Yamaha TZR250 refresh

[SoCal250]

Russ, try these:
I think I got mine from Motion Pro

I had been looking for something like that but I think I was using the wrong search terms and could only find reverse snap ring pliers. I finally found the right type so I just ordered some Bikemaster piston removal pliers which should be here in a few days. I'm thinking with a little heat on the body and the pliers I may be able to get them out. In the meantime I'll give it another shot with air to at least see if I can get them to move out of the bores a little.

[SoCal250]

Looks like fun so far. It appears you have a SP/SPR swingarm on there. Are your forks fully adjustable by chance also?

Yes it had SP forks as well. They have dark colored tubes and are from a 3XVB I believe, as is the swingarm and body panels.

[kpke]

Watch this video. It may help with removing your stuck brake pitons.

[SoCal250]

Watch this video. It may help with removing your stuck brake pistons.

Thanks Ken! Watched it and I remember you sharing that method a while back. I'll give it a go today. If it works it will save me some time because I won't have to wait for the special piston pliers I ordered.

[Acme Moto]

Nice to see you getting it going Russ! I sure miss mine a bunch. It was slow compared to my RGV but it was still a blast to ride and super loud with the Sugo pipes and TZMike silencers! FYI an RGV petcock will bolt right up and you can eliminate the crappy stock vacuum operated petcock.

https://www.thetuningworks.co.uk/store/product_info.php?cPath=122&products_id=879

I hope to see it at the extravaganza this year!

[SoCal250]

FYI an RGV petcock will bolt right up and you can eliminate the crappy stock vacuum operated petcock.

Thanks for the tip Max! Definitively good to know and I'll probably make that switch later.

[SoCal250]

Watch this video. It may help with removing your stuck brake pistons.

Thanks Ken! Watched it and I remember you sharing that method a while back. I'll give it a go today. If it works it will save me some time because I won't have to wait for the special piston pliers I ordered.

Spent 45min to an hour yesterday using the ratchet and sockets method on the 3 pistons. Mine are stuck! They don't even wiggle or move at all. I tried light force, a lot of force, going back and forth, etc. Nothing. Going to try again with some heat on the caliper bodies.

[SoCal250]

Some progress! Finally.

So I used the method Ken shared above, but this time I also employed a suggestion from my friend so-cal-sdr200. He suggested heating the calipers in hot water and then dropping an ice cube into the pistons.

So, I got a pot of nearly boiling water, put a caliper in it for a few minutes and then melted a few ice cubes in a piston and went at it with the sockets and ratchet extension wedged in there. It took a lot of twisting back and forth and spinning but they finally came out! I repeated the heating/icing process for each of the stuck pistons. One of the larger ones was stubborn enough that it required reheating the caliper because it took so long. The seals were gooey and sticky on the exposed surfaces and very hard and not very flexible on the portion that was in the lands.

All parts came out unscathed and fully serviceable. So I ran them through two 20-min cycles in the ultrasonic. Next is the reassembly process which should be pretty easy.  And I'll likely have to do some repainting on the caliper bodies since my previously pristine OEM paint is no longer very pretty and missing in places due to all the brake fluid.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Glad you got them out.

[SoCal250]

Glad you got them out.

Thanks. Me too!

After their bath in the ultrasonic

[busa1300]

I put a set of TZ Nissin calipers on mine
Unintentional stoppies now...

[SoCal250]

Cool!

[SoCal250]

Made some decent headway yesterday.
Front brakes are done! Decided to just run the front master as-is and hope that the internal chamber for the reservoir is clean. The spare YZF600R unit I ordered won't be here until maybe tomorrow anyway, but I do have a couple of the O-rings on hand now in anticipation of taking it apart sometime in the future. Did a little cosmetic paint tough up on the caliper bodies with some VHT caliper paint so they're now looking presentable and pretty close to how they were when I started.
Front tire is mounted and balanced.
Coolant reservoir tank has been flushed and cleaned.
Also I found that the battery I had is very 'iffy'. I was able to charge it up but it's more than 6 years old. And of course with my luck the replacement I ordered from MotoBatt was received with damage to the positive terminal and is unusable because they didn't pack it correctly. They are sending a replacement which should be here tomorrow.

The "To Do List"

• Clean & rebuild carbs
• Replace fuel hoses
• Replace in-line fuel filter
• Add in-line manual fuel shut-off?
• Delete carb de-icing circuit
• Rebuild petcock
• Flush fuel tank
• Replace bad temp sending unit
• Flush cooling system and check
• Flush coolant reservoir tank and clean
• Change trans oil
• Change trans oil #2 (after running)
• Check & replace spark plugs
• Replace chain
• Replace front tire & rear tire
• Rebuild rear brake master & caliper
• Rebuild front brake master & calipers
• Recheck brake hardware torque and banjos. Fill & bleed front and rear
• Replace battery Charged but questionable, 6yrs old. New battery ordered
• Clean & detail

Today's tasks:
Fuel tank flush and petcock rebuild,
Cooling system flush,
Transmission oil change (I'll do it again after it's running),
and Cylinder inspection with borescope and install new plugs.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Excellent progress!!

[SoCal250]

A little more progress today but yet another roadblock.

-Drained and flushed the cooling system. Refilled with distilled water for now, and I'll drain and refill it with coolant mix after it's been run for a little bit.
-Drained and refilled the transmission. The oil was very clean but I did get some dark sediment out at the end when I tipped it to the side to get the last bit out. Obviously it wasn't stirred up, but I'll be changing it again after it's been run for a short time.
Swapped in a set of new Iridium plugs. The old standard plugs looked OK, I don't think they have many miles on them. (The bike only has 4800 miles.)
-Checked the cylinders with my brand new borescope, which seems to work pretty well. No surprises.
Front cylinder and plug showed more carbon and appeared a little oily. Top cylinder and plug looks to be running a little leaner.

Then started working on the fuel tank. That's where the issue popped up. I discovered that the lock was frozen. Doh! At first I couldn't even get the key into but I soaked it with some white lithium spray, so now the key goes in fine but the lock does not turn. Tried to remove the entire cap assembly by removing the small bolts around the ring but I couldn't get it to come out. Wondering if it needs to be unlocked to release? (I posted the question in Turning Wrenches). Letting the lock soak overnight and I'll return to it tomorrow. I may try pushing from the inside with a rod fed through the petcock hole on the bottom. From the top there's nothing to grab onto and obviously I can't pry on anything since it's surrounded by paint.

The "To Do List"

• Clean & rebuild carbs
• Replace fuel hoses
• Replace in-line fuel filter
• Add in-line manual fuel shut-off?
• Delete carb de-icing circuit
• Rebuild petcock
• Flush fuel tank
• Replace bad temp sending unit
• Flush cooling system and check
• Flush coolant reservoir tank and clean
• Change trans oil
• Change trans oil #2 (after running)
• Check & replace spark plugs
• Replace chain
• Replace front tire & rear tire
• Rebuild rear brake master & caliper
• Rebuild front brake master & calipers
• Recheck brake hardware torque and banjos. Fill & bleed front and rear
• Replace battery Charged but questionable, 6yrs old. New battery ordered
• Clean & detail

Bottom cylinder:



Top cylinder:




And my the used YZF600 front master showed up that I bought as a back-up/spare. It looks very nice for a 20 year old part!