First time restorer

[q_r86250]

hey guys , i got this 1986 suzuki lt 250 quad racer for the trade of my 1989 yz 80 but, this quad needs help the plastics are ruined (sun faded and cracked) the seat is good but its the straight seat not the wraparound seat! the engine needs its first bore , piston , ring job otherwise engine is sound and one of the crossmembers on the frame is snapped but can easily be welded good and straight,
just looking for some good advice on how to go about fixing her up and some good tips and pointers ,
this will be the first restore have ever done but , since im only 18 that cant be too bad for me!

any advice will help thank you all
ryan

[Banage]

Ebay and 3ww for all your needs!!

[Wickedfinger]

Great to hear and good luck!. Restoring an old ATV can be a frustrating at times - but - ultimately a rewarding experience. Luckily for you, you have this message board, with alot of people on it who have gone through restos before, to ask questions of - so ask away. Really, the first question you should ask yourself is "Am I doing a frame off restoration, am I making her 'everyday' ridable or am I doing a little of both. Most people tend to go the "little of both" route and since you noted the frame needs welding and work, I would suggest that. Strip that frame apart, get it welded, then decide if you want to powdercoat it or just spray paint it. You have the last year of the Black/Yellow, non-powervalved LT250R's and you are in luck, most of the OEM parts you might need are still available from Suzuki and I would try either Ronnies or Partsfish/Powersportspros etc. for them. The seat on the early LT-R's is supposed to be "straight". You could possibly find a newer style on eBay - but I dont see any advantage to it. If you were to go and want to put another seat cover on it, it will be that much easier than with the "T" shaped seat (trust me, I know!). Fenders - depending on how far into "restoring" you want to go, the OEM fenders are still available from Suzuki, but are a fortune. I would suggest going with a set from Maier. If you just want to go with the stock colors or a small selection of "other" colors, I'd use Rockymountain ATV. They have a pretty good selection. You can order more colors directly from Maier (like I did for my orange), but they are more expensive. You can use Rocky or Dennis Kirk (or others) for the lionshare of any "aftermarket" or maintainence parts you need. You will find the gasket kit and piston for your topend rebuild there as well. The only generalized "tip" I would give you about your rebuild or working on the engine is: DONT OVERTIGHTEN ANY BOLTS!!!. The motor is made of a very "light" aluminum and stripping bolt holes is far too easily done. I would also pick up a waterpump rebuild kit along with a spare because they wear out rather quickly on normal usage. Heres a few pics of mine, mid restore. Good luck again.

[q_r86250]

thank you MN rebel and thank you wickedfinger for all your advice because ill need it, and 1 more thing ? will a T-style seat fit on my bike , (looks much nicer) and is it a much slower quadracer because i got no powervalve or are they still even at top speeds? i know a powervalve gives it much more range but when i last seen it running it had decent range but a touchy clutch with good top end power , if a powervalved quadracer engine is faster i would maybe try to mach one up to my frame and build the brackets thank you guys for all the support !
ryan

[Wickedfinger]

Simply put - The powervalved motor will give you more bottom end "meat" to the powerband of the motor. It does this by helping to regulate the volume and speed of the escaping charge as it enters the pipe, making the pipe work more efficiently in the lower ranges. This is part of the reason why the later LT-R's were known as good woods bikes. The '85/'86 models were good enough at the time, and sold well - but - I have heard from many sources that they were a little "fragile" and prone to breakage without proper maintenence and a little luck (I can attest to that). I do know that the later models had 36hp - but - have never seen a real good figure for the earlier motor. I would assume that it has a decent amount of ponies because it was able to keep up with the '85 ATC250R in a few of the "shootouts" I remember reading. In any event, my '85 LT-R was really "worked" when I bought it (lots of motor work along with a good pipe) and I can tell you it could get up and boogy. It sounds to me with all the "changes" you want to make to your '86, what you really want is an '87 - '92 model - so - my advice to you would be to either restore it and be happy with what you've got, or fix her up, sell her and buy a later model. In any event, the seat swap should work - but - the '85/'86 had a different frame than the later models - so I couldn't tell you if a later model motor would fit (I assume not without a fight). Again, good luck