Winter Rebuild
Off with the body work and tank and the same with the radiator (no oil in the water - good sign). I always start with the front cylinder head and this time was no exception , undid the 10mm nuts holding the head and off it comes, and straight away oops!!!! Detonation all around the head & some of the piston crown was missing, took the barrel of but very little damage & none to the plating, thank god!
The rest of the strip was uneventful and apart from the clutch outer basket needing replacing (which I knew about) there were no other problems. The clutch basket had in fact cracked around a couple of rivets and I had one on order already. The engine was out in about an hour, which was quite quick considering I cleaned it all as I took it apart. No problems with any nuts bolts or any threads which is testament to the way that Andy Meecham had looked after it.
I took the engine down to Graham File of Hythe as I had cut a good deal with him for the work that was needed and he ordered the remainder of the bits. The engine was to have a complete new top end and clutch, new water pump drive and have the gearbox checked over ( although no problems noted ). Work on the cylinders and crankcases was to gain more bottom end and midrange. Also new power-valve linkages were replaced as even if they are slightly out the Honda RS 250 can loose as much as 10 bhp ( as you will see later ).
Racing is not cheap and this was not any different. £1300 later and a week before I was due to race I picked up the engine ( delays due to spares arriving late ). The normal words of caution were given to me about running it rich with plenty of tape over the radiator in case it cold-seizes.
The rest of the bike had been repainted - the frame a last minute black satin (like the factory yam's) and the swinging arm triple clamps, foot rests bars and levers all mirror polished (thanks Keith) The body work was a fetching eye wrenching day-glo orange & metallic blue (well, I liked it!).
Again no problems with the installation of the engine & new pads chain & sprockets from Hein Gericke Stockwell (thanks Jason) all the cables were replaced using the old ones as spares for the season. Jason had also supplied me with a new lid, the latest Hard Edge Leathers and new boots, gloves and oil for the gearbox plus forks and brake fluid. ( Diamond Geezer! )
Dymag Racing UK Ltd had supplied me with a another set of their lovely wheels & that was about it on the sponsorship bit for now.
And we were ready to go racing - or were we?????