ATC70 part interchange? 79-85

[Jim mac]

bought a 79 atc 70 a few weeks ago. got it fired up and it pops out of first gear, and has bad rear bearings. Only paid 100 bucks for it and thought it would be worth fixing up. Well today I picked up a 85 atc 70 that I was going to use for parts
but this one had a motor with good compression, good bearings. the tires are junk, throttle cable is gone, coil wire is missing, plastic is busted up.
So the 79 is officially going to be the parts bike, going to move as much over to the 85 and call it good. SO, aside from the 85 having a upshift 4 speed, does everything else from a 79 fit a 85? Of course when I traded my last atc70 project I threw in a couple good wheel/tires and I could use them on one of these projects. jim

[briano]

All of the parts should swap out between the 2. The only big difference is the transmission, the shift pattern and number of gears.

[Blown 331]

Agreed. It should all swap over. There are some differences such as handle bars, grips etc but it will all still swap. I have a 79 that was jumping in first gear. I had a 1980 parts bike so I just swapped engines. I read of another guy on here about a month ago who had first gear problems in a 79 as well. Weird.

[Jim mac]

I originally posted a wanted ad on the local craigslist and got a offer on a pitbike motor and a 185 that was totally trashed. Then this thing showed up and the seller was thinking it was a gold mine. Only thing its got going for it, is the motor seems to have decent compression, the front and rear axle bearings are decent, and the tank has some rust but not the ugly gross stuff and the air box, pull start is all there. Im going to swap the tank, carb and plug wire and see if it runs. Then I have to decide what to do with the 79. I hate to sell it because everytime I do, I come across another project that needs parts. jim