Another one followed me home!

[kb0nly]

According to the VIN decode its a 1981 ATC200, it's really in decent shape. Missing the left foot peg, just unbolted and gone completely for some reason, but nearly new rear tires and the front tire is great to. Pulled the plug, has spark, has compression, thats as far as i got with it after getting home with it late tonight. Tomorrow i will tear into it. It doesn't have the correct throttle on it, missing the kill switch, the kill switch wire is hanging out with a toggle switch plugged into it, but they didn't chop the wires all the factory connectors are still there and it doesn't appear to have been messed with too much.

Pulling it over the valves are pretty noisy, sound loose, bottom end seems alright, can shift it into first without the plug in and spin the motor over pushing it, went through all the gears and they feel good, clutch is grabbing and spinning the motor with it. Seat needs to be redone, someone put a new cover on it loosely, just taped it on, but the foam is in good shape and the old seat cover underneath was taped up so it preserved it. Seat pan has a little rust but still usable. One small crack in the rear fender where the frame bolt is by the tank on the right side, won't be hard to patch up.

Once i get it running i will know more, but even if i have to pull the motor and do a top end on it everything is there, original exhaust is even intact and in decent shape, and the rest of it seems solid. Will be a fun project to get into! Finally scored another 200 for cheap so we have another one in the family. Was a 5 hour round trip to go get it... Closest i could find but i think it was worth the snag. Even has a full tank of fresh fuel and the tank is perfect inside, obviously someone poorly repainted the outside but i can live with it for now.

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[bkvette3]

Nicely done - great score. You can never have to many ATCs'. Don't crush them - restore them.

[kb0nly]

I would own more if i could find em! This one was the closest i have seen for sale in a year here. Pulled the motor today, tore it down, cam chain is loose and the crankshaft sprocket is pretty worn, camshaft sprocket looks new. My guess the last person in replaced one sprocket and not the other. Got parts ordered will get it put back together right. Cylinder is bored .080 over, someone before me did a top end rebuild on it, Wiseco piston, bore looks good, can still see some cross hatch, going to just clean it up and reassemble, new gaskets and seal everything back up. Someone before me really cared for it, i think the crankshaft sprocket was just beyond their capabilities and they gave up on it.

Now i just have to wait for parts, thats the hardest part!!

[kb0nly]

Just stalled out waiting on parts now... Got the seat repaired this week, tore down the motor and thoroughly cleaned it out inside... Just tinkering on small things waiting on parts, shipping sure is slow these days! However i keep busy enough that getting an hour or so every few days to work on it is about all i have time for right now so its nice to work on it, wait for parts then get another small batch of jobs on it done. I got the right side all put back together, closed up with new gaskets and done. Just waiting on parts to finish the top end assembly now. Still have to fix a crack in the left fender, get the brake adjusters unstuck, the brakes work fine but the adjusters are stuck and the pedal for the rear brake could stand to have some slack removed. Not a lot more to do on the frame. Pulled the handlebars off, checked the neck bearings and they were fine with plenty of grease in them, so i just put it all back together and cleaned up everything. Still have to go through the front brake and bearings but the rear bearings and axle and brake are great other then the adjuster problem which i have dealt with on every one i have owned it seems like.

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[kb0nly]

Another batch of parts arrived today.... So i got the motor back together and back in the frame, carb is still waiting to go back together, but of course i couldn't help but give it a few squirts of fuel into the intake to see if she would pop off, second pull she roared to life and that was a good feeling to know everything is wired up and working and should be set once the carb and tank is on to dial it in.

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Front fender is cleaned up and i gotta do some plastic welding on it, didn't get a chance to snap a picture but for anyone interested i will do a before and after on it. I ain't promising it to be perfect, but it will work! The rear left fender is also off and cleaned up and prepped for welding as well, its cracked at the front lower bolt hole, nice thing is i can slap on a reproduction sticker after its welded and buffed out and most of the crack will be hidden under the side sticker, so that's the plan to just disguise it a bit. Tank is nearly here looking at tracking, along with some R109 paint so i can give it a sand and a fresh coat of paint and buff it out. All coming along nicely!

Its been really nice having a project to spend some time on in the evenings again, its been years since i went through one and brought it back. Just hard to get them to work on them around here now days.

[ATC King]

Looking good.

What's up with the rack? Is it OE or something modified? It looks good on there either way.

[MrConcdid]

Those are great bikes, That one looks like it was taken care of.

Good Score,
MrC.

[psujeepguy]

Keep up the good work! Really looks like it's coming back to life!

