1986 ATC250R restoration pics

[Micahdogg]

Figured I've done enough work to post some pics now.

Around April 1 of this year I had to tear my mostly OEM, survivor ATC down to the frame just so I could deal with a siezed swingarm bolt (and the smoked bearings).

In this pic, I was still convinced I could use a really big hammer to drive it out. No dice.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5672.jpg

Here is the end result:
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5696.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5708.jpg

Frame back from powdercoating:
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5740.jpg

As it sits after this weekend:
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5750.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5751.jpg

It got all new pivot works bearings throughout, oem decals from Harlan, new OEM lug studs ($50!), a few new bolts, o-rings, clips, frame rubber, etc... I'm also polishing all the bolts, spacers, snap rings, etc.. as I reinstall stuff. But as of this weekend I have a rolling chassis.

The motor worked fine, just looks ugly so I'll be take it apart (not splitting the cases) to paint it back to an OEM looking color.

[chris200x]

Lookin good bud! I wouldn't waste too much time polishing OE nuts and bolts. (will this be a rider?)

I think there is some kind of coating on them that prevents rust. polishing them would only defeat the purpose I would think.

and we've all been down that road with frozen swingers. what a PITA huh? :D

Nice to see another one getting attention. At the rate you guys are restoring these things they will surly be around for years to come!

[Micahdogg]

Thanks. Yes, this will be a rider. That is why I went with the PRM swinger skid plate and grab bar. The plastic is original and in pretty good shape (you can see a pic in my signature), but it got scratches. The headlight has a small crack....so the pastic is just ugly enough that you won't feel too bad about running it through some brush. That is also why I'm keeping the ITP wheels. They already have a few dings so no worries about bashing them.

Those bolts already had some really deep stains/rust/paint stuff going on so worst case they will just slowly turn back to that state. I just wanted to put my best foot forward, do a nice walk around video when it's done....then ride off like a bat outta h3ll. :)

[harryredtrike]

looking good so far.will be a nice restore when done long live the 3wheeler:beer

[longbedGTs]

Nice work! The PRM plate looks good with the rear tire/wheel combo. :beer

[ceaserthethird]

lot's of Picture's, And DETAIL'S !

Look's Awesome ...

[scottp597]

I like to see this!!! I'm going to restore my 86r I picked up and I think I'm def going with the original swing arm colors now!

[Micahdogg]

Been slow, had to do a lot of painting and well, the central IL weather hasn't been good for painting (plus I refuse to paint -IN- the garage). The grey colored stuff is very very very close to the color Honda would have used on the entire engine in 1986.

Primer only, but I seriously underestimated how hard it would be to clean the "engine" and paint it without oil continuing to drizzle all over the place. I also ran into some jb weld that had to be removed so I could properly repair a cracked boss.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5754.jpg

Here is the cylinder. Pretty straight forward.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5755.jpg

Cylinder head, also very straight forward.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5757.jpg

Clutch cover. This kinda sucked to clean up and it was a real pita to get an even finish. Not sure what I did wrong, but I think I finally got it all straight.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5758.jpg

Other misc stuff. Brake lever, engine mounts, water pump cover, etc...
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5759.jpg

I primed everything with oil/gas resistant primer, then I painted it all judiciously enough to where I thought it would survive for a little while at least. If I ever have to split the cases, I'll powder everything. Oh, as for why I tore it apart to paint, I wanted to keep the gasket lines (except the case halves obviously). I just didn't want a "spray bomb" look where the bolt heads and everything are painted over.

Oh, the paint is "Cast Coat Iron" by Duplicolor.

Micah

[scottp597]

Niiiiiice :drool:

[MonroeMike]

Great job so far. The clutch cover looks brand new, I like the color.

[The Goat]

I do love to see a bike restored

always makes me happy.

very nice looking frame!

[Micahdogg]

Thanks guys, here is the motor all together:

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5760.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5761.jpg

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out....and it's pretty much how I expected it to be. Only oversight was the extra long reed cage bolts. It had a spacer plate previously and I ditched it for a more oem look. I can't wait to see it sitting in the chassis, but I need to clean up some of the mounting bolts/brackets and I'm just too tired tonight.

[clutchcargo]

Was the swingarm powdercated? What color name is the gold that was used on it?
Bike looks great!

[Micahdogg]

No, I had a friend glass bead it, then I primed and painted with Duplicolor Engine primer and Duplicolor "Universal Gold." In case you didn't know, the Pro-Link stickers that Harlan reproduces are just like OEM, meaning they have gold in the background and it's not just blue letters.

This really sucked because I had to try and match that OEM gold color to a T. I started at an autobody shop and looked at about 12 different colors. This Duplicolor universal gold is as close as anything they offered. The only difference is it's not quite as metallic as the color which is in the decal....so in the light you can see a faint sparkle in the sticker. You can kind of see what I'm talking about right above and below the hyphen (also by the L).

So far, I'm very happy with the frame, swinger and engine color choices.

