The latest addition. I finally decided to put aside my bitterness about having to go back to basics and take another bike test and picked this up to get me to my M2 license. I put the more street appropriate tires on that came with it but other than that it was alright apart from a loud tick like an exhaust leak or something. I’ll check valve clearances and do an oil change over winter, I will have a look then.
It’s not fast but it picks up ok with a thrashing. The front brake and suspension were awful! I bled the brake several times and it got better but I think it wants a steel braided cable; the Z125 I rode on the M2 course was amazing in comparison. On the forks I put the damping clickers back to stock and then increased compression damping a good few clicks and finally found a bit of confidence in the front end. It’s felt better each time I’ve ridden it but I’m already thinking about upgrades.
Author Archives: MTOAdmin
2012 Suzuki RM-Z 250
Was going to get new springs for the 2010 but saw this in great shape and a reasonable price so decided to jump on this and then look at selling the older one.
After setting all the suspension to stock I took this out and it is effing awesome!! The handling is fantastic and it just inspires confidence as soon as you let the clutch out.
Notes
RM-Z 250 parts list and exploded diagrams
Sag – stand 25 3/8, static 23 1/2, race 21 1/2
To Do List
- Oil the chain
- Check valve clearances
- Install Yoshimura exhaust?
Completed Tasks
September 2019
- Replace chain and sprockets – O ring chain and steel sprockets installed
July 2019 - show more
News
Saturday 26th October 2019
Last day of the 2019 season today. For various reasons we haven’t been out as much as we would have liked but we made it this time and was rewarded with fantastic weather. Took a while to get used to the track being reversed and by the time we got out, there were some pretty decent ruts on the run up to a lot of the jumps. I had the back end kick out sideways a couple of times that sapped my confidence for hitting 9 but Josh had a bad kick out that whipped him into the ground and broke the fender completely off!
Monday 15th July 2019
I was not happy with the handling on the RMZ 250 after riding the YZ250F again, checked the static sag and it seemed to suggest that the spring is too stiff. An aftermarket spring is about $200, not sure about fork springs. Even with new springs it looks like the suspension has been into MCR Suspension probably for re-valving?? So decided to list it and get something else but ended up buying another RMZ, check it out here.
Sunday 23rd June
Finally some nice weather and good track conditions. GoPro mounts installed, all the bikes seem to be running ok. Jake wasn’t afraid to have a go at sending it over jump 9 …
Tracks in the Greater Toronto Area
RJ’s Motosports
Location: Midhurst, Barrie
Tracks: Two – main and 50cc
Comments: The main track is great and suitable for all riders, beginners to experts, although beginners might find it a bit intimidating at first. Limited facilities and very limited opening times, friendly atmosphere.
Motopark
Location: Chatsworth
Tracks: Two – main and kids
Comments: Lots of facilities including cafe, paintball, washrooms/showers, camping, frequent open times.
The 15 Practice Track
Location: Woodstock
Tracks: One
Comments: Secret club? Only has Facebook page with minimum information for website.
Gopher Dunes
Location: Tillsonburg
Tracks: Four – main, arenacross, peewee and beginner, plus trails
Comments: Sandy
Walton Raceway
Location: Goderich
Tracks: Two? – main and 50cc
Comments: ?
2003 Suzuki RM65
I picked this up for the little guy, looks to be in good shape. The clutch bites late so it might need new plates and it has a DEP exhaust that makes the power band a bit too vicious for him to learn clutch and gears with so I’ll try to pick up a stock exhaust. Tried installing the flywheel weight tonight but it fouls the cover. The chain was extremely loose and despite what I thought, there was enough adjustment left to get it in spec, I also need to install the new fork seals that came with it.
Bit of a big step up from the PW80 but I think he’ll be ripping this around in no time.
Notes
RM 65 parts list and exploded diagrams
To do
- Clean
- Oil the chain
- Install split pins in the axles
- Change gearbox oil
Completed
May – June 2019
- Loctite kick-start screw
- Gas leaking from carb – reset float height, turned out to be the hose from the tank to the carb was too short and wasn’t sealing
April 2019
- Fork seals are still leaking?? – Josh took them to his co-op at TSR to re-seat the seals
- Torque handlebar clamps
- Set suspension to stock settings
- Install fork seals – with AMSoil synthetic fork oil
- Adjust chain
- Tried to install flywheel weight – no go, fouls on the casing
- Adjusted handlebars
- Replaced screw in kickstart with hex bolt, missing bolt from flywheel cover, missing bolt from rear brake guard
- Seated carb properly
2011 Nissan Juke SL
1.6L direct injection turbo 190HP
Front wheel drive
5 doors
6 speed manual
2960 lbs
5 seats
Josh was looking for a car but when I saw this going for a good price, my family convinced me to jump on it and give Josh the Golf GTI. It has 250,000 Kms but the seller rust proofed the underside for me and it came with new brakes all round and all season tires.
