$900 CRF450 - It'll be a cheap rebuild really, no, really!

So I get a call from my buddy saying he's picked up a '05 Honda CRF450R for $900 with a popped engine. Looks like it dropped a valve and how expensive can it take to fix? So in my foolishness, I bought it off him since he already had a newer KTM. He felt I needed a newer bike than my trusty 'ol XR400.

My buddy also "found" a cylinder & cylinder head off Ebay for $450 so that should be all I need right? Hah!

This is how I picked it up. When this picture was taken, we were in the middle of my XR4Ti project.

The extra bits that came with it.

This is why I hate people who power wash motorcycles.

It's been sitting in the corner of the garage for about a year or so but without a winter project, it's now getting such much needed love.

Dog. Wish I could find a similar project around here.

As for the powerwash, at least they did clean it once or twice. Most people around here just leave the mud on to do the same result.

GPz11 wrote: This is why I hate poorly designed motorcycles

FTFY

I'm a hardcore pressure washer, and never had a problem with suspension linkage. It is a 10 year old bike, too. Maybe it was never serviced.

I always pressure washed my KTM, then promptly greased everything. It has grease zerks on everything.

OK, pressure washing is fine as long as you don't blast the seals all the time.

Here's the linkage with the fresh bearings & seals.

Got lucky and was able to regrease the swingarm bearings.

The plan for the bike is to make a nice trail bike. I've already got a new OEM crankshaft and a Wiseco 450X piston since it has a extra piston ring on it.

The bike supposedly is already set up for a big guy like me. Pro Taper triple tree with tall bars, different footpegs and a tall seat. It is supposed to be a ex Tuf Racing Arenacross bike.

Pic from this morning.

Good luck. We have a Husky TE510 that is in pieces with the same "it will be easy" mentality.

I love my two strokes

Oh, I love 2 strokes also. I used to have a Banshee and also road raced a TZR250/RZ350. My only current 2 stroke is my snow blower.

I put the rear suspension all back together and started on splitting the cases. They used a castle nut on the counter balancer shaft and I don't have the tool for that. Yeah, I could use a punch on it but the socket should be here by Wednesday.

How expensive could it be with used, highly-tuned thumper?

Do you still have the rear suspension apart? I need a few basic measurements off a CRF frame for a little custom project I have going on right now...

Yes, the rear suspension is already back together but what did you need?

I am after relative position of the upper shock mount, the swingarm pivot, and the linkage pivot on the frame when viewed from the side. I have a complete CRF rear end (swingarm, shock, linkage, dog bone, brake) which I am contemplating grafting onto another bike. I can measure bolt diameters and width off the rear end parts I have, and I know the upper shock mount is a long way above and a bit in front of the swingarm, and the linkage pivot is a short way below and a short way in front of the swingarm pivot, but without a frame, quantifying the specifics is tricky.

Before someone asks, the swingarm pivot diameters match on both bikes (and width is within an RCH,) upper shock eye bolts match, rear axle diameters match, swingarm length is close, and the rear brake line looks like it will be easy. I am trying to wrap my head around the linkage pivot fabrication difficulty before getting too excited. The frame in question is a DR350, and the seed was planted by a now defunct blog called Tiny War Machine.

Ideal would be three sides of the triangle when viewed in profile, but probably easiest to get an accurate measurement of the frame when disassembled. I would love to know the distance from the center of the upper shock mount to the centerline of the swingarm pivot, swingarm pivot to centerline of the linkage pivot, and linkage pivot centerline to upper shock mount. If nothing else the measurements in two axis of approximate distance forward and down from swingarm pivot centerline to linkage pivot centerline would be great!

I was thinking about posting on ADVrider and ThumperTalk and see if someone nearby Portland has a parts bike or a frame awaiting reassembly or something, so if it isn't easy, don't sweat it, I can pursue other avenues.

/thread jack

Thumper projects...joy!

I was able to get the cases split yesterday and only found a few bits of the old broken piston, valves, and cylinder. I was mainly worried about the trans but everything looks just fine. No bad gear teeth or dogs so I need to order up the crank bearings, seals and all the gaskets.

OK, I took advantage of black Friday at my local Honda dealership and ordered up a moose gasket & seal kit along with OEM crank bearings.

