my $100 3 wheeled find! atc 70 build/restore thread

[SteveCZ28]

found this little critter completely by accident while browsing craigslist a few nites ago at work. was listed under household goods, instead of atv section. 1979 atc 70. i have a 5 month old daughter, so i do have plenty of time to rebuild/restore this little guy. actuallly been looking for a 70 the day after i found out i was going to be a first time daddy. all the 70s around here go for gold as in 500 and up. found this for $150. talked to the wife first and got her talked down to 100, then talked to the husband to finish the deal arrangements. he bought it for his 6 month old boy, planned to restore, but when wife found out it had 3 wheels instead of 4, she said no go. so he got upset and sold it. i dont know a whole lot about this lil guy. was told he didnt try to get it going, i showed up and pullled on the pull starter and it was free and turned over, so thats all i needed as i know anything else motor wise could be fixed. got it home, cleaned it, and pulled plug to check for spark, very bright blue/white spark, so im happy. either the throttle cable or the slide is stuck as nothing moves, havent researched that yet. took gas cap off to find a ton of varnished fuel. its thick you can scrape it with a screw driver. so ill need to know how to clean that out. put rear of bike on a jack to test transmission. it seems to shift, but the shift indicator will only click one gear. only way to get it into neutral was to turn the rear axle while turning the shift indicator by hand to neutral, then it was truly in neutral. not sure whats going on with that? maybe needs a new trans? or maybe its acting funny as the engine isnt running? but i havent really had time to tinker yet to get it running and all what comes with that.but im excited. actually more excited over this little thing that i was for my own personal wheelers haha. the dirty pictures are the pictures i got from the for sale ad, and obviously the other pics are mine when i got it washed and home.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Stevecz28/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70_zpscjhndplx.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/Stevecz28/media/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70_zpscjhndplx.jpg.html)
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Stevecz28/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70-1_zpsqkld0yjr.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/Stevecz28/media/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70-1_zpsqkld0yjr.jpg.html)
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Stevecz28/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70-2_zpsatrwvsqh.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/Stevecz28/media/Mobile%20Uploads/atc70-2_zpsatrwvsqh.jpg.html)

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Stevecz28/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140124_181322_842_zpsdbkngeuq.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/Stevecz28/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140124_181322_842_zpsdbkngeuq.jpg.html)

[CRAZY70MAN]

Congrats....cleaned up nice! Should be a great project......plenty of help on this forum for sure.

[SteveCZ28]

thanks! ya the mud made it look way worse than it was. obviously ill need a new rear fender, but it still cleaned up nicely.

[CRAZY70MAN]

http://www.atcmanuals.info/ You will need a manual........:beer

[OKSTATE#1]

That's worth like $1200 bucks in eBay dollars lol

[SteveCZ28]

lol i dont know about 1200 in ebay dollars, but i do know the hundo was worth it to me. im just tickled over this lil guy hahaha

[DohcBikes]

When you say it only clicks one gear, do you mean unless you turn the tires again, or it only gets to second and stops? I don't know hardly anything about the 70s but many bikes and trikes won't kick into the next gear when sitting still not running, tires in the air. Often you have to rotate the axle to get it to change gears.

Nice find at an unbeatable price, looks nice all cleaned up!! And dirty :lol:

[SteveCZ28]

well when we loaded it i didnt know it was in 4th or its top gear. just sitting on the ground not rocking it i could only get it to upshift 1 gear. then with rear wheels in the air rotating them it would still only click one gear. but if i was rotating the rear wheels and grabbed the gear shift indicator i could turn the indicator to neutral, it would click like it was going into 2nd then 1st, then neutral. but it wouldnt do this via the shifter itself. i figured it was acting weird also with the engine not running, as even my raptor wont go thru all gears with the engine off too.

[kebby28]

Nice find! I am jealous.
Did you get it into neutral though?

