NSR250 memorial restoration

Firstly, a short history as to how I came about this NSR250. Back in our younger days my brother and I used to race 250 production class here in Australia, I rode an RGV250 whilst my brother opted for the NSR250se. We spent just over four years racing the bikes with many great memories. When we stopped racing I sold my RGV but my brother kept his NSR (he loved his NSR!) and put it back on the road as he had kept all his original road going body work. As the years passed I started to do some marshalling at our local ride days (eastern creek raceway). My brother again wanted back on the track but his NSR was ready for an engine rebuild before it was to go back on the track. For the next six months my brother did some research and created a wish list for his NSR, mostly parts from Tyga performance like fairings, reeds, pipes, step kit, etc and I was going to do most of the engine work on it. It was not long after this that my brother was diagnosed with cancer and this project was shelved. He beat the first lot of cancer only to be hit with a second round which he couldn’t beat. So I am now going to rebuild his bike to the specs he wanted and get it back on the track in his honour. The bike will be used for track days and club racing.

And so it begins

Finally, the opportunity to head down to Sydney to pick up my brothers NSR250 presented itself in the form of a four day weekend. The drive down was a bit of a disaster due to traffic in Brisbane (crash on motorway) delaying my journey by over an hour. In retrospect that was the easy part as when I finally arrived in Sydney I was met with peak hour traffic (worse than the traffic caused by the crash in Brisbane!), total drive time fourteen and a half hours!

The next morning I was up at sparrows fart to start getting my ute ready for the bike. Prior to my arrival my father had made me a set of wheel stands for my ute, not a bad job I might add. These were bolted in without a hiccup along with a pair of eyebolts for the rear wheel tie down strap.

After all was done the bike was loaded on for a test fit as there were concerns of the bike not fitting between the toolboxes, those fears were quickly dispelled. Everything worked and fitted as it should.

Once I was satisfied everything was good for the drive home I took some time to inspect the bike a little closer. Well it definitely wasn’t the pristine NSR I once remembered, years of sitting under covers in a carport had taken their toll on the old girl. My arch nemesis rust had decided to jump on board in any place he could, the original road fairings which I remembered as being pristine looked to have been through an accident (mmm, appears my brother neglected to tell me about this!), the front brake master cylinder was seized along with carbies and the rear rim now sports a dent.





Although it didn’t look great most of the issues were easy fix problems that would be sorted out as the bike was rebuilt.

After two days in Sydney visiting some friends and spending some time with mum and dad it was time to bring the old girl home to begin her restoration. Having the NSR on the ute must have brought some luck as the drive home only took twelve hours!

 

Thanks Jasper
I will keep the thread updated as I already know Im up for a few hard to find bits like both clutch baskets and a water pump shaft. you dont happen to know where I could source these parts?

 

all good Jasper, ive already spent countless hours searching for these bits. The only way to find these bits will be through word of mouth.
Thanks for checking anyway

 

Home at last and it didn’t take long to strip the fairings, tank and ducktail. I then began on removing the exhausts and carbies along with any other accessories to facilitate the removal of the engine. Surprisingly this all went very smoothly and it wasn’t long before the engine was sitting on my work bench.



For now, I left the bike and concentrated on stripping down the engine to assess the condition of the cylinders, crank, clutch and gearbox. I am currently in discussions with Andy about having the crank rebuilt along with their signature SP tune on the engine. To make the most of this, I’m looking at finishing the engine with a list of tyga parts my brother had noted in his wish list.

Always open to hearing people’s thoughts and ideas, they are always greatly appreciated.

So first thing last, remove cylinder heads and barrels. Everything came apart well considering how rusty some of the studs were.

Rear cylinder, the barrel appears to be in good condition with hone marks still looking clean, the piston does have some score marks which thank god weren’t replicated on the cylinder, the pistons and rings will all be replaced. The cylinder head I think may be a write off due to extensive corrosion (when the bike was stored it didn’t have its cooling system drained). Is this head salvageable?











The front cylinder is much the same as the rear cylinder and appeared to be in good condition again with clean hone marks although not as good as the rear cylinder. The head was also a write off which doesn’t bother me as I already have another rear head to go on the front cylinder.











Once I had removed the cylinders and pistons I moved on to remove the clutch and gearbox. Being that the engine has less than 13000km I was expecting everything to be in pretty good condition but when I pulled the clutch plates out I was a little surprised to see both the basket and hub looked pretty flogged out. Is this normal wear for a dry clutch with less than 13000km?

And next but more importantly where am I able to source the hub and basket?





With the clutch removed, I then pulled out the gearbox. Finally nice to open a part of the engine and find everything in pristine condition, even the gearbox bearings feel like new ones. Would it be ok to re use the gearbox bearings? The oil that was drained was close to pristine, I know my brother replaced gearbox oil every 4000km or after every race day.