Head gasket replacement VTR250?

[milktown]

so i went down to wanginui a few days ago to pick up a 2000 vtr250 for the lady friend to learn on. test rode the bike for about 15 mins, everything seemed fine other that a bit squishy in the front end. unfortunately the bike had a faulty thermostat which didn't reveal itself until about 2 hours into the ride home when the bike overheated and blew a head gasket .

i've done a bit of bike work before, clutch plates, breaks, sprockets, valve cover gasket, carb cleaning but never something this deep into the engine.
my question is has anybody done a head gasket on one of these little bikes before? are there any things i MUST know before diving in? are there any tricks that help with this particular model?

any wisdom/trolling would be greatly appreciated

[matrox02]

so i went down to wanginui a few days ago to pick up a 2000 vtr250 for the lady friend to learn on. test rode the bike for about 15 mins, everything seemed fine other that a bit squishy in the front end. unfortunately the bike had a faulty thermostat which didn't reveal itself until about 2 hours into the ride home when the bike overheated and blew a head gasket .

i've done a bit of bike work before, clutch plates, breaks, sprockets, valve cover gasket, carb cleaning but never something this deep into the engine.
my question is has anybody done a head gasket on one of these little bikes before? are there any things i MUST know before diving in? are there any tricks that help with this particular model?

any wisdom/trolling would be greatly appreciated

make sure you understand how the firing order works on the flywheel, My first vtwin rebuild didnt work nice because it had a 270 degree firing order and i some how managed to muck that up( one firing on exhaust stroke other firing on correct stroke), but luckily didnt have broken anything when spinning it over( though I dont know if the vtr has a keyway for the cam shaft, The Aprilia sxv450 dont! ), otherwise, Get a good paint pen and a manual and go for gold

[ducatilover]

First, figure out which head has shat the gasket (or just do both, but make sure it has done the gaskets...)
Get a manual.
Do the gaskets

Mark everything and take photos and write down how the cam timing works before ripping it open, if you do that, and still balls up the timing on it, you should sell your tools, buy a FIAT Punto and wear socks in your sandals