[SteveCZ28]

yes it is in neutral right now. after i got it into neutral i left it alone and came inside as i just ran out of fuel for my heater and garage got cold quick. i mite fill up my tank and get some heat going and tinker on this little critter tomorrow

[bigdaddyvw185]

Great find!
it really cleaned up nice, When the time comes i want to go the same route you are, Get the little ones on something while they are young!! Good luck with it, with a little time and effort you will have it ready to go when she gets a bit older! :TrikesOwn

[SteveCZ28]

some of my best lifetime memories came from 3 wheelers. when i was little before i was even big enough to ride, i remember my father would pull me around in a sled in the winter behind his 350x. then my 7th b day rolled around and i got my very own atc 90. this 70 is tiny so i hope to get my girl involved in riding before i got started. i cant wait. i did jump the gun getting this thing, but i truly found it by accident, and the price was way to good to pass up. i could simply put it away froa few years, or just tinker with it here and there and get it back to 100% by the time shes ready to go. i cant believe the parts available for these lil guys. fairly cheap too

[bigdaddyvw185]

Well look at it like this then... It was meant to be for you to pick it up, bring it back to life, and to relive those life experiences that you had with your father back when you were a young buck with your daughter! What could be better than that! best of luck!

[coolpool]

I wouldn't be too worried about the tranny until you get some fresh oil in it, running and warmed up. If the tanks as bad as you say the oil is probably the same and the internals are sticking. I don't know of any magic cleaners for varnish, but removing the tank, adding a handfull of screws and fresh gas and slosh/shake it for a while should help. Theres a product called Marine Clean thats great for certain applications, not sure it will break down varnish. Clean the carb thoroughly, its probably as bad as the tank. You should be able to remove the carb from the engine easily. Once clear of the air cleaner you could try to pry up the slide with something plastic to free it. Good luck, you got it for a good price.

[SteveCZ28]

i did some google research. apparently acetone is a good product to use for the varnished fuel. im leaning more and more towards getting my lp tank filled for my heater and tinker all day tomorrow. too many things i want to see, or explore and figure out what illl need for this thing

[coolpool]

I see some rub marks on the front fender from the head nut in your pics. Common problem on these is the frames bend at the neck. Easy fix; and you might want to repair the steering tab stop while the tank is off. Its probably bent up causing the forks to hit the tank. Your throttle cable needs to be routed kind of the same as your brake cable but on the other side of the frame. These are minor issues, great buy your daughter will love it. I bet you will too!

[SteveCZ28]

ok ill closely inspect the frame near the neck then. didnt think they would bend

[coolpool]

ok ill closely inspect the frame near the neck then. didnt think they would bend

The front fender is a give away. Remove the tank and put a ruler up against the steering stem along the backbone. It should be level. All you need is a 3 ton bottle jack and some wood to fix it. With the tank, coil, carb/intake and airbox removed 1 hour tops to jack it straight. Thats minor, get it running and shifting first. Then you'll know what your starting with. I can post or email you pics if you'd like.

[captainweezy]

Metal rescue works absolutely awesome. I bought a gallon of it on amazon for $24 shipped. Really blew my mind. And its reusable.

[SteveCZ28]

ok did some tinkering. dug into the throttle problem. turns out the slide was seized in the carb. took alot of force to pull and wedge the slide out. but good news is the throttle cable is good still. took the bowl off the carb, and just like the tank, the carb is all slagged up, and varnished severely, im not even going to mess with it, im just going to get a replacement carb, as i think itll be too much of a nightmare to clean inside and out.

took tank off and dumped the half a cup of whats left of liquid gas out of it. then filled the tank with acetone to sit over nite to help loosen the gunk in it.

inspected the frame and like you guys knew from looking at the fender the frame is bent. it takes its bend right where the coil mount is and slopes downwards, like the front end hit something hard. hopefully that isnt a hard fix.

did a compression test on it. it has right at 120psi. i dont know how much compression these little guys are supposed to have. but while doing compression test i realized it has spark with the kill switch in the on and off positions. i didnt look closely for wires unhooked as i was working in garage with no heat today, as were pretty much in blizzard like conditions and didnt want to drive to go get fuel.

thats all my findings for today. heres a pic of the carb

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/Stevecz28/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140126_164929_502_zpstbs5jhdg.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/Stevecz28/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140126_164929_502_zpstbs5jhdg.jpg.html)

[effort=results]

as far as rust and crud in the gas tank i have had great success with apple cider vinager . pour it in full and let is sit for 2 days. empty it out pour in baking soda and then power wash it all out. works great. it may clean the carb to . but that carb is pretty bad off. i would go ahead and clean it buy i wouldnt trust the jets to open up . so id ebay a new carb kit. really jealous great score!:beer

ps. after tank is clean immediately fill it with gas so it doesnt flash rust.