[kb0nly]

The rack is OE, someone painted it silver though, rattle can job, in a few spots the silver is wearing off and you can see the stock black underneath. I might clean it up and repaint it this winter when i have time or just leave it, i actually kind of like the silver look and its not hurting nothing as is. But either way its solid, not beat up, and looks really good!

It seems like it actually had a pretty decent life, its not beat that bad, someone put new bearings in the rear end very recently, wasn't the guy i bought it from he never touched it after buying it from the previous owner. Right before the guy i bought it from got it the original owner put new rear tires on and had a shop do the top end on it. But they goofed on the cam timing and had it out 180, probably saved it from further damage though because the cam chain sprocket and tensioner were worn down and the chain was sloppy loose when i tore into it.

The original seat underneath had about 15 layers of duct tape on it, and then someone taped a replacement cover loosely over it. It was some job cleaning all the tape goo off and getting the new cover on there the right way, but the new cover is a nice heavy vinyl and looks well made so i just used it. Normally i buy my replacements from HC-Camo-Seating on eBay, his covers are where its at, my 200ES has a cover from him for the last ten years now and still looks new. But this one seems to be decent quality, time will tell if the stitching holds up but i can always replace it again.

Today i got the replacement tank, it had a 200E or ES tank on it, at least i think, which is too wide for this frame, so i got an 83 tank that fits perfect on it. No rust issues in the new tank either, just needed to flush it out, some new tank rubbers and dropped it on and filled it up, got it plumbed to the carb with a filter and she fired off and i drove it around all afternoon doing yard work and trimming tree branches using it as my step stool to reach the ones that were catching the top of my head on the lawnmower and trikes. Idled perfect, though its on a straight pipe right now. I thought the exhaust was ok, but after i got it running on the carb yesterday the exhaust literally started to fall apart, and a half gallon of water shot out, i know i got some in there when i washed it, but i think the guy i bought it from did to. So i pulled the muffler, the one side literally crunched when i grabbed it, it looked ok but it was as thin as paper around the back end. The header pipe is sorta ok, but has about a half a dozen holes in it, and someone else already played welding and grinding practice on it. So i just left the header pipe on it for now, a new DG RCM exhaust will be here tomorrow!

Boy was it loud driving around on the header pipe, but it was running so good i just wanted to put some time on the motor. Not a hint of smoke, idles as smooth as new. I'm quite happy with it overall. Tomorrow i get the new exhaust and get that on, then i have to finish fixing the fender crack and get the fenders back on, probably not until this weekend. I also got the headlight and taillight working. The taillight had the remnants of a broken bulb in it, got that out and then a brass brush on the rotary tool cleaned out the socket, a little dielectric grease and a new bulb and it was fine. The headlight worked on low beam but not high beam, put in a new bulb and the same, took the headlight apart and one wire was broken off the switch, soldered that back on and fixed that.

About the only other thing i need to fix in the future is a new drive chain or i need to cut out a link or two. I have the axle adjusted out as far as it goes to get the chain tight. Chain looks great though, i had it off, cleaned it and relubed it, and it doesn't look to have much time on it at all. I think its just too long. I will have to take it back apart and fix that when i can find my chain breaker, couldn't locate it today or i would have taken a link out. I will get some more pictures tomorrow after i get the exhaust on. Its nearly finished as far as making a good reliable rider. This winter or sooner depending on time i want to sand and repaint the replacement tank, get some decals on it just to dress it up a bit. But it looks pretty good as a daily driver.

[kb0nly]

One thing i forgot to mention... The rear end isn't all OE... Someone put three bolt hubs on it and 22" wheels and tires. The front is still a stock 25" tire. I thought about pulling off the rear hubs and wheels and putting on some stock four bolt hubs and wheels but i don't have any good spare 25" tires right now, i got some hubs and wheels in my stash as spares for my 200ES, its just an added expense that really don't accomplish much! For now i will just leave it be, if any of my trikes get new tires in the near future it will probably be the 200ES, it has trailpros on the rear, but since i use that one to pull trailers around and do yard work its hard to beat those heavy hard trailpros for lasting, the world could end and in another 100 years those tires would still be around rotting slowly!

Those rear tires on this 200 still have the tits on them, they are quite new, my best guess is 2017/2018, the guy i bought it from got it in early 2019 from the other owner who gave up on it the year before and he was the one that did all the work on it, i probably rode around on them more then the previous two owners did in one afternoon today. In the future if it needs new tires then maybe i swap them out. I'm pretty certain that my 90 has the same size 22x11x8 tires and hubs on the back, so either way these wheels and hubs are going to be kept as spares if i do set it back to 25's.

