Whiskey Throttle Spotlight - 1988 Yamaha YZ490 Build
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- In our latest Whiskey Throttle Spotlight we're showcasing a gorgeous 1988 YZ490 build by our friend Justin McMurrich. Hear about Justin's reason behind restoring vintage motocross bikes and check out Ping as he gives the bike it's first ride out at Glen Helen Raceway.
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Nothing beats the sound of a 2-stroke, especially an open class 2-stroke.
Well said.
2-stroke c-16 and Klotz
On race gas !
Air cooled
Air cooled as well different tone
I had an '86, and I weighed 135 lbs.....that thing practically rode me.
Keeping 2 strokes alive. You guys are the best! 2 strokes make motocross great again!
Just sold my wr 500 at 60yo was 504 cc head and porting Eric Gore 16-44 gearing was a desert flyer in so cal. Wr had better suspension and 7 bolt head 3.4 gallon tank. Hauled the mail.
Oh hell yeah brother. We had a well qualified customer back in the day loop one out on side of our shop. As we ran up to him he was laying there laughing and said I'll take it.
Those bikes made 5 hp at idle@!
Hahaha lmfao, this is the best, "looped it in the DEALERSHIP parking lot" story I've ever HEARD.
WI-DOW-MAKE-R'! I'd trade my first born for one
@@easley421 with that seat-to-tank transition, you'd never have a first born, and probably, "transition"
They were behind the curve technologically, but I've always loved the YZ490. While I was growing up my father owned the first and last year models that were produces ('82 and '90) that are both almost entirely original, and are still absolutely _mint_ to this day. Literally just like they rolled off the showroom floor...except that the '90 has a gold FMF pipe that looks pretty sick. He also has a '91 CR500 that is built to utter insanity with horrifying amounts of power, and an '86 Yamaha Tri-Z that is also borderline mint. He's a psychopath who exclusively rides death machines.
I was always terrified to ride them because I was afraid I was going to damage something, but never did thankfully, and had a blast riding those beasts.
As if two strokes weren’t explosive enough…
This bike is like taking your life in your own hands.
Badass!
That thing sounded bad ass ! It looked fast as hell ! Beautiful build ! 😮😊
As a 50+ vet rider I love seeing these builds, they take me back to the early days in my MX life when I stood in awe of the older guys on these big bore beasts.
Keep up the good fight Justin and thanks for sharing your passion. Ping too.
Right on, glad you enjoyed the build!
I got one when I was 18 in 1988 ... if ya ever ride one you will love it.
Took one of these to Baja and with partners finished. Used an IT 490 in the woods. Stone reliable and highly competitive.
Nice to see Justin doing well, I raced AMX for about 10 years, Justin was always a permanent fixture, and I remember his dad being there as well.Great people!
@whiskeythrottlemedia i not long ago built a killer 1986 YZ490T, it had a Pro Circuit platinum 2 pipe and 304 silencer, wiseco pro-lite forged piston, i recut the head combustion chamber and set the squish to eliminate detonation, Ti pegs (late model YZ450F pegs go right on, 2016 were the ones i fitted), RC high bend twin wall Renthals (once again 2016 1-1/8" bar posts were used) and chased up as much NOS OEM Yamaha parts as possible so it wasnt a "bitsa" bolts, brackets and fastener wise and it absolutely HAULED ARSE!!!!
Them air adjustable/damper rod conventional forks are actually rrrrrrreally good once you know how to tune them and the power delivery was anything but "lazy/lethargic" like most 500's, it actually revved like a 125 once the cylinder head was modified correctly 👌
It smoked my CR500AF i built that had a modern CRF450R chassis and modern SSS KYB front end off a Yamaha 💪
When I was 12 I seized my TM125 and a few weeks later my dad bought me a used motorcycle from someone he worked with. It was a 79 YZ400! I rode the piss out of thing and my love affair with open bikes was born. Got an 1986 CR500 when I turned 15. The only class at the local MX track with 500's was the Over 25. The people that ran the track was pretty laid back so they just let me race in that class at 15yrs old. Good times!