[SteveCZ28]

i read about the apple cider vinegar to use on rust/crud. but i have about 1/8th inch layer of slag on all the interior of the tank and am soaking in acetone to loosen the varnished fuel. once that cuts some of the varnish im definitely using the cider vinegar to do the rest. i heard about the baking soda. saw a video on youtube of a guy that used a water and baking soda mix and filled the tank with that, sloshed it around to coat it and prevent the flash rust youre talking about also.

as far as the carb, i wont even try using it as i gouged the slide pulling and wedging it out. and like you said i dont trust the jets to open. the float itself is stuck too, just be less of a headache to replace it and start with a good known working carb, or get a new carb off ebay.

[SteveCZ28]

oh, also was able to shift tranny from neutral to 3rd gear, and back to neutral via the shifter. but if i grab the neutral indicator i can turn it to about 3rd gear as well, with little resistance and not rocking or rolling the bike.

[DickyDanger]

as far as rust and crud in the gas tank i have had great success with apple cider vinager . pour it in full and let is sit for 2 days. empty it out pour in baking soda and then power wash it all out. works great. it may clean the carb to . but that carb is pretty bad off. i would go ahead and clean it buy i wouldnt trust the jets to open up . so id ebay a new carb kit. really jealous great score!:beer

ps. after tank is clean immediately fill it with gas so it doesnt flash rust.

I just did this last week with my trike but I dodnt think to clean it out with baking soda afterwards, left it empty and all the rust came right back! I was bummed out but thanks for your tip I will have to do it all over again

[MattDragontamer]

Man oh man that carb is guncked up... You can spend the time and money cleaning it... But carbs are cheap to buy on ebay or other sources these days. If it was a rare part that cost a penny or two i would say clean'er up... But fot this one going new might be a better and trouble free option.

[SteveCZ28]

Ya the carb looks and smells horrible. If I didn't gouge the throat and slide area up with a few screw drivers to try to wedge the very stuck slide out of the carb I mite try cleaning it. But even if it did come back to 100% the gouges I put in it definitely won't help it. So I'll just find a replacement. No biggie. Probably the smarter decision too

[effort=results]

I just did this last week with my trike but I dodnt think to clean it out with baking soda afterwards, left it empty and all the rust came right back! I was bummed out but thanks for your tip I will have to do it all over again

Ya i ussually spray the inside of the tank down with wd40 right after i neutralize the vinager with baking soda. Gives me a lil time to mount the tank and fill it up with gas.

[SteveCZ28]

just bought a brand new complete set of fenders for this lil guy

[czac]

Nice find, around here it would be a five hundred dollar machine as well! Good luck with it, the best thing is, you have all the time in the world to get it done right!

[SteveCZ28]

Nice find, around here it would be a five hundred dollar machine as well! Good luck with it, the best thing is, you have all the time in the world to get it done right!
thanks! exactly i figure i have atleast 2 years to get this thing perfect

[kb0nly]

Awesome find!! Very jealous... I have been wanting a 70 for years for the kids, just to rare for me to find here, and if i do they are $500-$700 depending on condition, even the rough ones bring around $500.

If the Acetone doesn't work try some E85 if you got a local station that carries it. I have cleaned out some horrendous looking metal boat tanks with nothing more than a couple gallons of E85. Let it soak a couple days, shake and pour. The E85 comes out just crap brown with all the gunk it cleaned out. Then if you got rust the Apple Cider Vinegar does the job like no other!! I have done tanks with that to and they always turn out great!

