1983" Honda ATC Restoration Page !!

[sandpuppi101]

Well I've been working on a '83 ATC 185S Restoration and have been trying too keep it under the carpet,I was gonna suprise some of you guys who have the 185 and 200s's ,with this restoration,But I started assembly tonight and I just had to show some pics ! I actually started it theproject on the 16th and been making some good headway. I have redone 2 other 185S 's but those were the '81 & '82 models,this being an '83 is my first. Obviously it shares alot as the '84 200S ,but the '83 185S was somewhst of a transition trike I guess!! I have learned alot on this project and am sure I wil learn more!! I have about 1 hour so far in assembly and things are going pretty easy! I have a OEM Hondaline Headlight guard for this machine ,My question is ,Would you guys go with that or the orginal out of the dealer headlight mount!!I usually don't put the tank on until the end of a project,but I had to see how she looked dryfitted,I Let me know and I will post pic's again tomorrow as I progress, and I hope to have it done by Sunday,but with the" Holiday"' we'll see how that goes!!:w00t:

[Aussieduner]

Nice work Roger !

Aussie

[atctim]

BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Great work.

Did you bead blast the engine? Man that looks killer. I have a real attraction for the 83 model hardtails - 185S and 200.

Keep up the good work!

[sandpuppi101]

Yep the whole machine was blasted , the motor was blasted also,but it came out in a dull almost grey primer type finish,on my 350X with the polised motor ,that was only step 2 of a teadious prosess!! The 185 motor was then wheeled out and then painted with some Hi-Temp paint that I have used before and worked great,not the spray bomb stuff though,my painter say's it will never burn off and fluids won't hurt it either!!Never had an issue with the paint before and to put it side by side to a Honda motor ,other than the clensileness,you can't hardly tell any difference!!!All of the paint on the machine as well as any of my restros has been duplicated on a computer to look as good as new,here is some pic's of tanks that were done with the clone paint,the 70 in the scarlett red and the 185 in the passion red,gotta love computers...

[gizmo_22]

man that looks amazing definatly keep it up, gives me motivation to start the same on mine :D but im going to keep riding mine until the snow gets too deep

[mike84bigred]

Man that motor looks good! What did you use?

[sandpuppi101]

Thanks on the motor,Read up a few I posted a few details on the motor prep,I will post up some more pic's later gotta do some more assembly 1st !!

[chris200x]

Whoa! I just love to see stuff like this. I'm finally getting my 83 185 today. You have lit a fire under my butt now.:D

[sandpuppi101]

Thought you'd like to see a 185 s Chris, these machines don't get the respect that there bigger bros.get ,but they are still that important ,in my oppinion!!!

[Huffa]

Yep the whole machine was blasted , the motor was blasted also,but it came out in a dull almost grey primer type finish,on my 350X with the polised motor ,that was only step 2 of a teadious prosess!! The 185 motor was then wheeled out and then painted with some Hi-Temp paint that I have used before and worked great,not the spray bomb stuff though,my painter say's it will never burn off and fluids won't hurt it either!!Never had an issue with the paint before and to put it side by side to a Honda motor ,other than the clensileness,you can't hardly tell any difference!!!All of the paint on the machine as well as any of my restros has been duplicated on a computer to look as good as new,here is some pic's of tanks that were done with the clone paint,the 70 in the scarlett red and the 185 in the passion red,gotta love computers...

Nice work !! It's so nice that it's like a time warp back to the 80's for sure.

I have a bunch of ?'s and I most likely asked these before but can't hurt to get your opinion too, since I see the kind of work you do, which ="s an A+++ in my book for sure.

What precautions did you use so no sand gets in the motor? Just use rubber plugs for the intake, exhaust and cap the breather tube up, or what?

When sandblasting anything (while we are on the subject) do you put bolts in all the threads so the sand blasting does not round the threads slightly or this will not happen if care is taken when pointing the blaster nozzel?

Do you sandblast your self? If not, how much for a frame like that? How much for the paint job?

Will you leave us in :naughty: on your brand of heat paint for motor and exact # and color on can?

I have a few trikes I'm starting on (finally) and can use all the sandblast - painting info I can get.

I myself would most appreciate all the info you have to offer so blabb on!

Thank You!

[gottahaveaUS90]

Fantastic work - can't wait to see some more!

[sandpuppi101]