To Do
- Remove DS door panel and check window clunking
- Lowering springs – when Josh orders his for the Golf
- Get rims for winter tires
- Tune ECU?
Completed
August 2019
Fix vacuum leak – erratic idle, P0101 MAF sensor range issue, STFT at about 10 but goes down to 0 at 2000rpm. Tried smoke machine and soapy water but could not find any sign of a leak – maybe needs to be warm?
Sprayed a load of brake cleaner around the engine bay while it was idling hot and it was rock solid, no sign of a vacuum leak and at the risk of jinxing it, the MAF sensor code hasn’t come back for several weeks now.
Seems to be burning a fair bit of oil with very little impact on performance, put 2 bottles of Lucas oil stabilizer in – had very good results with that in the past.
June 2019
AC not blowing cold – took it in to a local garage for system health check, they couldn’t find any leaks so told them to top up the coolant and we’ll see how it goes – $450!!!!! Seems a lot to me when the DIY kits are about $70 but they also use a conditioner that helps maintain the seals.
They also said that the cabin air filter needed replacing and one of the CV boots was torn, I got a filter from CT for $40 and installed myself and booked it in again for the CV boot (the Porsche is not reliable enough yet for me to tackle the boot on a weekend).
Checked the oil level at the weekend and it was almost off the bottom of the dipstick!!! Topped it up and will keep a closer eye on it but there’s no sign of drips underneath so it’s likely blowing past the piston rings and if that’s the case, it will mean major surgery.
May 2019
Since I have upgraded the air filter and muffler and deleted the resonator, I think I’m probably over 200HP now so I felt justified in having Rick make me a Nismo badge, installed it last night.
The CEL came on at the weekend with P0101 MAF out of range code again. Cleaned the MAF sensor again and checked the wiring, then cleared the code but it came back immediately?? Checked for vacuum leaks by spraying Quick Start (ether) around the engine bay but it seemed fine. Cleared the code again, stayed off for 2 days so far.
Idle was a bit off on the way home from work, it could be relearning stuff after the muffler but just in case, I cleaned the throttle valve with Sea Foam and a cotton bud.
Stillen Muffler: Picked this up from a guy on Kijiji, traded for an Xbox 360. When I checked mine, it is quite different and has no flange at the muffler. In fact since there was no flange installed when the resonator was deleted, the entire exhaust from the turbo back is all one piece including the cat!
It took some cutting and welding with a couple of adapters but we got it installed and I think it sounds great! Also made a significant difference to the performance, Stillen suggest +13HP and that seems about right to me, it definitely pulls better and is generally a better/smoother drive.
Tuning: it seems that getting a tune on this thing is not going to be easy. A lot of places say they can’t connect to the ECU and the ones that can want mega bucks (like $1100) and haven’t even tuned a Juke before – crazy if you ask me! The best option so far seems to be an ECU-Tek Programming Kit from Visconti that works out at about $960 with shipping and allows me to flash the ECU with ‘off the shelf’ roms. It’s a lot of money for something that is licensed to ONLY one vehicle and might well only be used once.
April 2019
- CEL P0101 MAF Sensor Circuit Range/Performance – cleaned MAF Sensor
- Straight pipe resonator – $120 at RJ’s
CEL Misfire on Cyl #4 – New spark plugs, NGK 91215 DILKAR7C9H, also swapped coils 1 and 4 When I punched it to overtake someone the other day, I started getting some hesitation and then the CEL started flashing indicating that there had been some misfires. I pulled the pending code that indicated the misfire was on cylinder 4 only so I figured the first place to start was spark plugs. CarQuest was able to get me some at a very reasonable price so I ordered 4 and installed them, also swapped coils on cylinders 1 and 4 just in case. The plug in cylinder 4 was the worst and was well worn, wouldn’t be surprised if it was original!
- Check exhaust for leaks – small hole in resonator, cat flange rusted
- Oil change
- Install new K&N air filter $79
- Adjust parking brake
2007 Yamaha YZ250F
3 Replies
Check out this sweet end of season deal!
