86 TRX350A Resto

[Goober 1,555]

I’ll pick up the story about my current project. Two years ago my wife bought this quad for me as an anniversary present. Awwww.

 

It came out of an estate sale. I think the owner was a small engine guy—but no welder lol—he installed some ugly shop-made carriers. Those heavy racks broke down onto the fenders and led, eventually, to at least one rollover. About 60 lbs of steel.

 

sad ol tank, looked like it had been stored in an outbuilding with lots of mice, webworms and spiders. All the harnesses were chewed and every switch, hose and crevice was filled with worm web. 

 

It suffered from the common blight of non-OEM parts: master switch, carb, CDI and stator. Many parts were missing, rusted, bent or broken. You could tell someone tried to look after it, but these old rigs are picky! 

 

the current owner got it started, i ran it around to listen to the engine, run all the gears and check front axles. Except for a hard neutral light, all was good. I lost all my purchase pix but here’s after i started stripping the racks.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Goober

[jeepwm69 7,222]

Looks like a clean one to rebuild!

[Goober 1,555]

It hasn’t been too bad Jeep; the old engine guy must’ve gotten into the head to replace a valve—there’s an oddball adjuster in there.

I couldn’t get it to start after i got it home, so i pulled the fenders to get a good look at it.  The choke and throttle cables weren’t mating to the knockoff carb, the starter was squealing, the fuel tank was rusty mess!

The racks had crushed the fender into the right side harness area, chafing nearly all the wire bundles. Here’s pix of some of the damage. Took me all winter to find and rebuild every single wire harness on the quad. I used wires and connector parts from some old harnesses, too.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Goober

[Goober 1,555]

Here’s what’s left of the fenders. They’re going up in my garage attic while i decide what to do with them

or when my kids have the auction lols 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Goober

[shadetree 5,543]

1 hour ago, Goober said:

Here’s what’s left of the fenders. They’re going up in my garage attic while i decide what to do with them

or when my kids have the auction lols 

i could fix that fender !, but you would lose the decal/stripes from painting..lol.

[Goober 1,555]

This fuel tank was in terrible shape—rusted outside and inside.

i put a pound of BBs and two gallons of cleaning vinegar in the fuel tank. I wrapped it in bubble wrap and cardboard—rotated it in my cement mixer for three hours.  then i used a magnet to remove the BBs

 

i then mixed a gallon water with several tablespoons of Hot Tub High pH chemical—something hydroxide—sodium carbonate—I cant remember.  Anyway i dumped the vinegar out and neutralized with the high pH solution.

then dumped it out and dried it with a hair dryer—after drying i swirled around a cup or two of fuel to remove the dried pool chemical—no water!

 

so anyway here it is a year later—pristine 

 

 

 

[Goober 1,555]

A few random pics of the project leading up to the reveal.
 

i acid-cleaned the fuel tank, rebuilt the petcock and carb, and replaced the fuel pump because it constantly buzzed—wasn’t pumping.

I replaced the handlebars and headlight bracket when I replaced all the harnesses.

 

After i started getting fuel, it took me weeks to find and repair the ignition problems. It had the wrong stator and CDI. Duck0fDeath gifted me a stator. I rebuilt the Kill/Run button, gear position harness and stator harnesses using scraps of old harnesses and colored pens to make sure the wires were the same color.

 

as soon as i hooked up the stator, it fired.

[jeepwm69 7,222]

Wow.  That's nice!

[Fishfiles 19,716]

Yep , that is super clean , you sure come down here and ride with us , there won't be one spot that isn't dirty LOL 

[retro 3,871]

Nice Build Goober!

[Goober 1,555]

Ok after this post I’ll be caught up. I’ve spent two days painting primer and paint touching up rust spots.  lot of worn and missing parts went into this build. I haunted fleabay for months for these:

Both hand levers NOS

Foot brake lever NOS

Front/rear bumpers take offs

Fuel tank shield and rubbers

Breather box and hoses

Complete battery box assembly 

Air box rubbers

Air filter and body 

Air box cover

Carburetor and hoses

Brake master cylinder NOS

Starter 

Steps

Complete Toolbox assembly

 

[shadetree 5,543]

wha..no oem muffler ???..lol. looks great bro !!.

[Goober 1,555]

19 minutes ago, shadetree said:

wha..no oem muffler ???..lol. looks great bro !!.

Hey @Shadetree here she is with the bonnet on.

Oh man yeah it had a Cobra muffler on it and used mufflers are pretty hard to find. So I painted this one up. yeow that 2000F primer and paint is trying to hold up.

 

I ran it up the road about 10 minutes in granny gear—looks like smoke coming off the head I don’t think it’s the header paint. The oil wasn’t 160F, so I’m going to test two spare oil sensors and swap out. 

lol @Fishfiles no I don’t wanna get it muddy just yet

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Goober

[retro 3,871]

10 minutes ago, Goober said:

I ran it up the road about 10 minutes in granny gear—looks like smoke coming off the head I don’t think it’s the header paint.

 

If you shot the header pipes with Rust-oleum 2000 degree primer & paint its probably burning the paint off the exhaust. Every exhaust that I have painted using those products smoked like a train for several minutes once on the bike, even after heat treating the pipes in three steps in the oven beforehand.

[jeepwm69 7,222]

Wow.  That thing is clean.  I don't know that I'd be able to bring myself to take it off into the mud.

[Fishfiles 19,716]

What's the sense of having it , if you don't use it , is my way of thinking , looking at it is ok , but using it is more fun 

 

[jeepwm69 7,222]

Oh I'd use it.  I'd just feel bad about it for the first 5-6 beers.

[Goober 1,555]

Buffing on the fender with some Novus Plastic polish

[Goober 1,555]

Got almost all the parts hung on this quad.
lacking a rear taillight, a rear fender guard spring and two fender guard screws. I need to add some rear fender stripes—

 

Idle was real low so i’ll check the plug to see if it’s running rich. The starter gear seemed like it wanted to skip a little so I’ll check the gear set—might just be the compression release out of adjustment. 

 

[sublime68charger 172]

You have done a lot of work to that quad!

 

great job!

[_Wilson_™ 6,434]

looking good goober ... you mentioned 

 

Buffing on the fender with some Novus Plastic polish

 

is this the old Armstrong polishing job or, something like an orbital buffer ?

 

lol @Fishfiles no I don’t wanna get it muddy just yet

 

 

i don't think I've ever seen one of @Goober s bikes muddy before ...  i can't say i blame him... i couldn't do it, those old classic tanks are very rare ... 

[Fishfiles 19,716]

I have always like to play in the mud since I was a kid , guess I never did grow up 

[_Wilson_™ 6,434]

that's right stay young at heart !! i finally got you to post some good pics !! lol 

[jeepwm69 7,222]

13 hours ago, Goober said:

Got almost all the parts hung on this quad.
lacking a rear taillight, a rear fender guard spring and two fender guard screws. I need to add some rear fender stripes—

 

Idle was real low so i’ll check the plug to see if it’s running rich. The starter gear seemed like it wanted to skip a little so I’ll check the gear set—might just be the compression release out of adjustment. 

 

I should have a taillight. Pm me your address. I’ll send you one.

[Goober 1,555]

Here’s some pics of how the Novus plastic polish worked on the air box and toolbox covers. with my Armstrong polisher 💪🏻.

use liberally with a soft cloth, like Turtle Wax don’t work it too hard. When it’s dried abit, Use one of those microfiber cloths to buff.

i buffed the airbox cover last night—i bought it used from someone who got OD green overspray in it. Completely removed the overspray and shined the surface.

 

worked on the toolbox light for about two minutes for ya