250-500cc 95 WR360 Rebuild/Restoration

[LemoneyF]

Its time!
I initially tracked this down to rip out the 6spd gearbox for the 250, but after doing a bit of reading on these things I know that I owe it a lot more than just stealing bits from it.

For a thousand bucks, I got a frame, swingarm, two wheels and everything else in a box. It had been sitting in a shed for a seriously long time.


Why was it sat in a shed a long time ago? One of the fingers on the inner clutch hub broke loose and the owner thought it was a bottom end death rattle. He took it apart to freshen it up anyway, and thats where it stayed. Last night I took the rest of the chassis apart and from what I can gather, nearly all of the damage has been caused by its extended rest. Its really weathered, the plastics are all dead and the paint is fading. But as far as actual dirt bike chips and scrapes, theres nearly none.

Apparently, its still on the original sprocket set.




As far as the motor goes, everything is there to put back together. The big end feels great and the main bearings good. The barrel has a few wear marks and Im not sure if I should replate with an A piston, Ill get a better photo of that soon for some opinions.

Ill probably strip and paint the frame.

The things Im concerned about:

The availability of plastics. Im having issues tracking down the older stuff. I know I could just update it but I like the look of them. I know theres a few years of interchangeability, at the moment I think I can get 98 rear fenders and side panels, 94 radiator shrouds. All from DC plastics.

The wear in the bore

I need to cruise off to work, but thats what Im working with.

 

[ohmygewd]

I have a 95 and plastics are very hard to come by for that year model as they get very brittle with age enough so that l've got 98 plastics on mine...94 shrouds won't fit as the tanks were different on that model.

Re: Bore, if you are doing a full resto, i'd rebore/coat and go back to the A piston.

The Dellorto carb on that year is a POS, better off contacting Motosportz on this site and organise a Lectron carb which will save you the headaches of jetting the 360 correctly.

The 43 (or 42 can't remember?)mm Showa's aren't a bad fork but could do with revalving, correct springs etc, same goes for the rear although in your pics, they don't look like the OE Showa's more like the 45mm Marzocchi's forks that came with the 98's?

 

[LemoneyF]

Hey mate yeah I forgot to mention, I'm keen on trying this lectron everyone raves about. It currently has a mikuni tm. Probably won't have change from $500 yeah? The forks are marzocchis, identical to my 06 wr250. I can confirm the bike is a 95 build by the plate.

 

[juicypips]

Not much change outta 500 but a grands worth of smile everytime you ride the beast!

 

[LemoneyF]

Pips you've got a lectron hey? And apparently they're setup out of the box? Not a bad deal really, I hate screwing with carbs, mostly because I'm bad at it. I'll get onto motosportz.

I've got high hopes for reliability with the bike generally, given my great experience with the 250. That thing is unkillable.

Off topic but has anyone fitted 17s to one and attacked some tarmac? I'd imagine it would be good fun. I've got wheels to fit the 250.

 

[LemoneyF]

And I'll throw up some bore pics when I get home, some scarring on the exhaust bridge from memory.

 

[ohmygewd]

If you had wheels to fit the 250 then they'll bolt straight onto the 360.

The 360 isn't a snappy big bore but it's all about torque on the 360 as the bottom and mid is nothing like any other 2 stroke even in today's markey in my bias opinion. However the top end is fairly meek as well as is power band but you can be really lazy on this bike going up hills in 3rd and playing with the throttle four stroke style.

I've got a Keihin 38PWK and it shite's on the Mikuni but you really need to pay attention to jetting but l'll be getting a Lectron soon as the bloke's on here really love'em and so simple to setup in comparison to Keihins or Mikuni's...and as Juicy rightly said, might cos us $500 but cheaper in the long run!!

 

[LemoneyF]

haha I'm all for biased opinions. Yeah I've heard exactly that hey, all bottom/mid range. Can't be too different to the 250 then. I've also heard that the lectron adds a heap of top end so we might be on the right track.

Ripped apart the swingarm and linkage. I should have taken a before photo! All bearings feel nice and smooth after a good bath.

 

[juicypips]

Ive got a 2002 360 with lectron and carb, the top end is meek,?!? Youve got something wrong with it i hit 84mph on fire roads with 14:48 gearing and thats not fully open in sixth so yes if your a enduro god or a desert rider it may not be enough but for me hell yeah its quick.

Lectron ran out of the box not first kick like so many claim it took about 12 goes before she lit, leaned her up half a turn as she sounded rich not touched it for coming up two years!
Same piston same rings i bought it with.
Did shove another cylinder n slug in but seized that so put old units back on.

Do a fair bit or road and not sure what 17's would gain you but shes fine reliability wise.
Engine is noisy well mine is but not given up yet and i keep abusing it!

Pictures are good, bore damage? If you can feel any with your nail then yup most likly looking at a replated bore.
That being said you can run it with damaged liner its not wise but have seen ans ridden bikes with gouges out of the nikasil with no noticable problem.

 

[ohmygewd]

Juicy ya mad Pom, you know what l mean about the top end, it aint rip you arms off CR/KX500 style but l wholly agree with you, the speed that you reach the top end is bloody fantastic.
LemoneyF, add a FMF gnarly pipe or dynoport pipe to your list..yes yes more bloody coin but worth it again!!

 

[justintendo]

the top end is drastically improved with lectron and dynoport...not top speed, but top end of powerband. mine pulls like an angry 250, but still has good trail wheelie torque. the 360 is all about large, long, controlled wheelies. anytime, anywhere! the dynoport has a much larger stinger than the stock pipe or other pipes, and must be used with its own silencer. really changes the tone!
insert photo op here:

great pick with getting the 360! everything is fairly easy to get other than plastic, altho dc now stocks replacement..keep us posted on how the bike is going

 

[juicypips]

Ive never ridden a cr 500 or a kx500.
Im not sure i do know what you mean about top end, agreed the box is close together im in sixh before i reach my gate
But shes got heap of power every gear and doesnt let up just keeps pulling.
Think you may be more suprised with the lectrons performance. Then again you may not and would have dropped the coin on something you dont want.

