new from hudson florida, 83 atc 185/200s

[yoomooman]

hey all just registered hoping to browse around and find a bunch of info on my newly aquired 83 honda atc the vin came out to an 83 Atc 185s but its got a 200s(192cm) top end on it so free upgrade i guess but it needs a new head since the PO broke the bolts off in it and ruined the casting around it so its all cracked up, the machine needs a ton of work but aint nothing i cant handle, if worse comes to worse i got an 06 lifan 200 engine im hoping might swap in ill just have to swap the clutch lever over and wont have the luxury of the centrif clutch, we'll see what i come up with

anyways hope to see alot of info and might be lurking in the shadows for a while sucking up all the info i can

Thanks for readin and have a great day yall

[dustrunner]

welcome , i had a few 185s.. they are great machines...

[yoomooman]

yeah from the videos ive seen they are awsome, since my last post ive completely stripped the thing down to the frame, got her all sanded and repainted, cleaned an repacked the fork bearings in the head(?) tube, also repainted the red on the top of the forks an shined up the aluminum on the bottom, ive stripped 3(yes i said 3) seat covers off the original seat and finally got all the staples out an will be reupholstering it in the morning, also have started sanding the rear plastics preping them for paint.

basically doing a ground up restoration on the old girl, the old engine wasnt salvagable, i found a rubber plug in the main oiling system, most of the bearings were shot, like i said the head was shattered to hell, i found deep scares in the cylinder wall and the clutch was fried with lots of sludge in the crankcase, so ive got the Lifan 200 engine ready to go in once the rest of it is finished, then i imagine ill have to fab up an exhaust system but so far so good.

i had a few old timer neighbors come by an when they seen the old 3 wheeler they instantly were all like "that brings back memories" or "arent those illegal, even to own". lol, the woman next door who gave me it(in peices) is completely amazed how good it looks already, its been a deff work in progress but once finished ill post a few pix for all to see, i can tell already this seat is gonna give me hell tho, might have to break out some old tricks like the 3M adhesive and toss the fabric in the clothes dryer.......oh well itll be way worth it once i get to ride her for the first time

[3Queen]

Hi and welcome, and I just love pics. so I will be looking for yours..

[Dave8338]

Welcome to the forum. Gotts-ta LUV the 185 ! ! Looking forward to pics as well. Seems as of late, the 185 bikes are finding their way out of the dark corners of storage. It's about TIME.

[yoomooman]

working on making my build thread in the trikesylvania section so keep an eye out, got lots of pix and a few questions, i was able to get the newer lifan 200 engine in with the ecelct start, man clutch, battery box and wiring harness installed today also got tons of other stuff going on with it, so the thread should be done sometime tonight

gotta go out and finish what ive started as the sun is goin down an im pressed for time

[yoomooman]

ok so apparently i cannot post new threads yet, i have activated my account but i geuss you have to be here for 2 months and have more than 10 posts, which means yall will have to wait 2 months and im gonna have to start making bogus/BS posts to get my count up

[yoomooman]

well heres what i got at the moment, my main problem is i broke the petcock on the tank and my rear plastics are way too big or something cause they dont fit, ON TO THE PIX:

tank being stripped for new paint and honda decals


plastics in question



new engine in, frame painted, forks painted, new controls installed, wired, and battery box almost mounted, gotta find someone with a welder, also gotta fab a new exhaust







rectifier, starter soleniod, CDI unit mounted high


seat stripped ready for new covering




all i got for now, kinda at a stand still till i figure out this plastics problem and find a new petcock valve for the tank......i really think these plastics came from a 200 or 250 they are bigger then what i have usually seen on 83 185s

[Big G]

So far so good Yoomoo. Shouldn't be hard to find a petcock...I'm pretty sure several years/models honda dirtbikes/atc's will work. By the way, what did you use to strip the paint off the tank?

[jb2wheels]

Looking good - that will be a nice hardtail when done.

You'll like that Lifan. The e-start will spoil you forever. I like the battery location. Well chosen.

Seat covers and staples - wasn't that fun getting all the old staples out?

Does DG or Cobra still make a pipe for those? The Lifan exhaust outlet is the same as the 185/200 engine.

[yoomooman]

i used this stuff called "Aircraft coating remover" it bubbled the old paint rite off in under 10 mins, good stuff, gave it a good soapy wash and painting it today


also jb2wheels the Lifan engine was always good to me on the 06 Lifan GS200iii bike but after many many miles the bike itself was falling apart and they dont sell parts for it so bringing the engine back to life on the honda, the exhaust is in the same place but i dont have the rear half only the front half of the honda exhaust, the honda pipe is much smaller in diameter than the Lifan exhaust tho so i wonder if id lose power/torque with the smaller pipe also with the manual clutch i worry the stock exhaust might roast the cable or starter wiring so ima try and see if i can fab an exhaust first thatll go under the machine rather than threw it, also im not sure were the muffler might originally be(might interfere with/roast the battery), i will have to search around and look at stock trike pix an see what i come up with...

also no freaking joke i pulled 3, yes 3 seat covers off that seat, the last being the original honda cover, it took me a whole complete day to remove ~1 million staples all stacked ontop of each other but i got it done, next when im feeling confident enough im gonna toss the new material in the dryer for a min and tackle the soon to be new seat.

ive got maybe $50 in it as it sits and its already looking awsome, moving rite along.....

also can anyone confirm these rear plastics? or maybe post a pic of their 80s 185 from the top with the seat off so i can get an idea of were they bolt to, im pulling my hair out trying to figure it out before i waste my time sanding and painting it and so far i dont think this is the correct rear fender/plastic

[3Queen]

LOOKING GOOD!!! AWSOME JOB.. Keep the pics. coming..

[ColtonGG33]

That looks really nice so far, how did that Lifan fit in there? Looks like its gonna be a lot fun, we need more pics

[yoomooman]

the engine fit in there .....how can i say this "snug".....i had to remove the carb and manifold to get it in there but it bolted rite into all the old mounts no modification required it even runs the same size chain, then i put the carb on and started the rest i.e. wiring, controls, ect. ect......

today i was a bit lazy but i got "enough" done to satisfy myself.

i got the tank stripped an preped, then primed and painted, i was going back and forth with myself on whether or not to bondo the dents in the tank but they arent that bad. and i would've had to run to the store for the bondo so i painted it as-is IMHO the dents give it character almost like battle scars lol.

sorry for the blur!! youll see the tank again



then i finished the seat, its got a little bit of dust on it from all the struggling to keep it tight and holding it down on the table but after i took the pix i cleaned it and it looks proffesionally done so im happy.




as she sits tonight. (dont mind the crib, i got a baby boy coming soon and the crib was free, just needs some re-staining and finishing)


i did some more research on the rear plastics and the one i got is the wrong one BUT i got a sawzall and enough know how that im gonna try to make them fit before i do anything else. cause i looked at the price of "new" plastics for the 185s and they are not cheap at all.....after that it might sit for a couple weeks or so untill i get some more spending money for my trikey

the list of things to buy at the moment is as follows:
1. rear brake shoes
2. rear brake cable
3. 1 rear split rim(rusted & rotted but other side is good)
4. shift lever
5. fuel tank front rubbers
6. fuel tank petcock
7. fuel line
8. inline fuel filter
9. exhaust (dont know if im going stock or fabbed yet)
10. headlight (maybe but i dont plan to do any nighttime riding so doughtful)
11. foot peg (for right side thats broke off)


as you can see the list isnt too big and most of the parts are fairly cheap but im jobless at the moment so money is scarce

[dustrunner]

those rear fender look like yamaha's to me... just a thought.....