1988 XC250 revival 2016

the shop was correct in telling you to vary rpm just avoid much load for at least a full tank.

get some straight 30 for the gbox, briggs and Stratton oil or use atf-f full synth engine oil will slip your clutch

has nothing to do with being synthetic or not. any motorcycle oil will be fine for his clutch, and almost all are full synthetic. just needs to be jaso-ma rated to be sure theres no slipping. he states he using mc oil

Yep running some Castrol Full Synth Motorcycle oil in the box now. Probably will switch it out to something more common and available in my area.

Theres a guy around the corner from my work that sells Bel-Ray products, thinking about giving their non-synth two stroke oil a go. I've heard that full synth shouldn't be used on break in.

There's no clutch slippage under accel but it does do this clunk from neutral to first, with a slight lurch forward. Most bikes I've ridden do this, but this one does it the hardest outta them all. Standard thing? It's like the engine has to take a second to break the clutch free. When I first got it (with who knows what in the gearbox) it would stall if you put it in gear without raising the rpms at all. With the oil I have in there now it seems to have gotten much better.

Glad to hear you got it up and running. I would just forget about the 240 cuz you'll never see one over here. What Justino was saying is the 87 and the left overs (88) are a different breed than the other 250's , longer stroke (I believe crank throw) and diff. bore than previous years.
please keep us updated with hours and ect.

kinda normal for these...
two main things going on with that..the aluminum clutch discs, and having the proper adjustment in the center of the basket. i switched to steel discs and the grabbing is long gone. you also want to set the adjustment internally to insure you are getting the most from your lever squeeze.
make sure you keep the magura clutch, they have more throw than other types of levers.

240 is a smaller bore 250. 1st oversize is same bore as a 250 if I recall correctly

I was checking out the internal adjuster upon reassembly. It had a very small amount of free play. Should it have any?

Still running great, fresh non-ethanol and some Bel-Ray Mineral 2T oil and it fired up first kick. Rode it around gently after warming it up everything felt great. Two rides and no issues yet, happy with the results for my first case split/rebuild.




I'll begin diving into the wiring next. Engine wise its fine but it has no wires to the rear tail light and is missing a headlamp socket. I'm pretty sure I'll need a voltage regulator to keep bulbs in it anyhow which I also don't have. Looking over the diagram it appears I have two large yellow wires for power off the stator harness. I also have a black wire which appears to ground on one of the bolts holding the pickup on. I'm assuming I can use that to ground the frame and other electrical items. Shouldn't be too bad.

why are we writing so small? lol..i bet i can write smaller! you will want to check play at he end of the actuator arm on top of the case where the cable attaches, ideally with no cable in it. you will only want a few mm, enough so the clutch isnt engaging when the engine is warm. but no more than needed..you want to barely feel play there.
my 88 250 had grabby plates from the day it was new, some oil was better than others but it never went away completely until the steel discs. i prefer to run a 20, 30, or 40 weight jaso-ma engine oil. rotella t6 5w40 diesel oil has been my go to for awhile now. lots of zinc, readily available, fairly reasonable price, and proven to hold up well. on a clean engine i get very little shavings on the magnet.

I must have bumped the font size button, sometimes this mac track pad messes with me haha

I've heard rotella is great stuff, never run it in anything myself but a few of my performance car buddies swear by it. I just picked up two quarts of 10w-40 Bel-Ray engine oil, I'll drain out whats in there now and top it off today. It holds a lot of oil surprisingly, almost a half gallon!

Sounds like my internal clutch adjustment is right about where it needs to be. My adjuster at the lever is almost all the way out, probably just means the cable has about had it and is fully stretched.

This bike also has the throttle tube thats got a big wheel in an aluminum housing, isn't that the "gunner gasser" throttle set up? works really well with fresh lube with no lag on throttle closing.

it will say "made in sweden" on the housing if a real gunner gasser...but yes, they came stock on the husky. the gunner gasser was the original whirlpull throttle. combined with the mikuni roundslide, they are very smooth opening and closing, with a satisfying thunk when you open and let go.
they hold about a quart and a half, alot considering many other bikes hold less than a quart. try to change around 5-6 hours ride time to prolong life. transmission will last a long time that way if you dont miss shifts or abuse the clutch.

Sounds good!

After riding a bit today I noticed the left hand vent hose on the carb has a little drip of fuel at the end and a small wet spot as appeared on top of the case. I'm pretty good about shutting the fuel off when I'm not riding it so I don't think it's that. Well versed in carbs so no big deal to tear it apart.

Other than that running good again today!

float is probably just a tiny bit too high. if fuel doesnt come out when tipping the bike side to side its probably ok. i would call it kinda normal for there to be dampness on the end of the lines but shouldnt be pooling any fuel..unless the bike goes down, lol

Check the float level too. Then leave the gas on without running the bike to see if it drips gas. No gas should leak at all.

Note, when we're trying to jet the biggest problem is the needle and seat leaking.

Due to me in the pit listening to all eight cylinders fire with open headers I lost some of my hearing. My point is I purchased a hand held tach to adjust the balance screw for the best idle. I just can't hear the rpm's.

So Wossner 8044D100 will work in '87-88 250's! That is good to know. 1988 in my shed needing a top end freshen up, this should do nicely.

It will work indeed. Almost ran a full tank through mine so far with no issues. Plenty of power for the tight woods trails I ride.

That being said its not the "right" piston but it's an option when there are no others.

Hijack!! mr brown are you attending the braidwood event?

Absolutely JC!

cheers ...we now return to your normal program.....

Kyle, do you know if it had much effect on the power delivery? Have you ridden one of these before for comparison? I'm curious how the skirt difference will change the power characteristics if at all.