1979 WR 250

The idiocy continues.

I haven't even gotten much chance to ride my '85 WRX and I've just gotten off of the phone with a guy selling a '79 WR250 on CL.

It's all but a done deal. Gotta' go pick it up. I wonder if it'll be better to tell my wife right away, or stick it to the back of the garage and not mention it until she notices ... decisions, decisions....

Definitely need to get rid of the pool table now, anybody in West Washington want a pool table? I'll bring it and show you hot it's assembled (but would recommend professional setup).

The "Bad news" according to the current owner is that the rear sub-frame is tweaked

Of course, he says it has good compression, good spark, clean carbs, but doesn't run.

More to follow....

nice...my first bike and first husky was that same model. i still have a fresh powdercoated frame for it..lemme know! i have a few parts for it still.

he says it has good compression, good spark, clean carbs, but doesn't run.

Man where to start with that......

the optimist...plug is dirty or exhaust blocked or timing out...

the pessimist.... main bearings shagged

reality.... no gearbox internals....

This is "satire"

we all know satire is based in reality...i love when a seller says everything is there, yet it isnt. either runs or doesnt!

"Good compression" to a guy who owns Japanese 4-cycles and one Husqvarna might not be the same as "good compression" to a guy who owns Husqvarna 2-cycles and one Japanese bike. Granted my other Huskies are both 400's.

In person the bike is rough. A majority of the plastic is held on w/ zip ties and fit to be piled and burned, the tires would shred within 1/4 mile if the bike were to start and run, Tank appears sound, but dented and paint chipped. The metal is all there though, including the cooling fins. It's clear he'd done some work on it, new UNI filter, the carb is clean/looks new (on the outside at least), and it looks like he replaced the intake manifold w/ a 2-piece. He didn't say anything about reeds though. There's a trail sticker on it from 1981, so it might not have actually run in a worthwhile fashion for a while.

I did pick it up ($300), and it's in the garage now. My wife and I just moved, so the bike is a little lower on the priority list (so I won't be posting that I got it running after 3 days).

If the tank wasn't red, she might not notice it the first time she goes in the garage. With the red tank though, I think I need to come clean.

The back story is that some guy owned it, rode it, raced it, eventually wrecked it, and decided to give it to his nephew. His nephew did some welding on the rear subframe that had been tweaked, tack-welded and pulled dents from the pipe, and sent the clutch cover off to Rick @ HusqvarnaOutlet for a pretty decent fix/overhaul job before losing interest. Guy I got it from spent some time working on fuel, but lost interest when that didn't fix it.

I'm going to wait until I have a good block of time, confirm that there's good blue spark and a decent looking spark plug, and pull/spec the top end once the spark checks out. I'm hoping for a hone-and-ring job, but the bike did see a good bit of service (tire not just old/rotted, quite worn too), so I'm guessing it'll need more than that.

Good luck! For $300 your wife shouldn't get too mad
I'm looking at a beautiful 82 Cr250for a bit more $$.
Trying to figure out what to tell my wife too It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't recently brought home a '07 KTM and the '86 wr400...to add to the stable...

Unfortunately, mine knows that the initial purchase price is only the beginning.
Just tell yours that Husqvarna is working their way back into the showrooms of mainstream dealers, with increased brand recognition will come a renewed collector interest, and appreciation in value for the older models. It's about diversifying your investments and having a good time at the same time. Also that you'll "sell them some day at a profit."

well I know of a tidy twin shocker that sold for well north of 5 k in aus so husky's are in investment growth currently

"Investment my ass!" She's not that stupid
Well, the die is cast. I'll pick it up at the York swap meet in PA.
Trying to buy her some nice stuff to soften the blow...

So on to technical questions. What does this look like to you guys?:

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I'll bet $10 and a maple bacon donut that's a broken decompression plug.
Anyone seen one like that before? Is a similar option available commercially? The base looks a little bit bigger than others I've seen before, so I'm concerned about whether or not I would find a replacement. What do you think, pull it, pull the head, stick in a bolt with a spark-plug style washer and grind/polish it until it matches the dome of the head, try to find another like it, or just find myself a replacement ebay head?

looks like a broken off sparkplug

I agree with that description of the appearance, but it's right next-to the spark plug, and I have a bit of trouble believing that someone would tap in a new spark right next-to the original spark plug.

Maybe I just need to pull it for a definitive answer. I did some googling of various forms of the phrase 'decompression plug/switch', and I could see where it does resemble some of the options out there.

Year-end employee reviews are eating my time right now, but in a week or two I'll get whatever it us pulled and stop by my local Ace Hardware to see if they can ID it (once it's in-hand). They are pretty good with small engines, and while they may not be the most likely place to have what I need on had, if they do and I can get the bike running following a single trip to Ace, that makes for an awesome story.

believe it, lots of heads have two spark plugs. i actually have a few in my parts boxes. i guess it used to be a thing.

Fair enough, I'll get it pulled and see what I find. I remember in the '90s that Champion was trying to convince everyone that a spark plug with a split post would improve engine performance (remember splitfire?), I guess two full spark plugs is the same concept.

not really..i dont think they are to be used at the same time. more of a redundancy thing

it was std on the jap bikes to have two plug holes for the "spare Plug" that you just flipped the cap over and hoped it wasn't too coked up to get you home

Well, pulling a plug is quick, so I did, and you're right. Both are NGK B8ES. From what I can find, that is the right plug, and the one actually attached to the plug lead looks fine. I doubt the extra/broken plug is stealing enough of my compression to make a difference, so I guess I will really have to dig into this one, and my dreams of discovering a quick fix are dashed.

Would they just swap the lead to the spare plug if the active one started to foul out? Makes sense and doesn't all at the same time.

Because the extra 15 kicks it takes to start a coked up plug is so much faster than having a spare plug and plug wrench in your tool kit, got it!

so when can i expect 10 dollars and a donut?

Did I say that?
Donuts don't ship that well.
Come out West for a ride and I'll make good on that one.