Now with the new seat,
Notes
YZ250Fw parts list and exploded diagrams
Valve clearances:
Exhaust 0.17 – 0.22mm (0.0067 – 0.0087″)
Actuals Dec2017: L 0.203mm, R 0.178mm
Actuals Jun2018: L 0.203mm, R 0.178+mm
Actuals Dec2018: L 0.178mm, R 0.178mm
Shims: L 1.72mm, R 1.75mm
New Shims: L 1.70mm, R 1.73mm
Actuals Jan2019: L 0.203mm, R 0.178+mm
Intake 0.10 – 0.15mm (0.0039 – 0.0059″)
Actuals Dec2017: L 0.102mm, M 0.102mm, R 0.127mm
Actuals Jun2018: L 0.127mm, M 0.127mm, R 0.127mm
Actuals Dec2018: L 0.102mm, M 0.127mm, R 0.127mm
Shims: L 1.76mm, M 1.73mm, R 1.72mm
New Shims: L 1.72mm, M 1.72mm, R 1.70mm
Actuals Jan2019: L 0.152mm, M 0.127mm, R 0.152
Aug 18: Backed off pilot air screw ~1/4 turn to address hanging idle and tough warm starts (although we weren’t following the procedure in the manual)
To Do List
- Oil the chain
- Check valve clearances
- Replace upper rear shock bearing – got a set of bearings but there isn’t much play at all, probably install them next winter
- New front brake lever
Completed Tasks
June 2019
- Replace broken ASV clutch lever screw – Josh picked one up from TSR
Feb 2019
- Oil and filter change – AMSOIL synthetic
Jan 2019
- Re-fill with coolant
- Install new head gasket
- Check piston and con rod, visually inspect crank – looks good
- Check valve clearances
- Repacked muffler
Before 2019
2003 KTM 125sx
After losing confidence in the YZ250F reliability due to the valve failure, I listed it on Kijiji for trade for a 2 stroke. I was offered a 2004 KTM 125sx that was ‘ready to ride’ and when I checked the reviews, this was the year that they sorted out the poor rear suspension. So I met the guy and my heart sank when I saw the condition of the bike and the huge dent in the expansion chamber but it started ok and sounded alright and for some reason, I went through with the trade. When I ran the VIN, I found out that it is actually a 2003, great but at least the VIN was not reported stolen.
When I got it home and started looking closer I found all sorts of little issues, front fender wobbling, play in front wheel bearings and rear shock lower bearing, bent rear sub frame, fork seals leaking, it looks like this poor thing has just been neglected – I would not class this as ready to ride. It amazes me how people will sell something without even washing it??? Pretty disappointed with the accuracy of the description but I could have walked away and the issues really are relatively minor … so far. So I got started on fixing it up, here’s a more recent pic,
Notes
125sx parts list and exploded diagrams
Jan 2010
Race sags: Josh/Jake = 95mm, Stu = 114mm, static sag = 44mm
Jet needle set to middle notch
24 Aug 2018
Compression damping on rear shock = stock + 2 clicks
Compression damping on forks = stock – 6 clicks
Jet needle lowered to 2nd notch from top to address mid throttle sputter – we’ll see??
Original
Race sag (Stu) = 105mm, static sag = 30mm
To Do List
- Oil chain
- Repair left side air scoop mount on tank
- New front mudguard (or full set of plastics?)
- New rear sprocket bolts, with thread lock
- New front brake cable
- Ride it again, haven’t been on it this season!
Completed Tasks
Jun 2019
- Dropped the forks through the yolks so they were flush to try and address tank slappers
Previous
- Give it a good wash
- Fix wobble in front mudguard – Front brake cable clamp is missing that provided a spacer, put large washers in for now; new brake cable clamp installed
- Fix huge cracks in rear mudguard – Used the old tie wrap stitching trick
- Fix dent in exhaust
- Remove seat cover – original cover still underneath with only minor tears
- Bend radiator mount tabs back, prevent them from fouling the forks
- Threads damaged on oil level check screw – replaced with radiator mount screw since replacement screw had larger (10mm) head
- Replace worn vent screw in fork cap – not needed, with good screwdriver not much effort is required to undo
- Check rear brake cylinder, push rod comes out? – looks like it could be normal on parts diagram but the rod is well corroded
- Replace front wheel bearings
- Replace rear shock lower mount bearing – replaced with MSR bearing, not teflon
- Fix seized rebound adjust screw on rear shock – got a 2007 XC-W shock PN 12178C04 mono compression control
- Fix spring on kick-start shaft – ratchet gear was mis-aligned on shaft – rectified
- Replace fork seals – refilled with AMSOIL SAE 5 synthetic
- Thread in left side fork protector mount hole damaged – one or two threads seem ok, new screw held in with thread lock
- Install new piston – plenty of blow-by on piston skirt, got Wossner piston and ring (awesome!) and new small end bearing
- Cylinder stud broken, the nut and top of stud were glued in place!!! WTF?!?! – got the old one out with stud remover, installed new
- Screw and bucket holding the rubber chain guard on the swing arm missing – threads in hole on swing arm trashed, aluminum is thin on swing arm not much there to hold heli-coil, tried tapping to M6 and thread locking, not overly happy with it though
