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Help ZXR250A1 issues to watch for?

Discussion in 'Kawasaki 250cc In-line 4's' started by banner001, Feb 5, 2018.

  1. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Hi everyone, I've rebuilt an fzr250rr for a mate, and I'm one of the main mods of the zxr400 forum here in the UK so I know my little bikes.

    An opportunity has come up for me to buy a 1989 zxr250 for a very good price, I know to look out for all the standard bike bits, brakes, forks, excessive corrosion etc...but are there any specific 250 problems to look out for? Are there any parts that are hens teeth rare?

    I've been looking for one now for 6 years, and in that time I know of 1 changing hands here in the UK...if there are more than 10 in the whole country I would ask you to name them...they are that rare.

    Cheers for any help/input, John
     
  2. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Check charging system thoroughly. Start with reg/rec plug under the tank and go from there
     
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  3. maelstrom

    maelstrom LiteTek Staff Member Premium Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Agree with @Linkin but not as diplomatic, throw the reg/rec in the bin and spend some money to buy something decent.
     
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  4. GreyImport

    GreyImport Administrator Staff Member The Chief Contributing Member

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    Does the same thing happen on the A model as with the C model? ... lack of cooling for the RR

    Burnt Toast.jpg
     
  5. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    This biggest mechanical issue with the ZXR's is the cam chain and tensioners, young riders get on and give them a hard time and don't do the required maintenance, the good news is that Kawasaki used the CCT on plenty of other bikes including the GPX250 so they are easily replaced. I agree with the comments above, the voltage reg and wiring can be a weak point.

    If you do get it, make sure you shift under 16,000 RPM, you have hit peak power by then, anything higher and you are showing off and increasing your chance of piston to valve contact.
     
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  6. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Cheers guys. All your comments are basically mirrored in the 400 as well.

    I made my own "better than OEM" loom for the 400, I'd do the same for the 250...I mean it's 30 year old copper...

    I'll likely buy 2 engines, strip one down and service it back to brand new, it's what I'm doing with my 444cc engine.

    Thanks for your input, I await the weekend...
     
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  7. beano

    beano Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    doesn't the A model have a different engine to the later models?? and parts like piston rings etc are hard to get for them?? im not well up on the zxr's but i definitely remember reading something along those lines on a few threads on here.

    might be a rare bike in the uk but they were really popular here in ireland 10-15 years ago, ill have a look on some of the popular selling sites here and see if theres any about.

    also did you ever finish that fzr250?? you had a fantastic rebuild thread going that just stopped suddenly, always wondered how it turned out in the end
     
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  8. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    One more thing to add. If you ever get to doing the valve shims, measure what diameter they are... mine were 7.9mm shims... others have measured theirs and found they had 7.48mm shims... as you can imagine, using a smaller shim means it is loose, good way to end up with a destroyed engine
     
  9. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Yes i finished the Fzr250, took the lad 6 months to come collect it...but it was all good, still a slight hiccup with the carbs, think it needed a good blast out followed by some dyno time, seemed very responsive to small air/fuel tweaks.

    39384677534_139fe70036_h.jpg

    Never heard of shims other than 7.48 or 10mm...cheers ill keep an eye out.

    As for the bike, i know its a 1989 A1, the frame number shows that its not a B1, its been stripped and powdercoated, he basically doesnt have the time/motivation to really dedicate any serious time to it, so its currently boxed up. Ive gone through the microfiche to see what bits are substantially different in looks to the ZXR400H models, so far it just looks like engine, carbs and airbox, all the other bits look roughly similar.

    From the microfiche - The cylinder head, pistons, transmission, crankcases (i think), engine covers, cooling system (mostly) - Are identical A1-3 to C1-3 models
    From the microfiche - The Crankshaft - Is different A1-3 to C1-3 models
     
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  10. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Does the engine match the frame...B and D model ZXR's are race models with different gear ratios, different TCI unit and 32mm carbs, and an adjustable rear shock too if memory serves.
     
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  11. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Cheers Linkin, ill keep an eye out for that.

    Looking at the information i have here, the frame numbers were different for the A and B models, but the engine numbers are identical - presumably they take some of the better engines off the production run and put them into a slightly different chassis (the B/D frame).

    On the zxr400 the SP models (J and M) are marked with a J or M punched into the RHS of the cylinders...its the only exterior way to tell the engines apart...is the zxr250 similar?
     
  12. sharky

    sharky Well-Known Member

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    Yeah i have been looking into the SP models lately, also might have cams with a slightly higher lift, SP models frames are B1 300001- B2 301501- & D1 300001-. I found one recently but there's no 32mm carbs or special rear shock on it, but I did notice the cams had different markings even though they all measured up the same, & the motor does sound a bit beefier than normal with a standard pipe. Unfortunately it needs a new cam chain. 20180207_082038.jpg cams off the SP model. 20171229_150807.jpg 20171229_150824.jpg Cams off a C model 20171229_151010.jpg 20171229_151027.jpg
     
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  13. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    The A1 and B1 cam's have the same part numbers...however if they are supposed to be different it's possible that the factory ground down the base circles and then reprofiled them...though from your pictures they look basically the same. Usually the SP cam's will have more lift, more duration and more overlap.
     
