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View Full Version : 1985 200X with a 1982 RM 250 engine. Long time ago, no pics



Hoosier_Daddy
06-25-2008, 10:16 PM
I just wanted to say that I did this swap back when I was a teenager. I see a lot of people on here looking to upgrade their trikes and every time I read about it, that trike I built comes to mind. Here's the story;

I had a 1985 200X and the engine blew. I had a friend who was unfortunately addicted to drugs (and I believe looking for drug money, thank God today he is clean and sober and has been for many years:beer ) He had a beat up old 82 Suzuki RM250 with a good strong running engine. I told him I would give him 50 bucks for the engine to put on the 200X. Ironically he is the same person I bought the 200X from in the first place. He said yes, to the $50 offer and said "no way will you make that engine work". When someone tells me I can't do something that i think I can, I get motivated.

To make a long story short, I was surprised at how little I had to do to make the swap work. I had to fabricate spacers for the rear engine mount but used the stock 200X bolt. I had my Dad fabricate the front engine mounts at his work. And he had a friend that he worked with that cut and re-welded the pipe to customize it to fit. I never got a silencer for it.

This was back in the very late 80's early 90's when I did it but I believe I rigged the wiring from the 200X to run the RM engine but I can't exactly remember what I did for the wiring. But I'm 90% sure I used the 200X wiring/coil etc. to run the Suzuki.

Anyway, there was little to it, to be honest. It was a bit time consuming to get the spacers correct to make the sprockets match up. But It was a 200X with an air cooled RM 250 engine and I will say, it was a very fun trike to ride.

The spark plug was on top and I couldn't get to it without removing the gas tank. I found out the hard way that I installed the throttle slide into the carb backwards and the first time I ran it, it took off like a bat outta hell and the throttle was just wide open. No kill switch. No way to pull the plug wire. I tried upshifting to 5th to kill the engine but it just bogged for a second and took off again! LOL I eventually just pulled in the clutch and waited for my cousin to get there with a wrench to take off the tank and pull the plug wire. Wide open throttle, no silencer and just whaling away for about 2 minutes straight. I thought it was going to blow. But it didn't.

I couldn't kickstart it because the kickstart was back kick and wouldn't work on the 200X. We had to push start it every time to start it. I was lucky that I had a good hill that led from my yard down to the trail and I just coasted down and popped the clutch and it started.

I later sold it to a friend who later became my brother in law, and he rode it for a while and then sold it and where it is now is a mystery. I wish I could locate that trike today.

Anybody from northern Indiana come across a 200X with a strange air cooled 2 stoke?


P.S. For anybody who is wondering, yes, it did vibrate quite a bit.

Dirtcrasher
06-25-2008, 10:30 PM
Hey bud, awesome post!!

Glad to have "fabricators" on the board :beer: !

TwoHundredEx
06-25-2008, 10:35 PM
Sounds like an awesome build!
Cool to know that there are other people who've swapped a 2 stroke in a 200X.
Other than me, and one other person on .org, I hadn't heard of anyone else actually doing it.
Mine's pretty quick so that thing must've ripped!

Hoosier_Daddy
06-25-2008, 10:43 PM
Funny thing is, the RM 250 was basically the only engine available to me for the $$ at the time so that was the swap that was made. LOL.

Yes, it was pretty fast and fun. I can't say it was wicked and out of control but it was very fast