Back in the saddle- I hope

[Rik756]

Hey all,

My name is Rick, I'm 43 and live in the Memphis, TN area. Married for just over 20 years with three daughters aged 14, 16, and 17. I have no hair, no patience and thank god, no grandkids.

I just acquired a 1985 Big Red 250ES. It was a barn find from the widow of an old friend. It's been sitting for at least 10 years and the only thing she can remember about why he parked it was that it wouldn't start anymore. He used it with a small pull behind trailer with a spray tank on it to weed fencelines and stuff on their property. He was not a wrench at all so I'm still hopeful that it's something simple.

I'd post pics but as you can imagine, it probably looks just like every other rusty, dusty BR out there lol. I grew up on a little 110 and the BR was the upgrade I never managed to get. Took me a while but I finally got one! I'll be hanging mostly on the BR pages of course.

Thanks,
Rick

[Herboso]

You are going to get hooked. It started with just one with me too. And go ahead and post pictures.

[Ranvier]

Enjoy bud. It's a great hobby.

[Rob Canadian]

Welcome to the site.

I am sure it will need a battery. How does the inside of the tank look? Clean tank. Fresh fuel. Clean carb. Probably fire right up.

Start of your intro sounded like a "AA" meeting... "ATC Anonymous" LOL

Ya. Post pics. We love pics.

[Rik756]

Hey all,

Thank you for the welcome and the replies. Sooooo long weekend and LOTS of cool developments! I got it washed on the outside and started pulling apart the insides.

So this is what it looked like in the barn.


Here she is about to get dropped in the garage for life support.


Here I have her cleaned up and waiting for some attention.


I got the plastic and all that off so I could get started on it.


The plug is a little gooey but not horrible.


The rats found there way into the air intake under the tank and made a cozy little home inside the air box. I pulled both intake tubes out and got them all cleaned up. I took nearly a whole bottle of carb cleaner to the carb. The choke and the thottle seemed responsive and smooth operating.


After I pulled the plug out, I used my motorcycle lift to level the head out and put about an ounce of Marvel Mystery Oil in the head then shook it around a little to get it all the way around the piston. The next day, she kicked through like a champ and seemed to have good compression when I finger plugged the hole.

The next step was to see if I had spark. I DID!
http://<embed width="600" height="36...a.mp4&title=">

So I rigged up a little filter to get it some fuel and decided to kick her over. It took maybe 12-15 kicks and she fired! I was amazed!!
http://vid282.photobucket.com/albums...pspxvrvshc.mp4

If you look at the pic with it on the trailer you'll see a really corroded spot on the tank right by the seat. There were a buncha pin holes. I got the tank off and patched up all the holes. it's soaking in vinegar as we speak. It'll get scrubbed inside and then rinsed today an get some Redkote poured in it tomorrow.

So I've got fresh oil in it, changed the diff fluid and just ordered new tubes and tires. It has 25x13x9 Wooley Boogers on the back which I dont think they even make anymore. Due to costs, I just went back with some Kenda Scorpians. They're about as close to the old Ohtsu tires as I could find within reason. I've got the breather can soaking in vinegar to get it all cleaned up and bought a new air filter for it as well.

The only other issue I had was that it would kick start, but there was no juice to the key even with a fresh battery. After much digging and gnashing of teeth, I discovered that it was a smaller red wire that comes off of the battery post. I was still in the "casing" but had come unplugged and it wasn't noticeable until I actually started to remove it. Soooooo it got plugged right back in and with that, there was juice to the key and a couple of quick bumps to the starter told me that it works too!

I'm excited!!

[Rik756]

I got the tank patched up and redkoted it. Been drying for two days now. I think I'll give it another day before I gas it up....

[350for350]

I like to hear success stories like this one! You're going to enjoy your new trike.