News:

Mat Oxley 1986 IOM TT


click above to read more about Mat.

Main Menu

1992 Suzuki RGV250 work over

Started by RC8RDad, October 13, 2019, 03:07:29 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

RC8RDad

This here is my 1992 RGV250. Kind of lucked into her, a buddy at work told me about this old kick start sportbike he had on the side of his house ever since he got run off the road and put it down in 1998. Being a good friend, I offered to help him get it running, by offered, I mean pestered about every couple weeks. Eventually, he relented and instead, sold me the bike. Luckily, he put it non-op back in '98 and it remained titled through a tough time for 2 strokes in California.

After I checked it out, I gave him a modest sum and we trucked it to my place. Here is how she looked when I brought her home. I really was not a fan of the solid yellow color.





First thing was first, I removed all of the body panels and started cleaning. My two kiddos were happy to help. The air filter element just fell apart, luckily that was about the only thing that disintigrated. Fuel was garbage, brakes did not work, front tire hugger was chewed on by a dog... but I thought there was a darn good chance the bike wasn't all that bad off, after all, it only had 7,000 kms on it.



There was filth, dirt, and dog hair all over it. With most of that garbage knocked off, it came time to play a joke on the buddy I bought it from. I made this quick video and sent it him saying I got it started after a few hours working on it. My kiddo did a pretty good impression of a two stroke never having heard one before.

First start?

Next I dug into the fuel system. The carbs had a nasty ear wax like substance in every little crevace and hole. When I saw the fuel strainers in the carb inlets, I knew there was going to be a big problem with the tank.





None the less, I hooked the bike up to my car battery after replacing the fluids and cleaning things up. That got her to run, allbeit poorly. Since I'd been working pretty late into the night it was time to shut her down. First kick over the bike had in over 20 years. I was glad to hear things did not sound like it was going to be a serious problem when she kicked over. After this point, I knew the next steps were going to start with a parts order anyway. I was already going to pick up a battery and some spark plugs anyway.



The real first "start."

That was the fist day, while the project ain't close to done now, there is quite a bit I have done and she runs like an angry, noisy, smokey bat out of hell. I'll post up more of my project the next chance I get. I hope I don't offend too many people with my build as it is going to be a track day ripper just like my RC8R. I picked them up a mess so I can fix them up and rip on the bikes without feeling bad about putting a prestine example through the ringer. Though there is nothing quite like cranking on a 2 stroke through traffic with Prius drivers looking on in horror.  :righteous:


1992 Suzuki RGV250
2010 KTM RC8R
2019 KTM 500 EXC-F
2017 BMW R1200RTP (work bike)

pdxjim

You are blessed, Man.

An M model RGV doesn't just fall on those who aren't deserving.

Enjoy yer new toy, but after 20 years non-op, a full engine strip and rebuild is warranted.

I miss my 3XV TZR all the time.   Enjoy your gift.
Wasting time on 2T forums since the dawn of the internet. '89 TDR250, '13 300xcw, '19 690smcr, '56 Porsche 356A

RC8RDad

I hope you are not wrong about me being deserving of this ride.

Day 2, I went and nabbed a couple sets of spark plugs, a battery, and some more 2 stroke oil. The oil sending unit for the oil tank leaked and I lost most of the oil. I cleaned up the sending unit and used some of the harder RTV Silicone to seal up the sending unit.



While that was drying up. I pulled off the tank and drained it. There was A TON of surface rust in the tank, not surprising considering the fuel looked like Mountain Dew when I drained it the day before. A second trip out and I picked up a couple gallons of Apple Cider Vinegar. After a good wash, I put Apple Cider Vinegar in the tank and let it sit. Knowing it was going to sit a couple days, I pulled the carbs apart again and let them soak in a can of carb cleaner. After a couple hours, the tank was already shedding rust like crazy.



I pulled the brakes apart to get a look see as to why they wouldn't even come close to working. No, I did not try and use melted caramel to clean them. Aparently brake fluid ALSO turns to ear wax when it sits for nearly 20 years. I was amazed to see the pistons were just fine. I ordered up some stuff to replace or rebuild anything that held brake fluid and put the calipers and master cylinders to soak. One of the calipers had minor pitting in the base of the piston seats, but it should not affect the brakes once cleaned.



