mag and flywheel being rusted.

The frame had suffered also. Cased a rock obviously. This is an image after stripping and test fitting a used skid plate.


As for the skid plate. It was cheap and used.


Obviously it was priced based on it's horrible fit. So I used the stock mounts and fitted the rear. I was able to push the from down and hold it with vice grips as I used the frame mounting hooks. After that I just used propane to heat that sucker up until it relaxed and conformed to my damaged lower frame rails.



Look at the smoking deal on the case saver... Crazy cheap. Copies of full on HRC ones are about $100. Sorry could not find the link to them.

Amazingly but not surprisingly no images of the saver before I fixed it up

Crack Smoking Bonanza on this sub frame. I scored.

And none on the subframe. I should go out and take a picture of the one that was on the bike. No amount of epoxy, sanding or anything else would have fixed that. It had been repaired before and such weighed twice as much as a stock one. ... Images and weight to come...

I also took no images of the repair job prior to paint me and Jim my welding buddy did to put on fastening tabs and cover the bent frame rails. That stuff above deserves more images of what I used and did.... I will go get more images.

Thanks Pgd for dropping in. That's funny on not using much from the donor bike. Thankfully I chose a manufacture and years that were crazy popular. I have total of (3) 95's which have been somewhat easy to locate but of course I traveled for every one of them.
The hardest things to acquire reasonably for mid 90 CR's will be the airboxes, radiator louvers, center cases and some various bolts. Outside that the used market is quite healthy for parts.
Clarke makes white tanks, UFO excellent plastic, Throttle Jockey and others seat covers and graphics. You can run into problems like I did when looking for spokes to re-lace my 92 front hub.

My suggestion to anyone reading this and wants to do a restore on 92-93 CR 250 ask a guy who has done one.
I could tell you all about the differences I was not aware of before starting.

Back to the work on the frame.
After getting the powder coat shop to sand blast my frame I gave the lower rails a lot of thought. I had filled in with epoxy the dents on my 95 frame. Finding a welder to cut out rail portions and weld in new would be incredibly difficult.
The dents on this frame were pretty extensive and although they would be tough to see with a skid plate on I knew I had to do something.



This also encouraged me to patch. I saw what looked like thin metal. So I poked it obviously, it what's guys do. This was indeed thin metal from having water sit inside the frame. Normally water would drain out through the holes to the rear. But I think how this bike was stored outdoors it allowed water to stay within the frame. I now another 92 which I purchased in pieces (no motor and other items) that has obviously corroded bottom tubes.


Somehow I came up with a thought of just getting some round steel and using that to patch over the dents. I measured the lower rails and knew what to look for. It had to be thin obviously as it was going to patch.
I just so happened to cut down and take out the pole for a TV aerial on a rental house. Seeing it was steel I saved a length cause that's what hoarders do.


So I cut some lengths and halved it with an Harbor Freight cut off tool. Hit with another quality HF sander. I had recently discovered those sanding wheels with the layered sandpaper. Man those are the bee's knee's. It cut my Dremel work down by a very large margin.



So with having short and longer pieces I could easily place them on the frame and get them to match the contours. I think I used (5) individual pieces at my welding buddies house to cover the damage. I covered over the thin areas and had Jim weld it up. I used that HF tool above which cleaned up all the mess in order for paint.

I did check the original subframe weight and it was only a pound heavier. A stock subframe is just under 4 pounds.



At the same time of the patchwork I had Jim weld in my tabs for my guards. The skidplate tabs are scrap metal that instead of welding nuts to like my last build I just drilled them and threaded them. Much easier.
The used case saver came with no other hardware. I called Works Connection and was able to buy separately some of their off sets and bolt/nuts. Located the proper location and welded in those. Simple.

Finished frame and areas.

Matt that was very generous, thanks brother.

In that spirit I have my next one lined up I think...


Now that is a challenge. $300.00 for all that goodness. I tipped the seller $20 for bringing it to me from outside my area so I actually have $320 into it. Frame is getting sand blasted. I am only thinking of doing it next since it would be so challenging. My attitude about what is possible changed with the 92. I was surprised it is not that hard finding the will to take my time and not rush it.

Next up will be the engine. Fortunately I did not take many images and such I can breeze through that. But I wanted to cover the case repair as in depth as I can to potentially helps others who want to do the same.