[Mr.Atc]

lookin good but i jave to say it would look better with gold rims

[philmoore]

Looks Really Great!


Yeah, I made the mistake of "polishing" the OEM bolts when I re-did my '85 R

They started rusting. I ended up buying all new bolts from Service Honda, and over the course of the rebuild, it probably cost about $400 in bolts alone. :wondering

I spread it out over ten years so it didn't hurt so bad.:rolleyes:

The ol '85 was going to be my "Duner" trike, but it took so long to rebuild, I don't want to ride it. The poor thing just sits on a shelf.

I did take it out and enter it in a "bike" show last summer. It started right up! I got some votes, but didn't win. I think I got eleventh place or something.

The bike show was for "Harley" type bikes, so it is a wonder they let me in!:lol:

Anyway, yours looks awesome, and I hope you can show it off!

[charger]

ya thats a nice trike

[rdlsz24]

Looking good!

Rob

[Micahdogg]

Yeah, I would like gold rims, but I plan on riding this thing hard. If I crank a rock or tree stump with these...everything will be gravy. If I had minty gold wheels and ohtsu tires, I wouldn't want to ride it.

Now I'm afraid of the bolts :) The ones that I polished are easily accessible so I'll keep an eye on em. Maybe wipe the heads down with wd40 after each ride and see how that goes.

[Micahdogg]

Tore the carb down to inspect, note jet sizes, clean and reassemble. Rockin' some OEM carb lines, fuel line and factory retaining clips. Motor, carb, airbox are all in bay and DID X-ring chain is all set and ready to go. It's nice to have virtually no parts pile. I painted a few more brackets tonight, but not a lot left. Also need to paint the front hub and I just decided I'll probably pick up some fresh fork boots.

Oh, the bottom pic is my birthday presents from the wife. Retro answer jersey and retro factory honda jersey.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5763.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5767.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5768.jpg

[Micahdogg]

Thought I would update this thread with a final (well, almost final) picture.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5802.jpg

I still need to paint the front hub, repolish the wheel, and put a new(er) tire on it, but she starts back up and runs good. I haven't taken it out in the dirt yet....mostly because it's all mud around here, but I can't wait to fling some roost.

[mohadib]

looks awesome, nice work!

[rdlsz24]

Lookin mint!! Have you thought about gold wheels to give it the oem look?

Rob

[whyzee]

wow, nice nice job. You should be proud! :w00t:

how much do you figure you have into the whole project, including the original bike and everything?

[Micahdogg]

Thanks guys (and thanks Whyzee for the helpful pics). I've got $2800 in it total (paid $1500 for the trike).

As for the gold wheels, yeah, I would love a set, but now that I've got more money in it than I can get back out, a set of gold wheels/tires will just be a few hundred more that I'll never get back. Maybe if I stumbled on a deal I would consider it.

[Kerick]

Looks great! You do some awesome work!

[whyzee]

that is a fine bike anyday for $2800. I would just love to see you put an oem front brake line on, find a cheap used one
if you need to sell, you will break even easily .
Nice job, you played it smart, conservative , alot of elbow grease, didn't blow a ton of $$ on bling which instantly looses money . very well done !

anytime for the pics ;)

[Micahdogg]

Yeah, the front brake line REALLY bugs me. If it just ran nice and straight and didn't snake all over the place I would like it so much better.

I'm actually trying to sell this KX (http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5797.jpg) right now and I noticed the front brake line looks similar to what the ATC would have used. It's not a dead ringer by any means, but would probably look much better than the custom stainless line that's on it (and it wouldn't cost anything to swap the two).

Micah

[ceaserthethird]

Looks awesome, Let's see some riding Vid's !

[Shawn72]

Micah, that thing looks completely mint man. I love to see restores with this level of detail and care. Puts a big smile on my face.

[Micahdogg]

I took a lot more pictures, so tonight I'll post up a bunch more. I know I needed a lot of close ups when I was restoring this one, so hopefully it'll help someone else.

[keister]

Michah
Excellent job on this trike. You should take a lot of satisfaction and pride from taking it slow and doing it right. Job well done to say the least - keep up the good work.

[Micahdogg]

Thanks all. As promised, here are several more pictures.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5804.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5805.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5806.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5807.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5808.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5809.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5810.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5811.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5812.jpg

[Micahdogg]

And a few more:

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5813.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5814.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5815.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5817.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5818.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5819.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5820.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5821.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5822.jpg

[whyzee]

holy smokes man, she is beautiful!!! wow! :w00t: :w00t:
one thing, do you have room for a case saver? if you have never thrown a chain, then you can't believe the damage they can do. There is one on Ebay right now, an original oem one for $17.
If not i have one in the package also for the same price

[MonroeMike]

Beautiful work. Looks amazing.