After a couple days, I pulled emptied the Apple Cider Vinegar out of the tank and the rust was mostly cleaned out. With the brake rubber, I also ordered a new petcock and fuel filler cap. Since 90% of the parts for this bike come from out of the country, it was going to be a wait. I checked the power valves and opened the engine case to see if there were any potential problems from sitting and could not find anything, save for some spiders in the stator area. I also did a bit more cleaning. I got bored waiting and, with the original petcock frozen open and clean now, I put the bike back together. I picked up the rear tire and ran it through the gears and warmed it up with new oil. After it ran for a bit and I cycled the clutch a few million times, I drained and replaced the oil. I couldn't resist and tried to ride it down the street. There was something majorly wrong as the bike DID NOT want to get moving. Once it was moving, it went poorly and ran like crap. Though it idled on its own in neutral. I pushed the bike back to my house and tore it down again. There was a tear in one of the intake boots I did not see before. I covered the crack in a tiny bit of axle grease to see if the crack was the culprit. It ran down the street and back with only minor hicups. I did not go faster than a brisk walk as the bike litterally had no brakes and was on 20+ year old tires. It was a huge thing though, first .2 kms the bike had traveled in 20 years.

Torn boot...


I accidentally said .2 miles... I know, habit. Better idle, bad deciscions!

After a while, I got the petcock, intake boots, brake bits, etc. The dang intake boot bolts were completely frozen and I had to drill most of them out. Then had to wait for new bolts, this time allen key ones.

Gotta love drilling out screws...


Old boot was certainly cracked, the other was pretty bad too...


Steel braided brake lines, pads, etc...


Even with the new boots, the bike still ran like it wasn't getting the right fuel at the right time. I ordered up a carb rebuild kit because I was relatively sure I wasn't getting EVERYTHING out of the tiny, tiny holes in the carb. One of the million times I took the carbs off, I cracked the dang plastic choke guide holder. I expeced the bike to require a million and a half tiny little parts, so I found one of them and ordered it up too. While I was waiting for more parts, I worked on the damaged bodywork. Luckily, the body is made of ABS plastic and my buddy picked up and kept all the parts of the platic when he went down. A trip to Home Depot I picked up a can of acetone and an ABS pipe piece. The good thing about ABS is it melts in acetone. I drilled some holes in the pipe and used the drilled out flakes to make a slurry with acetone. After cleaning up the cracks, I used the slurry to put the body back together.

Flakes...


Slurry...


Broken...


Repaired...


The next step was use the slurry as a filler for the gaps. While repairing fairings, I found there was some repairs from at least one prior crash.  I checked for straightness and found a tiny problem that I'll cover in the next post.


1992 Suzuki RGV250
2010 KTM RC8R
2019 KTM 500 EXC-F
2017 BMW R1200RTP (work bike)

gwcrim

Looks like a fun build.  I admire your ingenuity.

Acme Moto

Glad to see another one here in SoCal!

You're probably already aware of this but just in case. I get all of my rgv parts here.       https://www.thetuningworks.co.uk/store/

Not sure why Suzuki used plastic for the chokes but get yourself a set of these.              http://t12tech.com/products/aprilia-rs250.html

Thanks for sharing your story and pics!
Current bikes: 82' RD350LC, 85' RZV500, 86' RZ500S, 88' YSR50, 90' YSR50, 91' RGV250, 96'RS250, 06' Banshee
Sold: 92' TZR250SP :(

busa1300

Looks like a JDM version.
If the serial numbers start off VJ22A-xxxxxx
It was a restricted version originally. A set of pipes, 34 Mikuni's and a 22D-30 ignition box will really bring out the power.

Very fun bikes when they are dialed in.....I love mine

Good luck with it  :thumbs:
RZ350-RZV500R-TZR250RSP 3XV2
RGV250 VJ21 SP/VJ22 SP/VJ23 SP
RS250 for track - KD80 - JR50 for kids
https://youtube.com/@wedgehorsepower9869?feature=shared

pdxjim

I have had fantastic success repairing fairings with plumbers ABS glue and fiberglass cloth.

Use the glue as filler and the cloth on the back side for strength.

Cheap and easy and cures stronger than the original piece.
Wasting time on 2T forums since the dawn of the internet. '89 TDR250, '13 300xcw, '19 690smcr, '56 Porsche 356A

RC8RDad

Acme Moto - I have purchased quite a few things from The Tuning Works. The stuff in this post all came from there. I believe the guy's name is Sean(?), easy to deal with and very helpful.

Busa1300 - It is the restricted Japanese model. I purchased a SAPC from a site in Sweeden I believe it was. They took my money, sent me a messed up control module and would only say, "It was tested and worked before we sent it." What a crock of garbage. Still a bit of a sore spot I guess. I actually am not going to do much to make more power or anything right now. I picked up the RGV to have a smaller bike with less power to push myself to be a better rider. The fact this one is a 2 stroke and such makes it that much cooler. If I want a bike with more power, for now I'll jump on my RC8R. I may do a Zeeltronic in the future, but I am going to give this guy a few days getting rung out on the track before I put serious thought into de-resticting the bike.

pdxjim - That sound like a good way to make repairs, but the only portion I have not fixed is a portion of the front tire hugger that was chewed off by a dog... I'm not really sure what I am going to do there, haha.

