Is an engine change possible

Hey guys just a passing thought. is it posible to change the WR250R enigne with one from a WR250/450F or YZ250/450 I am assuming chassis are the same. just like a car I assume wiring would need to occure. Just thinking of giving it more race bread but still sneakly keeping its road worthyness to the untrained eye.

whats everyones opinions and ideas??

I suppose anything is possible if you have enough time and money but the chassis are not the same. In fact, there are very few parts that interchange between the "R" and the "F". Totally different bikes. Not sure why Yamaha chose to name them so similarly.......]

Scott P.

Yeah, it would be so much easier to just D.O.T. the F's.

dc4stroke wrote:

Yeah, it would be so much easier to just D.O.T. the F's.

sorry mate, what is D.O.T??

Dept of Trans, but I doubt that was the issue. The F engine has never been EPA certifed for street use as far as I know--that would require certifying an entire new engine series. In the case of the R the source of the basic engine design was already EPA certified as a series and that should have made certification much easier. The DOT requirements--lights\tires\signals\rims are much less costly to comply with and mostly only involve bolting on already compliant equipment.

Sinfull wrote:

dc4stroke wrote:

Yeah, it would be so much easier to just D.O.T. the F's.

sorry mate, what is D.O.T??

Akasy wrote:

Dept of Trans, but I doubt that was the issue. The F engine has never been EPA certifed for street use as far as I know--that would require certifying an entire new engine series. In the case of the R the source of the basic engine design was already EPA certified as a series and that should have made certification much easier. The DOT requirements--lights\tires\signals\rims are much less costly to comply with and mostly only involve bolting on already compliant equipment.

Sinfull wrote:

dc4stroke wrote:

Yeah, it would be so much easier to just D.O.T. the F's.

sorry mate, what is D.O.T??

Just curious, what other bikes or applications is the WRR engine EPA certified for?

I thought it was easy to get bikes like the 250F plated in Australia?

Chassis are completely different, but I'm sure with enough time, work, and effort you can make a different motor fit. How good are you at welding?

The motor in the WR250R is unique to the bike as far as I know.

Sinfull wrote:

Hey guys just a passing thought. is it posible to change the WR250R enigne with one from a WR250/450F or YZ250/450 I am assuming chassis are the same. just like a car I assume wiring would need to occure. Just thinking of giving it more race bread but still sneakly keeping its road worthyness to the untrained eye.

whats everyones opinions and ideas??

Most licensing agencies not wanting off-road/closed course/racing bikes off the highway are going to go straight to the VIN. That will tell them the original purpose of the bike. And more and more jurisdictions in North America are starting to pull the registrations from dirt bikes that had managed to get licensing at some point previously.

This engine and this bike are completely different from the WR250F. Yamaha has used the WR250(*) naming convention for quite a while now, and about the only thing consistent with them over the years is that the "WR" stands (or used to) for "wide ratio". It's what comes after the "250" that tells you what kind of bike you're dealing with.

Yes, you can find various lighting, horn, signals, etc kits for these bikes.

You can probably even drop an F engine of some sort in it if you're determined enough and have the shekels.

The question becomes: why?

The bike is a true, genuine dual sport bike. It goes back to the legacy of Yamaha's early enduro bikes in the late 60's/early 70's that many of us older guys started out on. It isn't intended for racing, never was, and working it over to make it "racy" is going to almost certainly detract from road worthiness. Guys like me think it is about as perfect as we can reasonably expect to get for the price of the bike.

If you are oriented towards going like your hair is on fire and believe there is no replacement for displacement, this is almost certainly not the bike for you. It is a pretty peppy bike and can run fairly well with the Huskies and KTMs offroad with a simple gearing change - and provide far more comfort on the slab than they will. And you can ride while riders of those other bikes are wrenching on regular maintenance. But it is "sporty" and not "racey". If you want racey, then your money will be far better spent on a KTM or Husky, with a little more money put away to keep up with the maintenance.

Without going overboard in determination to turn a WR250R into some home grown 450 variant (that still won't have the 450's race bred frame and suspension), you can always up the ante a bit with a big bore kit, pipe, programmer, and airbox mods. It still won't be a 450, but there will be a noticeable improvement. Of course, you could then really go overboard and buy one of the turbo kits for it...

Love it for what it is, mod it a bit... or avoid disappointment and just go to another bike more in line with what you want.

They should build a WR450R or 400R
If they build it, I will come. (Get your head out of the gutter, it's a movie line). :)

Jäger wrote:

Sinfull wrote:

Hey guys just a passing thought. is it posible to change the WR250R enigne with one from a WR250/450F or YZ250/450 I am assuming chassis are the same. just like a car I assume wiring would need to occure. Just thinking of giving it more race bread but still sneakly keeping its road worthyness to the untrained eye.

whats everyones opinions and ideas??

Most licensing agencies not wanting off-road/closed course/racing bikes off the highway are going to go straight to the VIN. That will tell them the original purpose of the bike. And more and more jurisdictions in North America are starting to pull the registrations from dirt bikes that had managed to get licensing at some point previously.

This engine and this bike are completely different from the WR250F. Yamaha has used the WR250(*) naming convention for quite a while now, and about the only thing consistent with them over the years is that the "WR" stands (or used to) for "wide ratio". It's what comes after the "250" that tells you what kind of bike you're dealing with.

