1988 VT250R Build

Looks like my aesthetic tendency is pretty Honda-like.

 

Lookin good Cap


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Better than factory!!!

 

Aluminum versions of the custom rear set adapters.





Upper bracket locating hole still to be marked and drilled.

Was able radius the upper-forward portions of the plates to match the frame pretty nicely. The areas exposed above the footpeg brackets will be shaped to match the individual bracket on each side.

 

OK, got paid to do a little shaping and cleaning up today. Matched the tops of the brackets to the individual footpeg brackets and gave it some more radius around the very bottom mounting bolt that matches the frame lug.





Whoopie fuckin-ding-dong

 

Nice detail Mike !


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Electrify it!


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you first

 

Hell no!
Drill baby drill !


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OK, I did some re-mocking to confirm a couple things before this gets torn all the way down again.

Was able to get the rear cowling below the seat snugged up and reduce the gap. Fabricated some struts on the rear to support the end of the cowling that has the taillight mounted directly to it. And was able to re-work my filler panel to accommodate said new struts. Solid AF.







When I made the brackets years ago that the cowl mounts to on the side, I decided to just add some "future proof" ends to them for mounting something that might be needed. Really glad I did. Perfect.





And had to re-mock the front just to remember WTF I did there and how it went together. At the time I did center punch every custom LEFT bracket I made as sometimes they may be a little different to account for something. Very glad I did that too.







It's a bit of a kluge, but it was tight. And I wanted that Halogen light, not an LED. I wanted more of that traditional light color form a real bulb and reflector. Plus LEDs weren't really common (and cheap) when I first created this. Yes, it was that long ago. LONG TERM project.



That fits into the headlight opening of the VF750F upper cowl. The bottom "vent" will be filled with a screen. The upper cowl is so low, this actually does give a straight shot for more air to the top of the radiator. Not sure if the textured plastic will be the final version, but the shape is good for what I wanted. We'll see.

 

I applaud the halogen over LED choice, Capt.....nice!

 

OK, time to get some work done. Sanding/prepping room and paint booth back up in the Outer Garage. Different frame, same concept.



Front and back roll up to get bikes thru when not in use. When the walls are down, warm filtered air goes in forward of the VF1000R and exhaust is pulled out behind the ST1100, off to the left, out a man door thru a cardboard duct. Works awesome. When the fans are going, the walls suck in a little so I have negative pressure and everything gets pulled outside.

 

It's been hard getting back into project mode for some reason after vacation. Took me a whole month, but some of that was just wanting to ride every opportunity because I didn't ride most of August.

So the VTR250 air filter is no longer available and they didn't make a K&N version. So I made my own.



Dremeled off the top lip and removed the paper element.



Then did some clean up and removed the leftover ridge down to flush.





I uesd the small version VFR K&N HA-8098 as the donor and cut it down to where it fit between the track that engages the upper and lower air box halves.



I removed the metal shield, as it wasn't needed. It is to support the original paper element, it's not the backfire screen.



Used 3M 08008 Sealant to install. I did a test with 2 pieces of what I trimmed off to make sure it would adhere really good. It was SOLID.



There's probably a few ways to accomplish this. It could be installed on the bottom too using the same method. The K&N element is a little taller, especially when you are also using some of the original rubber base, and I knew I had air box clearance on top.

 

The next one I do, I may trim an over-size K&N element down to the dimensions of the recessed tray and mount down inside up against the metal shield. My friend did one that way years ago and he has had zero issues. I just didn't want to F with cutting the actual mesh up and carefully gluing / epoxying it in place in all of the accordion areas if I didn't have to.

That was already done for me by K&N, but the key was finding an existing filter with close to the right dimensions but also wasn't too big. Luckily my first guess was pretty much perfect. Even thought is it slightly "smaller", the increased flow and the removal of the swiss-cheese plate should over-compensate and allow for some jetting to match the modified exhaust.

Also, one of the "tracks" in the intake snorkel is plugged from the factory. Don't know for sure why, whether it was more intake noise suppression or to better match in the intake needs of a stock VTR, or both. Interesting that it wasn't just made smaller, I wonder if other markets have an unplugged version. So I have removed the block and also shortened the interior portion to clear the taller K&N. I prefer running some form of a snorkel, modified to be shorter inside and out, recreating the bell-mouth feature on both ends. I find some bikes feel kinda flat without it at all. I ran into that on the 1986 VFRs. Just really didn't seem to like the air coming thru just a square hole in the lid, regardless of jetting. Could be just a placebo effect. In either case, I like it better with a modified one in place.

 

Nice work on the filter adaptation, @Captain 80s ! You really have a gift for fabrication work! Thanks for sharing - and very nice photos too!!!

 

I was wondering about the VTR filter. I couldn't find one and wasn't about to reinvent the wheel for my flipper. Nice work Capt!

 

I know that's for the VTR, but I've been washing and reusing my VFR OEM filters for years with no issues.

 

You do you. I don't need or want any details or discussion in my build thread please.

But please do start a new topic in Mechanics Garage.

Thanks!