For this next post let's cover some of the tools/equipment I used. You will see great results do not necessarily mean expensive tools.

The Holy Bible for me when doing a restore. Impossible to do quality work without it. I love it for torque values along with everything else a service manual should posses. Many Facebook pages dedicated to the Honda CR will have for free these Service Manuals.



Hand tools. I prefer 6 point sockets vs 12. I did upgrade if you will to some Craftman sockets versus the collection of brands I was using. Obviously a better fitting socket should mean less damage to the bolt/nut. I am upgrading once more to Snap-On flank drive sockets. These should hit against the sides of the bolt and not dig into corners. I am only purchasing these since I can get a smoking deal on them. So I have both short and long in 1/4" and 3/8". I have the drill attachments to use sockets on those tools in place of air. Socket Adapter for impact drill- Press Me
These are great also- Socket Adapters- Press Me


A torque drive. Get a good one. The benefit of a better one is consistency in values you are placing on the bolts. I always relax it after use. The Snap On digital one is near $500. Too rich for me. I can do $200-$300
Napa Auto parts is where I purchased mine- Press Me



Dremel. Outside the above I use this all the time. Important to get a variable speed Dremel. NOT the High-Low speed only. Dremel with Flex Shaft- Press Me
Having a proper selection of tool heads or bits allows me to have the proper bit for whatever I am doing. I would hate to have to recreate this kit but not impossible. Most of the tool heads are common replacments found at Lowes or Home Depot among other places. Here are some of the valuable other bits I use.
Dremel Wheels I will use- Press Me
I have used these wheels for sanding away debris off plastic to polishing inside recesses for bearings. Brownells little wheels of wonder-Press Me
Dental bits and one example of many. Looks like a good selection.





Make sure to get some dental bits as pictured. Removing broken off screws/bolts to cutting through seized barrel races. Dental Bits from Ebay-Press Me



Simple Green and WD40. Both are used as cleaners by me. I would never use WD as some form of lubricant outside as an immediate one or temporary one. There are much better lubes out there. Kroil is oil that creeps. Let it soak in overnight to help loosen stubborn nuts. The only way to buy WD40. 1 Gallon WD40-Press ME
Kroil and get both the liquid and aerosol. Kroil at Brownells- Press Me



My bench grinder set up. Having 2 just makes it easy to quickly select the wheel I may need. Place for the 3M wheels for bench grinders. 3M various wheels and grits-Press Me





Get yourself one of these bad boys and the sanding discs. This is what I used to quickly get rid of mold/seam lines. I used my Dremel prior to this. Wayyyyyy easier to cut those away from hubs, swingarm, calipers and anything else. If you are into removing those. Best $19.00 you can spend. Remove stuff lickity split-Press Me
These are the sanding wheels. Be weary they remove metal very fast. HF page of O'wheels- Press Me





My set up for pushing out bearings and seating them home. This along with some various big washers and sockets is all I have needed. Big red holder of bearing pullers- Clamping Block at HF- Press Me



Devcon for metal repair. It is what I used and would again. Not cheap. Steel you mix vs forging-Press Me



My little detail gun for spraying Cerakote. Works fantastic as long as you clean it well. Little mighty spray gun-Press Me



Got to have Cerakote. These are the colors I am using to restore from 92-95 CR Honda's. Obviously it would also work on a 96 too. I use all H series. That means you need forced curing-Press Me




Well that was a ton of work to compose. I hope you get some value out of it. Now the next post will be engine and images of the repair.

Back to the motor.

I was able to get the motor apart with no other surprises. The rod had excessive play and I sent that off to have the crank rebuilt.
The cylinder had slight damage so I sent that off to be replated. Fortunately is was on original bore.


I also gathered up all my nuts and bolts. I spent the time cleaning up the large nuts and axles/swingarm pivot bolt and so on. I was not going to paint all these as I did on the 95. I found that the Cerakote would chip slightly on the corners of the nuts. So I spent like $70 for replate in zinc. They did it locally here and they actually came out great. I was thankful I spent the time cleaning them up. No images.

After I received the cylinder back I went ahead and removed mold lines from it. Additionally I re-shaped some aspects of it. Basically got rid of some lines and softened others.







All new bearings and seals. New clutch.
I had bead blasted my cases and Cerakoted them all along with cylinder and head.