As for wheelies mine will loft up to 4th gear but then i have to clutch it up.

 

[LemoneyF]

Good info lads. There's only one way to know really, so I'll definitely try it out. There's also a very angry husaberg 650 that lives in my shed, so my psycho urges are already taken care of

So here's a few bore pics. I haven't worked on cleaning it properly yet so those marks on the exhaust bridge are actually just burnt oil. The pics might deceive here, as there are no deep scratches or raised points anywhere. I can't feel anything with a fingernail. Thoughts?

Also, does anyone have a line on workshop manuals?

What about seatcovers? I was thinking about taking it to a local upholsterer tbh.

 

[ohmygewd]

Recoat mate, the amount of scuffing, scratches and the discolouration especially ports in the first pic suggest to me that even you dumped a new piston and ring, you'll probably get a few hours out of it before it seizes...looks like it's worn through the nikasil??

Which part of Oz are from Lemoneyf?

RE Manual: I've got a few manual that l can PM you links that l have saved on my google drive but basically you can use the manuals from a 2000 WR360 and combination with the 95/96 parts manual as the majority of the 360 have are pretty interchangable in parts throughout the years. Also, check out the sticky http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/part-cross-reference-listings.27544/

RE Seat Cover: I used a blackbird seat cover from a KX500 from ebay as it's fairly long and wide in shape of the material and stretched and pulled it to shape the seat (plus l've always recovered my own seats). You can take to a car upholstery place and they can fit a cover on it as well as the it's the same material they use to cover jet ski seats. If you need a seatbase, again, a car or bike upholstery place can make one up for you to your liking...or head down to clarks and get some foam and shape it yourself if you are game.


Juicy, if you ever get the chance to ride a KX, CR500 or IT490 it's a must then you'll know what l'm talking about. You know me, l would never bad mouth a 360 but when you compare the WR360 to say the KTM380...well l guess the correct term l should have used is that the 360 is not as peaky as what some rider's think a classic big bore bike should be...l think the mellowness of the 360 in comparison to say the KTM380, makes it such a better bike for enduro/trail riding as it's got a tractable and predictable powerband...which is basically what all the modern 300 2t's now have instead of the old MX hard hitting powerband.

Justintendo...l'm saving the coin to get me a lectron and the dynoport and thanks for the head's up about the dynoport as l was going to get the dynoport pipe only and mate it up to my fmf stinger.

 

[2premo]

Ive never ridden a cr 500 or a kx500.
Im not sure i do know what you mean about top end, agreed the box is close together im in sixh before i reach my gate
But shes got heap of power every gear and doesnt let up just keeps pulling.
Think you may be more suprised with the lectrons performance. Then again you may not and would have dropped the coin on something you dont want.

As for wheelies mine will loft up to 4th gear but then i have to clutch it up.

most people think of a CR500 as a Honda product
not correct it was first released by Husqvarna and unlike a Honda is VERY fast (way faster)
6th gear you have to pull hard on the bars to wheelie
5th gear it will power the nose up
i have one and can confirm they need respect

but to the point the 500's don't rev the 360 is based off that rational big bore reasoning
although my 92 had a longer power band the 93 gave up some the 99 gave up the rest
my KTM 380 had a similar flat power band

 

[justintendo]

i agree with omg, that bore/plating looks mega tired...
the best part of the 360 is for sure the bottom and mid, very useful and strong. nice commanding wheeling power to attack hills and obstacles while still leaving your gearing higher. the engine will lug waaaay down and still pull out of things great, most of that i attribute to the lectron and somewhat light engine internals. i run a flywheel weight on mine. the engine is more fun without the weight, but i believe i am faster with it installed, plus it wheelies better.
did i mention the 360 likes to wheelie?

ohmygwed: dp makes a silencer to fit stock/aftermarket pipes, and a different silencer to fit their pipes. when i received the pipe i ordered, the stinger was huge compared to the stock pipe. the stock pipe is horrid, so anything would be better but im very happy with the dp. the ceramacote seems to be holding up well..

 

[justintendo]

lemoney, the seat cover on my bike is the prototype made by a fellow on ebay making a bunch of seatcovers..he makes several for huskies. do a search and yu will see the oem style cover pop up if thats the style you would like. it seems to be holding up well.

 

[LemoneyF]

I'll get onto that then. I'm in Brisbane. I priced up a replate for another bike at millennium technologies a few months ago. About 450 from memory, matched to a piston that I would give them. I didn't end up replating that one. Can you guys recommend anything better?

On the topic of pistons, is Wossner still the one to beat? Also heard good things about vertex, being the oem option (i think).

If you had a manual link that would be fantastic. I'm only after something to refer to during the engine build!

Good ideas with the seatcover. I've never actually covered one, which immediately makes me want to learn haha.

 

[LemoneyF]

I'll have to check what pipe the bike had on it. The silencer was stupid short and the guy mentioned that it was the only one of his bikes he needed earplugs for haha. The neighbours will love it I'm sure.

 

[juicypips]

Wossner have rave reviews, if your going to replate it i cant see anything wrong with it.
Personally on a 93 sleeved cylinder i ate a piston and it had been bored to the last oversize so i think tolerance was too tight.

Cant recommend any one over your way but if anyone in uk needs this service i cant suggest poeton highly enough.

http://www.poeton.co.uk/w1/nickel-silicon-carbide-composite-coating.htm