Just bought an 87 TRX250X that had been stored for the last 6-8 months. Now it has some bad cold start problems. Won't run unless choked at least half way even after 5 minutes or more of warming up (to be fair it was 25 degrees out!)

My plan is to rebuild the carb, drain the old gas, clean the air filter, change the oil and put in a new sparkplug. Anything else I need to look at doing?

Confession time, I've never rebuilt a carb. Any good books or websites that walk you through the basics? Any gotchas I should be aware of on this particular model? Where can I get a good quality rebuild kit? Any name brands I should get or stay away from? Or should I just pack it to the dealer and let him do it? I'm good with tools, just more experience as a carpenter than a mechanic, but I like to learn new things, and prefer to do it myself and keep my money in my pocket.

Any help appreciated.

 

Martorious I have a 91 250x it is a little cold natured but it seems you are on the right path before you rebuild the carb I would suggest doing every thing else and then draining the carb and refilling with fresh gas it should lay down after that

 

With it being stored that long with old gas I would start by draining the gas, adding fresh gas and cleaning the carb. Changing the oil, spark plug and cleaning the air filter would also be a good idea.
I have an 87 Fourtrax 250, when it is cold I like to slightly turn out the pilot jet which makes the idle a little higher but also helps it when cold starting.

 

I got a rebuild kit from jetsrus.com for about $20 last year. Lots of other places have them too.

Rebuilding the carb is pretty straightforward. All you're really doing is swapping jets and replacing gaskets. Spray everything liberally with carb cleaner and use some small stiff wires to ensure that all of the passages through the carb are clean and free of blockages.

Don't get carb cleaner on any of the rubber gaskets as they'll swell up and ruined.

There's a pretty good guide here: Dan's Motorcycle