vt250 questions

[lb99]

I got offered an '85 vt250 for $100, I havn't seen it yet but the owner says it is tidy but in bits, because it has "a good healthy knock....", but he also says he lost intrest before they got to strip the engine, also most probably dereg.
so, who knows about these motors?, is it worth even looking at? how much to do the bearings, I can do the labour, can I get the crank ground?, what's a tidy VT250 worth?should I even bother looking? I am after a cheap basket case to put back on the road, until I can afford to spend $$$$ on a flash toy

[imdying]

Those motors are shite... the cam chains of death they have.

[gamgee]

agreed, shit, and you'll be lucky if you can find parts, i woudn't touch it, unless you have the engineering skills to reconstruct the frame to hold a kawasaki zzr250 engine :nya:

[Insanity_rules]

So the Suzuki owner and the Kawasaki owner are VT experts? Nah the engines aren't that bad. Serviced regularly and looked after they can cover some pretty good distances. Parts are easy to get via econo honda http://www.econohonda.co.nz but bear in mind its an old bike so some things arent cheap.
Depends what the rattle was mind you. It sounds like cam chains and they're not too hard to do if your confident with a spanner. The key words are clean oil and STP oil treatment as the top end oil journals will block easily if you use shit oil. Have you ever pulled down a bike before? if so VT engines just require a little extra patience. Can be hotted up a bit too and pretty unbeatable off the line, eats my mates 250 bandit (or my other mates ZZR)for breakfast up to 140K's thats where I back off.

I'm on my 3rd VT (VTZ is uprated version with better stoppers but no fairing) and 9th Honda. Go for it if your keen as 250's are at a premium and are fetching rediculous prices at the mo.

[imdying]

FYI, it's already fucked... all the 'clean oil' and 'regular servicing' in the world won't save it now. The only thing that will save it the correct application of money. Hotted up? wtf? Why would you bother? Unbeatable off the line? Compared to what? Your mates Bandit? Well whoopty fuckin doo. VT motors don't require patience, they require a hand grenade.

Assuming the heads or cams aren't fucked (yeah, you know all about the oil gallerys up there), then maybe you could waste some money on it. But as you know, they like to gunge up, and heads n cams were a prick to get 12 years ago when I was a kid. I've no reason to assume the supply situation has improved since then. Or perhaps he should throw good money after bad buying new bits?

Regardless, if you think it's worth spending $100 on getting it to check out the top end, go nuts. Assuming it's not the bottom end, which is entirely possible if some idiot ran it out of oil. That, and the whole compliance/warrat/rego thing, I think the way is clear here...

[gamgee]

So the Suzuki owner and the Kawasaki owner are VT experts?
you mean the kawasaki owner who is now an ex honda owner after blowing a vt250 up...

[imdying]

Having thought about it some more, I'd like to reiterate that my only real concern is that he's poor, and VTs have a reputation for being expensive to fix.

[Wasp]

So the Suzuki owner and the Kawasaki owner are VT experts? Nah the engines aren't that bad.

You tell em bro! :ar15: (IR owns my old vtz)

these are great bikes - after seeing what IR has done to the vtz part of me still wishes i'd kept it (don't get me wrong, i love my bumblebee to bits :hug:)

i think it was around $1,500 including labour that i got quoted to replace all the tensioners and chains. (these bikes are worth $2k easy, a vtz sold on tradme for 1,900 and a spada for 2,500).

For $100 I would personally buy it just so that i could have a play - if only i had the space to do that sort of stuff :(

Up to you, if you have the time money aeffort and know how to fix it and get it running go for it! (if half way you decide not to i reckon you'll get a fair price from a wreckers depending on whats still there working)

[nudemetalz]

I would just like to say that VT's are NOT crap, despite what certain people say in this thread.

My Missus one starts first pop every day and is reliable as hell. We went around the South Island at Easter and her's didn't miss a beat.

They can be a little more difficult to work on than some 250's and the camchain tensioners do have hassles but the parts are not difficult to come by. Malcolm at Econohonda can get pretty much anything you require.
You just have to weigh up whether you're going to spend more money than it's worth. But as a tinker around in your spare time type project, I'd say go for it !!.


