More RS250 Goodness
Discussion
Following the beautiful restoration of another RS here, I was shamed into pulling mine out from the back of the garage and seeing if I could address its issues.
Namely, last time it ran, once the temperature got above the mid 40's C it would start to spit water from the exhaust on the forward cylinder.... not good....
So after many years of sitting idle in various corners of the world, I whacked some fuel in her, refilled the coolant and bugger me, started on the third kick....
And yep, after the temperature got up, there was the water shooting out of the pipe... ho hum.
So a quick dismantle had the head off in a matter of minutes (gotta love the simplicity of a smoker) and I think the problem showed up...
The head insert O ring was looking somewhat tired and fraggled. From what I really don't know as it's done very little duty in the last 7 years. But anyway, I dig out my spares box and lo, there's a handful of replacement O rings. Pop one in, reassemble the head , fill the coolant and try again. Needed to clean the exhaust out as it's full of spooge which would keep coming out making it look no better. But, ran her through several heat cycles and nothing. Fingers crossed I've sorted that. Next up , the vertical carb decided to piss fuel out of the overflow. Not surprising given how long she's sat with dry carbs but I'll see if the float valve decides to get with the program or if I need to replace it. Carbs have to come out regardless as I need to adjust the jetting from Johannesburg altitude to Ottawa altitude. Should make quite a difference, just hoping i have the right jets in my box.
Finally, digging around in my "boxes" I found something rather special... a hand made aluminium tank for the RS. Apparently only 10 were ever made so hens teeth is a fitting description.....Needs a restoration polish and I'm not sure about the filler cap but I might see how it comes up. And it is a custom part so I can't swap it for an off the shelf item due to a different diameter filler hole and bolt spacing. However, it's much lighter than the original poly items and looks a bit "speziale" so we'll see. Opinions???
Some other things to do, like replace the BST carbon front wheel which looks like it took some damage in my huge dismount at Kyalami many years ago... (titanium wrists and ankles thank you very much!!)
All in all, glad to have her back on the bench and I'll see if I can get her out against the Kawasaki zx400's at Mosport or Calabogie before the years end....
The frayed head insert O ring..
The bike with the original tank
The ali tank
Not a fan of the filler.....
Namely, last time it ran, once the temperature got above the mid 40's C it would start to spit water from the exhaust on the forward cylinder.... not good....
So after many years of sitting idle in various corners of the world, I whacked some fuel in her, refilled the coolant and bugger me, started on the third kick....
And yep, after the temperature got up, there was the water shooting out of the pipe... ho hum.
So a quick dismantle had the head off in a matter of minutes (gotta love the simplicity of a smoker) and I think the problem showed up...
The head insert O ring was looking somewhat tired and fraggled. From what I really don't know as it's done very little duty in the last 7 years. But anyway, I dig out my spares box and lo, there's a handful of replacement O rings. Pop one in, reassemble the head , fill the coolant and try again. Needed to clean the exhaust out as it's full of spooge which would keep coming out making it look no better. But, ran her through several heat cycles and nothing. Fingers crossed I've sorted that. Next up , the vertical carb decided to piss fuel out of the overflow. Not surprising given how long she's sat with dry carbs but I'll see if the float valve decides to get with the program or if I need to replace it. Carbs have to come out regardless as I need to adjust the jetting from Johannesburg altitude to Ottawa altitude. Should make quite a difference, just hoping i have the right jets in my box.
Finally, digging around in my "boxes" I found something rather special... a hand made aluminium tank for the RS. Apparently only 10 were ever made so hens teeth is a fitting description.....Needs a restoration polish and I'm not sure about the filler cap but I might see how it comes up. And it is a custom part so I can't swap it for an off the shelf item due to a different diameter filler hole and bolt spacing. However, it's much lighter than the original poly items and looks a bit "speziale" so we'll see. Opinions???
Some other things to do, like replace the BST carbon front wheel which looks like it took some damage in my huge dismount at Kyalami many years ago... (titanium wrists and ankles thank you very much!!)
All in all, glad to have her back on the bench and I'll see if I can get her out against the Kawasaki zx400's at Mosport or Calabogie before the years end....
The frayed head insert O ring..
The bike with the original tank
The ali tank
Not a fan of the filler.....
Edited by Steve Bass on Thursday 18th July 17:06
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