Author Topic: ATC250r "Not A Project" Project (Read 14149 times)

TonyD · « **on:** August 16, 2015, 12:02:31 PM »

Hi Folks,
As suggested by the title, I had to convince the GF that my newly acquired trike was ready to run/not a project. (see initial post: http://trx250r.org/threads/5459-ATC-or-TRX-how-about-both!)

Upon post purchase inspection from the overzealous craigslist seller, I found the bike to have been in rougher shape than anticipated and in need of much deserving TLC. Bad kickstarter slippage, siezed rear brake, rust, etc. So what started as a simple oil change ended up in a full disassembly and frame up rebuild.
Seems like chain adjustment and sprocket replacement was not a concern :suspicion::

The rear axle locknut was siezed beyond belief. I tried torch, giant wrench, etc but eventually had to cut it off

So the motor was advertised as an ESR 310. The stock cylinder should have been a dead giveaway but I am a newb and didn't catch it at the time. Ends up it is a 67.5mm piston with a weisco long rod crank. After reading the horror stories on these cranks I decided to "do it right" which would ultimately lead to splitting the cases and thus more fun! Being I was located close to LED Performance, I spoke with Arlan and was really impressed with his helpfulness and knowledge. We had decided to initially have him do his magic on an ESR 310 cylinder. He had already gotten halfway thru the porting when I called upon discovering the weisco crank. We then changed plans (no penalty/charge) due to the fact the cases (which were pretty rough) would be split to go with a 363 power valved combination.

Once down to the frame; it had been powdercoated at one time but was showing bare metal in several areas so i had it sandblasted and powdercoated in "Super Mirror Red"

Also sent the rear shock to SRS for a revalve/respring

TonyD · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2015, 12:33:42 PM »

As the frame was being powdercoated, I ordered a +3" swingarm from ACE Fab (this was when I still thought I was going with the 310). It came in looking great although I wish it had provisions for a rear chain guide. I then got a powder coating kit so i could do smaller parts myself. I powdercoated the swinger in "Chrome" with a clear coat on top. it looks more silver but i like it nonetheless in contrast to the red.

Here's the unit, my ghetto spray booth and some small parts in the oven:

Front hub after powder:

Parts started showing up, axle, hubs and antifade from lonestar. Also 11" rim/mohawk front tire from recreation tires:

This is where she currently stands with the pieces mocked up:

Pumashine · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2015, 12:52:52 PM »

Love the ghetto PC booth, I spy a polishing buffer. Looking good so far. I can't keep myself from polishing anything aluminum. Welcome to the site!!!

Skeans1 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2015, 01:27:37 PM »

Looks great, wish I had the ghetto powder set up.

Hawaiiysr · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2015, 04:40:21 PM »

Looking good!

TonyD · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2015, 11:10:15 PM »

Thanks guys; if you like the spray booth you'll love the zinc plating setup. looks like something right out of "Breaking Bad" :chuncky:

TonyD · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2015, 11:20:25 PM »

Got my ESR cases, +4mm crank and LED clutch cover. Went back and forth on how to finish the cases and finally powder coated them red. Let me say, that was alot of masking!

Didn't get any pics of the fork rebuild but got that completed. They were pretty bad, so I did new seals, bushings and upgraded to gold valves and progressive springs. Put ATF in; think I may need to upgrade to regular fork oil as the seem underdamped but too early to tell. It's now somewhat of a "roller". The tank needs to be polished really bad.

TonyD · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2015, 11:25:18 PM »

Ok, after a very long wait the pipe finally showed up along with the cylinder and an intake!

And a bunch of these:

Next I need to split the cases of the old motor and harvest some transmission bits...hope they're in good shape

hickwheeler · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2015, 12:27:37 AM »

That is looking very good.

Outlaw1972 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2015, 01:43:53 AM »

Very very nice so far

JesseA420 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2015, 07:36:09 AM »

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! i love a 350x headlight a 250r!

broken1 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2015, 10:31:40 AM »

Nice looking trike, I remember seeing that one on CL.... Is your chevelle a 64 or 65 ? I got a 65 but its in need of a body off.

TonyD · « **Reply #12 on:** August 19, 2015, 11:28:00 AM »

Thanks all: really trying to stay focused and finish this quick (although it's been maybe 3-4months I can't recall). Now I'm the bastard that's holding up a trip to Florence; I bet my brother I would have it running by 11:59pm at the end of this month so I've got my work cut out mainly with putting the motor together.

Broken1: that's funny, started seeing fewer atc250r's on CL and the price going up so just went for it with this one. Chevelle's a 65, I've had it since high school, pretty good runner and fun at the 1/4 mile but don't take it out as much as I should these days!

TonyD · « **Reply #13 on:** August 19, 2015, 06:41:28 PM »

Well, I'm officially feeling the frustration of being on the loosing end of cushion arm subtle differences!:arg:

There was alot of slop in the cushion arm/wishbone when I got it so I figured i'd replace the bushings (which were shot). My research showed no rebuild kit/bushings for the 85 (or perhaps three wheeler for that matter) so i figured I should be able to make the pivotworks kit from the TRX work (how different could they be!)?

Well everything worked except for the joint where the cushion arm, wishbone and shock come together; The later version bushings (and seals on the cushion arm) are larger in both OD and ID.

Luckily I have access to a lathe at work, so basically I had to turn the od of the pivotworks bushings down from ~Ø.758" to Ø.707.

This pic shows the used original one (left) compared to the halfway modified new one (right).

In hindsight, and to anyone else in this situation it seems like it would have been MUCH easier just to find a linkage from a trx?!

JesseA420 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2015, 08:53:36 AM »

lol, it would have been easier but then it wouldnt have been as much fun right?