How To Calculate Top-End Engine Clearances On Your 97-01 Honda CR250
The Tools You Will Need
- Paper
- Pencil
- Math
Before we can calculate clearances, we need to identify the cylinder. Honda produced two variations of this cylinder, A and B. You can find A or B stamped on the rear mounting hole on the left side of the cylinder.
Pre-Service Notes
- I recommend opening the Service & Torque Specs in a new tab for easy reference.
- If you need parts and tools, make sure to buy them here!
- Pictures with captions are after the steps below.
- If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask!
Piston Measurements
We already calculated the groove and pin clearance in the piston inspection video, so we need to measure the Piston’s outside diameter perpendicular to the wrist pin bore.
- The diameter of the Piston should be no LESS than 2.609 inches for both A and B cylinders.
- My Piston measured at 2.607, which is out of spec by .002 inches.
- We will also use this measurement to calculate the maximum Piston to cylinder clearance.
Related: How to service the rear brake caliper on your 1997-2001 Honda CR250.
Cylinder Measurements
We are going to use the measurement we took earlier to determine three things:
- Cylinder Wear
- Cylinder Out Of Round
- Cylinder Taper
The wear limits for A and B cylinders are no GREATER than 2.615 inches at its largest measurement.
This cylinder measured 2.615, so I am just within the wear limit.
The out of round limit is 0.002 inches.
Using the chart you made earlier, determine the out-of-round by finding the difference between X and Y for measurement points A and B.
This cylinder has no out-of-round for point A, and B is .001 inches out-of-round, which is within spec.
The cylinder taper limit is also 0.002 inches.
To find the cylinder taper, we will use column X.
Subtract the bottom number from either A or B, whichever is larger.
This cylinder has a taper of .0005, which is also within spec.
Piston To Cylinder Clearance
The Piston-to-cylinder clearance must be no GREATER than 0.004 inches.
Take the piston diameter measurement and subtract it from the largest cylinder measurement.
The largest measurement on my cylinder was 2.615 inches, and my Piston measured 2.607 inches. This left me with a clearance of 0.008, putting me .004 thousandths of an inch out of spec.
The new Piston I will be using measured at 2.6125, bringing my clearance to .0025 inches, which is well within clearance.
← Part 8: Exhaust Valve Inspection
Part 10: Exhaust Valve Installation →
Keep Your ’97-’01 CR250 Running Right!
- Service Specification
- Clutch Replacement
- Carburetor Service
- Engine Top End
- Engine Bottom End
- Brakes
- Exhaust
- Front Suspension
- Rear Suspension
- Wheels & Tires
- Kickstarter Inspection
- External Shift Linkage
