stretch1970
05-02-2009, 04:38 AM
i was recently over at my father-in-laws house, and spotted a three wheeler just rotting away in some bushes. i remember those things from when i was a kid, and how much fun my friend and i had just about every weekend. anyway, long story short, i asked my father-in-law how long it had been sitting in the weather. heck, it had vines coming up from between the seat and tank. moss growing out of the footpegs, etc, you get the idea.... he said it had been sitting there for probably 10 years. i asked him if he wanted it running again, and he kinda looked at me with this look (yea right it'll never run again) and told me that if i could get it running again, i could have it. i said thank you, i will have it running in a few days. he just shook his head.
loading this thing up took some doing, as the rear brakes were locked solid with mud from being a ranch vehicle and traversing some really crappy mud years ago.
so, i get this bad boy home, and look at the tag on the frame. atc 200, year 1983. i remember just about killing myself on this same model, back in the day. hmmm.
first thing i did was remove the seat, both rear fenders, and the fuel tank. by the way, the gas tank lid was thoroughly glued on to the tank with age. lots of pblaster and some light tapping finally removed the lid. to my surprise, there was not much rust on the inside of the tank. anyway, i took a can of carb cleaner, the kind that removes varnish, 1500 bb's, and hours of shaking, off and on, to get her fairly clean and rust free. the air filter on this thing disintegrated damn near just by me looking at it. it literally crumbled to dust, leaving me with the metal tube to support the air cleaner. the oil still looked like oil, but i drained it and replaced it with new. didnt see any water in it. the carburetor was a different story. it had all the jets plugged, and there was probably 1/8 to 1/4 inch of varnish in the bowl. lots of soaking and scrubbing, and picking at the jets with fine needles, and i got it clean. i wanted to check and see if she still had fire, so i took the plug out and grounded it . sure enough, she still had fire. so far so good. turning back to the fuel tank, i discovered the petcock was rusted shut, and clogged to boot. i called the honda shop, and damn near choked when i heard their asking price for a petcock. i will be ordering from ebay, thank you much.
so the bike has fire at this point, the carb is clean clean clean, i have gas, and no patience for waiting on shipping of the petcock. i sacrificed a super small funnel i use for prospecting to get fuel into the carb. before i pulled the crank for the first time, i sat and took a deep breath, wondering if it would start. so, with one pull, and no choke on, this old honda atc 200 fired to life, idleing a little high. i adjusted the idle, and now it purrs until the carb runs out of gas.
im off to a running start with this bike i think, i just need to clean both brakes, front and rear, replace the brake cables, and get an air filter, then see if the tranny is working properly the old fashioned way.
on a side note, i was wondering if the motor for this 200 will fit into any atv frames without a lot of modifications? its just a thought, because to tell you the truth, i have rode threewheelers since the honda atc 90 first came out, but i have never rode an atv ever. i want to get one, but it would be sweet if i could make a project bike out of this threewheeler motor. any ideas, anyone? :wondering
loading this thing up took some doing, as the rear brakes were locked solid with mud from being a ranch vehicle and traversing some really crappy mud years ago.
so, i get this bad boy home, and look at the tag on the frame. atc 200, year 1983. i remember just about killing myself on this same model, back in the day. hmmm.
first thing i did was remove the seat, both rear fenders, and the fuel tank. by the way, the gas tank lid was thoroughly glued on to the tank with age. lots of pblaster and some light tapping finally removed the lid. to my surprise, there was not much rust on the inside of the tank. anyway, i took a can of carb cleaner, the kind that removes varnish, 1500 bb's, and hours of shaking, off and on, to get her fairly clean and rust free. the air filter on this thing disintegrated damn near just by me looking at it. it literally crumbled to dust, leaving me with the metal tube to support the air cleaner. the oil still looked like oil, but i drained it and replaced it with new. didnt see any water in it. the carburetor was a different story. it had all the jets plugged, and there was probably 1/8 to 1/4 inch of varnish in the bowl. lots of soaking and scrubbing, and picking at the jets with fine needles, and i got it clean. i wanted to check and see if she still had fire, so i took the plug out and grounded it . sure enough, she still had fire. so far so good. turning back to the fuel tank, i discovered the petcock was rusted shut, and clogged to boot. i called the honda shop, and damn near choked when i heard their asking price for a petcock. i will be ordering from ebay, thank you much.
so the bike has fire at this point, the carb is clean clean clean, i have gas, and no patience for waiting on shipping of the petcock. i sacrificed a super small funnel i use for prospecting to get fuel into the carb. before i pulled the crank for the first time, i sat and took a deep breath, wondering if it would start. so, with one pull, and no choke on, this old honda atc 200 fired to life, idleing a little high. i adjusted the idle, and now it purrs until the carb runs out of gas.
im off to a running start with this bike i think, i just need to clean both brakes, front and rear, replace the brake cables, and get an air filter, then see if the tranny is working properly the old fashioned way.
on a side note, i was wondering if the motor for this 200 will fit into any atv frames without a lot of modifications? its just a thought, because to tell you the truth, i have rode threewheelers since the honda atc 90 first came out, but i have never rode an atv ever. i want to get one, but it would be sweet if i could make a project bike out of this threewheeler motor. any ideas, anyone? :wondering