1979 CR 250

Hi:

A friend had picked up a couple of old bikes and after a few months decided he really didn't want to deal with the Husky. Interestingly, the bike has a key!

Before:



The key thing had me intrigued, so I tried to trace the myriad of wires that were all over the bike. There were pink wires, orange wires, yellow wires spliced to green wires and it was all held together with pink zip-ties. There were wires that started nowhere and ended nowhere. I gave up trying to sort though it and cut it all off.

Now:



This picture is from about a month ago. I was just fitting things up to see how many bits and pieces I had left over. Not all that many.

The 40mm forks came off ... well ... not a clue. They have 15 12 358 on them and that seems to narrow them down to an 82 through 84 CR. I check the travel and far as I can tell they are CR forks. What kinda CR forks ... no clue. Took them apart, stripped the gold paint off, cleaned them up, painted them black, seals, top-out washers, 15W @ 130mm and threw them on. They are stiff, but I'm hoping that is just the new seals. If not ... a Plan B will have to be figured out.

The triple came from EBay. Took at trip to Huskydogggggg's Emporium of Goodness and he had a front wheel assembly that fit the bill. Thanks Steve!

The bars have been refinished and the "angled" bar clamps put back on.

The top end is now 1st-over and the barrel was put back straight. For some reason, the barrel was installed in the cylinder squint, maybe from the factory, maybe by a previous owner.

There is a quite a bit left to do, the biggest item is to figure out what to do about the shocks. Rebuild them myself, send them somewhere, or replace them with something else? There are no plans to do any serious vintage racing, although I'm pretty sure I'll be getting in on the local vintage MX thing, just treating the whole thing as more of a trail ride than a race.

Nice rescue,I have the same one in WR flavor what engine code is yours? 2065 is CR 2066 is WR
Bill

Squint?

Engine Code is 2065. I thought the bike was a WR of some sort when I first saw it. To ride on crown land up here you need a headlight, taillight, off-road registration and insurance. Some guys tape a flashlight to the handlebars and stick a bicycle light on the back. This bike had Preston Petty stuff on it, which initially confused me until I looked up the frame and engine numbers.

Yup, squint, or perhaps the previous owner stuffed in a
non-OEM barrel and didn't get things lined up that well?



It looks a whole lot better now that the shop refit it.

Couple of things I noticed about your project. If the engine number is 2065, it corresponds to a 1978 250 CR according to the info I have. However the airbox on the bike is definately later than the 1978 model. The forks look like 1982 or later and my parts lists only goes to 1980. But I know the model that had "Husqvarna" on the side of the forks were later than 1981. The expansion chamber looks like '79 vintage. I sell new case stickers for $5 free shipping on Ebay. Look under Vintage Husqvarna Case Stickers. Great job on the bike!

Based on the length of the fork below the axle, definitely CR forks, WR's are shorter.
You might check the preload on the springs. Reducing the preload with soften them up.
So far looking GREAT!!

BTW HuskyT. I had my remote reservoir Ohlins rebuilt by Jake Suspension and he is currently working on a set of Curnutts off my '78 250 OR. He does excellent work. Since you are in Corona, he is not far from you in Chino Hills. You can reach him @ 909-212-3121.

Thank you gents! A LOT of great information. This site is a gold mine.

From what I've been able to find, the '79 CR does have a 2065 engine code in an MM frame.
The '78 CR also has the 2065 engine in an ML frame.

Husqvarna-Parts shows:

1978 250 CR ML-22000 2065 xxxx
1979 250 CR MM-00001 2065

Husky Club shows 2065 for '79 CR in an MM frame as well.

1978 250 CR ML-22000 2065 xxxx
1979 250 CR MM-00001 2065

Husqvarna Outlet shows the same info:

1978 250 CR ML-22000 2065

1979 250 CR MM-00001 2065

I have no clue how accurate these various sources are though.

Yes. It took me a while to go through all the parts manuals in the Tech Ref section and as far as I can make out the forks are from a 1984 CR. The DLS front wheel assembly is from Steve, the '84 triple clamp from eBay.

I learned about the 1980 swingarm in another thread - or maybe from Steve - and I thought I had found one here in Canada. Despite assurances from the seller it is definitely not from an '80 ... haven't figured out what it came from yet.

I started to disassemble the Ohlins.

There was a bit of "nitrogen" pressure left in them, but absolutely no shock oil. I couldn't get past the circlips in the shock body so ran them out to RT Suspension (local) and they disassembled them for me.

Cleaned, primed and painted the shock bodies and reservoirs. Used the husqvarna-parts paint.

Blasted the springs to paint them, but was out running an errand and went past a coatings shop, so stopped in to have a look around. The owner said he was going to be powder coating a bunch of Harley parts in about an hour and he'd throw my springs in with the batch, if I didn't mind the color. I'm not picky.

The shocks have the original, multi-part internals in them, so RT is going to switch them to the single-piece internals and the newer style seal cap, and reassemble them. When the shocks are back together it will be time to wrestle the bike up the stairs and get it running and tuned up.

Thank you for all the information, observations and tips!

Shock bodies look great with the original Ohlin paint. Check out these links for decals:
http://www.husqvarna-parts.com/catalog/item/3736874/3414998.htm
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/78-81-HUSQV...6081&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

Thanks PB! I received the case sticker from you.
The shocks should baca assembled and on the bike in a couple of days.

Shocks are back together ...



... so just a few small things left to clean up and I can get the bike running.

Not quite done yet, but it lives!