KLR 250 Project: Part III

The bike now sits in several pieces, looking all miserable on the garage floor.

Engine removal was a breeze, especially since this is a little 250, so I could manage solo taking it out. A little wiggling and pulling and cursing, and it came out of the frame.

The most stubborn parts were the frame-through-engine bolts that had some rusted threads, and the large bolt that goes through frame, engine, and swingarm. This one had some dried grease which made it very sticky. But nothing that a 2lb rubber mallet cannot get out.

Nevertheless, some TLC with fine steel wool and a good coat of waterproof grease should make reassembly much easier. Whenever that happens.

Next I have to look at how to remove the rear shock from the swingarm to inspect it well and see if it can be rebuilt. After that, I plan on digging into the whole kickstart assembly to find what's wrong there.
At this point, I'm contemplating getting a new gasket kit and going through the entire engine. I found some questionable repairs along the way -- nothing major, just some tinkering the previous owner had done -- which makes me want to go through the whole bike to make sure it's done right.