Should all be in by Tuesday.

Got a spark plug for it too. It has got to be the most expensive plug I've ever bought at $17!! Geez, what happened to the cheap br9es for $2??

The new parts came in and so I brought the cases into work. We happen to have liquid nitrogen at work so we dropped the bearings in some and the cases went into a 212f oven.

Here they are simmering in the nitrogen.

The bearings pretty much fell right in.

One of my buddy's is a Honda mechanic so he stopped by to give things a once over. Found one of the trans bearing is toast and made a few recommendations on a few of the other parts. So I'll be stopping by the local dealership for another order.

OK, the last few parts came in the other day. I did have to purchase a blind bearing puller to replace the one transmission bearing. I was able to pick one up from Amazon that was actually cheaper than Harbor Freight. It made quick work of pulling the bearing.

I had some free time today so I was able to assemble the cases. It took a little messing with the trans but I was able to it all together.

I was able to get a little more time out in the garage today when not helping the wife with Christmas cookies. Buttoned up the right side of the engine so the clutch, kickstarter and the side cover is installed. The water pump has also been rebuilt and a CFC Offroad armor has been installed on the clutch cover.

Here is the running total so far.

$900 2005 CRF450 w/ blown up motor

$450 Ebay cylinder & head assembly

$42 water pump kit

$20 CFC clutch armor

$75 Craiglist bits, header pipe, seat

$250 new OEM crank

$60 Suspension bearing kit

$95 Wiseco 11.5 to 1 piston (coupon from a buddy)

$175 APE Intake valve kit, manual cam chain tensioner & gasket

$93 Installation of valve kit & new valve guides

$312 Complete gasket & seal kit, cam chain, bearing, shift drum stopper & spring, spark plug

$2472 - Total as of now

Still need a muffler / spark arrestor but will probably get a Lexx unit for now. It came with a Yosh Ti header and muffler but the muffler is pretty beat up.

That isn't terrible for what you are ending up with but damn that is a lot of work for that.

Yeah, but I don't mind it. Oh, I forgot about the oversized gas tank in the basement for the bike so that's another $100.

Will also probably get some oversized radiators off Ebay for it and a Trail Tech computer. The one with the water temp gauge built into it.

I know I could buy a used for for about the same money but doing this, I know that it will all be fresh.

don't know if it will fit but make me an offer.

2009-2010 HONDA CRF450R muffler

MANUFACTURER: JARDINE FITS MAKE: HONDA FITS MODEL: CRF450R FITS YEAR: 2009-2010 PART #: 1821-0936 SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $420.95 NEW in open box never mounted fact never unwrapped from factory bubble wrap. I want to move this! MAKE AN OFFER!!!

RT99 Slip-on Exhaust, Stainless steel w/ Aluminum Muffler All RT99 exhaust systems are developed specifically for each application both on the track and on the dyno. We believe in real world testing each exhaust system we develop, because the way power is delivered can not be properly measured by guessing.

•The RT-99 is designed for amateur, and everyday racers - It will easily pass the AMA standard for amateur racing, at 99 dB •Features a hybrid mechanical/perforated core •Maintains the power of a true aftermarket exhaust •U.S.F.S. approved, with a qualified screen type spark arrestor that is easily removed for closed-course competition

Thanks for the offer but a '09 muffler will not fit a '05

Got to spend some more time on the engine and was able to get the piston, cylinder and cylinder head installed. Next step will be install the camshaft and rocker assembly & adjust the valves.

I just won a 450X camshaft on Ebay so I'll wait for that to arrive before installing the cam and cam holder

Quick update, I ordered up a shim kit since I have no idea which ones I'm going to need since it's a new cam, valves, etc etc. Also ordered up a Lexx muffler and oversize radiator kit off Ebay.

Once the shim kit comes in, we can get the motor buttoned up and install it in the bike.

Hopefully, it'll fire up soon after that.

With the help of the shim kit, we got the valves adjusted correctly and the top end sealed up. When installing the flywheel, I noticed that it has a aftermarket weight added to it so that was a nice find.

Even with watching video's on how to install the engine, it still took me about an hour trying to wrestle the motor into the frame but I got it in there.

I also got a new chain and sprockets