A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

Two days in a row the garden seems to have been prioritised over my TTR refurb 

However, I managed to sneak an hour off to fit the tail tidy and wire up the number plate light 

I used one our Totally TTRs stainless steel tail tidies. Nice and simple to fit. It bolts straight onto the same three frame tabs as the original .

 

The tail tidies are now pre-drilled for our after-market number plate light which now bolts straight in.

 

The wires on the light unit need to be extended to meet the bullet connectors on the loom.

Spot my deliberate mistake below:

 

I think all the spade work had fuddled my brain coz I did an excellent job of extending the number plate light wires to plug into.........  the indicator bullet connectors 

I couldn't resist and tried the indicators and, yes, the number plate light flashed nicely thank you very much 

Didn't take long to correct matters as by this time I had all the tools out. I soldered and heat shrunk a couple of wires to meet the double connectors by the airbox and used the correct "Japanese" male bullet connectors that plugged straight in. The number plate light uses the double blue and black wired connectors on the loom which will be shared by the tail light. The single yellow connector is for the brake light.

 

Pleased to say the number plate light worked and didn't flash this time 

 

All that remained was to drill and fit the new number plate and that's another box ticked 

 

Sorting out the mudguard and tail/brake light unit next - or the chain and sprockets.....

Brian

Cubber wrote:

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Brian - In your haste don't forget the tax disc holder 

Martyn

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Tax disc stuck on wall - just doesn't seem right to bin it 

Interesting that you needed 110 links. I've got 110 links on the chain I've had on my 14/52 combination that gave me almost no clearance with a new MT43. I've just fitted a new wheel with a 48 tooth sprocket on and using the same chain I couldn't adjust enough on the snail cams to get sufficient tension. I could hook out two links on the wear sprocket to simulate a shorter chain and set the adjusters to 6 and get correct tension with about 10mm clearance. So I've ordered a 108 link chain. I'm now worried that the new unstretched chain is going to be too short, but I know that 110 links and a bit of use/stretch is too long! Sprockets are not hooked so the chain can't be that worn. Will have to see what happens when the new chain arrives. Maybe it'll be advertised on here soon if it's too short, or I may need to get a smaller sprocket set.

Simon - sorry I got it wrong   I have just been out and recounted and my chain is 108 links so you can relax 

Mike - thanks for the compliment 

Only a bit of gardening today so was able to spend some more time on the project. Not much to show for it as everything I did seemed to have a glitch of some description.

I managed to prepare and fit the rear mudguard and tail/brake light and fit the decals plus cleaned up the header pipe (not to Jason's standard!) and fitted it along with the exhaust guard and silencer.

The nuts holding the tail light to the mudguard were seized and I only got two of the three to undo properly. The third bolt broke loose inside the tail light housing where it is supposed to be held in place buy its serrated edge. I had to Dremel the nut off and then Araldite an undamaged bolt from a spare light unit back in. 

I bolted the unit in place and wired it in. The brake light worked fine but the tail light didn't work. I checked the bulb and the brake filament was broken. Unfortunately the bulb wasn't the standard one and the glass globe quite a bit smaller. No way could I get the bulb out so I ended up swapping out the bulb fitting and wiring to replace it from the spare unit. Surprising how these little challenges can swallow so much time 

If all well then I need to fit the front sprocket guard, a pair of rear indicators tomorrow and sort out the petrol tank, seat and side panels. Once that is done I reckon the TTR should be ready for a test drive 

Brian

 

Today was indicator day! Aim was simple - to fit a pair of Motrax MicroFairing indicators. I tend to destroy the sticky outy indicators with my boots getting on and off but the flush indicators escape the punishment 

 

As seems to have been the case recently the aim might be simple but the execution gets complicated! I started off with one pair of indicators but broke the fixing tab off one of the lenses so had to start again with a new pair 

So please excuse the change in indicators part way through the sequence!

The indicators are "sided" so check where the drain holes are to make sure they face down when fitted. Choose the indicator you are going to fit first and put the other out of the way so you can't make a mistake!

 

Offer up the indicator to the mudguard and mark where the wires are so that the hole for the wires can be drilled in the right place.

 

Because the wires coming out of the indicator are quite widely spaced, I elongate the hole so that the indicator will fit flush and not be held off the mudguard by the wires.

