Glad I found this site/ My project

[thBriGuy]

Hello. I just found this message board, and I'm sure it is going to prove to be extremely helpful.

On these boards, I tend to be 99% lurker, since most questions I have will have been answered already somewhere, but if I dont find my answers, I will always pop up and ask.

MY PROJECT: 1982 ATC 185s in sad, sad condition.
Was a childhood toy in the 80's, but I dont think it was ever used after I graduated high school. I pulled it out from behind my dad's house this week, and have started to break it down to try to get it useable again. As far as I know, it was still in running condition when it was parked, although, the entire time we had it, we were rarely able to start it with the pull rope. We usually tied it to the back of a truck or another ATC and popped the gear. Other than the starting issue, I beleive everything worked well.

I am giving myself 11 months, and a budget of around $400 to bring this back to life, but I may go a little over budget (already dropped over $100 last night , but that included a few new tools) I have done a few mechanical projects, but this is my first "it doesn't run to start with" project. Seems pretty straightforward, but I always run into unknowns, and that is where this board will come in handy. I am ordering the book on it from amazon, so I should have that next weekend. I work way full time, and have 2 daughters under 3 at home, so tinker time is whenever I get a chance.

The first thing that happened when I moved it, was the K&N filter came rolling out with a rotted piece of rubber tube still inside the neck. I'm bidding on a replacement on ebay. Brakes work and all the cables seem to move freely, the throttle was stuck at first, but it moves well now, and I can hear it in the carb. The motor turns over, so no siezed piston, and the old oil looks ok, will see when I drain it out if there's any sludge or metal peices. Gas tank is dented, and has some rust in it, I am going to try to fix dents and clean the rust, if it's not too bad.
Rear fenders look shot, but I'll see if they are beyond repair or not. Seat is beyond repair, cover gone, foam roasted, pan is rusted through.
That's all I know after the hour I spent with it so far.

I am keeping web pages for the fix here. (http://home.earthlink.net/~thbriguy/ATC/)
I will try to keep the photos updated, but the text descriptions will always be minimal.
Here's what the trike looks like now.
http://home.earthlink.net/~thbriguy/ATC/start3.JPG
Wish me luck...

[toyota200x]

Man those look like some aftermarket forks on there. Do you remeber anything about them. Did they come on there when you bought it used as a kid or did you buy a kit? Looks like a good project, glad to see another trike brought back to life.

[thefox]

Hi, Welcome to 3 Wheeler World! :welcome:

It looks like you have some project on your hands. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you can't find answers to. I am going to go out on a limb and say a new front tire is on the things to replace list :eek: . Try to save that front end though; it looks to be a nice aftermarket suspension setup.

[raptor]

welcome to the boards. ive found the site great. everyone is helpful and i can gurantee if you get stuck atleast one person will know what to do!

Great site. keep us all updated. also your gas tank page doesnt work!

[350x'inNY]

Kinda like the front tire on my 225DX ...right "theolderfox"? :D

Good luck with the project. And :welcome: to the board!

Bruce

[thBriGuy]

Man those look like some aftermarket forks on there. Do you remeber anything about them. Did they come on there when you bought it used as a kid or did you buy a kit? Looks like a good project, glad to see another trike brought back to life.
Well, those were the forks that were on it when we bought it. I did no modifications to it. I guess I'll have to clean 'em up and search them over for any manufacturer info that may be there. If they're too shot, they'll need replacing. (or maybe I can fabricate some type of coilover for them) :D

As for the tires, I actually have 5 bad tires. The rears are holding enough air to hold the trike up for now, but I would never try to ride on them, they are brittle. I also have a pair of sand paddles, but when I tried to put air in them, it just came out, no particular hole, more like a vent.

[MTS]

Welcome to the board, good luck on the resto, the front shocks can be re-built as they look to be an aftermarket goodie,

[Redrooster]

The fact that you have a history with this trike makes it your duty to rebuild it and love it like a child!

[BIG BAD RED]

with the amount of rust on the forks you will forsure need re crome'ing but it looks like they are to far gone...

[Pistonhead]

Hey welcome to the boards! Looks like your off to a good start on the resto! Lots of great people on here, see you around!
:welcome: :beer :TrikesOwn

[Huffa]

Your project will turn out great! I redid a 200S years ago that sat for quite some time also & am now redoing a Yamaha 225 DX.

You going to touch up the whole frame? Thats oil coming out of those forks and it will need new seals I'm sure.

If that rust is not too heavy (hard to tell) on the action part of the fork they will be usable by wet sanding them and getting all the pits out. Can you take a close up shot of the rust part on the slider & one of the the lower fork body? I'd really like to see them close up.

If they are in decent shape, what I would do (and have done many of times) is completely take off the clear coat (that is what gets dull over years) on the fork body with a 6" bench fine wire wheel if you have access to one.

It takes about 20 minutes per leg, if that, and looks a heck of a lot nicer but HOLD ON, your not done yet! Now take a drill wire wheel (fine 3" maybe) and get all the portions you could not get into with the 6"er. Next wet sand it with 220, 320 ,400, 600 and so on till your satisfied with the brillance of it (can use fine 00,000, etc... steel wool too once sanded decent) and put a nice clear coat back on. Start with the highest grade you can according to how badly they are gouged up. No sense going with a 220 if they don't need it! They come out looking brand new again and look stock....just how they came off the assembly line! Deep gouges you may not be able to get them all out.

I have done a few with out clear coat and they also held up well! With out clear coat you just use fine steel wool on each side every so often just to bring the gleam back.

