I found an awesome deal on a 86R. i was wondering what ALL the differences are between an 86 and an 88. my friend has an 88 and i love it i was wondering what i could do to make it feel just like his! i know about the swingarm length and the motors are different. all stock which motor is better my 86 or his 88?? also why is there diff part numbers for the pipes and pro-pegs between his and mine? thanks! eric

 

There are a couple things different on the motors. In 87 they went to a different cylinder and piston. Same bore/stroke as the 86, but the cylinder is shorter and uses a shorter rod and piston. The 88 has slightly higher compression ration (7.7:1, 86 has 7.5:1).
The ergonomics of all years of R's are the same to me, sitting on one feels the same as another. They used the same fenders and seats on all years, along with the same controls and bars.
Want to make it look like an 88? Get all red plastic for it and get the headlight mounted in the front hood. Change the tail light (86 was rectangular, 87 on was oval). It will look like an 88.
When you get a pipe for an 86, it will be slightly different from the other years. I have an 86 and a 87 and the pipe numbers were different.
Do I think any one year is better than any other? No. They're all 250Rs and the greatest quad ever made!

 

my friends R has a spacer plate between the cases and the cylinder why is that??

 

your friend's an 88 using an 86 piston, the spacer plates offsets the 4-5 mm change in piston wrist pin setting, this setup gives you etra chrank case volume which can be good and bad, it ends up adding top end, or at least it did to mine

 

Your foot pegs bolt on,an 88'has a pin that goes through the frame and is held by a cotter pin.To make an 86' handle like an 88'you can buy A-Arms for your 86' that are set 1 inch forward to give you the same stance as an 88'.

88' 250R many extras

 

Add a 1" shorter swingarm also.
The A-arms on the 88 are forward 1" with a 1" shorter swingarm.
Same wheel base as the 86-87.
Lots of other minor differences.
Like, replaceable upper ball joints on the 86-87, not on 88-89.
Camber adjustment on 86-87 not on 88-89.
Put it this way. . . . .
Just buy one! Any year!

 

thats not always true todd. my 88 has a spacer plate but has a yz250 piston.im not sure if it added bottom or top end thought because it was like that when i bought it

 

You've got a Nice X there

 

A small correction on one piece of information. The 87 and later motors did not have a shorter cylinder, rod or piston. All cylinders have the same height and the 87-89 rod is 5.0 mm longer than the 86 rod. The 87-89 piston has it's wrist pin located 5.0 mm higher than the 86. You can use any year cylinder on any year bottom end, as long as you use the correct piston and/or spacer plate.

 

Looking at a picture of a 87r and 88r the plastic looks differnt in the front.