Yes, you can find various lighting, horn, signals, etc kits for these bikes.

You can probably even drop an F engine of some sort in it if you're determined enough and have the shekels.

The question becomes: why?

The bike is a true, genuine dual sport bike. It goes back to the legacy of Yamaha's early enduro bikes in the late 60's/early 70's that many of us older guys started out on. It isn't intended for racing, never was, and working it over to make it "racy" is going to almost certainly detract from road worthiness. Guys like me think it is about as perfect as we can reasonably expect to get for the price of the bike.

If you are oriented towards going like your hair is on fire and believe there is no replacement for displacement, this is almost certainly not the bike for you. It is a pretty peppy bike and can run fairly well with the Huskies and KTMs offroad with a simple gearing change - and provide far more comfort on the slab than they will. And you can ride while riders of those other bikes are wrenching on regular maintenance. But it is "sporty" and not "racey". If you want racey, then your money will be far better spent on a KTM or Husky, with a little more money put away to keep up with the maintenance.

Without going overboard in determination to turn a WR250R into some home grown 450 variant (that still won't have the 450's race bred frame and suspension), you can always up the ante a bit with a big bore kit, pipe, programmer, and airbox mods. It still won't be a 450, but there will be a noticeable improvement. Of course, you could then really go overboard and buy one of the turbo kits for it...

Love it for what it is, mod it a bit... or avoid disappointment and just go to another bike more in line with what you want.

Very well put mate.

I already have a WR250R and like i said it really was just a passing thought. I am a automotive mechnic and have done a number of engine swaps between cars and really was just curious. sounds like it would be alot more work than what it would be worth. Sure having the power of the 450F between your legs with the smooth ride of the setup of the 250R would be very nice. Yes the 250R has a peppyness to it but lets face it jump on a 450F and the difference in power is very noticable and fun to ride.

I wonder what changes would have to be made to make the 450F engine fit

anyway thanks for your thoughts.

i still like the idea of, one jug off the r1, a wr250r. then why not two jugs of an r1 for a wr500r?

whats the verdict on the Bigbore kit for these, Are they worth the money?? DO you notice much of a power change?
I'm starting to look at the way the bike runs in various enviroments. I went on a beach the other day and it was really ringing its little head off. I know its no comparison but my mate was on his KTM530 and he really was just cruising through it like it was nothing. I want that

Sometimes I think ppl expect way too much out of this bike. It is what it is, a 250 dual sport, not a race bike, and certainly not a big bore thumper. Some ppl have the big bore kit on theirs and find it has that edge they wanted, but it still isn't a 530. Keep the 250 for putzing around and buy the bigger bike for the heavier stuff. Don't get me worng, this bike can/will go anywhere, it's just not gonna do it like the bigger CC bikes will. But you also have an edge on single track where it's a lot lighter in the tight stuff where the bigger bikes will be heavy.

Sinfull wrote:

whats the verdict on the Bigbore kit for these, Are they worth the money?? DO you notice much of a power change?
I'm starting to look at the way the bike runs in various enviroments. I went on a beach the other day and it was really ringing its little head off. I know its no comparison but my mate was on his KTM530 and he really was just cruising through it like it was nothing. I want that

Buy a KTM. You aren't going to hurt the bike bumping it off the rev limiter, because that's where the engine is designed to make it's power. But it isn't a KTM, particularly one at twice the displacement.

If you are dissatisfied with the bike as it is and/or with the usual mods people do, a big bore kit isn't going to make it a KTM, but it will move the TCO closer to the cost of that KTM.

There's a comment I've heard out there occasionally that says something like "KTM riders don't care how nice your dual sport is on the road or how little maintenance it requires". I think that puts the issue into perspective quite nicely.

I want a REAL dual sport. One I can comfortably do a six hour round trip commute on once a week - and turn into a ten hour commute if it's a nice day and I decide to do a side trip on one of the forest service roads leading off the slab.

I want to be able to ride - and flyfish, and train the bird dogs, and backpack, and go to the range. Not maintenance. I want the WR ratio of hours of fun/hours of maintenance, rather than the KTM hours of fun/hours of maintenance sucking time away from other things I would rather be doing. KTM guys don't care about any of that. They aren't interested in how nice the bike is for six hours of slab as well as six hours of FSR - they want to know how fast it will get from A to B over the desert or through a gnarly single track. They're happy to do the maintenance that is the price of having that performance.

When they do start caring about that... then they buy a WR. Until then, logically, they stick with their KTMs, Huskies, etc.

Yamaha built the WR for people who are generally like me in outlook. KTM builds their bikes for people who want a race bike they can legally take on the slab to get to where they intend to air it out. Each of the bikes has a different target market, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The problem arises when people buy the bike that isn't set up for what they want.

wow this has opened a can of worms hasnt it hahaha.

Dont worry boy I love my bike its the first ive had in 18 years last was a old Kawasaki KD80 when I was 10.
I'm probly only going to have this bike for another year as I'll be moving back to New Zealand from Western Australia pretty costly to take it with me once you get into reregistering it for the road. In the mean time i'll ride it like I stole it and make the most of every Km I ride.

cheers for all your comments boys