Congratulations on such a wonderful restoration, she sounded a bit sweeter than I remembered them running, I loved those Yams, Calqvist some how won a world championship on these beast's, which was some achievement at the time when you think how good the Honda was in that era. R.I.P Hakan never forgotten.
Nothing quite like the sound and feel of a big bore 2-stroke. Currently rebuilding my 1984 Yamaha IT490L here in Australia.
I'm a whole 72kg (159 lbs), struggled to keep the front wheel on the ground and was a bit like a rag doll on it, but I bloody love it and will never sell it.
WE ARE LOVING YOUR BIKES BECAUSE WE USED TO RIDE THE MAKOS BACK IN THE SEVENTIES AND THEY WERE THE KINGS BACK THEN!
Oh here it is.. the bike that almost killed me! I loved my yz490 but it was evil in ways dirt bikes shouldn't be.. lol
Yamahas rule that old school yz490 is bad ass.
One of my favorite bikes was my 1986 Yamaha YZ490. Eric Gorr did the Porting and Head Mod for me and got that thing running smooth. The pinging was reduced so much. Got an 1988 Yamaha YZ490 years later hoping to accomplish the same thing and that 1988 was a seize monster. No matter what I did, or no matter what any shop did, it would just seize. I wouldn't mind getting another 1986 Yamaha YZ490 some day. There is one up on my local market place for cheap, but I just can't pull the trigger on another project at the moment.
I have a 89 490, running 88.5 bore stock ports, welled and recut modern combustion chamber, pro circuit pipe.
Timing at .075in. Carb is so far off from factory its not funny, mid is the problem. Changed needle and jet to proper size for 40-44 carb, richened it to a 4 cycle and brought it back down to a just clean out.. Wow, runs cooler no ping and acts like a normal bike. Still 470 main and 55 pilot. Same slide cut.
I had a 84 yz490 back in the 80’s. The stock pipe would fatigue crank. Welded it up constantly. Purchase a brand new stock pipe and the same thing happened! I loved accelerating to top speed on a grass airstrip, pulling up with drums was a different story!🦘🇦🇺
That’s crazy man cause I have an 89 that has been through the absolute ringer and still just doesn’t give up... for perspective, cylinder ear broke off due to a loose cylinder nut, got it welded up at a shop and still holding strong, back in 09 had a piston break a skirt and somehow did not damage the cylinder but went into the crank housing and cracked the case at the bottom... money was tight at the time but A buddy had an aluminum welder and a few beers later one night welded the piston skirt back to the piston and also the cracked case ( skirt was still in one piece surprisingly) filed her down and sent her, stupid decision obviously .. lasted another 2 years like that before deciding to go ahead and bore to next size with a new piston beings it was a ticking time bomb, praying it stayed together every ride😂 lasted till 2017 ( with about 4-5 weekend long rides per year). Noticed it was low on compression about a year ago after not having touched the bike for almost 3 years. Acquired all OEM bottom end parts over the past year. And had another bore job done with matching wiseco piston... having shearer custom exhausts build a new pipe and finish up cosmetics and she’ll be done. I literally can’t wait 😅( sorry for the rant) just doin a bit of reminiscing haha
@@drizziog492 my YZ490 was purchased 2nd hand, it had a welded up clutch basket! Never changed it!
I've got one that I'm wanting to restore.
The crankcase us cracked tho. A common problem I've heard.
What was the head mod? If you can remember..
You never really make a bunch of $ on restoring vintage dirt bikes , it’s definitely a labor of love and I get it 100%, it’s the best therapy I’ve ever found since I can’t really ride anymore. ✌️🇺🇸
Bikes of that era are so cool. Great looking and sounding bike. Looks much better than the new bikes. The tank should be visible like this bike.👍
I had two - thought they were the perfect open class bike. Had a few guys wanted to ride 'em, they could ride so I let 'em.
One came back, said I was crazy (Duh!), the other came back pushing the bike - said that it was the Devil's bike and can't believe that I ride it.
