Fast Eddie's Aprilia RS250 rebuild & restore

[Fast Eddie]

What colour scheme you thinking of for the paint?

Im thinking of getting a signwriter to knock out some decals for the blade, I dont want all the original ones, they look a little too busy, just a fireblade on each side of the tail, the honda logo on each side of the tank, and the double Rs on the fairings would look good.

I'm a fan of keeping shit OEM bro, so the aprilia stickers are actual OEM replicas, it'll look the same as now, black with the chesterfield livery on it from the early 90's grand prix days.

and the blade, same thing, I found an outfit that does good quality oem replica blade graphics but haven't found the right ones for my model yet.

gotta be factory! haha, I like the blade scheme, you need busy graphics on jap bikes to break it up a bit.. gives it some depth i recon.

but personal taste eh..

and as for paint itself, factory matched colors.. the aim is to make them look like they just rolled off the assembly line brand new.. took me long enough just to color match the seat cowl haha, But I got all the color codes/recipes now.. bit of a mish! blade had slightly hard to get shades. The aprilia just jet black at least

[Fast Eddie]

Since I'm still minus a hand, the mrs helped do a few hours on the aprilia today, need some smaller circlip pliers to remove the water pump impeller from sidecover. paint and bake a few parts.
getting there, do a few hours after work tomorrow - might even run it for first time tomorrow.

front forks still to be rebuilt, clip ons to be purchased and need tyres. sold the old ones while I was polishing the rims..

umm exhaust needs welding I think.. on one the collar that mounts it to the head is fixed on the other its loose, so I assume that ones broken.

gettin there!

mrs is motivatin me cause I told her she can ride it... which means we will soon be rebuilding it haha naa she's all good.

[Ollie.T]

Depending on budget, these tyres are the right size i think (can't be bothered going out to garage and checking...)

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...d-a12h-dunlops

not bad price, depending on condition...

[Fast Eddie]

chur bro, yea sent him a pm.

[Fast Eddie]

Bike was coming along nicely, Got some nice near new tyres for cheap cheap thanks to that link above. So new hoops to go on the polished wheels.

Ran into a hitch when trying to just spin the motor by hand and notice it had a little tight spot.. so back on the bench and pulled top cyl off for some measuring.

Not sure whats going on - both of the old pistons slide up and down in it fine (its original piston and the old piston from the bottom cyl too)

It'll be measuring time, gotta go buy an accurate bore gauge/micrometer as the stuff I have is a bit cheap and is giving me estimates more than measurements. None of the usual repco/supercheap had anything suitable. Monday will be shopping day.

Was hoping to run it/ride it before xmas! but this is a set back.

Ordered bunch of bits off TTW tho.. so getting there. Still gotta get some cheap clip ons, fix the exhaust and change front fork seals but gettin there.

[Fast Eddie]

Anyone have some base gaskets for the RGV/RS250 motor in NZ?

Chur! saves me the overseas postage from TTW or ebay..

[Asher]

I have a base gasket that I use as a template. Want me to trace it onto some cardboard and sent that down.

[Fast Eddie]

I have a base gasket that I use as a template. Want me to trace it onto some cardboard and sent that down.

yip that would be even better, I was going to try trace the cylinder but was a bit lazy. old gaskets are fucked now after taking cylinders back off.

pm'd ya my addy. I can sling ya some postage money

[Fast Eddie]

Got a gasket template off Asher, chur
And got 2 Dunlop A12h hoops off Kiwi cowboy, which look and feel nice and sticky. They will go on the rims soon .. thanks! and thanks for gettin the mrs to deliver them to me too!

So back into it, getting close to riding it again!

Sadly we gotta go North on Wednesday for Family Xmas and Racing in Wangas (not so sad for that) so prob won't finish the bike til 2013!! oh well, shes been a long journey.

Got heaaaps of photos to sort and upload, probably do one big list of posts from start to finish of build. Did a a fair bit to the motor and the whole bike. Stripped it right down to bare frame n swingarm and pulled every bit apart for a clean, replace or repair.

TTW has a lot of my money! I wish the postage wasn't such a killer, its great buying from TTW but the postage is through the roof! bloody GBP exchange rate.

[imdying]

Weird, I got all sorts of shite... discs, ignition systems, Brembo radials, freight was only 85GBP.

[Fast Eddie]

Weird, I got all sorts of shite... discs, ignition systems, Brembo radials, freight was only 85GBP.

it goes by weight doesn't it..

anyway I seem to pay about the same in freight as whatever I'm buying, I tried doing bulk orders but since it goes by weight the more you buy the more you pay.

[imdying]

Yeah same, try and get as much as possible all at once. I've never worried about the price though, I can't make it myself, and I can't fly over there to pick it up!

[Fast Eddie]

I've never worried about the price though, I can't make it myself!

this is true.. haha, I don't really mind about the price.. I was just going through invoices and adding up all the freight I've paid no worries tho!

still got a minor issue with my motor, so had to pull it back apart and have a measure up, it wasn't spinning freely by hand, was binding at TDC on the top cylinder.. bottom cyl seems smooth as..

can worry bout it in the new year - xmas time! and street racing time in Wanganui yee ha!

[imdying]

What's the squish on each cylinder?

[Fast Eddie]

What's the squish on each cylinder?

too large, I was gonna have to pull it apart to bring it down anyway, 1.4mm I have written down.

but it was still binding at TDC with heads back off.. old piston which is same size as new one.. works fine tho.. I swapped rings round but that new piston is just not keen to slide up and down smoothly.. I even put the old cylinder from the bottom cyl in to see if maybe the cyl was out of round and its orig piston was same shape - but nah piston from bottom cyl works sweet too..