I agree on the carb, too much work. It could maybe be saved but when you can buy a carb for the price of a carb kit these days its so much easier to slap on a new one and be done with it. I fought the carb on my 200ES for weeks and then put on a $24 cheapo from eBay and its been awesome since. My 90 i got the carb off and rebuilt it, but then it was stored dry and the carb was actually quite clean, about the cleanest one i found that spent time sitting. It spent about 8 years sleeping before i came along. But then i had a good carb and a bad motor so it was a tossup... LOL

Thats the worst part, seems like usually you find one thats been sitting a long time and there was a reason why it got left to rot. But i wouldnt put too much thought into your shifting and such yet until you get it running. Put the rear end up on jackstands when you get it running and work it through the gears a few times going slow to get everything moving again, listening for noise and such. If that goes good take it for a spin, you may look like a grizzly on a little red trike but it will be fun... LOL!!!

[SteveCZ28]

snagged a running 85 atc 70 today. for $125.....it shifts up 1 gear llike this 79 when its not running. and whats weird is i can grab the neutral indicator on it and turn it atleast 2 gears as well when the engine is off...so im not going to worry about the tranny in the 79 until i get it running and see what it will do

[kb0nly]

I saw that other post, another good find! Lucky bugger...

Last 70 i saw for sale near me was a twisted piece of metal, broken frame, trashed fenders, i almost bought it just for parts or to try and rescue it until i found the motor had a hole in the case to. Wasnt worth it and seller wouldnt budge on price.

[SteveCZ28]

haha, ya i do think i got lucky to find 2 70's for crazy cheap

[TrailerRider]

dam now that's a awesome score! Congrats!

[Big G]

Good work sniffing this one out of the "household" Craigslist ad! Keep us posted when you get it running :beer

[SteveCZ28]

got my brand new set of fenders today. still waiting on the brand new carb i bought to show up. checked on the gas tank, as today is day 2 with the apple cider vinegar in it, and the tank is starting to look shiny on the inside again, which im excited for. i had my doubts on the tank cleaning out ok, but this vinegar works great. ill definitely remember this tip

[SteveCZ28]

got a question about the baking soda. do i just pour straight baking soda in the tank after i dump the vinegar out? how much b soda do i put in? i saw a video online that a guy mixed up water and baking soda together and dumped that in the tank and sloshed it around. any input would be appreciated

[oscarmayer]

ok 2 things to add.
1) chem-dip gallon can at the auto parts store. your bestest friend for cleaning a carb, especially like that. drop carb as is, in the chem-dip and let it sit for a day or 2. take it out wash with hot water will look like near new.
2) all bikes you have to rock them when engine is not running to move through gears. i do not know of any bike out there that will go through the gears unless you rock it. so i would just change the oil in the thing, clean the tank and carb and take it fort a spin or troubleshoot from there.

[SteveCZ28]

no need for the chem dip as i bought and recieved a new carb today.

when i first got it, i was rocking the bike back and forth and was having problems shifting it back into neutral. like everyone else has mentioned im not going to worry about the trans until i get it running and get oil circulated back through the motor, and see if it loosens things back up. but being as the 85 i just got does the same thing im not too worried..

i can have this 79 running once i figure out what to do with the baking soda. whether i just pour it in to dust the tank, then rinse out? or make a water/baking soda mix and clean out the tank with that, i dont know yet, what to do.

[SteveCZ28]

ok, got the tank drained of the apple cider vinegar. lots of crap poured out. made a water/baking soda wash for it, poured that in and sloshed that around 3 or 4 good times. then rinsed out with straight water, and drained the water out of the tank, then took about a cup of gas poured it into the tank and sloshed that around working it into all the nooks and crannies of the tank. tank looks spotless now. hopefullly ill get the tank installed along with the new carb, pour more gas in and see if this mighty little machine will breathe some life by this weekend

[oscarmayer]

good luck!

[BGMAN]

I see some rub marks on the front fender from the head nut in your pics. Common problem on these is the frames bend at the neck. Easy fix; and you might want to repair the steering tab stop while the tank is off. Its probably bent up causing the forks to hit the tank. Your throttle cable needs to be routed kind of the same as your brake cable but on the other side of the frame. These are minor issues, great buy your daughter will love it. I bet you will too!

