Tortrons 1986 DR250. Better than a GN?

[tortron 65,579]

My shed is pretty yellow right now. 

2 owner 1986 DR250S. That's right, a Gn250 engine in a dual sport frame. This is the S model which means steel swing arm, fuel efficient CV carb and much less suspension than the other models that were surprisingly raced to some effect until anything decent came out. 

First owned by what is now MPI where it was used to pop down from the office to the yards to inspect the wild caught deer before processing. That's where it got the dent in the tank. 

Then on to the guy I got it from, who had it for 25 odd years, until recently when his two sons got a hold of it (one was the one who got it road registered to get to work, then lost the job 6 months later) who left it outside, and dropped it, so now it's mine. 

 

Bike failed to run when I picked it up, despite the sharn of always starting 2nd try and it having never done that before, oh and the fuel line was pissing fuel out very effectively. He also showed me the rust holed old exhaust and told me how to weld it all up cos the new one it's got was $600

 

So I paid the guy and loaded it up, its an old suzuki you can't really expect any better than that

[tortron 65,579]

Rolled it off the trailer and thought I'd better start a list of stuff it needs. Starting with the no start. Plug was very wet and had a black ring around the ceramic, so it's proba ly pretty old and stuffed, gn125 plug is too small, DR200 fits just right (although I later found some new ones in the parts box) with known good plug it started right up, runs very nicely, which given my experience with gn250 engines is pretty surprising. He was changing the oil every 3 hours so the top end and chain is probably as good as can be, the engine has a legitimate 7000km on it. 

With the engine running I did a loop of the house and it all feels happy. The brakes are fantastic, no suspension noises, the fork seals are not that old, seat must have been recovered. 

 

Gave a walk around and have a few issues. 

Rego is on hold and now in my name, but he lost the plate, so will have to go get a new one. 

Tail light is smashed and the parts are lost, same as old dr125/ts250s and is fitted with the cheapest of the 3 options, so I ordered a new lens. 

One front and one rear indicator is broken. I think I can fix the rear one back onto the flex stalk, but the front is smashed to bits and missing half. On close inspection the indicator body is the same as a gn250. So I ordered a full set of black ones and may just swap the whole lot. They won't be flexy, but they never actually flex do they. 

Missing it's tool box lid

Came with a probably dead battery new in box, will see if it comes back to life, needs a strap and is apparently missing some plastic box thing, I think just a tray but I will check the parts diagram. I don't think it's important. 

Tank has that big dent, I think I can push it out fine. There's a couple of little stone dents/chips and surface rust forming. It's also rusty inside. Not bad yet(just) but I'm gonna drain it and put vinegar inside probably when I do the dent. 

Master cylinder sight glass is about 19seconds away from springing a leak. Needed one for the DR200 anyway so I ordered a few and will change it. 

 

Fuel line is split, should order a couple meters for all the others I need to replace too. 

 

Fork gaiters, one is split in half and both are faded. Seems an odd size but I think I can force the lower part onto the fork from a standard size. 

Headlight bulb is blown. 

 

 

Frame

It's been near the ocean and its just on the verge of being rusty but not too rusty to come up nice with a respray. So I'm gonna repaint it blue, and redo the black and silver parts. 

The yellow parts are not too bad, I think the tank would come up OK, but the fenders are bleached white so I might cive the a thick coat of something to give some structure back, and then paint yellow. 

[tortron 65,579]

 

On 20/12/2020 at 17:57, tortron said:

lol no, cdi all day man

but i believe the dr250 was 6v and the stator was wired different

apples and gala apples man

 

* also based on the gn250 engine/400 engine so totally different family of engines. just cos its a suzuki and a DR doesnt mean its related apparently lol

 

GN400s had shit cdis too

 

On 20/12/2020 at 18:16, Willdat? said:

Unfortunately the DR250 was 12v, '2 phase', I tried to do a GN250 conversion to mine, in hindsight an entire GN250 engine swap would have been a winner. The DR400 was 6V though. 

My wife's smuggest story is about how she tried to convince me to keep my (then only year old) DR-Z400 instead of taking on a DR250 project to save money. 

This one is 6v (#10 6v reg, #12 12v reg) and runs with no battery. So makes a very good dualsport. explains the average spark (im hoping) If it shits itself i might throw gn250 parts at it, though everything is available pretty much

[SOHC 11,259]

18 hours ago, tortron said:

 

 

This one is 6v (#10 6v reg, #12 12v reg) and runs with no battery. So makes a very good dualsport. explains the average spark (im hoping) If it shits itself i might throw gn250 parts at it, though everything is available pretty much

Don’t run it with the battery disconnected bad things happen 

[tortron 65,579]

CDI is AC Non-Reguated, lighting is direct wired. Battery is added due to legal reasons needing a tail light when parked on the street and to run the horn

 

Non regulated cdis are a bit odd and this setup is pretty unusual so i dont blame you. I hadnt planned on running it without a battery other than a start up to see it works, as the supplied battery is the wrong size to fit in the tray

 

 

 

but i also hadn't planned on throwing my brake seals in the bin

[tortron 65,579]

 

actual action may vary

[tortron 65,579]

Hey Internet. What colour are 80s suzuki frames. 

 

Ford engine blue

But there's lots of Ford engine blues 

 

 

Lots of suzuki blues too

 

 

DR250 is a close match to duplicolor de1601 Ford blue

Modern 2008 suzuki tank is roughly de1606 Ford dark blue

 

80s Dr200 is inbetween somewhere

[xsinclairx 2,029]

The darker blue would be the go imo!

[tortron 65,579]

250 will be light blue to match whats on there already, and matches the seat more. Dark will go on one of my other 80s dr200's (true colour is more purple)

[SOHC 11,259]

On 21/03/2021 at 14:57, tortron said:

CDI is AC Non-Reguated, lighting is direct wired. Battery is added due to legal reasons needing a tail light when parked on the street and to run the horn

 

Non regulated cdis are a bit odd and this setup is pretty unusual so i dont blame you. I hadnt planned on running it without a battery other than a start up to see it works, as the supplied battery is the wrong size to fit in the tray

 

 

 

but i also hadn't planned on throwing my brake seals in the bin

It must have a little regulator for the direct AC lighting? Or is it like a BSA Bantam and you miss a gear and burn out the headlight.

 

Outer calliper piston seals can fuck off especially on a dirt bike

 

 

[tortron 65,579]

Nother NOS sandwich bag

[Kimjon 5,584]

Think we need an old school "shit bike" trail ride up Thompsons track in the kaimais or similar.

[tortron 65,579]

Not sure why you would post that in this thread? Did you mean your buell thread

[tortron 65,579]

I have suggested taking a bunch of vmoto milans up Thompsons track and just chucking any dead ones in the potholes

[TimShadboltfan27 4,842]

Definitely need to do a OS 42nd traverse mish 

[tortron 65,579]

[Pee Dubs 437]

On 08/04/2021 at 17:45, TimShadboltfan27 said:

Definitely need to do a OS 42nd traverse mish 

There's already a semblance of a plan formed to do 42 Traverse 15-16 May...

[tortron 65,579]

it looks quite tame when its not muddy as shit