I miss those bikes...
What a beast!! I remember riding the YZ 125 back in the early 80's....'78 actually....and i thought that was a beast then! but then again, i was 13....Everything was a beast....lol
I had one of these in 80s..it had drum brakes...I also had the it465 and the alfa 1 490 maco
I'm one of the younger Kids and i am a big fourstroke Fan, but old big bore 2 strokes... Maaan just awesome :)
Good memories!
Had a '92 WR500 back then, basically this engine stuffed in a YZ 250 chassis. Matching the ports on the iron liner to the cylinder casting and machining the head to give it a wider squish band allowed me to drop 3 main jet sizes. That engine went from a blubbery pinging mess to crispy critter! It had an FMF pipe with the stock long silencer with a sparky welded on the end. I found the longer silencer made the onset of the power a little more controllable than the short one. I wager that bike has had similar work done as it sounds really good in the video.
Geared it 15/42 so it could hook up instead of spin, raced it in the SoCal desert and survived. That engine loved to pull a load and it vibrated like a paint shaker. Ya shifted up into 3rd and the bottom of the long hills and let it eat, front end usually in the air. Currently riding an '18 KTM 300 XC, life is much better to be honest, a lot of progress has been made, but man, that 500 was visceral as Hell.
The old 500 was reliable as an anvil, 3rd gear finally went out after many hours of use. Split the cases, fixed that, rebuilt the crank and it was ready for a lot more. When I sold it, I warned him about the abrupt and copious power, but the buyer nearly killed himself during the test ride anyway. He threw the cash at me, was still shaking and too full of adrenaline to negotiate 😆
😎🤘☠️ love it! I bought a new 88 490 and had Race Tech work their magic on it. What a beast she was! It was actually faster on the track than my highly modified KX 500! Sold the KX , kept the 490! Drop 2 teeth on the rear sprocket and she is faster on top end than a CR500 or a KX500! Well over 100mph! Put a 38mm carb from a CR500 on it, way better throttle response! You will miss shifts with the stock trans, put a linkage shifter on it from Race Tech and never miss another shift. Front forks on the 88 YZ 490 we're excellent! Rear shock was tuned to perfection by Race Tech.
Nice to see a 490 rebuilt. I have the CR’s & KX but haven’t had the chance to ride the 490. Seen a YZ490 AF style in my city 5 years ago, but not the same as the original.
Real men ride 490j
No to the reply J model good reason it was a one year model the only thing you do with a J model is take the engine out and put it in an 83, or older Yz465, You really need to ride one that's running correct. anyone from 83+, you will be surprised.
Nice bike ! When they were first released I was standing at the front of the line to get my hands on one .
Only thing I did was fiddle around with the jetting, pipe and the compression ratio by going to a two ring with a slightly lower cr .
That and went up a tooth front and back and lengthened the bracket for the rear brake and added a few links to the chain.
My stupid friends were saying why trying to detune it? It actually ran way faster and I never had a problem.
32/1 blendzall mixed with whatever fuel I could get my hands on .
if only Yamaha had brought the YZM500 design to market., it would of easily been the greatest 500cc 2 stroke of all time considering how advanced it was compared to its rivals
I've often thought that too mate, but by this stage the 250s where a lot more rideable and better suited to US tracks (and the general public) and maybe emergence of SX to the mainstream made them obsolete. Still they are awesome fun and fast in the right hands and conditions 👍 That's my two bob anyways.
An aluminum frame, liquid cooling and a powervalve. In 1987.
Test riders that were lucky enough to throw a leg over the YZM reported that it was not really very good.
BRC makes a YZM500
@@panic-revv85 It is only comparable the YZM500 in name only.
And it is a big bore kit package. BRC does not sell complete bikes.
Yeah the old big bores especially the yz and it bikes. Very cool
My very first dirt bike, when I was a skinny 140 pound 18-yr old, was a beat up YZ 465. I had no business with that bike. It tried to kill my younger brother. Boy was it fun, though !!
