I do not think that the crack in the base gasket surface is a problem.  The coolant leaking into the engine is a big problem. 

Is the crud in the water jackets corrosion or from using a dirty bucket to fill the radiator.

The damage to the head looks like old damage, not something that has happened 5 minutes before it was last shut down. 

Two base gaskets will raise the ports and lower the compression unless a motor builder machined 0.5 mm off the head or base gasket surface and had to use an extra gasket to get the ports and piston to head clearance where he wanted it. 

There are  guys on a lot of forums that recommend adding another base gasket in an attempt to avoid spending money on porting.  Adding a gasket or doing the correct modification to the ports will produce entirely different results. 

I do not think that the crack in the base gasket surface is a problem.  The coolant leaking into the engine is a big problem. 

Is the crud in the water jackets corrosion or from using a dirty bucket to fill the radiator.

The damage to the head looks like old damage, not something that has happened 5 minutes before it was last shut down. 

Two base gaskets will raise the ports and lower the compression unless a motor builder machined 0.5 mm off the head or base gasket surface and had to use an extra gasket to get the ports and piston to head clearance where he wanted it. 

There are  guys on a lot of forums that recommend adding another base gasket in an attempt to avoid spending money on porting.  Adding a gasket or doing the correct modification to the ports will produce entirely different results. 

Crack in the base gasket? Gasket came off free with no breaks? What makes you say its loses coolant?

The crud felt like sand not dirt, So dont know what that would of caused other than problems! I do know the old owner used to ride it on beach's so more than likley that!

Just to make it more clear

The "crud" looks like radiator sealer. I'd think its time to locate a new cylinder.

Might be but it did feel like sand I think your right

At least im not the only one with this problem then lol, Oh i understand now that'll be why it was smoking a little

Im seriously considering throwing in my spare gsxr600 engine in if i cant get the cylinder/jug fixed

But im sure il miss the 2 stroke pleasure you get from them

Decision decisions

The Suzuki manual recomrnded a small amount of rad sealer when doing the water pump and/seals. A small amount... That looks like they dumped a jug of pepper, or Bars leaks in it. Bars does end up looking sandy after its been ran through the system. The radiator on my brid was so packed full of that crap, I had to acid flush it. The engine was even worse.

Bottom end should be fine, its always a good idea to do the water pump and seals while you've already got it apart. DON'T OVERDO THE SEALER!!!

Quote from: MotorGeek on July 03, 2013, 03:12:28 pm

I do not think that the crack in the base gasket surface is a problem.  The coolant leaking into the engine is a big problem. 

Is the crud in the water jackets corrosion or from using a dirty bucket to fill the radiator.

The damage to the head looks like old damage, not something that has happened 5 minutes before it was last shut down. 

Two base gaskets will raise the ports and lower the compression unless a motor builder machined 0.5 mm off the head or base gasket surface and had to use an extra gasket to get the ports and piston to head clearance where he wanted it. 

There are  guys on a lot of forums that recommend adding another base gasket in an attempt to avoid spending money on porting.  Adding a gasket or doing the correct modification to the ports will produce entirely different results. 

Crack in the base gasket? Gasket came off free with no breaks? What makes you say its loses coolant?

The crud felt like sand not dirt, So dont know what that would of caused other than problems! I do know the old owner used to ride it on beach's so more than likley that!

The speckled dark spots in the bore are rust that has been polished off after running.  The bore also shows polishing that results from water getting in it while it is running and or there is not enough oil in the fuel. The glue on the head gasket is usually a sign that the previous owner was having head gasket problems and thought it could be solved by using more glue instead of machining the gasket surfaces or getting all of the head bolts where they will hold torque. 

The rings are also worn out.  Look at all of the brown streaks up and down the cylinder that align with the port bridges and near the piston ring end gaps.  The brown streaks are blow by past the rings.

A two stroke is suppose to smoke.  If it is not smoking it is not getting enough lubrication.

The areas in the intake port where the iron sleeve is showing because of porting is nothing to worry about. 

Just curious what color antifreeze was in your engine?I only ask because if for some reason someone used dexcool(red/orange colored) antifreeze and it goes bad it can make a big mess of sandy brown colored crap.Terrible stuff when it goes bad it erodes metal and will leave a brown mud like color on your skin.See it a lot on GM car and truck engines.If it was green stuff then no problem.

I've been running Dexcool for a few years due to the fact that its supposedly better on engines with dissimilar metals.. Maybe should just go back to engine ice.

Hey Alan. I just got back in town.
Here is what I see.
Your cylinder head insert doesn't look too bad. It doesn't look like there are any high spots. You can replace it if you want to, but you don't need to.
You can take a piece of glass and a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper, get the sandpaper wet and keep it wet, and work the cylinder head cover in a figure 8 motion to remove any high spots. You'll have it nice and flat when the entire surface is uniform shiny. You can do the same to the cylinder head gasket area after you remove the studs.
There's definitely something strange in your water pump cover...
Your impeller looks stained, but healthy.
The skuz in your water passage at the base gasket isn't good. Was there any in the other passage? If memory serves, the 250 has 2 base coolant passages in the cylinder, but only 1 in the cases, the right front.
Those cracks look like bad news to me, as does the amount of steel removed off the intake face of the sleeve, but if MotorGeek isn't concerned, it isn't a problem.
I see rust colored stains in the cylinder water passage. There is no bare steel in the cooling system that I can think of. Hmm.
It needs a bore. No big deal there.
Whoever ported it did a good quality job, at least that's what it looks like to me.

I don't mind Alan. And I'm sure no one else does either.

A new from Suzuki cylinder isn't going to be cheap. Maybe you can find a nice one on eBay?
That is a possibility, but I can't figure out where the rust would come from. The Zilla has a steel "freeze plug" in the clutch cover, and I'm unsure if the 250 has it or not. Coolant doesn't touch the steel part of the head gasket or sleeve, so that's not it. The only other place I can think of it the mechanical seal behind the impeller. It has exposed steel.

That's good. That's not really a passage anyway. Goes somewhere in the cylinder side, but nowhere in the crankcase side. I never did figure out why that was there...