250 cr and or motor differences

Last year I bought what I thought was a 1979 250 OR.This is my first Husky of any kind; when I got it home a check of the numbers showed the motor to be a 1977 CR in an OR chassis-I rebuilt the motor and it runs really strong;but it is peaky with quite explosive power-it's fun but not really rideable on tight northern NH trails. Would a WR motor of the same vintage deliver smoother more useable power? There's a rebuilt one on Ebay now at what seems to be a reasonable price.I would appreciate anyone's view of the performance differences of the two, Thanks,Charlie.

i dont know much about early husky's but can you switch to an external flywheel ign for more mass? longer muffler with steel wool packing, lean the needle jet a tad and increase the length of the header pipe by 20 mm? these are some power smoothing tips that i can think off without pulling the barrel off. You could probably get a wr barrel or even a liner to give a different power spread rather than get another motor that may have more issues than your need. hopefully someone here can give you a clear direction.

WR will give you much smoother power delivery plus wide ratio transmission. Not discounting what may be for sale on ebay, but figure on rebuilding it yourself when calculating your budget. for a quick fix you should be able to swap topends. not sure about the exhaust though, probable close enough with the mods above.

The 77 250CR has an external flywheel Motoplat.
I aggree a WR barrel will smooth out the power, but be careful about buying one on ebay.
Unless you have some way of comparing the ports, you won't really know what your getting.
I have a 77 250CR that I ride in the desert alot. I switched to a 38mm Mikuni and did some blending to match the transfer ports to the cases and removed the bridges in the intake tract.
It pulls hard and does have a strong mid-range surge, but it also lugs around pretty nicely. I love the motor!!
What carb are you running and what's your gearing? I don't think I would like WR gear ratio's, but that may be just my preference. I like the way the bike accellerates.

Thanks for the insight; I have a 52 rear and 11 front-these are the sprockets that came with the bike and the front is looking a little worn- I think I'll replace with a 12 only because an 11 seems awfully small, the carb is a Mikuni-I don't know the size.The motor runs strong, idles well but is very explosive at mid range; maybe I'll just learn to live with it. Once the bike is hot, after about a 20 or 30 minute ride it becomes almost impossible to kick start-it will bump start, but not kick start, Any ideas? Thanks again.

11 x 52 is pretty low gearing and probably accounts for the bike feeling explosive. I run 12 x 53 and I consider that low gearing.
When the bike gets warm it doesn't need as much fuel to start. It should start on 1 or 2 kicks when warm.
How many turns out is your air screw? It should be between 1 to 2 turns max. If it's closer to 2 turns or more, your pilot jet is to large.
You could also retard the timing a bit. That will help it start easier and as a side benefit, it will take away some of the hit in the power band.