Race Tech used to make shifters for these that helped the shifting big time
I have my dad's 78 (Yellow) YZ490 in the garage. It ran before he passed it's just been sitting
The '78 YZ's were the best. I had a 125 that year. That's the year Yamaha won all 3 classes in motocross, Glover, Hannah, and Burgett.
@@LUEO103X my dad had the 78 YZ 490 he got me my first bike a slightly used 86 Honda 80
No disrespect at all, Yamaha didn’t make a 490 , that was the 400 in 78
@@johnanderson2451 none taken (you may be right) & I may ot have my info correct. They're not really 400 or 500 it says 390 something or 490 something on head. My dad is passed but he got it from a Yamaha racer & it was one of his test bikes. (I have the bike I will double check when I have time, the year & cc)
@@CaddyJim okay brother, I bet you are looking at the actual cubic centimetres , I have 490 , and it says 487 cc
Thank you both
They can take a lot to get them right, but when they are right, they are pretty good.
Dr Hackenbush! Let us see some of your Bikes Mate!! Upload some Vids!! 👍😁
Nothing like the sound of air cooled big bores. Still have my 83 480
Grew up rippin the air cooled big boars love it👍🏻
Great build! Sorted VMX build. If it was for sale in Aus I’d have bought that.
brings back lots of memories .
The white with gold is incredible imagine if the pipe was gold
Bad Ass bike built by a bad ass guy. Nice work Justin!
I have a fully worked 86 YZ 490. I love the aggressive ( almost unpredictable) power. Grip it and rip it 🤘🤘🤘🤘
Old school. Very well done 👌
I restore old race bike, but I am a machinist, welder fabricator for the last 40 years, and i own my own shop. otherwise it would be to expensive to farm out the work!
That looks like it'd be a fun desert bike. Is that an Ohlins shock on back??
Very very beautiful yz490... love it.
New subscriber and liked it.... gotta support the good stuff
Thanks for the sub!
Very cool project bike!...& testing on the REM track...👍
Dang I'd love this bike!!!
The minute it fired up had your name all over it Ping Ping Ping Ping
I'd love to own a '92 WR500🔥👍
Nice video guys. Nice job on the Yamaha. Sounded really nice and looked good on the track.
Broc Glover won the 500 Championship in 83 over Magoo and 85 over David Bailey on the 490 Air Hammer. Definitely speaks to his talent and the bikes ability. LED Performance builds 40hp 78 YZ250Es and CR-350 2 strokes including cone pipes I wonder what they could do with a 5speed 490, maybe with Lectron carb, decompression valve and a precision balanced crank from crankworks. Maybe 65hp. A very similar but better WR500 might be better but with YZ plastic like Damon Bradshaw rode.
The YZ490 is a monster.Make sure your health insurance is paid up.
IT TAKES A HELL OF A MAN TO RIDE A BIKE LIKE THAT!
That’s a great looking bike.
Beautiful
Great Job!
Back in that late Reagan- early Bush era, the YZ 490 held a similar position among the open class two strokes as today's 2006-2023 YZ 250 holds within the 250 two stroke market. Apples to oranges? OK, it's like the RMz-450 among the open class 4-strokes, it was outdated af. Anyone who could win on a 490 back then was a hero. Although I think Ken has it a little easier on the RMz than Broc or Bradshaw had on the YZ. He also couldn't win on a YZ 250 against Marv's 250SX.
Awesome bike!
man thats a beauty. ive always loved old air cooler big bore 2 strokes. they just look and sound so good.
Sounds so badass
BRUTAL SIMPLICITY!!!!!
Pingree, What did you think of the full floating rear brake?
Works well... should still be on bikes today
BADASS
Love the 490 , even though my 85 490 discolated my shoulder 3 times, broke my tail bone twice and lost all my finger nails on my right hand it still makes me go all gooey.
I AM LOVING THAT BIKE FOR SURE!
Does bikes were notorious for running lean in the mid range. Broc Glover's mechanic used to mod the needles to try and fix them.
