2013 EC250R - 65Hr Report/Review
 

So I've got 65hrs/2600kms (average speed of 40kms) on the 2013 model now. Its been around 10months since I took ownership, and maybe 9 months worth of riding on it. In that time its been put through its paces mostly in single track, 1st - 4th gear. My initial review can be seen here.

Overall a fair amount of time has been spent dialling in the suspension at both ends, and getting the engine running well. I've been through a few sets of rubber, several front sprockets, replaced the rear rimlock, bent and straightened the shift lever, put a ding in the rear rim, torn the seat to shreds, lose a gromet out of the lhs shroud, busted the clips on the rhs shroud, blown out the bushings in the brake pedal, and cracked the lhs brushguard. Pretty typical wear and tear for the hours I'd assume.

Today I pulled it down, and decided to completely pull the engine from the frame in order to give it a clean up and replace worn parts. On the list:
Replace leaking counter shaft seal
Replace stock chain
New piston and rings
New spark plug
Upgrade to 2014+ outside brake pedal
Replace seat foam and cover
Service and revalve suspension at both ends
Grease all linkage and swingarm pivots
Clean and polish the pipe

First issue today was that the coolant drain bolt. Wouldn't crack, rounded out, cut a groove into it and tried the flat blade impact. Still no cigar. Undid the whole water pump cover and gave it a few slugs with the mallet - it didn't want to come undone either. Pulled the coolant line and made a right mess. Finally got everything off and put some inox in the back side of the drain bolt which was showing signs of corrosion - cut a groove deeper and finally got it out with the impact.

2nd unexpected sign. Pulled the flywheel and stator and noticed a weep around the main seal. I haven't noticed any signs of running lean or air leaks, but may look into replacing it, or at least will monitor it closely.

Tomorrow will clean up the engine some more, and then pull the head for a peek at the piston. I'll snap some pics of things. Let me know if theres anything in particular anyone wants to see.

Cheers
Jake

A few pics showing the progress - I'm in no real rush to get this done. Have a few weeks up my sleeve so will just be plodding along while also spending some time with the family.

Engine removed from frame. The frame will get a good clean up at the same time.
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The pipe has been covered in a P3 carbon guard since new. Its been neglected. I don't clean it with a toothbrush or anything, and only if I remember do I give it a spray in innox. Shes got surface rust everywhere but no structuaral damage. Theres some cosmetic damage to the P3 too. A few scrapes. It works well enough.
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Put in a bit of time with a wire wheel on the angle grinder, drill, and dremel. Not too bothered about the final result as it'll only end up looking used again in no time. Scrubs up ok. P3 still needs a wash.
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Engine wise, appears there has been some moisture in there. Noticed a bit of the oil around the rings was slightly milky. Not sure where its come from. Will know more as I pull the top end down. It may have washed the piston a bit too which will make it hard to judge the wash.

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The wash shows it has been running rich, but not sure how much extra wash may have occurred. Inspection of the rest of the piston should give me some more info to work with. Either way I think I'll look at dropping the main back to a 172 and maybe move to a J diameter needle aswell. Been quite a bit of spooge from the join between the pipe and silencer.
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As initially reported, was some weeping from both the countershaft seal (making a mess), and the main seal. Both have been pulled out and will be replaced.
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Everythings looking pretty good so far. Top ring gap measured .58mm and bottom .53mm. The piston still has a fair amount of coating on it and not a whole lot of blow by. Could probably put it back together and let it go another round. I may look at simply sourcing some rings yet - but I also have a spare piston on the ready.

Stock base gasket was a single 0.5mm. I'm yet to do any real checks to see where the piston aligns in relation to the ports. I'll do that later on, but overall can't really fault the curve of the stock engine.

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The cylinder has a little wear at the top of the stroke where the rings change direction. Its not very lipped, and the crosshatch is still quite visible across all of the cylinder. I haven't cleaned/deglazed it yet.

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Looking forward to cleaning the powervalve - always a fun job!
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And the pipe came up quite nice again
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Nice job mate. I'm guessing you'll leave her til 80hrs for the next top end?

The plan was to stretch it out to 75-85hrs but I have time up my sleeve at the moment, so would rather spend it getting things back up to scratch now. Good time to give the whole bike a going over.

I have heard the piston rattling/rings fluttering some recently too, and there is some wear on the skirt. Will be replacing it with a Wossner forged jobby.

Not sure why the first couple posts with pics aren't loading up. Think the photobucket server they're on might be down for a bit.

Haven't done anything more since last update, however did notice the 2013 has a stock Pro X rod, where my previous (2010) ran a Vesrah.

When days off come around I think I'll probably potter around and start on the linkage bearings, and shock revalve (revision 3 - more rebound control - open the adjuster further allowing more bleed on the comp stack).

Back into it again today.

Serviced and revalved the Ohlins 888. Previous oil only had 20hrs on it, and still looked like new.

Revalve - Compression wise I'm a bit softer than stock. Have dropped a few face shims, but am also clamping on a 1mm larger shim. I may look at changing the last couple to .25 depending on how it rides. Rebound I've slid one of the face shims across the crossover and clamping on a 24mm shim as opposed to the stock 22mm. Previously I had clamped on a 23mm so slowly working up the HSR (as well as overall rebound). The aim is to get the rebound adj out far enough that the bleed doesn't cause additional LSC/crosstalk. Last ride with the 23mm clamp I was at 12 out on rebound and while it rode well it was firm on compression which resulted with the adjuster all but wide open to compensate.

I've also dumped the stock 5.2kg/mm spring with 11mm preload and moved to a 5.4mm/kg with 7mm preload. Less preload gives a plusher initial action and works wonders in the slow technical rocky areas, however last time I tried this I hadn't beefed up the HSR, or dropped the HSC and had a close trip over the bars on a big log. I'll be taking it easy and getting a feel for it before slamming things hard.

IFP set at 77mm and charged with 10bar of N2.

Sorry no pics of the shock laid out.

Linkage also got some love today. Considering the amount of mud and water I rode earlier this year I'm impressed that there was no sign of entry into the bearings and all bearings and grease still looked great. Wiped out and repacked. Should be good for another year.

Before clean up
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After a little affection
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