- Ball bearing for kick start – thanks Dan and TSR
- New right side drain plug M10x1 – threads in clutch cover are trashed! There is a bit of the old threads left but the drain bolt slips straight in, tried installing an M10x1.5 Fix-A-Thred insert in the remaining threads but the hole was too small. Plugged with high heat JB Weld
- Threads in oil level check screw are trashed – repaired with Fix-A-Thred repair kit
- Fix broken arm on sub frame – Josh welded it up in auto class. Update: the weld failed so a small steel bar was fashioned and inserted. Thought about filling around the bar with JB Weld or drilling holes and holding in place with screws but the bar was a tight fit and there should not be any load trying to pull it out the back of the bike so I think it’s good now
- Spring for rear brake lever is missing – bought new one
- Clutch basket and inner hub are both damaged – replaced with used parts found on ebay
- Clutch holding tool required – used impact driver
- Replace spark plug – ordered from Fortnine
- Install new clutch actuator gasket, screw and banjo washer – screw was too long?? had to cut one down
- Get mineral oil for clutch, top up and bleed clutch actuator – also bled the front brake again
- Little play in rear wheel – replace bearings, ordered from Fortnine with grips
- Installed new grips
- Set race sag and suspension settings to stock – race sag = 105mm, static sag = 30mm, compression damping on rear shock = stock + 1 click
- Clean rear rim
- Install new Shinko rear that came with the bike
- Adjust chain tension
- Loctite the handlebar perch mount screws
- New front tire – picked up a very lightly used Dunlop Geomax
- Split engine and remove crank (big end bearing seized)
- Install new Hot Rods crank and new bearings
- Check power valve z dimension
- Teach the lad how to short shift
- Properly repaired the rear subframe using a strip of steel drillled and tapped to take 4 M6 machine screws and replaced all the broken zip ties
1980 924 Turbo
November 2014 – I wasn’t really looking for another project but I had been toying with the idea of one day picking up a front engine rear wheel drive vehicle like the old Ford Escort Mk II I used to have in the UK. I have some RSS feeds set up and one of them brought a posting for a 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo to my attention. The good parts are that it is front engine rear wheel drive with a manual gearbox, it’s in decent shape and should have the awesome Porsche handling. On the down side, it has been off the road for 17 years, it doesn’t run (no power to the fuel pumps), there are lots of electrical accessories not working, and it’s purple!
I apologise for these bad pictures, it is winter so I’ll have to wait for spring to update with some better ones.
And at long last, here are some slightly better pics,
To Do List
- Update the site more often!
- Fix the bloody idle hunting or low idle now!
- Find and fix oil leak from around turbo
- New tires for front Boxster rims
- New shock absorbers all round
- New control arm bushings
- Repair/replace hood latch release lever
- Check/paint rear calipers
- Remove dashboard
- Remove remaining AC stuff in PS footwell
- Check instrument wiring and grounds
- Fix instrument lights
- Hardly any air coming from defrost vents, fix/replace blower motor – no power getting to blower motor, blower motor does not spin when connected directly to battery
- Paint A arms
and heat shields - DS electric mirror
not functioning andglass stained –stain covered with blind spot mirror - Driver’s seat cover repair
Completed
October 2019
- Still struggling with this idle hunting, very strange – please let me know if you have any theories or ideas of something to try.
Tried disassembling and cleaning the WUR, worked for a day and then hunting started again. Tried again and this time the hunting was worse and then it would cut out if you booted it in second gear, definitely doing something though. Tried one last time and blew out the little passages with the air gun … to be tested. - Starting is still problematic and I have to disconnect the cold start valve sometimes – removed the cold start valve and blew it out while applying 12V to open it.
- Got some spacers made up by Josh and finally got my longer wheel studs so I could install the Boxster rims
- Cleaned Idle Air Control Valve and fixed bad wire on connector
- Installed new LED side marker bulbs in the front
- Muffler hanger broke AGAIN! Used thicker plate to repair, hopefully the Mk3 will hold up
September 2019
- Installed brand new fuel filters, both in the engine bay and the in line filter.
- Removed and cleaned the cold start valve, it was a bit coked up.
- Adjusted the return spring on the clutch pedal.
- Cleaned the Idle Air Control valve