VERY INTERESTING. I started reading through this thread cuz I love these little 70's and came across your post. My little 70 has the same marks. I have little rub marks on the back of the front fender from the head bolts, and my bars will hit my gas tank. So to clarify, is my frame bent and my steering stop tabs are bent? or one or the other?

[captainweezy]

VERY INTERESTING. I started reading through this thread cuz I love these little 70's and came across your post. My little 70 has the same marks. I have little rub marks on the back of the front fender from the head bolts, and my bars will hit my gas tank. So to clarify, is my frame bent and my steering stop tabs are bent? or one or the other?
Yes your frame is bent. Let me see if I can dig up the thread with the bottle jack trick.

[BGMAN]

Damn. I guess this is a common issue, but minor? Looking forward to reading about how to fix it, but what's going to stop it from bending again? My experience with bent bicycle frames is you can bend them back straight, but they always seem to bend back easier.

[coolpool]

Straightening a frame is very easy. It's actually two issues you need to deal with, the bent frame causing the fender rub and the bent steering stop marking the tank. I have a theory why they bend in the first place , its because kids don't have the physical strength to activate the hand brake and the machine hit things dead on. I've straightened two now and haven't been easy on them. No repeat issues so far. PM me if you need straightening pictures.

[SteveCZ28]

i found this thread for fixing the frame. they recommend a 3 ton bottle jack. i just picked up a nice 4 ton bottle jack from harbor freight last week for $19 shipped

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php/104333-atc-70-flipped-front-fender-Q

and to everyone else, i guess ill make this thread my build thread for this little guy. should have some time on friday to put the carb on, dump a splash of gas in and see what itll do. i have high hopes that itll run

[BGMAN]

Thanks for the link. That will be an off season project for me. It barely rubs right now.

[SteveCZ28]

Well finally got around to attempting to get this little guy to run. Plumbed up fuel lines put In new fuel filters' installed tank and new carb. Pulled and pulled and pulled with out even getting a pop out of it. Put in a tiny amount of gas through spark plug hole. Got it to pop once then that's all it wrote. Still has good spark. Its getting gas into the carb. I'm thinking it just too cold to start right now, unless it has a problem that I don't know about. But it has gas,spark, and compression. When I gave up on it and pushed it back into the garage i pulled the spark plug and it was wet, which tells me its flooded. Which also goes with me thinking its too cold to get it to run as it is 4 degrees here.

[SteveCZ28]

Its 44 degrees here so I attempted to get this thing going. Forgot I had starting fluid last time I tried to get it running. So today i shot then starting fluid in the carb and pulled its guts out via the recoil without even a pop. It has spark compression and fuel. So I shot more starting fluid in it thru the spark plug hole. Still no luck. So I shot it again thru the carb and then held it wide open will puling. Now I can get it to back fire through the carb. So that tells me the timing is way out, now what timing? Would it be the valves out if time? Or would it be the points out of time? And how would I tell for each?
So i got kind of fed up with it. In had bought a new carb save kit for the 85 on eBay. So I tore into that as the carb on it was leaking thru the bowl seal.Got that csrb all cleaned up and put back together, but dididn't attempt to start it yet' as the fuel lines are brittle, but I did by new lines and filters. So ya that's where I'm at with the 2 little boogers.

[SteveCZ28]

somewhat of an update. bought a new set of points and condensor. bought new fuel lines and filters. gonna install new timing components and see if that fixes it. hopefully it does, as i dont really want to tear the motor down. im still thinking its timing related as my 85 has only a pound more compression wise and it runs, where as this one doesnt, and just farts through the carb. i did buy a brand new set of red plastics for this a while back, which i think ill use on the 85 now to save me from scraping all the paint off them, as im considering buying a set of pink plastics for this one for my lil girl. been seeing a few pink ones running around on here, that actually dont look half bad. my little one might like that more. i decided also, im keeping the 85 atc 70 now, as earlier i didnt know what i was going to do with it. well i have a plan now as my wife is pregnant with baby number 2. were about 11 weeks along. so i guess there was a reason i bought 2 of these things so close together. haha. ill try to get pictures of where im at on these things

[coolpool]

Hopefully you bought a flywheel puller when you ordered your parts, you'll need it. Check for a partially sheared flywheel key, I've heard that's common. The timing on these can be finicky, that's why I think most of the pull starts on 70's are missing; from people pulling the crap out of them, breaking them, removing them and losing interest. I would also check to see if the cam chain has jumped one tooth if the ignition timing is spot on and it still doesn't fire. A plugged exhaust would cause it to not start either. Congrats on baby #2!

