Newb with a 78 ATC 90 project

[PuddleJumper]

Hi there everyonehttp://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Happy/hi-103.gif, I've been lurking for a bit and finally decided to join up. I've got a 78 ATC 90 that I saved from dying a slow painful death in the back of my dads shed. I loved riding this thing as a kid and just couldn't let it rot anymore. The story behind it is that it was originally built to pull buggies around at the race tracks back in the late 70's early 80's. It has an after market tube frame and supposedly bored out to a 110. It had been repainted a goldish color appropriate for the time and then sanded down to be repainted but never was. I wish I still had the pictures of it being dragging out of the shed cause it looked so sad with the one dry rotted tire that had a huge hole in it. But here it is at its current state and I have no intention of restoring it, the goal is to bring it back to its glory days but better.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/atc1.jpg

Slowly piece by piece its getting cleaned up.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/atc2.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/atc4.jpg

Had to do a little rewiring, waiting on the right connectors.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/atc3.jpg

And now for the questions, does anyone know of a place that I can find a whole new top end? It turns over fine and I'm sure the internal parts are ok but I'm planning on doing a total rebuild this winter and would rather start with new or after market parts if they are available.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/atc5.jpg

[brapp]

check out the entire lifan motors thier cheap and they suposedly work well. that would save the hassle of wiring and you have a brand new motoe and u can get them as big as 138 with a 4 speed manual clutch. thats what i intend to get for my atc70 her ein the nextmonth or so.

[Eric250R]

Looking good so far, keep up the good work and .... :welcome: :welcome:

[PuddleJumper]

Hey, thanks for the replies and the welcome guys. The only re-wiring that had to be done was to the generator(?). At one point the wires had been repaired with crimp connectors which was less than pleasant to look at. I'm fairly familiar with the lifian motors and will be staying away from that route. Just have to keep an eye out for a decent used head and cylinder if no one that makes reproductions.
On to the next question. Does anyone have any comments on this place?
www.atcheaven.com
My seat pan is toast and I see that they have some on their site. There isn't even enough left to fabricate one from it.

[PuddleJumper]

Comments anyone?

[team-red-rider]

that hole in the head is completely normal

[neo19672000]

I got some stuff from ATCHEAVEN little crap nothing big but I got that stuff from australia 2 days before I got some things from here in the states that I ordered the same day.

[PuddleJumper]

Yeah, EMS shipping is usually faster because it goes from where ever you order it directly to your local hub. Take me for example, if I order something from Japan, it jumps a plane to Chicago and is in the Milwaukee area within three days. If I order something from California it can take a week to get here. But as long as ATCHaven delivers what they sell, I'm cool with that.

[Vealmonkey]

There are no reproduction heads. You will have to find used and have it refurbished. You can still get the 110 pistons pretty easy and you should really see about scoring a mild cam and nice exhaust. I would pick a DG exhaust over a cobra any day, unless your lucky enough to find an old kerker, supertrapp, hooker header or bassini pipe. It's not too hard to find a conversion suspension front end unless you have your heart set on a rut-rider and they are pretty tough to find. You have a nice start. See about scoring some polished aluminum rims and some nice tires. You are kind of limited since the bike is a hard tail. Have fun and remember the trike is a hardtail atc90, not a suspension 200x. Unless your totally nuts and have to build a big bore 181cc stroker with all the goodies!!!!

[gottahaveaUS90]

Welcome to the site - I hope you are successful in your restoration.

ATC Heaven is tops for all your restoration needs - I was going to start a new thread for my US90 resto - but here is a link to what I have so far.

What you can't find at ATC Heaven you can find from http://www.vintagemotorsports.net/ for the ATC 90 or eBay of course...... check out the "new" rear fenders I got through ATC Heaven

:welcome: :welcome: :welcome:

[PuddleJumper]

Yeah, I'm not going to go too crazy with mods, but thats good to know about atc heaven. I have to get a hold of the guy that originally built the engine to see if he can remember what he all did to it, as far as I know it could already have a cam in it.

I've seen on some web sites that there were different sized pull start ropes used on different atc models being that the new ones used thicker ropes I guess. Can anyone clear that up for me? Rather than going to the hardware store and buying a $3 rope for a lawn mower, someone went and pulled this one all the way out and then cut it off with a knife, which I believe also broke the spring inside.

[Dirtcrasher]

What do you have against the LIFANs? I don't have one but allot of members are going that route, just wondered what you felt or had heard about them....

[Vealmonkey]

The lifans are not a bolt in engine for the atc90\110. You would have to do some redriling of one of your bolt holes. Your only real options besides the atc90\110 are mainly cl90, sl90, ct90, st90 or the ct110. With the cl90, sl90 you get kick start and manual shift. Ct90, st90 or ct110 you pretty much have the same engine, so you're kind of limited. I believe the biggest bore you can go is 124 or slightly larger by resleeving your cylinder, but now that I'm thinking, if you have a atc90, you can't really go over 103 or 107 without resleeving and cutting your cylinder spigot bigger. I know the atc125 engine will fit, but then you will have to find a place for the battery and such for the electric start. Your best bet to go bigger is to put an atc110 engine in. There are lots of parts for the atc110 and they are fairly cheap to build. Whatever you decide, have fun. Post pictures of the frame!

[PuddleJumper]

What do you have against the LIFANs? I don't have one but allot of members are going that route, just wondered what you felt or had heard about them....

Its not that I have a problem with the motors themselves, its that the cheap knock off parts ruin the market for quality parts. In this case there aren't any quality new parts available but I still don't want to fund the Chinese parts market if possible.