  14. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    will be viewing the bike in 10.5 hours time...fingers crossed...
     
  15. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    I join the club! I present to you "Big Vern" (a character from Viz, also all of my bikes have male names starting with V...)

    26314426898_bdd860f478_b.jpg

    I christen him into this world by paraphrasing The Pixies - Gigantic (if you dont know who the pixies are, ask your parents, and stop listening to all your K-pop crap :D)

    And this I know
    Its wheels as black as coal
    What a gas it was to see it
    Ride it every day
    Into an empty place
    When it revs I said
    I said

    [Chorus]
    Hey Vern, Hey Vern, Hey Vern, let's have a burn
    Hey Vern, Hey Vern, Hey Vern, let's have a burn
    Hey Vern, Hey Vern, Hey Vern, let's have a burn
    Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
    A big, big love
    Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
    A big, big love
    :neo:

    Final price, £900, so 1600AUD, its worth 6 times this price when finished over here...
     
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    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  16. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Ok everyone, ive gone through the list of bits i have, and the list of bits i dont have, grouped into essential and non essential parts. This list is more so i have an area on here where as i accumulate parts i can delete them, so i can see what i still need.

    Than being said, for the moment the bike can be a scruffy mess, it just needs to pass its verification (more on that in the next post), however if anyone has any part of this list thats just sitting in a corner gathering dust let me know what you want for them and ill sort you out.

    So far everything is A-model, with the exception of the swingarm which is a C-model swingarm...but i prefer it to the A so its staying.

    Much love, John

    Essential
    Rear light
    Rear lightbulb holders
    Rear light metal bracket (to attach to subframe)
    Front seat
    Rubber cush drive
    Fusebox
    Horn
    Radiator fan
    Radiator fan shroud
    Indicators front and rear
    Fuel cap
    Ignition barel
    Rear brake switch
    Headlight complete + mounting rubbers
    LHS switchgear (choke/low-high/flash/horn)
    Speedometer + cable + speedo drive
    Speedometer sub loom
    Rear fuel tank mounting dampers
    Battery box
    Airbox and filter


    Non-essential
    Rear footpegs + attachments to subframe
    All fairings and mudguards
    All fairing mounting brackets/rubber dampers/metal inserts
    Rear seat
    Part of the rear seat lock (i think?) part number 27012A (HERE)
    Screen
    Mirrors
    Air tubes + ends
    Front fairing infils + brackets
    Plastic radiator front cover
    Seat lock
    Clutch lever
    Speedometer/tacho/water temp metal bracket
    rear grab handles
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
  17. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    So the story of the bike. A1 model made in early 1990 it was imported to the UK March 2000, had its first CatC writeoff in August 2000, and its second CatC writeoff in March 2002. Was purchased by its current owner in July 2004...so far so good.

    The current owner decided to make it into a track bike (hence the missing lights etc.) after riding it up and down their road a few times, but instead of putting a SORN notice on it (to say it was not on the road) he decided to send off the V5 saying it was scrapped (in the old days you had to register the bike as SORN every year or be fined, and he had been fined before for other bikes).

    This shouldn't be a problem, ive seen people with cars do the same thing, i.e. recover them after they have been declared scrapped, the DVLA will need to inspect it to make sure its not 2 bikes welded together, or that its had its frame number altered in anyway...so the bike will need to run, though it doesn't need to look pretty, and there are definitely parts that can be omitted from it (like rear footpegs etc.). According to the DVLA the only people who can actually scrap a bike are dealers or insurance companies, so as long as it has not been physically scrapped i should be able to get it re-registered with a new numberplate (i have the details of the old numberplate but the DVLA have removed it from their system as soon as they got the notice saying it was scrapped).

    The plan is to get the bike in a working state, with some cheap missmatched fairings on it, and get the DVLA to give it the once over, then i can strip it and rebuild it back up in mint condition.
     
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  18. maelstrom

    maelstrom LiteTek Staff Member Premium Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Hi John, so can you not import grey bikes into the UK anymore? I'm in Thailand and that is the case here which is why the price of grey bikes just keeps rising. Look forward to watching this one.
     
  19. banner001

    banner001 Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Yes you can still do grey imports, though they are getting rarer and rarer, it was a pre-2000 thing really.

    The issue is that it's been declared scrapped, i.e. shouldn't exist anymore...I'll have to jump through some hoops but it should be all good in the end.
     
  20. tarmacsurfer

    tarmacsurfer Well-Known Member

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    Hi John, where are you in Uk?
    I'm near Leicester and have an a-model. Got a few spare bits
     
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