[Micahdogg]

Yeah, actually that is the reason for the entire build up. I threw the chain about 5 times, once in 4th gear, due to smoked swingarm bearings. I did have a case saver, but it really fubared that thing bad. Plus the upper bolt mount....it tweaked the bolt and cracked about 1/2 chunk of the boss out of the engine case. I had to take some time to really fix that boss area prior to painting.

So I don't want to use my trashed case saver and since I wanted the OEM look I really didn't want some huge billet thing on there. I never knew what the OEM saver looked like so I'll definitely look into it.

Micah

P.S. Also a tip for anyone else wanting to restore....the fuel line, carb vent hoses and associated clips all came from a 2001 RM250. The stock ATC fuel hose alone was about $52, the RM one looks identical and cost about $5.00.

[bigpimpin]

real nice build bro!

[Bad Karma]

Looks great! I'm interested in the rub block on the swinger skid plate. Where did it come from?

[UlsterATCFan]

You deserve a medal for that restore, amazing job!

[clutchcargo]

Well done!!!

[Micahdogg]

Thanks all. The skid plate is made by PRM and they had a $20 optional chain guide. You just drill out two rivets which hold the poly chain skid to the plate, then install that block with two bolts. It has a raised area in the middle which lines up with the chain rollers. It's really slick, and since I had a problem throwing the chain before, I thought it was money well spent.

[Bad Karma]

Very nice, thanks for the info!

[jcorkin]

looks great, is that a PT silencer on it?

[Micahdogg]

Thanks. It's a PSI pipe and silencer. Not sure of the year....I would guess mid 90's.

[Micahdogg]

This is just a reminder post for myself. I listened to some of the suggestions in this thread and got some goodies on the way.

[350Xccelerator]

Awesome bike man, true beauty

[theexploited1]

dude nice haha to weres the gold!? that would be cool if you had the stock gold rims dude thats what i think distinguishes a 250r from everything else....

[Micahdogg]

Here she is now:

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5892.jpg

Finally addressed the gold wheels and the brake line. Oh, the brake line isn't OEM, but it was free and looks a lot better.

[MonroeMike]

Great looking bike.

[NewfieBish]

looks mint dude; hope mine can look something like that one day!

[Micahdogg]

The most recent modification....RIDING IT!!!!
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z84/Micahdogg/100_5896.jpg

This is the first real ride since I restored it. Last time I rode it, she was set up like this (10 inch ITP's, turf tamers, 2 inch hub spacers):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/2004YFZ/ATC250R015.jpg

It sure handles different with the stock combo. Gets a LOT more tipsy....but still fun. Now I just have to rejet it so it'll keep the plug from fouling.

[jd267]

sweet dude ....

[jeffs250Russell]

gold is a signature..I must agree.

[laidout2times]

looks great~!!

what kind of brake line is that??

Way to score some OEM tires and wheels. Are you going to ride regularly on them?

[Micahdogg]

Thanks, yeah, I'll probably ride regularly on them.

The brake line is an OEM line from 1989 KX125. It's not a dead ringer, but close enough considering the prices of NOS lines.

[riverrat]

Nice job btw!

[bigred72]

what color name is the frame powdercoated?

[Bill]

That looks great good job !

[Micahdogg]

Thanks. I think it's called "red baron" or "baron red."

[Beerside]

Nice gold wheels, the front wheel is an '86 and the rear wheels are '85. The '86 wheels have more of a gold lusture then the more deeper gold of '85. The '85 wheels are made by Hirata and the '86's are made by Enkie (im not sure if i spelled that right). Way to go on the whole build project. You must be the kind of guy who can start and finish a project. Im impressed :-)

[Autophysn]

hahahahaha, great work! and the best part is you got it dirty!!!!!!!
Love it!!!!!!

[Micahdogg]

Nice gold wheels, the front wheel is an '86 and the rear wheels are '85. The '86 wheels have more of a gold lusture then the more deeper gold of '85. The '85 wheels are made by Hirata and the '86's are made by Enkie (im not sure if i spelled that right). Way to go on the whole build project. You must be the kind of guy who can start and finish a project. Im impressed :-)

BUSTED! :)

I was waiting for this one. Yeah, they are 85's....I was tipped off by the Dunlop tires, but the tread pattern looked nearly identical to the Ohtsu's offered in 86 (and the price was right). I always wondered why the gold color was deeper on the back rims. I almost went to them with steel wool to lighten them up, but decided that was a bad way to treat a surviving set of wheels. Glad to finally know why.

[BAN ONE]

NICE bike and also restoring an 86 R and did not know that about the wheels..good to know

[jeopardy98]

Wow, I just started restoring a total basket case 86 250r and this thread is truly an inspiration. You did a superb job with this thing!

I found that PRM swinger skid but I don't see an option for the optional chain slider. Do you have a link? Also does running that skid eliminate the need for the chain rollers/slider?

[Micahdogg]

Thanks.

http://prm-atv.com/MN.asp?pg=products&specific=1196&from=18&mfr=9

It's a $30 option to your skid plate. And I retained all the factory rollers and sliders.