Guess what I'm doing this weekend...

Finally getting around to this:



Wish me luck!

Nice

ooo

good luck

Just making sure you've got HF's install, just in case

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621532

Good luck!

Sarah

greer wrote:

Just making sure you've got HF's install, just in case

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621532

Good luck!

Sarah

Oh yes. I've read it forward and backward. It is the single biggest reason that I even think I can accomplish this myself! Squirt gave me the link when I first blurted out that I was thinking of buying the kit. I'll have the laptop set up in the garage for quick reference!

Thanks for the link though!

I always have trouble with the quick-connect on the fuel tank. Anybody have a trick to getting this thing disconnected?

Killer for me, too. Twist around so that you can put a thumb on each side to push in.

Sarah

I hope you're taking some pictures and will post your progress as best you can.

Best of luck to you my friend.

greer wrote:

Killer for me, too. Twist around so that you can put a thumb on each side to push in.

Sarah

got it off. For some reason it was very easy this time.

motokid wrote:

I hope you're taking some pictures and will post your progress as best you can.

Best of luck to you my friend.

Thanks. I'll need it!

Progress so far: Bike is stripped, everything that needs to be disconnected from the engine is done. Right after lunch I'll be able to loosen the engine cradle and drop it forward. It's looking like I might get the thing taken apart today.

Current state of affairs:

I had to remove the engine cradle to get maximum tilt, which isn't much. Should be enough to do the cylinder swap though.

I've done this twice now (my bike and a friend's). My recommendation would be to remove the engine. It will take just a few minutes, but will make everything else much easier to work on.

If you want to drop the engine, put the cradle back on and connect it to the frame with only one of the two bolts at the front top. then release the swingarm bolt and the engine will swing forward. Grab the engine, pull the remaining bolt and you can work in comfort on your bench, or anywhere else you want.

RichardU wrote:

I've done this twice now (my bike and a friend's). My recommendation would be to remove the engine. It will take just a few minutes, but will make everything else much easier to work on.

If you want to drop the engine, put the cradle back on and connect it to the frame with only one of the two bolts at the front top. then release the swingarm bolt and the engine will swing forward. Grab the engine, pull the remaining bolt and you can work in comfort on your bench, or anywhere else you want.

Too late! I'm committed now.

Ok. I've done as much as I'm going to do today. Thanks to Highfive's excellent how-to on ADVrider there have been no surprises so far. All of the parts are bagged & tagged so I know where they go when I start reassembly tomorrow. Also took lots of pictures for reference, a few of which are here.

Valve cover off. I don't know what the big deal is with removing the coil pack. Mine wasn't a problem.



Next, the head...



...and finally, the cylinder.



Everything looks good so far. The cylinder bore looks like new. The plug is a nice medium brown and not too much carbon build-up on the head or piston.

I'll take the old piston off in the morning and start reassembly. Should be back in service tomorrow afternoon!

Here's a few more pics for ya comparing the Athena cylinder to stock. It's not a huge increase in bore, but definitely noticeable. Just hope it's noticeable in performance!

In this pic, I set the Athena cylinder on top of the stock one. Hopefully you can see the difference in bore sizes.



And a couple more shots:

Well, I got everything put back together enough to try a test start. Since I had the top end off, I thought it might be a good idea to remove that screw in the head that the manual says you should take out to check for oil flow after doing an oil change (I never do it for a regular oil change). So, I took it out and stabbed the starter. Fired right up! Oil immediately showed up at the weep hole. Quickly turned it off and replaced the weep hole bolt. Fired it up again and let it run for a little while to get it warmed up so I could check for leaks. Engine runs great!

After a little warm-up I did notice a little oil leak on the right side of the valve cover. Apparently I didn't get that gasket in there quite right. Should be an easy fix. As soon as the engine cools enough (probably in about 2 beers), I'll pull the tank & valve cover and re-seat the gasket.

Overall I'm quite proud of myself!

Nice.
Always a good feeling when you've finished and the engine is running. :)

I'm sure everybody wants your riding impressions with the new CCs.

and pictures....PICTURES




please

Awesome!
good job

Got her all buttoned up now. Oil leak fixed. Except for the Athena logo cast into the cylinder, it looks like every other WR250X. Took her out for a short ride to make sure that everything is working well. There will be much tweaking of the PC5 to take advantage of the extra displacement, but for now, it rides like a 250. I didn't push it too hard because of having to break in the new piston and cylinder.

Only took a couple more pictures. Getting the wrist pin retainer clips in on the new piston was a bear. Thought I'd never get them in there! Highfive struggled with that in his description of the install and he was right. It's tough. What I didn't have a problem with was getting the piston into the cylinder. Highfive described struggling with that as well. He needed two people for the job; one to compress the rings and one to push the cylinder onto the piston. I was able to do it by myself with no difficulty.

The only other trying part of the process was getting the cams aligned properly. The cam chain tensioner is a real SOB to reset, and because it took me 3 tries to get the timing right, I had to remove the tensioner 3 times, re-compress it and reinstall it. Finally got everything to line up.

So here's a couple more progress pics. This one right after I seated the cylinder.



And the head installed and torqued down:



I'll post more as I get the PC5 & Autotune dialed in. Right now, I just happy that I was able to get the installation done in a day and a half!

Ok, where's my beer...

You're a bit too far south to hand one to, so here:



I've got a few more in the fridge, so you can have this one.

Ok, one more pic. Me, tired and frustrated at lunch time.

motokid wrote:

You're a bit too far south to hand one to, so here:

I've got a few more in the fridge, so you can have this one.

Ahhhhh. Thanks!

Very nice! Very nice!

Anxious to hear about the boost after break-in.

So how is your bike performing???

wow I am soooo jealous!! You have some very nice toys.