I had an 89. I love my YZ250.
Nice machine 👍🏻
Great looking bike😮
That was my era, the IT 490 was great Dez bike...Ride 86 CR 500 and Huskys b4 that.....dove springs, jawbone, red rocks......damn some good times back in the day
Nice bike man
Love me some old Big Bore 2 stroke! Once you twist the thottle hard on one you'll be sold
I had a 86 Cr 500 I wish it was that easy to start
Amazing wild horse the best sound and smell bel ray 2t
Che spettacolo di moto !
MORE MORE MORE !!!!
What IMS pegs did you figure out to use? I'm not sure if they'll work but its a step in the right direction for this 1983 yamaha IT 250 I'm building.
hit up Justin on his IG page directly... its at the end of video
Had an 86 when I was 17. lost it in a garage fire. Sure miss that bike.
I was a kid in the 80s when two strokes were king. So much fun but so dangerous. Hp and touque figures might not sound that impressive these days, but they were light and power came on all at once.
What a beauty ❤
Hey there Justin mcmurrich how are you doing this is pookie serrano I remember many good times with you and Eric Anderson Josh David all of our home town heroes.of the racing world thankyou for being In my world and l the motor cross racing that we got to do together great memories hope your doing well.
I had a 465. It was an animal.
Such nice watching someone ride a 2 stroke that grew up riding 2 strokes! You ride off the back tire like it should be at max rpm!
It's bloody painful watching these youngsters that came up on 4 strokes...
I rode an RM250 once….my shoulder blades ached for a week!…
I've got a 1990 yz 490..might as well be an 88 virtually the same ..I've even got same seat cover ,mines red with blue stripes..seems to be a relatively easy bike to ride for a 500 2t..its actually a great bush hack / vinduro vmx bike..here comes the air hammer👊👊👊
Bout shake the fillings out of your head. I them love old bikes
The only thing the same on Bradshaw's or a WR500 was the engine, completely different bikes. Awesome job on that 490 though, sounds great.
Sweeeeet 🧁
Always love your videos mate 👌
Quick question, how does it compare to the 84 CR500?
It don't the cr is a monster
83 CR480 is the aircooler to go with, both the Yz490 and 84 CR500 had major issues with pinging under heavy load that was only solved with watercooling. Yz465 is nice but is outdated when compared to the 83 CR480...also avoid the 82 CR480 as it had a four speed transmission no one was a fan of.
Very different feels to them.... CR motor was a little stronger but the Yamaha turned really well. Need rubber mounted bars for both... vibration is nuts!
Remember this is a 88 YZ490- Yamaha had most of the issues sorted out with this bike-properly tuned- these were faster/lighter than the CR500/kx500's-Look thru the old bike tests from back in the day- the yamaha out ran most on the start straights
I'm just asking because I have an 84 CR500 and it's a similar looking bike to that YZ.
I have rubber mounted bars and I'm not sure they do a lot haha It took a great deal of effort to sort out the pinging - head mod, good fuel/oil -mixed at 25:1. Jetting was a nightmare to get right (still not perfect) but I found it got better after fitting Boyeson duel stage reeds and DG pipe. I think the flatslide conversation is the best solution.
It runs way way better than when I got it, most fun I've had on 2 wheels for sure 👍
Dude i dominated on that bike..it loves whoops...yamaha had a broc glover kit..crome bore...
I have an 87 Air Hammer I got from my neighbor who’s husband bought it new. It hasn’t been started since he passed in 92 and I don’t know if I want to restore it or just leave be I’ve had it since 2005.
Yamaha se dio a respetar con esa YZ490
Beautiful 490!! I have an 89 model and need to do the head mod, to whom and where should i send it to do the work?? Thanks!
The YZ 490 by 1988 was miles behind the Honda and Kawasaki 500 water cooled machines
Muy Bueno
That Silencer Is A Lot Smaller Than The One I Had On My 84-85 UK YZ490 .
that L@;@ks TricK 👌!