NDMz.

[Insanity_rules]

Having thought about it some more, I'd like to reiterate that my only real concern is that he's poor, and VTs have a reputation for being expensive to fix.

Ok I can agree there it could be a potential disaster if the current owner is less than honest. Do we have a mechanically minded member near by to help survey the bits?

But you gotta agree that 250's (any 250's) are insanely expensive at the mo and if its a good'un then it could potentially also be a bargain.

[Insanity_rules]

you mean the kawasaki owner who is now an ex honda owner after blowing a vt250 up...

How long from knocking to blown up?

[lb99]

I have rebuilt engines myself before, and I'm quite confident that I can do the work, but I heard a rumor that once the crank is marked then thats it, you cant grind them, I am poor ATM but I do have some money, however if I can get on the road for under a grand then its gotta be a good deal right? I'm going to look at it tonight, hopefully I can talk the owner into letting me dive into the motor a bit to check some things out, and so far as I know VTs are ok, I knew of a few over the years that the owners looked after and they never had any problems

[imdying]

250s are shocking prices :( If you can fix it, rego and warrant it for under a grand, you're onto a winner. Definitely try and look inside before you part with your hard earned.

[gamgee]

How long from knocking to blown up?
i sold it and it sounded fine, 2 weeks later (roughly) the guy phoned me and told me it had snapped a camshaft and there was oil everywhere

[Mr. Peanut]

Pull the engine out and put pedals in it, all that fancy suspension would make for a great mountain bike :nya:

You could always break it into parts :blip:

[Wasp]

250s are shocking prices :( If you can fix it, rego and warrant it for under a grand, you're onto a winner.

There ya go IR :first: (still must be comming quite close though)

Edit: Congrats on recieving my 500th post.

[Motig]

What the heck. $100 if its all there or most of it, you'll get the money back selling the parts if its to far gone.:doobey:

[Wasp]

yeap, IR will give you $50 for the speedo unit :blah: ($80-$120 from a wreckers) (he might not so dont quote me on that one)

[imdying]

If you decide it's worth putting back on the road and the brakes are rooted, send them down to me and I'll fix them up for as little $$$$ as possible :)

[lb99]

I went and had a look, Its definately a basket case, two complete bikes stripped and scattered, I could probably build a complete bike but I would need lots of nuts and bolts.
I dragged out the only motor with a crank and took the sump off, the remains dregs of oil looked like new, but there was flakes of metal in the gunge at the bottom, so it would need at least bottom end work to build another motor, does anyone know where I can get a good crank?, or want some bits, I'll keep this one in mind but I'm gonna keep bargain hunting in the meantime.

[lb99]

I found a motor with a supposed good crank(waiting for confirmation on that)
so it looks like I'm going to be the proud owner of a huge mechanical jigsaw puzzle soon.:cool: just what I like:yes:

Can anyone help me with a workshop manual? I would prefer a scanned one if possible

[gamgee]

nothing against your mechanical skills, but don't be suprised if the honda blows up in your face :nya:

[Insanity_rules]

yeap, IR will give you $50 for the speedo unit :blah: ($80-$120 from a wreckers) (he might not so dont quote me on that one)

Yeah I would, IM me if you dont want to buy that bike. I could be interested.

[Insanity_rules]

I found a motor with a supposed good crank(waiting for confirmation on that)
so it looks like I'm going to be the proud owner of a huge mechanical jigsaw puzzle soon.:cool: just what I like:yes:

Can anyone help me with a workshop manual? I would prefer a scanned one if possible

I found a manual, just gotta refind the link. I'll PM it to you. I'd be into some parts. What have ya got spare? PM me.

[lb99]

nothing against your mechanical skills, but don't be suprised if the honda blows up in your face :nya:

sourpuss:nya:

geez some of you guys are like real estate agents.....:blah:

since you are in dunedin, make yourself usefull and pop down to Motorcycle Replacements and ask Rick if he has a motor for me....please

[gamgee]

for a vt250?? haha good luck! and thats basically what he told me when i enquired for the guy that bought my bike

[lb99]

I finally got it home, so who wants what parts?