I was fortunate that the damage was in a limited area and not into the gearbox or crank.
A repair had been made where someone used sanding material similar to what is used to sand sheetrock. It is a mesh like material impregnated with carbide silica or similar. It is very strong. All they did was cover the hole with no attempt made to seal it.
My approach was to use Devcon as a material since it bonds well and is very strong.




I used a Dremel and removed the JB Weld. I made sure to go over the area where I would fill in with a coarse sanding drum to promote adhesion. I left in that mesh material since it added strength.




Nothing new was replaced in here. This was just all cleaned up by me. If you have the will you can get her done.




Back in the frame.

Back again with another installment.

Upgraded the forks on this one also to the twin chamber Showa's. Since I never ran the 95 with those forks I continue to have no idea how bitchin they are or are not.
I thought my old 92 I had as new had pretty good forks. I certainly was a better rider then. I continue to hope I will actually start and ride this one. I have been building it with that in mind.

I purchased a set of used tree's off of ebay on the cheap. Top clamp was a Emig so it had a great finish. The bottoms must have been a 96 CR since they fit the Showa's.

Having the sanding flapper disc really speeds up clean up on casting marks.





Once I have done that I will use the Dremel to get rid of the marks from that flapper.

I used the Dremel on cleaning up the lugs.





Once cleaned up I then Cerakote it all for an easy uniform appearence.

The caps just take time to get rid of the gouges. I have to take off more aluminum then I would like but this is the only way to clean up channel lock marks. I do not paint these since I prefer not to subject and small seals to the heat of my oven.






They are not great just better.

I forgot to cut the reliefs in the steering stops before Cerakote. I used the Dremel again to grind away some the material to allow a greater steering arc.




Since I wasted close to $200 trying to have my upper sliders re-anodized I was forced to gold Cerakote. They honestly look much better in the images then in person. I would not go that route again. The Cerakote does not stick as well as I would like on those tubes.





Some notes on buying used forks off ebay...
- Make sure they are exactly what they are listed as. The caps you see above look very much like the same caps for the older non cartridge forks. Due to the nature of restoring you can often buy items to be used in the future process. by the time I found out I actually had older forks it was too late to return.
- Insure the threads are intact for the lower leg protectors. Just one of those stripped out will not allow those to sit correctly.
- Many of these older lower lugs will have the threaded portion to bolt on a disc cover broken off. Its usually the right side mount if looking at the disc from the left side. I saw several this way. I have one like this I did not catch.

Here is an image of my 92 when new.
I was painting back then and like many was inspired by what peak Honda team did.
So I spearheaded a local effort that saw similar custom painted helmets and chest protectors. I painted the plastics for the bikes with the logos and backgrounds/numbers.
We received wholesale pricing on Fox after I contacted them about helping us. Free airfilters from a new airfilter company, Jon at JN Innovations cut us a huge break on suspension work and a local dealer helped us on parts/bikes and what not. It lasted a season and like many things fell by the wayside. I was too busy with life to invest more energy into it.

I’m still building this bike.
Man I have had one set back after another. From Pacific Crest never returning 2 of my CR pipes to buying what I thought was a great condition used sub frame. That sounds like little but combined with working mostly 7 day weeks for the last several months leaves me little free time.
I need to post about the processes I have taken to get this far.




So lots to catch up on.

Thanks Sandman.
I have used the marketplace. And I have had great success. I do agree it is a better source.
I would not go that route again unless going say black or another color. You are right about the difficulty in sliding those uppers up into the clamps. I even shot those parts with the Cerakote clear for added protection.
I have applied quite a bit of that product with normally excellent adhesion. I spray the heat treated series. Despite this it did scrape on the uppers when sliding in. I should have relieved those areas that caught.
To get those uppers coated (Anodized) gold like they are new is not cheap. Approx. $300 a set.

Matt I have sprayed quite a bit of burnt bronze. I wouldn’t expect any difference in finish from the gold. The clear did little to brighten the finish. If you’re looking for a flat or matte finish than Cerakote will deliver.
I had to re-finish those uppers since I had a local effort try and re-anodize those and the job was horrible. I had to cut further loss on them.
I will use Alumin-Art refinishers since they are highly regarded for getting the gold look.
Forks re-done properly just add way too much to the over all look of a restored CR.

Trying to come back to this is so tough. Made more difficult since its basically done and I already started another.

But in the spirit of humanity I should continue on here. At least add to it before starting another thread.

