Buying Help on a 1986 Honda XR600R

[VintageHondaKid]

Hello,
I'm new to this whole forum stuff, but I was hoping someone could help me out.
I am looking into buying a 1986 Honda XR600R from a friend and it was used for off road only, but he still has all the electrics except for the R/R.

He claims the guy before me replaced the following:

Valves, cam, cam chain, crank assembly, bored head with NOS piston, and cam chain sliders.

My questions are as follows:

1. At night, the headers start to glow after 45seconds to a 1 minute of warm up at 45 degrees outside. Is this normal?

2. He has a SuperTrapp exhaust but I don't know if he put the Supertrapp headers on. Would this cause the pipes to Glow?

3. Should he have rejetted with the aftermarket pipe?

4. Should the bike whine consistently even at idle?

5. Would that noise indicate the cam chain is too tight and he may be trying to hide a worn out chain?

6. And lastly, is this bike worth $900??

Sorry for all the questions.
This is my first Enduro and any help will be greatly appreciated.

-Michael

[beat_]

Originally Posted by VintageHondaKid

Hello,
I'm new to this whole forum stuff, but I was hoping someone could help me out.
I am looking into buying a 1986 Honda XR600R from a friend and it was used for off road only, but he still has all the electrics except for the R/R.

He claims the guy before me replaced the following:

Valves, cam, cam chain, crank assembly, bored head with NOS piston, and cam chain sliders.

My questions are as follows:

1. At night, the headers start to glow after 45seconds to a 1 minute of warm up at 45 degrees outside. Is this normal?

2. He has a SuperTrapp exhaust but I don't know if he put the Supertrapp headers on. Would this cause the pipes to Glow?

3. Should he have rejetted with the aftermarket pipe?

4. Should the bike whine consistently even at idle?

5. Would that noise indicate the cam chain is too tight and he may be trying to hide a worn out chain?

6. And lastly, is this bike worth $900??

Sorry for all the questions.
This is my first Enduro and any help will be greatly appreciated.

-Michael

1. the mixture might be a bit lean, but there is no air flow to cool the header, i have seen it before (on a dr350r and others)
2. the super trap exhuast is less restrictive, meaning there is less pressure in the exhaust, making the mixture leaner.
3.yes and no go and see someone who has done this before. what does supertrapp say about it?
4. no, but the engine is completely rebouild so normaly there is nothing to worry about.
but there are 2 different camshaft's for the xr600 and 2 different heads one camshaft is longer and has an automatich decompression cam. yours should not have this. it has been introduced in 1991 on the xr600.
5. ask a mechenic
6.dunno what bike are worth where you live, but where i live they ask twice the money after that much work on it.

no worries about the questions. but read some more on other places too
http://www.4strokes.com/

[backofbeyond]

It's hard to answer all of your questions, but based on fifteen years with an 87 XR:
With a stock exhaust I've never seen the headers glow even after running the thing for hours at night. If yours do I'd suspect either the headers have worn really thin or it's running really weak.
The engine does whine when it's cold but it normally goes as the engine warms up over 5 - 10 miles. Mine has done this consistantly over three cam chains and two tensioners. It's not a loud whine though. Mine is just noticable over all the other mechanical noise - there in the background when cold and there if you know what to listen for when hot. If you can hear it as you ride something is wrong.

[VintageHondaKid]

He says the previous owner has rebuilt it so, who knows whats what.....

But with used XR600's do they have that little consistent whine from the engine?

Mechanics around me don't know anything that is older than 1990.

Thanks for the help,
-Michael

[Bill Ryder]

My two cents worth. Who "overhauled" the motor? was it the only honda he has overhauled? Not to depairage someone's mechanical skills but in 30 years of being a paid mechanic I have seen some "overhauled" motors that were a waste of time and money and a headache to the next buyer. If you notice this bike has a automatic cam chain tensioner so it would be hard to overtighten. One thing to be aware of would be worn out cam chain sprockets that are not fitting with the new chain. Take a test ride and see if the bike smokes on start up or after getting hot.....that is a bad sign. Here in montana people spend $1000.00 on partial overhauls on XL and XR honda's. That said I just sold a 86 XL250R that was original with 4K miles and new tires for US $2000.00.

[VintageHondaKid]

The guy he bought it from was a 25year mechanic at a Honda shop and has gone out on his own for motorcycle repair.

I went back there today to do some finer looking in the daylight and everything looked good.

Tight bearings in the wheels, spokes great, chain needs replacement but the sprockets look great, front fork seal needs replacement, and I didn't see any leaks either.
The compression is strong, and I mean break your leg strong!!!

I popped the plug and it was a nice black to a brown color.

But before I had him start it up, I checked the oil, and to my surprise, the bike was 1qt low!!!!!

Would anybody know how much oil the bike requires?

I can't seem to find the specs on the internet.

The plug did not look oil fouled.... Meaning oily and wet.

So, lastly I will have him start it up tomorrow and will look for any burning of oil out the exhaust.

Does anybody have any suggestions to where the oil could have gone????

I appreciate your help guys,
-Michael

P.S. Talked to a mechanic today about the whine noise from the motor, and he says it could be a bearing, but not to worry about it????

[Bill Ryder]

Go ahead and buy it just set aside several thousand dolllars to keep it running. I am not at work to check the oil capacity but I bet it only holds 2 quarts. If a bearing is whining on that bike it probably is a ball bearing and is getting ready to self destruct.A brand new 650 single in several different brands only costs 5K$. I personaly try to stick to unoverhaluled old japanese bikes for my own riding.

[VintageHondaKid]

Would anybody have any more insight on my other questions?

Thank you,
-Michael