Thanks for the compliments fella's , I think it's gonna turn out nice myself.The holiday has kinda put a damper on the assembly ,the Boss(wife) said I need to get things ready to go see my parents so finishing today is out of the question. I am hoping for Wed. now.I got the rear end all cinched up with new brakes ,bearings and seals but nothing worth taking pic's of,and the H-Trac Pro-Am tires ready to mount,thats about it !!
Huffa you wanted to know some things ,on the paint I can't really give you any answers ,my painter is gone and I have no clue on the #'s,but I will throw you some info when I find out myself. As far as blasting,I do have that sent out ,he does a great job for me,what I have done on the last few projects is do all of my motor work 1st,then I take the motor over to the blaster,He goes over the motor with plugs ,tape and actually rubber groments also.As far as hitting the threads ,he gets them also but does,nt just hammer them ,goes over them lightly.Now i'm not 100% on this but he does,nt use the silica sand on the motors,because it gets every where and he said it can find its way into about anything,I believe he uses a plastic of some sort ,not sure though! He is very cautious and when he takes off the plugs ,tape etc.,he has his son hitting the motor with air. He has done a few like this and I have had no issues with the particles getting into the internals!!I do work for my blast guy so I get a break ,but he charges 50.00 for a chasis,including swinger if need be and 5-10 for the tanks and individual pieces ,and up!!
When you are on a budget and you don't want to go the blasting route,I used to use the spray bomb Tal-Strip I believe it is called,It can be labor intense but will also do the job,just an idea,and less costly!! Wish ya luck on all of your projects and look for more of my pic's and the complete machine after Christmas!!!

[sandpuppi101]

Well the holiday put a damper on me getting the machine done,and I had a few other things come up but I am back on the assembly! I just got it to a rolling chasis today,with all new seals ,bearings and brakes.. Been somewhat of a pain with not scratching it all up but I hope to be testing it out on Saturday if all goes good ! One thing that I kinda like is the NOS Hondaline headlight guard that I am putting on this project,it looks like one off a Big Red ,but its for the 185S and 200S models!! I will be posting alot more pic's in the next day or so as assembly finishes up!! Do you guy's like that Headlight guard???

[Huffa]

Headlight guard a 10-4 on that! Good idea!

It looks fantastic!

Are those mostly ALL carbs hanging on the wall? What the heck? :crazy:

[sandpuppi101]

LOL, Yeah those are my good carbs !! I have too much stuff,you like the headlight guard ahe', I do too but I don't want to get the Big Red look!! I guess I will have to see in the A.M.

[Dirtcrasher]

And how about the row of triple trees and the shelf full of motors.....LOL

[Beaver]

Excellent work, looks perfect!

[sandpuppi101]

Well this holiday stuff has got me all messed up with getting this project wrapped up.I finally got the exhaust system on yesterday ,and the wiring ran . Most of the main components are on the ATC ,but since I have this machine on the Homestretch I decided to go with a few more goodies,now I guess I won't be getting deliveries until Tue. so hopefully Tue night I have it 100% complete!! More pic's to come yet,hopefully all done,LOL!!

[gplarryv]

looks great roger
ill try to call you this week

[gplarryv]

looks great roger
ill try to call you this week

[sandpuppi101]

Well goog news ,I finally got around to finishing up the old Girl !! I took her for a spin today,according to my Honda ATC speedo that I put on it 1.8 miles!! Still have a few bugs to work out of her but it seemed to run pretty good,but it does need some fine tuning. On this restoration you can see that I put quite an aray of NOS Hondaline items on it, I went with a headlight guard that I did'nt even know existed for the 185S,and a NOS Hondaline headlight Grille ,that I did'nt know existed for the unit either!!To really dress her up I had to go with the Hondaline speedo setup.I think that put that little extra touch on it that I was looking for on this project .As you saw from the previous pic's ,I had it down to the frame and pretty much everything was replaced new or was restored back to original as possible!! As always I tried to learn as much about this machine as any other one,I remember I really got educated on the 350X Restoration,LOL !!
Anyways I understand that a machine can only be Original 1 time in it's life ,but this one was restored with A Hondaline brochure and a few manuals for a map so... Itried to get her as show room as possible.I do have the stock H-Tracs to mount up yet,so the tire's will also be the one's that she rolled out of the Honda dealer with !! I just wanna say thanks to the people who helped me out on this and my other projects and am eagarly awaiting my next Trike!! Might be a 350X or a Big Red or a 70,but at least I'm trying to bring them back even if it is one at a time!! Enjoy!!!:beer

[Russell 350X]

Wow dude that looks really nice! Awosome job!

[sandpuppi101]

Just a few more pic's of the old girl,you can see where I dumped it off when the machine 1st got home,I did'nt think it had much potential at the time,LOL!!!:cool: :pics:

[chris200x]

:drool: :drool: :drool: Very nice sandpuppi. Is that headlight grill the same grille that fits the 200 bigred models and a few others? Guess I'll have to start looking for one of those as well. :naughty:

I hope someday to have my son's 185 looking as good as yours. Man, that is sweet! :beer

[sandpuppi101]

Nope that headlight grille is not even close to the one's on the 200Big Reds ,Thanks for the compliment!!!

[focuzzn]

Wow, awsome job. You have given me some hope with my 185s.

[sandpuppi101]

Thats the whole point behind it ,even though you don't have a 250R or Tri-Z or Tecate, ( which I also love those machines) ,that '83 185S signafies our trike history as much as any... Stand proud ,and see that your 185S is worthy!!! Yur on a Trike ai'nt ya, Do it up and send me pic's!!

[tapper190]

AWESOME job on the restore!! :w00t: Are you going to sell it on E-bay now? If I did a restore like that, I wouldn't never be able to sell it!
Tapper

[edog]

Very nice 185!!!!

[rally4x4racer]

nice work sandpuppi... keep it up