So I see I have the front end on. Radiators would be good for me to cover.
They were bent just like the set before this and even the 86 I'm doing now.




I try to clamp them into a vice and use wood to bend back into shape. The aluminum moves pretty easily so take your time and don't smash at it.
Next get some of the Aluminum Rim cleaner from Napa and spray them down. I will let it sit for awhile before rinsing off. Fortunately after that they only need slight detail clean up.
Straightening the aluminum in between the water passages is crazy time consuming. I do it while watching TV.
I use 2 small flat screw drives and just carefully try to straighten. No where near perfect but lets call it improved.




Finding radiator louvers for a 92-96 CR 250 is a fools errand. There are just none out there. These were missing or so badly damaged I just wasn't going to waste time on them. The 95 had them intact but discolored. For this 92 I knew the CR125 for these years would work but you had to modify. They cost about $35 per side and Rocky Mountain ATV normally stocks them new from Honda.
There is a popular way of using screws to help it fit. I found an easier way using my Dremel.
I marked them with a black sharpie where you need to grind away the plastic.

This first image is the part number to get along with one side marked and one side already cut away. To the left side of the image you can see the Dremel bit I used. Normally at Home Depot.



The next three images are of them mounted up. Rock solid and good enough for me. Too easy to do and BOOM I have new ones.

Rebuild the shock.

The 95 I just used the 3M wheels to clean up the aluminum. For this 92 I went ahead and sprayed it in Cerakote.
If you do this make sure to tape off the insides. You want no over spray getting inside where the seals are. I was careless on the 3rd one I did and had to remove over spray to get seals to seal again.

For the spring I had it powder coated. I will not cerakote a spring again. It just doesn't look as stock and may not be as durable as powdercoat.

A again removed casting marks and made every effort to have the body and parts appear new. I went as far as to remove marks from setting spring tension on the 2 adjusters. I also increased the diameter of the hole on the base of the shaft to allow water to drain out. I did not re-valve but I did replace the seal head and bladder.








Put back together and charged with nitrogen.





Mounted.

Swingarm and wheels.
So far I haven’t been too intimidated by the condition of a swingarm prior to beginning to clean it up. I wish I had the patience to just use hand power to get the perfect finish. I can appreciate those who make the effort to get their finish only by hand. I just prefer a very uniform appearance and find Cerakote gives this to me despite the condition of the parts I am working with.
This swingarm had all the anticipated signs of a almost 30 year old bike. Since I had started using those sanding wheels for metal on angle wheel grinders I knew I would make short work of the seam/mold lines.





I start with the grinder and just hit the areas I want to clean up. You have to watch using this tool since it can take metal off fast. I follow up with my Dremel and bench grinder 3M abrasive wheels. Lastly I bead blast before Cerakote. This leaves a great finish prior to paint. I wash the parts off carefully with water. Blow off with compressed air and paint. Off to the dry box for at least 2-3 hours heated. I normally do not install painted parts for at least a week.






That can take a few hours to get it cleaned up. It’s hard to see but that bulbous area in the middle has a defined finish. Like a sand mold was used for that area and the finish left. I removed all that and smoothed it. Just a cleaner look for me and I might as well since removing seams anyways. I can tell you that the level of finish and manufacture of swingarm s from Honda greatly improved from 86 to 92. It may have been earlier but there is little similarity between this 92 and a 86 CR 250 I am finishing up now. The advances in technology and its application is amazing. Using that same comparison of years Honda changed sooo much in a very short period of time. Weight savings and simplicity of function is quickly evident in this 92. Just compare a HPP assembly from a 86 to what Honda had in 92. Just night and day in how easy to service.

Here are the parts dried. I added the after images of the linkage. Again no seam lines. It’s an easy thing to just pass doing. I continue to do it since it just shows some customization which is subtle and you need to look for it to see it. I’m always hoping other CR restorers will notice the small details. If anyone else appreciates it than that’s just Mo betta.








Wheels next.
I actually went with a 95-96 front wheel since I was going with the twin Showa’s. So different hub, disc, axle plus triples to make it all work.
But not before spending a crazy amount of time cleaning up the 92 hub and finishing it in Cerakote. After this I realized my forks wouldn’t work with this hub. Ordered a complete rim and tire from eBay and promptly cut the hub out.
I decided to black these hubs and not go with a polished finish like I did on my 95. My rims are silver and so this made the decision easy. Yes Tusk brand rims. I have so many of these to do I just am trying to save money where I can without compromising the motor/frame/suspension. My current plan is just go Excel since the quality of the finish is too obvious.
I haven’t bothered with trying to undo the spokes and went to just cutting the hubs out. Just be careful on what wheels you do this on. Some of these older bikes to include older with drum brakes can be extremely difficult to find replacement spokes.