[SteveCZ28]

ive had a puller for it from another bike i had. who knew a yamaha banshee flywheel puller would work on the 70s? saved me some extra cash. ill have to do some checking on this. ill check for the sheared flywheel key. makes sense. ill yank the exhaust too, maybe theres a rats nest in there from sitting for so long, i wouldve never thought to check that either.

[SteveCZ28]

figured id do an update to this, as I recently dug out my 79 atc70. joined a atc 70 page on fb, and its recently re-lit the fire in me to work on one of the 70's. my daughter is growing up (seems to quickly). shes 3 now, and is fairly tall for her age imo. I kind of gave up for a while, when I last had it out to work on it. same issues, had spark, 120psi of compression cold, and was getting fuel thru a clean tank, and new carb. all I could do is get it to pop thru the carb. plus having 2 rugrats running around kind of ties up a lot of spare time I used to have.
recently, I have cleaned and adjusted points (getting bright white to blue/purple spark) with a very audible arc noise when it sparks
adjusted valves. I know the intake valve rocker was over .010 gap wise. and exhaust felt just as loose. tightened them both down to .003
did remove flywheel to check for broken woodruff key(which it is not broke or sheared)

I pulled and pulled and pulled again with no results. shot some starting fluid thru the carb. got nothing
shot starting fluid into spark plug hole. got one pop, then that was it. so from there I adjusted the points again. and unknowingly tightened the points too much, to where they wouldn't open, so I temporarily lost spark. found that out, and readjusted, and now have spark back again.
I do have new points and condenser sitting with the bike that can be installed. but for the brightness of spark, im thinking the ones that are in the bike now may be fine. someone on the fb page did mention it could still spark with a bad condenser? not sure how that would work tho.
im gonna go home and try starting it one more time today. if it doesn't start, im gonna lean towards it needing a top end, or other mechanical work. as im slowly exhausting all options at this moment. I so badly wanna hear this thing fire up. had it for 3 years now, and all ive heard is a back fire thru the carb. which isn't very motivating. lol

anyone have anything else I can look at or ideas for this thing?

[SteveCZ28]

Well it took 3 years to do. But this little guy took its first breath of life again. I wish I knew how long it has Sat since it was last ridden, or ran. I just know.it had to be a long time. To have 1/4 inch of sludge covering the entire insides of the gas tank. Ruining the carburetor
I got home from work yesterday. Cleaned the points again. Tightened the flywheel nut with my impact wrench. Then put my drill on it to start it, to save pulling it's guts out with the recoil. The carb has Sat with gas in it for close to 3 years as well. But I put the drill on and started cranking. Immediately it started sputtering and popping. I shot some starting fluid thru the carb as I was cranking to help suck it into the motor. It started popping really good then, and you could hear my drill pull a load, then the load would let up, letting me know that motor was indeed popping enough to catch up to the drill speed. I kept spraying starting fluid into it, and the more it cranked the more it popped and sputtered, until finally I heard the load come off the drill. I pulled the drill off the motor, and there it was. This little 3 wheeler was running on its own after who knows how long. I immediately jumped in the air throwing fists in the air in excitement. It did take some finessing of the throttle and a few more cranks to get it to where it would idle. Took about 5 minutes of running before it was running really good. Seemed to be loosening up the more it ran. After a little longer I was able to rev it up and let off and it would come down and idle again. I'm just beyond thrilled that it runs again. Now I can finally do the fun stuff to it, and prepare it for my daughter. And do some fine tuning as well. Probably gonna clean the gas tank again, and clean the carb as well. As the gas was a dark rusty color again. But everything now is little tinkering items.


https://youtu.be/flnoFISX3bU