 

Chop the bullet connectors off the indicator wires as they are too small for the TTR connectors and check the indicator will sit flush to the mudguard. You may have to open out the hole in the mudguard to get a good fit.

The indicators attach by some very sticky double sided sticky pads. I wipe the mudguard and back of the indicator with clutch cleaner to get the best "stick" and then fix the pad to the indicator first. The pad needed a bit of trimming on the Mark 1 indicators as below but the Mark 2 versions were OK.

 

Push the indicator hard against the mudguard to get a good fix. I pressed too hard and broke the lens on the Mark 1 

 

That's the first part of the job done. Wiring next. You need 4 Japanese female bullet connectors:

 

Connect the wires and you are ready to test them.

 

And, yes, mine worked so job done 

 

I think I took about 15 pics before I managed to catch the flasher working 

I hope that may help someone.

Brian

 

 

I have started on the side panels. A good clean with TFR and the power washer first. Followed by a wet rub down first with 360 grit followed by 400 grit paper.

I then shine up the dullness with the hot air gun which also gets out most of the white "bruise" marks.

In keeping with the other decals I am using the Enjoy Mfg ones which cover nearly all the panel so are a good remedy for anyone with badly scratched or damaged panels.

Here is the LH panel ready to go with both decals.

I use the same technique as on the tank but less water as there are no slits to let it escape as on the tank decals so any surplus has to be carefully and patiently squeezed out.

Here is the finished LH panel fitted. 

 

I am not sure about the black seat. They look great on the white OEs but I think I will try a plain blue or blue/black one. Anyone have views on this?

Brian

Being a stalwart of mainly Brit. bikes I must agree with Mogwai.

BUT - I don't particularly like kippers.

to a black seat. 

Martyn

Can't believe I have finished the project!  Here it is and I must say that the black seat is growing on me - just seems wrong somehow coz blue TTRs always have blue seats 

I got a new genuine Yamaha seat coming tomorrow I hope so will try it on and post up another pic then. Maybe I could run a poll 

Looks lovely. I see you've fitted a little inline filter in the fuel line is that something you've recently started doing, and do you find it catches much?

Still waiting for the new blue seat 

Anyways up, I took the TTR for a test run and found three small issues.

First was an oil leak which, because the crankcases are clean and the oil is new (and almost transparent) was difficult to pinpoint. The only thing that I had disturbed on the engine since it last run was the oil feed pipe so I suspected a leak at one of the banjo bolts. So I doused the area in talc and ran the engine until I could see the leak and, sure enough, it was from the smallest of the three banjo bolts.  See here. After investigation, it seems that the new copper washers I had fitted had the right OD and ID but were thinner than the originals which meant the bolt was bottoming out before tightening fully on the washers. Easily solved by getting a pair of original washers, annealing them and fitting them.

Second issue was the infamous solenoid click with no turning of the starter without a persistent pressing of the starter button! Whilst I had the oil line off, I took the opportunity of taking out the starter and checking the brushes. It all looked like new inside so I re-assembled and re-fitted it. Will check it out tomorrow. It is a pain to have to remove the timing chain tensioner to get enough room to remove the starter so I tried a different method and am pleased to report it worked a treat - see here.

Third issue was a sort of tinkling rattle from the LH side which didn't go away when pulling in the clutch. I have just replaced the 13T sprocket with a 14T one and suspected that the chain was catching the sprocket cover.  Sure enough, there is a small patch of fresh shiny metal on the top rear of the cover so I have left it off and will road test the TTR tomorrow but am confident (famous last words!) that I have found the source of the noise. I have heard of that happening on new TTRs but it's a first for me.

That's it for today though.

Brian

Blue seat for me. Not keen on a black one.

I ground the sprocket cover back where the chain had been hitting, radiused the edges and resprayed it.

 

I noticed that the chain roller is quite grooved which would allow the chain to ride a bit higher on the over run which might have contributed to the chain interfacing with the sprocket cover 

I will replace it anyway - just in case.

The white bits are grease thrown off the new chain. 

 

The blue seat still hasn't arrived. Might have to put a new blue seat cover on a spare seat. They look better than the Yam originals anyway 

Brian

 

 

Beautiful job Brian, very honest renovation we learn from your few mistakes, not everyone would admit to,well done mate! Very interested in the decal application as I'm going to do this job soon.
Great finished project!

Fantastic restoration!! Excellent work and attention to detail!! Inspiring during my mini resto!! Thanks Brian!

Chris