This is more Dremel work than any other tool I have. So it takes quite a bit of time to slowly grind away seams.



For the discs I clean up the metal with the 3m wheels on a bench grinder. Then it’s off to the bead blast cabinet. Taping off takes a little more time than you may realize. I just tape off the area where the pads ride. I could just rely on the pads removing paint. But it could contaminate the pads and adversely affect performance.





So with that done I had my Tusk brand spokes/nipples.
Checking the off set and setting the height.




My very basic set up to insure true. But it works very well for.




With the rims done I threw some Dunlop’s on and thought I would hand paint the emblems. Another time sucking pursuit. I wouldn’t do it again. The paint eventually dis-colors dark. I just did it for pics anyways.






Okay, I finally got another installment done. Man I’m close to finishing this 86 I’m doing right now. I don’t want to be 2 bikes behind.... I’m on it... Thanks for checking out the tread.

Brakes, silencer and clean up of electrical...

Brakes. Certainly not as hard as one might think.Completely rebuilding them is in-expensive. Just maintaining them a little is easy. The condition that I have found all the calipers in that I have is evidence of I may be the only one who thinks this way.
I doubt any of them had fluids changed much less just regular cleaning.
Despite the horrible condition as I have received them it has been little effort to any apart.

Fronts from the later 90’s CR look good to the exterior.


Turning over and I know this will take some time to clean up.



The rears were not functional.


Stripped out master cylinder cover screw. Easily removed with dental bits on a Dremel.


Goal with these is to remove excess material and rid of seams. Use the various wheels and what not than bead blast and Cerakote.
Rear master cylinder cleaned up completely and also rebuilt. I used the original rear brake line and just repainted the plastic protective sheath.






This year had a aluminum guard I cleaned up and sprayed it with Cerakote also. I believe I just made my own grey from white and black Cerakote.





Front completed and on the bike.


Silencer.
The original one was just garbage and insane to think about restoring so I tossed it.



Since I had one from a 92 in pieces I bought the choice was easy. I was going to use a later model silencer but ultimately went with the 92.
I use PVC pipe in various diameters and shape them back. Dremel work on the bad scars with of course bead blast and Cerakote.








I was feeling ambitious and decided to paint up all the free discs I had. Maybe should have checked a couple for being warped before doing this. It’s a learning process for sure. Just like today when I discovered I had carefully re-covered a seat only to discover I left the backing hardware out of it. I got lots of those with doing restores. So many steps that it’s easy to overlook key areas. My plan is to be way more careful on my 4th which will start soon.






The side panels made those deep scars on that silencer. Just no way for me to get them out.



Electronics. Easy to just pass over. WD40 works great. That and a scotch bright pad they come out fantastic. Oh, let’s not forget a Dremel. Like most else I clean up even the connectors for the plugs. Exterior and interiors. This is where having a wide variety of different bits allows for cleaning just about anywhere on the components.






Let’s get the seat done also.
I didn’t cover it but I did clean up the base and the mounting brackets.




I did take the brackets off and just used some pop rivets to put back on after cleaning up the brackets. The 1986 CR 250 seat had aluminum brackets like these but slightly heavier. But they were bolted in along with collars and steel brackets to hold the nuts. Plus the plastic base and seat foam were just huge and with no real effort to shave weight.

That's generous of you my friend.
I look at builds by guys like Aaron doing that raffle Doug Henry build and realize just how far I need to grow in my efforts.
Those guys doing the MiG and Tig to clean up damage is amazing much less throwing fork uppers on a lathe.
I doubt I will ever be that good at doing restores.
Without a solid background in machining and welding this job will challenge you.
I have more passion just to do it all myself than sense. It's incredibly rewarding, and your comments just add to that reward so thank you.
As for that blue I use. I just go in and look at blues my powder coated have and pick one that looks right. I never get the code I used on paperwork.
Get your frame color right is way more important than anything else. That is what you see more of anyways.
Thanks brother.