1986 250SX Resurrection! An ATC saved! More build pics added and to come

[TatTooL23]

so this is an '86 Honda ATC 250SX that i got in a trade of value for $200. it was so hacked and molested i couldn't believe it, but none the less i had to have it.

as u can c, the muffler was hack sawed off, fenders spray painted, gas tank painted by brush with house type paint, patched all over the seams, dented all over, and an RM dirt bike front end. so no front brakes, and no steering, lol. it would push so badly in the corners it was ridiculous, plus the front end was much higher and much lighter. i was told they did this to "win in drag races!"

amazingly though the trike ran great, started no problem, and even reverse worked. when i got it home, i changed the oil and filter, and checked the sir filter which was the inner foam of a couch cushion wrapped in duct tape. so i got a new OEM filter and installed that and put a battery in it and even the electric start worked perfectly.

so even though it looked the way it does, it actually ran well, shifted through all the gears, and the headlight and taillight work and electric start.

so i have been slowly chipping away at going through this and restoring it. i am not going for a show room build and it is not done yet. but i had to post some comparison photos. most people i know didn't believe it was the same trike but it absolutely is. i still need to do things like that paint and powder coat small things and give it a full cleaning.

also that is the same gas tank.

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[fabiodriven]

Wow man! You really had your work cut out for you there! Holy hell, what a hack!

Way to bring em back to life!

:shiftyeyes:Trailpros:shiftyeyes:

[thestud25]

Dayuuuum!!! That turned out good!

[atc350xer]

Great job... nice MC wheel in the original!

[wonderboy]

Holy resurections, Batman! That is an incredible transformation. I'm working on my 86 SX right now as well, but my starting point was way better than your starting point... and I don't mean that to sound rude, just the opposite, it is amazing how amazing the machine looks now.

[JasonB]

holy crap!!!! really turned that thing around! that front end was ridiculous looking lol great work man

[zainyD]

I love seeing threads like this, great save! That thing could have easily been parted out, but you put the time, money, and work into it to bring it back to life. Well done.

[Big Mike]

HAHA Looked like something you would have seen in a Mad Max movie, looks absolutely amazing now, GREAT JOB!!!

[Jason125m]

What a great transformation! Great work Tatool.

[jb2wheels]

Nicely done - I bet the Amex got a workout - could not have been cheap to do.

[sp8twn]

nice job ryan!!!

[TatTooL23]

you can c here they also spray bombed the entire throttle while on the machine because of the headlight shell having over spray from it. they tried using the same headlight shell on the thinner spaced forks so they just pulled it in so far that it cracked the headlight shell. you can also c a little more of how bad the gas tank was. but amazingly it was like brand new inside. which is y we restored this tank.
and we had already welded the muffler back on.

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[TatTooL23]

and here is all i could c of the stock seat cover. there was a little bit of blue showing so i really wondered if there was a perfect shaped OEM seat under the plastic and foam they put on it. from the rest of the trike i wasn't counting on finding anything good under there. here it is with the homemade cover and then after cutting it off.... the pics speak for themselves. in the second pic u can also c the horrible paint on the tank and the sweet foam grips with electrical tape.

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[jays375]

Wow!Really can't say much else.

[bigworm626]

They would of won more races if they didn't have the trailpro's lol

[bigworm626]

Way to go! Super nice job kid kash!

[weidjd]

wow, how much $$ and time you have in that?

Nice Job.

[TatTooL23]

i only chip away at them here and there. i have a ton of projects going on so i do a little on each of them. Lately most of my time has been my TPC build. i live an hour away from where i keep my trikes and work on them, so i can only work on them 1 or 2 days a week.

had the mosh's do the seat, bought new maier plastic, got the front end with the original tire free with a big red i bought, new fork boots, brake cable, air filter, tail light, oil filter, engine oil, diff oil, decal kit, front headlight was a bit rough, plastic welded it in the back and imbedded stainless mesh, then sanded and polished it, and my father does body work and paints cars, so he did the tank, had the oem bars from other stuff, got the dash on ebay, had the brake perch, got the rear tires and rims free with a 350X i bought, new honda grips.

so overall not too bad considering i traded 2 hours of my work for it.

overall i just like to do it to c those comparison pics. ill be posting more build pics as i went.

[aldochina]

lookin great tattool!! i love diamonds in the rough! sounds like you got more time than anything in it!! did the headlight spring back to shape, or is that what the mesh is doing!! Are those original mudflaps?? i need a set!!

[TennesseeATC]

Awesome Rebuild!!! I cracked up when I saw the "before" pics with the RM front end, hilarious! You sure are doing a good thing saving it and your doing a GREAT job with it!!!!

[aldochina]

are you running spacers to have those aluminum wheels on the rear??

[TatTooL23]

Yes they r original mud flaps. I had to drill out the hardware. They were seized and would just spin and tear up the plastic tabs underneath. So I used nice new carriage bolts. Also the mud flaps were painted 2 coats of different color so I sand blasted them. It actually worked very well. I still have to do the front one.

I ended up getting another headlight shell that was is pretty good shape just with minor cracking. The one that was on it is F'd.

And there r no spacers on the rear. The trail pros were rubbing the muffler once I out it on but obviously I wanted to get rid of those anyway. So the all traks worked perfectly and widened the stance a bit too.

[TatTooL23]

here is the throttle cover before during and after. it was pretty amazing how much paint they had on it.

then the throttle all done, i have since got the white headlight shell on it and the Honda grips.

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[bigworm626]

Simply marvelous!!!!

[TatTooL23]

putting the actual front end on it.

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[3wheely]

Nice work. These are the kind of post's I like to read. Taking a horrible rig job and bringing it back to life!

[TatTooL23]

here is some of the process with the gas tank.

you can see how many dents there were. the paint that was on it was so bad that u couldn't see how dented it really was cuz of the dull/flat white that it was. u could c the big dents from the dirt bikes forks hitting and some in the front but not all the small ones all over the sides.

then u can c some of the fiberglass to fill the larger stuff.

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[dirtwheels]

Nice job putting it back how it was intended to be! That motorcycle front end was just a bad idea. The gold was a nice touch...haha.. Isn't anything painted gold worth more? :crazy:

[TatTooL23]

here r more tank pics.

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[Bustos82]

here r more tank pics.

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that is nice man. wish you closer so you can do some work for me. lol!

[TatTooL23]

I powder coated the grab bar. Looks so much better. It was a beat up and rashed but the powder leveled it out pretty nicely.

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/TatTooL23/6bb567b4.jpg

[daniel_250r]

love the grab bar my friend

[TatTooL23]

finally got the ohtsus mounted and some other powder coat stuff done.

have some small touch up paint here and there and the front rim left.

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[IronBear]

Looks fantastic! Nice job :)

[ONEBAD350X]

Nice job. looks awesome now

[midsouthtrikes]

Great job saving that trike!

[Jason125m]

Looking good Ryan!

[ezmoney1979]

Nice work Tat! Looks great. :beer

[TatTooL23]

I have a NOS rear rack. Need opinions on if I should put that on too or not.

Rear rack or not?????