Project F, Part 2: Stripping and field-testing the XT250; enter Hollywood Joe

The idea isn’t to make the XT new again. Indeed, the end result of my project, due to budgetary, time and need constraints, will be closer to another line of Yamaha dirt bikes: the TTs rather than the XTs.

The XT line was Yamaha's answer to dirt-oriented dual-sport four-stroke motorcycles in the early 1980s. The TT line was the XT’s sister line, designed for closed-course competition.

You can think of the TTs as XTs without all the street legal stuff — or XTs as TTs with lights and a horn. (Yamaha also offered a street bike at the time, the SR250, which was powered by the same 250cc four-stroke engine with a starter machined into the cases.) The bikes were quite popular in their time.

Indeed, Yamaha still sells an XT225, a tame dual-sport bike. And, in the late 1990s, the company re-introduced the TTs in North America as the TT-R line. The modern TT-Rs are marketed as play bikes, but with their up-to-date liquid-cooled, four-stroke engines, they could certainly hold their own in beginner classes at a local hare scrambles.

The XT250 dates back to 1980 when Yamaha added that displacement to both the XT and TT lines. The bike was effectively unchanged from 1980 through 1983, after which it received a full redesign. The ’84 model marked a shift to the bulkier but more aggressive look that marked the 1980s in general, and the bike lost its old-school sparseness and more classic appearance.

The best thing about all this is that I have four years of production and two (almost three, if you include the SR250) model lines to spec for parts. The benefits of modern production efficiency can be enjoyed by more than just Yamaha Motor Corp. stockholders.

Some of the stuff that won’t be joining our XT in its new life.

However, my initial work will be tearing down, not building up. The XT250 has a lot of creature comforts that won't be needed on a trail-only bike. The headlight, turn signals, horn (reluctantly), brake switches, speedometer, tachometer, mirrors, battery, etc., can all be pitched. This eliminates a significant amount of wiring and complexity from the electrics.

It also reduces the running weight, and if I’m actually going to introduce a raw beginner to off-roading with the XT, he (or she) will appreciate every ounce I can knock off now.

Life in the machine

While I would never doubt my mechanical capabilities (yeah, right!), there's something to be said for knowing what you're getting yourself into. So, before I spend one dime or one more minute than necessary on Project F, I want to try to start the XT.

Back in the setting of my own garage, the first step is to sort out the wiring. With unplugged connections dangling from every component of the electrical system, I abandon the idea of rewiring everything. The plan of attack is to start removing stuff until the system starts to make sense.

Considering I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to lights, switches and turn signals, I keep unplugging until I’m left with some wires poking out from behind the flywheel and a few wires hanging off the CDI box. I plug them together, fashion a ground, stick in an old spark plug from my 1980 XS1100LG and am gifted with a big blue spark when I kick it over.

This is when I walk across the street and get my neighbor, Hollywood Joe.

Hollywood is a frequent riding/racing buddy, who had already agreed to contribute his skills to Project F. He is an experienced body man and painter (meaning he scuffed up his nice, shiny F250 one early morning after a late night and painted it himself, learning just enough on the job to be dangerous). As such, Hollywood agreed to provide a custom paint job for the XT's gas tank (more on that later in our series).

Certain that the carb is gummed up after years of idleness, Hollywood and I don't expect more than a cough or backfire out of the bike, but we do want a sign that will give us the confidence to spend a few bucks on Project F over the next couple of months.

We splash some fuel in the tank and take turns kicking over the XT and cursing Brent (while silently admiring his craftiness at pawning off a sure trip to the junkyard), but not even the scent of burnt fuel puffs from the exhaust pipe. After about 40 kicks, Hollywood gets the wild idea to turn on the fuel petcock. A few kicks later, Brent's XT250 chugs to life.

We take turns riding the XT around Hollywood’s front yard for 20 minutes or so, respecting the low-end torque of the four-stroke woods bike. Of course, the bike we're most used to riding around this patch of real estate is my 7-year-old's XR70, so we don't exactly have a thrilling baseline. In any case, the bike passes our test.

Project F can go to the next level.

Project F, Part 1: Bringing a "free" 24-year-old XT250 back to life
Project F, Part 2: Stripping and field-testing the XT250
Project F, Part 3: Decision time — replace it, repair it, or live with it
Project F, Part 4: Making old, grimy things shiny again
Project F, Part 5: Sticking with the plan for the payoff at the end
Project F, Part 6: Work in Progress