2000 YZ 250 Restoration

If you’re a Yamaha fan, This restoration project is for you! One awesome thing about the YZ 250, is there are so many parts available to make them original or look like the newer bikes. There are a ton of options. I have had some great Yamaha bikes and they are just a blast to ride. I found this older YZ and thought it would be a fun project. The bike had been weathered pretty good by the look of the plastics. The motor needed a good cleaning and tune up, but it started easily, sounded good and ran great. Check out the process taken to get this old YZ 250 ready for the track!

Before

A litte dirt and grime on the motor, chain, sprokets, and rims.

This is after I simply washed the bike. No work has been done yet, just got the main dirt off.

The pipe was in decent shape, considering the age of the bike, but it was an eye sore with the rust. This was an easy fix!

This picture shows the condition of the plastics. If new plastics are not in the budget, check out my other post of an old TTR250 I fixed up.

Up close of the front fender and shrouds. Pretty worn out. Hard to tell but the shrouds were cracking.

This back fender was cracked and the other plastics weren’t worth fixing so I decided to buy a whole new plastics kit for this build. The tires were also worn and needed to be replaced.

 

Restoration Process

• Wash the bike, get all the oil and dirt off
• Take the plastics off and throw away what couldn’t be used again or kept for spares
• Remove old hand guards
• Check all the cables and other critical components
• Remove old tires and install new tires
• Paint the rusted pipe

Once everything is torn apart, its easy to see what parts need to be fixed or repaired.

Here are some pictures showing the bike at different stages of the tear down.

During Project

The air filter needed to be replaced on this one. Frame and other components looked good.

Time to get to work, cleaning this bike up!

Hand grips and levers were all messed up. Throttle tube was cracked and not moving smoothly.

After I tore it all down, it was ready for the new parts.

Plastics and Graphics

Plastics before graphics. Nothing like a new set of plastics.

Here is how the graphics turned out! I decided to try my hand at making my own. They weren’t as durable as a good set from a retailer but held up decent.

Used some high temperature paint on the exhaust to keep it from rusting further.

Pretty happy with how it turned out!

 

Keep scrolling to see the finished product! Also listed are some of the parts used.

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Product list for a 2000 YZ 250 Rebuild:

*Always verify parts are for the correct make and model. Some of these links or parts may have changed or vary slightly from the time I purchased them.

• Front tire
• Back tire
• Wipe New – for plastic restoration, if not replacing plastics
• Paint– for the exhaust (high heat)
• Powder free Nitrile gloves
• Air Filter
• Motor Oil
• Hand grips
• Vinyl graphics – I customized these myself but these can be bought easily.
• Clutch Cable
• Plastics
• Levers
• Fork Seals

After

This bike was a blast to work on and even funner to ride. Nothing like a fresh, new look!

Here are the results

This bike is ready to rip once again!

Again, if you don’t have access to making your own graphics, you can order them online.

Turned out pretty good and runs as good as it looks!

I am loving the result!

 

Let us know what you think or if you have any tips or projects of your own. We’d love to see them.

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