And I'll see if I can whip up some pictures of the frame.

[PuddleJumper]

Other than the fact that its in need of some paint or PC, the frame is perfect. Actually if it wasn't for the frame I probably wouldn't have even taken on this project.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/frame1.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/frame2.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/frame3.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/RuckRider/ATC/frame4.jpg

[Dirtcrasher]

Its not that I have a problem with the motors themselves, its that the cheap knock off parts ruin the market for quality parts. In this case there aren't any quality new parts available but I still don't want to fund the Chinese parts market if possible.

And I'll see if I can whip up some pictures of the frame.


I can respect that!! Unfortunately allot of OEM copies are showing up for sale and for a good price. I lost my machinist job to overseas.....

I hate to say it but for some reason here in America we cannot seem to make quality parts for a good price.

Probably in part because I watch guys in the "teamsters" union do next to nothing all day and take all there required breaks etc etc and take home over a 1000$ a week. Seems like the "white" American wants to work very little, get a huge paycheck and incredible pensions for very little effort. If anyone wants to defend the unions, then I ask why are we getting the parts and jobs done from foreigners for 1/4 the cost??

We ought to entirely close all boarders and make, ship and sell out own consumer goods to our own country.....No planes, no nothing... Just keep it in the uSA :beer

[PuddleJumper]

I won't argue with that. A good example though is the Japanese scooter market (which is my other hobby). Honda and Yamaha are having a horrible time keeping sales up with all the cheap knock offs that are coming out of China. People just look at the price tag which is half that of the Japanese manufacturers but the knock offs won't last nearly as long and repair parts are fairly hard to find.

[Dirtcrasher]

It's crazy...... There are brand new 200X/350X rear brake calipers from overseas for 120$.... But if the calipers are being made by the after market, why can't HONDA make them again.... :(

Are the clearances the same? HELL NO!! I'll bet if you tore one down it lacks allot of OEM quality - do ya think??

I'd think an OEM rebuilt caliper would be better...

Anyhow, I was just wondering if you had a LIFAN issue as allot of guys here have had great success with them. Would have been kinda crazy if you said "yeah man I'm snapping crankshafts left and right!!":lol: But I read your posts....

[honda250sx]

I can respect that!! Unfortunately allot of OEM copies are showing up for sale and for a good price. I lost my machinist job to overseas.....

I hate to say it but for some reason here in America we cannot seem to make quality parts for a good price.

Probably in part because I watch guys in the "teamsters" union do next to nothing all day and take all there required breaks etc etc and take home over a 1000$ a week. Seems like the "white" American wants to work very little, get a huge paycheck and incredible pensions for very little effort. If anyone wants to defend the unions, then I ask why are we getting the parts and jobs done from foreigners for 1/4 the cost??

We ought to entirely close all boarders and make, ship and sell out own consumer goods to our own country.....No planes, no nothing... Just keep it in the uSA :beer


DC blue collar jobs are slowly but surely making there way back to the US of A. Working for the worlds #1 manufacturer and seller of machine tools OKUMA. I am in alot of union and non union shops. I will never defend unions. I can wait upwards to a day for a pipefitter, electrician or even a god dang fork truck operator to move a pallet. And they will pay me to read a newspaper all day then to install a power drop, change a lube line, or move my pallet of parts to the machine to fix it.

But however i am in many highprofile company's all over the US and overseas. Our machines make anything and everything that America loves. Thats right. The highest quality japanese machine tools, building household american names. Snap On, John Deere, Caterpillar, Starrett Tools, GM, Ford, and so on. They are all starving for talented machinists, operators and engineers. Being that there is a 40 yr plus gap in the business it can be tough. But there are plenty of machinist jobs in the US. People who cant find one are crazy. Most shops do not advertise but they hire by word of mouth. I truly believe that the manufacturing can make a comeback in the USA. I think we can still do it better than anyone.

[Frankencelery]

Have you tried Beatrice Cycle at www.dratv.com? I rebuilt my ATC90 top end with parts from them, although I didn't have to replace the head or cylinder. I got brakes, cables, carb, and headlight all from them. I'm amazed nobody mentioned them. They're in Nebraska and I usually get parts from them in about 3 days.

[PuddleJumper]

I've gotten a couple of small things from them already. The electrical connectors that they carry are great. Part of the problem with the top end is that I have no real idea of whats been done to it. Supposedly it was bored out to a 110 but who knows for sure.

[Dirtcrasher]

I just looked at the pics... Man, that is one nice clean straight ATC. Great for a resto, page 1 probably says it but I don't know what you paid for it or how you found it but it sure looks nice...

[edog]

Any progress?

[PuddleJumper]

Unfortunately not much has gotten done lately. Its kind of gotten put off to the side while I get my Honda Ruckus ready for this summers national meet. Once I'm done dumping money into that, I'm going to get back to this project.

[edog]

It looks like in 78 they made the frame change.

[PuddleJumper]

No, thats an aftermarket tube frame on there, pretty much the only reason its worth putting the money into it. Don't know for sure but I would think it would be fairly hard to find one of those frames these days.

[SWIGIN]

no...that looks like a joker aftermarket frame


opps....you posted while i was typing...lol

[edog]

Is that an aftermarket exguast?

[PuddleJumper]

The pipe is stock but thats going to get changed.

[edog]

The stock pipe goes threw the middle of the frame.

I don't think its stock it's aftermarket for shure.

The pipe on there has to be mounted outside because of the frame.