Still trying to catch up to where I am now, at this point, I was able to get it to run and drive, but not excessively well. I was able to drive it up and down the street a couple times before getting the rebuild kit. It still had some flat spots and other odd cut out problems. Before taking the ride though, I had to throw on the unknown carbon fiber silencers my buddy picked up in 1998 and have sat since. Can anyone ID these? They look pretty basic, nice and light, but no markings on them whatsoever.



And yes, that is a 20 year old oil soaked tire. Obviously, I wasn't going to do anything crazy (aside from get on it with those tires).

Sorry, my girlfriend never got them memo that vertical video is annoying.

Well, my fat bum collapsed the rear shock. It litterally would not rebound at all. So suspension went from the 'would like' column to the 'need' column. I said eff it and dropped the bones for the Andeani Group fork cartiges and a Nitron R2 rear shock. The Tuning Works was awesome and helped me get the spring rates sorted.



While waiting for the suspension, which was a bit of a wait, I took the tank off and try to repair some serious dents. Aparently the bike was dropped and it hit the corner of a battery. The tank had some serious dents going on. I used my mediocre bodywork skills and reshaped the tank a bit. A little bondo, primer, and some paint. Because this bike is what is was when I got it, I decided on a stock paint sceme with my own color choices.



This picture is what the tank looks like now. Basically, I'm trying to recreate the white and blue with pink accent 1992 color scheme, but with green and blue. I have not fully decided if I will still use a matte pink for the accent parts, I guess time will tell there.



I also picked up some Dunlop Q3+ tires, I run them on my RC8R and love them. Here is the rear for the RC8 with the rear for the RGV. Just a slight difference. HAHA!



Eventually, the suspension kit came in. The rear shock was super straight forward and went in without a hitch.



To be honest, I was pretty freaking nervous about doing the fork kits myself. I have done a lot of stuff on A LOT of different cars, but this seemed different. It was actually pretty dang easy and also went together with really no fuss at all. Of course the forks got new everything as relates to bushings and seals.





I ordered up a Tyga windscreen because the original was smashed in the 1998 off. After that, I crashed my RC8 on track and separated my AC joint. I was out for a couple months and did not really do much. The carb rebuild kit came in and after I could move stuff around again, I got it all set up. It leaked fuel when it wasn't running. I found out it was because the cheap kit I got didn't have the exact right size float needle. The Tuning Works came through again and after I got the correct part, she works great. I need to get on the body and get her all painted up. Here is how she sits now. I was able to get a good shakedown ride out to a local canyon, up and down a few times, and I didn't even have to call for backup to bring out the trailer. Of course, my FauxPro battery was dead and I didn't get video. I also didn't take the time to take a picture out on the open road. It was such a fun ride, I did not even care that the bike is mis-matched and pretty dang ugly at the time. Here is how she sits in the garage right now, nestled among my other two wheeled babies. Next time, I'll get the dang photos and video when I take her out.



My next plans are to continue getting the body sorted. Still not sure what I am going to do with the dog chewed fender... any suggestions??



I also need to dial in the suspension. I just picked up a 2019 KTM 500 EXC-F to give dirt riding a shot. Going to be putting some work into that to get her ready to be beat up a bit, so I'll have to split my time.
1992 Suzuki RGV250
2010 KTM RC8R
2019 KTM 500 EXC-F
2017 BMW R1200RTP (work bike)

Barrie

Get a plastic welding kit and a set of the correct type rods and build it up :clap:
I can't fix stupid , but I can give it a bill !

Acme Moto

Wow you are making a lot of progress! You're going to love it at the track as I track mine as well. I recently put on a set of Q3's and I'm very pleased with them. Would be a blast to have two rgv's at the track at the same time.

Where are you located?

Current bikes: 82' RD350LC, 85' RZV500, 86' RZ500S, 88' YSR50, 90' YSR50, 91' RGV250, 96'RS250, 06' Banshee
Sold: 92' TZR250SP :(

RC8RDad

I'm in Camarillo, about 40 or 50 miles north of LA. Most of this was done before I got on the forum. The suspension alone took 4 or so months to get to me. Lost another 2 or 3 the the AC separation.

I have only been to Willow Springs this decade. I want to get to Buttonwillow and Chuckwalla sometime, but I need to get back into the swing of things and get over my crash. Dream track day would be Laguna Seca, but that place is EXPENSIVE, far, and my KTM is too loud.
1992 Suzuki RGV250
2010 KTM RC8R
2019 KTM 500 EXC-F
2017 BMW R1200RTP (work bike)