Oh and another interesting note... I am only the third owner of this one as far as i can tell. Thats actually pretty rare here, these things bounce around owners a lot, you can't hardly by a quad around here that hasn't had a half dozen owners. The fun part is i have the paper trail for it. The guy i bought it from got a bill of sale from the original owner who noted on it that he bought it brand new in 82. Unfortunately, he lost the original manual and origin paperwork, would have been neat to have that along with it. But i will get over it having a low owner trike that hasn't been messed with by a dozen people before me for a change.

[MrConcdid]

Like kickstart bikes, pull start only can wear you down pretty quick it they don't start right up, the cam being out 180 sure would fool a lot of people, I had one like that a month ago.
The more I ride my ridged 185, the more I don't mind the ride, tire pressure is everything, there just not meant for flat out WOT whoops.
Good score.
MrC.

[kb0nly]

Yeah i could imagine the level of frustration the last two people had with it! That's why when i got it i pulled it about five times, gave it a squirt of gas, pulled twice more then said ok there is something wrong and pulled the motor and did a tear down! I won't sit and pull the starter until my arm is sore, screw that! It starts first pull each time now, no choke, idles perfectly. Its such a fun trike to ride, we were taking turns riding it today without the fenders all back on it yet, just couldnt wait to use it!

Got the fenders welded up and back on today, tank will come back off sometime soon, the weird red they painted it is bugging me, and the paint they used is flaking off. So it won't be like that for long since its driving me nuts. Otherwise its all back together except the rear brake hand control and cable, just didn't get time to work on that today. Probably this weekend.

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I got the new DG exhaust installed today, and tuned on the carb a bit, will run it a while and check the plug but its running smooth. Also got its state registration done, have to get a plate made up for it now and get our city registration done then i can start taking it for a spin around town and put some time on it.

[kb0nly]

This thing just continues to amaze me... I have worked on dozens of trikes over the years, and this one has really just been a dream to work on. Everything keeps coming apart easily. Today i decided to check the back brake shoes since she was pretty screechy stopping. The hub just slid right off the axle, someone before me greased the splines, the axle nuts came right off, not rusted on, the brake drum slid right off after giving the brake arm a tap with a rubber mallet to make sure everything was fully retracted. Simply amazing... I have spent hours fighting my way into brakes on them before, this one took less then five minutes to completely take apart and inspect. The brake shoes are nearly new, compared to a new set i have in my spare parts there is maybe a couple thousands difference, if that. I didn't even bother measuring them for wear as the wear was not noticeable side by side with new ones. The brake drum on the other hand was rusty, so i suspect someone before me put in new shoes but didn't clean up the drum. No worries, i chucked it up in the lathe, skimmed off a bit, then ran some sandpaper on it and put it all back together. Brakes feel great now, and i got my front hand control cable installed for the rear brake, no brake control handle yet thanks to the USPS bouncing it around all over gods creation but at least now everything is ready for it.

And of course since i pulled the gas tank off to route the brake cable i decided to sand down the tank and give it a fresh paint job, why not, i got a couple days until the brake control shows up and we won't be doing any riding this weekend. So it was a case of might as well.... Picture update when its all painted!

[kb0nly]

The color of the tank was bugging me... So it got repainted this weekend!

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New decals on the way for the tank and fenders, she will get dressed up a bit... And yeah i know still don't have the rear brake hand control on, USPS should finally deliver that tomorrow.. I hope..

[kb0nly]

Rear brake control finally showed up! And its installed... I know, its a later model year, i think it came off a 83 or 84, its like the one on my 84 200ES with the lever to flip for the parking brake, i like that style a lot better then the older version with the wire loop that you flip over, i always end up pinching a finger in that blasted contraption on the old 90.

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And so she got moved from the garage where i work on stuff to the shed where the other toys get stored, shes among family now. Until the decals all show up for the fenders and tank shes done. Runs perfect, no mechanical issues left to fix. About the only thing bugging me on it is the drive chain still needs to be shortened a couple links, counted it and yep its too long, chain is in fine shape, i think someone just put on a new one thats too long. I haven't found my chain breaker yet, i could grab a grinder and take care of it, but its not a big issue, it will get done later. Once i get the decals done i will get some final pictures of it. Overall i'm very happy with the end result. It's not perfect, but its a dang good reliable rider.

264472

[kb0nly]

All done for the time being. I'm working on another related project.. might be of interest to others when I get it done.. but no further spoilers.

Got it stickered today! Looks nice now, complete, a little worn here and there, but for nearly 40 years old I think she's hot!

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[kb0nly]

As always i can't leave anything alone... Moving into the next stage of the rebuild on this one. Converting it to DC electrical system for the lights and GPS speedo that i am documenting in the GPS Speedometer Build...