Tell ya what buddy........ at this very moment I am redoing the forks on the 225. I'll show you just how good they turn out by putting the untouched one aside of the finished one. Problem is when I go to post pictures i get a "file too large" and don't know how to downsize them yet.

[Huffa]

As for the exhaust that will clean up fine but of course be somewhat pitted on the heavier rusted areas. Rustoleum barbecue paint works excellent and looks like the stock paint....... a very good match!

On my 200X I tried taking all the paint off the header and it looked great. As long as you keep a coat of WD-40 or whatever on it and do it immeadiatly after washing it will never rust.

Your gas tank.........how much rust inside? I have "kreemed" many. Great product. It should never, ever rust again then!

[chris200x]

hey huff will that bbq paint last on the header or will it bake off quickly cause that's how i did mine

[chris200x]

[QUOTE=Huffa]Your project will turn out great! I redid a 200S years ago that sat for quite some time also & am now redoing a Yamaha 225 DX.

You going to touch up the whole frame? Thats oil coming out of those forks and it will need new seals I'm sure.

If that rust is not too heavy (hard to tell) on the action part of the fork they will be usable by wet sanding them and getting all the pits out. Can you take a close up shot of the rust part on the slider & one of the the lower fork body? I'd really like to see them close up.

If they are in decent shape, what I would do (and have done many of times) is completely take off the clear coat (that is what gets dull over years) on the fork body with a 6" bench fine wire wheel if you have access to one.

It takes about 20 minutes per leg, if that, and looks a heck of a lot nicer but HOLD ON, your not done yet! Now take a drill wire wheel (fine 3" maybe) and get all the portions you could not get into with the 6"er. Next wet sand it with 220, 320 ,400, 600 and so on till your satisfied with the brillance of it (can use fine 00,000, etc... steel wool too once sanded decent) and put a nice clear coat back on. Start with the highest grade you can according to how badly they are gouged up. No sense going with a 220 if they don't need it! They come out looking brand new again and look stock....just how they came off the assembly line! Deep gouges you may not be able to get them all out.

I have done a few with out clear coat and they also held up well! With out clear coat you just use fine steel wool on each side every so often just to bring the gleam back.

Tell ya what buddy........ at this very moment I am redoing the forks on the 225. I'll show you just how good they turn out by putting the untouched one aside of the finished one. Problem is when I go to post pictures i get a "file too large" and don't know how to downsize them yet.[/QUOTE

For your pics use infanview to downsize to 300x300 pics or smaller

[chris200x]

soory i spelled it wrong its irfanview

[Huffa]

As long as you prepared it properly, the paint shold hold up well.

:wondering What's irfanview? I have no idea?

[thBriGuy]

Your project will turn out great! I redid a 200S years ago that sat for quite some time also & am now redoing a Yamaha 225 DX.

You going to touch up the whole frame? Thats oil coming out of those forks and it will need new seals I'm sure.

If that rust is not too heavy (hard to tell) on the action part of the fork they will be usable by wet sanding them and getting all the pits out. Can you take a close up shot of the rust part on the slider & one of the the lower fork body? I'd really like to see them close up.

If they are in decent shape, what I would do (and have done many of times) is completely take off the clear coat (that is what gets dull over years) on the fork body with a 6" bench fine wire wheel if you have access to one.
------------------snip---------------------


As for the exhaust that will clean up fine but of course be somewhat pitted on the heavier rusted areas. Rustoleum barbecue paint works excellent and looks like the stock paint....... a very good match!

Well, at this point, I am going for operational, until then, mostly gonna look like crap, gonna primer the gas tank, after I get most the dents out (hopefully) and will prolly paint the exhaust, but I'm nowhere near ready to start polishing anything. Like I said, first goal, operating. Then I'll think about beautification. I really dont care if it looks like an Apocolypse machine right now. When it is running good, I might go for a midnight blue theme on it, unless I end up replacing too much plastic, then it'll remain red. Gonna get inside the gas tank this afternoon, and see how bad it really is. I certainly do appreciate all the input though, and now have resource for when I do go to spit shine my ride.

I will get more pics of the forks onto the web page by next weekend.

[Huffa]

I think up in the attic (too lazy to check right now) I have a brand new rear sprocket for that bike. Let me know if you need one. I can easily email you a picture of it to make sure it's the same.

[Huffa]

Hey BriGuy

Just checking things out on the net and came across what may the forks on your 185. Check it out.


http://www.3wheeler.org/dirtwheels/june-84/page88.html

Add states 33mm tubes. Yours the same size?

[thBriGuy]

Hey BriGuy

Just checking things out on the net and came across what may the forks on your 185. Check it out.


http://www.3wheeler.org/dirtwheels/june-84/page88.html

Add states 33mm tubes. Yours the same size?

Boy, that sure looks like them. Still trying to get all the grease off 'em and I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow if it doesn't start raining again. I don't have a micrometer, but I'll adust a clamp or wrench, and try to get a somewhat accurate measurement of them. I wonder if that company is still in business...

BTW- you have way too much time on your hands (I envy that) :beer

[thBriGuy]

Well, I got to work on the trike today, and I was able to do an update to my web site, including many pictures of the forks. Took a pair of vise-grips (c-clamp style) and nuzzled them up to the forks. My tape measure read it at 1-3/16", wich converts to a little shy of 33mm, but it's close, and without the proper tool, can't be sure. The fork plates are stamped "HELM & SON". I dunno if that can help to ID these forks, but the action is still decent, just need to find someone to replace the seals.... Nevermind that for now. First things first, gotta get the motor running. Drained the oil, but I need to open the crankcase to inspect & clean, and I need a new gasket to close it up. Ordered one online last night, so now I wait... I gotta find a nearby motorcycle shop that stocks such things...