CB250 rebuild part 1

Back in September 2017 I took the poor old CB250 around Spain which proved to be a little too much for the little blighter, ending up with a cracked frame in the middle of Spain. But it got me back, and for that it deserves some serious work. I also am finding it really hard to like the Z250SL which is not only fairly horrible to ride but also so impractical that I cannot tour on it. So!

**DAY 1 - 5/5/18**

Hello old friend.

Strip a few bits off..

Ahh progress, feels good. The first problem was the exhaust, it's a single rusty mass including the nuts holding it to the head.

These weren't really nuts any more, just bits of metal holding the bits behind them in place - more like rivets I suppose. There is only one way to deal with these, where's my Dremel thinger!?

It took a while but eventually the exhaust was off and the thread was still on the studs, super! This surprise would actually be a bit of a recurring theme, which was nice.

Think it'll go again?

I'll try it anyway, heh. Hardly anything left now, can't take much longer!

**DAY 2 - 6/5/18**

Full of enthusiasm I set about it again. A picture showing me where all these wires will go back in the surely not-too-distant future.

Engine wires disconnected (including the absolutely disgusting cable to the starter motor) and showing the locations of the cable holder doodads.

No starter motor! Seems the motor won't come out of the frame with the starter in place because it'll hit the frame downtube which is annoying.

Also notice all the bolts are still intact. They were very tight but they all gave in with a loud click, considering this bike has been used in all weathers for 23 years and 93K miles I think that is outstanding.

More bits on the lawn, starter and pegs and levers and whatnot.

There was nothing else for it than to go for it. Nothing stopping the motor from coming out of the frame save the bolts holding it in. Put a couple of jacks underneath it to stop it outright falling out, recruit the bored dad (a bored neighbour may suffice at a push) and here we go..!

Aww yiss.

A little back story: The frame broke because the bolts that mount the motor to the frame (particularly the front ones) had become loose and ovalled the holes, thus stopping the motor from supporting the frame. Here's the damage to the holes.

Rear top mount in the frame looks okay (better than a camera phone's choice of focus point!), not surprising because they still bloody tight.

Rear top mount on the motor also looks okay but it has to be oval because otherwise it wouldn't be able to flap about like it did.

Rear lower mount on the motor is very much the same, maybe slightly oval.

Yes my finger loves covering the lens, it's a talent of mine. The front mounts were a lot worse, as expected - this is where the majority of the slop was found. Front top mount:

Both holes obviously oval:

The bottom mount, basically destroyed:

One more of the motor out of the frame because why not!

After all this it was about the end of the day so I took the bike off the centre stand to try and wheel it back to where it had been at the very start. Big mistake! As soon the weight was on the front of the frame it fair split in half with an excruciating scrunch. I hurriedly lifted it back up in the middle and put it back on the centre stand.. Whoops. This likely did the frame no good at all. Some rummaging and sawing in the garage got me a temporary motor replacement that actually very successfully stopped the frame from folding in half again.

I think I might have made the breaks a bit worse..

I'll worry about that later.