My '82BR Restoration slideshow

[Leadfoot71]

Here's my Dad's old 1982 Big Red. He sold it in 1996 for $150 to a neighbor kid when he bought a John Deere Gator 6x4. It didn't even have a tear in the seat at the time it was sold.

My friend Brandon found it and gave it to me last fall. I wanted to have the restoration completed by the 10th anniversary of my Dads passing in June but wasn't able to. It should be done in the next week or so.

I plan on adding pics to the slide show as I go along. Check back to see it completed. http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss335/1911Kimber/Big%20Red%20resto/?albumview=slideshow

Sorry about the crummy pictures. Thanks for all the help!

[motoman1012002]

looking very nice did a sweet job on the tank

[puggerton03]

Nice work!

[MonroeMike]

Great job, so far.

[atc350xer]

Looks awesome man... top notch! I'm sure your dad would be proud...

[coolpool]

Very nice. Did you send the tank to an autobody shop for paint or did you do it yourself?

[thestud25]

Very Nice! Did you get the dent out of the tank? If so how did you do it or have it done? Great thread!

[Mr_RPM]

very nice. i like how the powder coat turned out. gonna do it also

[Thorpe]

Looks absolutely awesome John! Nice work!

[harryredtrike]

very nice job,that kid your dad sold it to really f'ed that up pretty bad.your doing a great job

[Grizzlypeg]

Very nice work. Finished trike is going to look so nice.

[Leadfoot71]

Wow! Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Yes, I had the tank sent out for re-paint/repair. Docs Autobody in Whalen Minnesota (pop. 20) did the work. I also had them paint the '83 e-bay forks and headlight bucket. All of it was done, PERFECTLY, for $370. It wasn't cheap, but it's still cheaper than a NOS tank. Also, I'm glad I saved some of it's 'originality'. I didn't want to throw the whole machine into the junk pile!

I finally got my Wiseco piston today (67mm 10.25CR). The machine shop screwed up the measurements the first time and now I have a spare 66mm cast piston sitting here. Once the jug is bored out, I'll assemble and (hopefully) install the engine tomorrow. By Saturday I should have the NOS rear fenders, exhaust, tank, and wheels on. Sunday is the show...I hope I make it!

UPDATE.

I added pictures of the exhaust to the slideshow. This is the original factory exhaust. I can't weld thin stuff so a shop (Curts Place, Rushford Minnesota) welded a new tail pipe on it for $20. I sandblasted it and had it high temp ceramic coated ($100) at K and A Coatings in Rushford Minn. They also did my powder coating. I could have bought an aftermarket system for a few bucks more but didn't want the extra noise and wanted to keep the originality.

[BIGREDGUY]

Excellent work. I wish my 82' could have a tank that nice.

[honda200x1987]

Nice restoration you are doing there, WHERE on earth did you find a new oem front fender or is it new? I searched all over for years and could not find one for mine when I was doing the resto on my 84 200ES. Anyhow, you are doing a supurb job! I like to see someone do it from the ground up.

[bobotech]

Looks beautiful!!

[Pafrig]

very awsome. i would be scared to crush brush with that.

[Leadfoot71]

Nice restoration you are doing there, WHERE on earth did you find a new oem front fender or is it new? I searched all over for years and could not find one for mine when I was doing the resto on my 84 200ES. Anyhow, you are doing a supurb job! I like to see someone do it from the ground up.

Lol! That is the factory front fender. Beats the heck outta me how the last owner managed to wreck everything thing else except for the front fender, but that's exactly what happened. I just washed it.

I'm just lucky I was able to get NOS rear fenders for it because mine were completely shot. The biggest headache I had was the forks. The used ones I finally found were good, not great. Everything inside was replaced with NOS oem parts but the chrome was a little thin in places.

This is also my first restoration of any sort. I never intended to go this far with it. Once the new NOS rear fenders were in though, I knew I had to forget the "Krylon rebuild" and keep going. Also, since the motor had a cylinder head gasket leak, that had to come out. With the motor out, it was just a few more hours and the frame was bare. Looking at the bare frame, I knew that needed powdercoat. The whole thing just snowballed.

I don't think I would have done this if there wasn't a ton of sentimental value involved with it.

[MotorCity]

Leadfoot, you are doing an incredible job with the rebuild. Keep up the good work. I love seeing classic/vintage iron being brought back to life. You are doing a superb job with it. Good luck with the rest of it, and keep the pics coming. Your dad would be very proud.

[Leadfoot71]

very awsome. i would be scared to crush brush with that.

Thanks! I don't feel like crushing any brush with it either but I did hit a few cow pies with it today. Does that count? Lol!

I finally got the engine back on Monday (missed the local car show) and it started instantly. Seriously, it must have fired on the very first compression stroke. Amazing! The extra long tail pipe fits perfectly and sounds great! I was pretty worried about what it was going to sound like. It's very, very close to stock.

My slideshow (first post in this thread) has been updated with many new pictures.

If you folks got any questions on how I did things, be sure to ask. I can't thank everyone enough for helping me on this project. This is the only 3 wheeler I've ever ridden and riding it today for the first time in 14 years was a BLAST!

[BIGREDGUY]

That really does look amazing.

[mullet]

Awesome job man!! I have an 82' big red as well. Your rebuild is giving me some inspiration to cherry mine out too. Great job!!

[Leadfoot71]

Awesome job man!! I have an 82' big red as well. Your rebuild is giving me some inspiration to cherry mine out too. Great job!!

Nice to see another Minnesotan here. Welcome on board!

Thanks for the compliments. I've got a pretty rare car ('04 Mercury Marauder) but the Big Red is what really floors people when they enter my shop. Doing it up right was totally worth it.

If you've got any questions please feel free to drop me a PM. Also, don't forget to hit the seach button once in a while too. There is an absolute mountain of excellent info here already.

[sandpuppi101]

I just wanna say how nice your BR look's ,you did a great job on it.I have done dozen's of restorations on trike's and honestly I gotta say that the '82 200E was my favorite one of all of them .I don't know why but I think that is the most awesome color combo on the tank and the decal's being dark on the rear wing's just set it off for me.I have pic's of my '82 BR on my website that you can check out under my signature.Great job Bro,I'm sure your Dad would have loved it..

[Leadfoot71]

Thanks Roger! I'm pretty partial to the '82 Big Red myself! I sure didn't enjoy putting the chain on it though. What a pain!!!

I actually had a lot of trouble finding the tank decals, particularly the silver fade stripe. (this was before I found this site and Harlan Lysne). So I sent the tank to Pennsylvania and had a company there duplicate them for me. I don't know how well they compare to Harlan's decals but I am pretty happy with the final result.

I have seen your resto and was so impressed I printed it out and taped it up in my shop. You do some top-notch work! Not sure if I should even call mine a true "resto" since it has '83 forks, aftermarket headlight and non-factory finishes (powder and ceramic coatings) but it's close enough for me. Thanks for the comments! ~John