Tecate build ~ getting there.

[jeswinehart]

Slow but surely the project T-3 project is coming along. I thought I had a thread started on this machine I bought from junit back in May of 2010 but after looking around I just found snippets of postings here and there.
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php?117564-84-85-chain-slider-reproduction&highlight=
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php?116098-Nuts-bolts-tumble-method-for-cleaning&highlight=
Fun project to kill the boredom and I am sure for those of you that have ever taken a machine down to frame you end up spending TO MUCH TIME looking for a part you thought you knew was ,,, well RIGHT there a minute ago :) No matter how much I try to stay organized and keeping it to 1 project at a time ,,, well you guys know the rest of the storey because it must be a man thing or something looking for the parts.
Going to use the white plastics I have had in stash for well over a year and for the most part,,, just a stocker 84/85 half breed (mostly 85 w/ 84 ish look) build plus some of my dreamed up ideas.
john

[Eric250R]

Looking good John.....

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Looking great, John. Looks like you just bought that stuff off a store shelf. this one is gonna be another nice one.

[dcreel]

Awesome John, Can't wait to see more.

[mudbogger]

NICE, VERY CLEAN JOB, good luck with it!

[harryredtrike]

looking good brother,will be watching this thread.even though im not a kawi guy

[sandpuppi101]

John your deffinatly lighting a fire under my arse to get on my T3 project,I've had the frame done for a long time now and even have 90% of the small part's ready for assembly but I have'nt done anything else to it.Your project look's awesome BTW..

[MagicJames]

Looks like a well thought out project, Maybe I'll have to bring some beer and we can sit in the garage and stare at it...

[hang&rattle]

Very cool jeswinehart. The a-arm, and are the forks stock? They look fancy to me. Please keep posting the pictures as I'm not that smart and need as much idea as I can get.

[jeswinehart]

Yep just a stock build. The front forks might appear different because of the alu sleeve I put between the top and bottom triple tree's.
The forks are in good enough shape work wise but have some pitting in that area between the triples and after seeing what another fella done awhile back with basically a wrap, I thought I would give this a try and see how it looked. Tube covers I reckon you could call them.
Dose give it a beefy look IMO,,,

[Dirtcrasher]

Looking good!

Tobe covers?? Hmmm, thats something I could whip up for any model!!

[jeswinehart]

I mounted up my axle only to find that the ends has been "trimmed" back for some reason ????
Of all the things I have seen in my life, ain't never seen this before. The castle nuts are basically tight and only half way on. Ain't no holes for the safety pins (normally just a cotter key)to go thru.
Working with another member on a replacement.
So, gonna be at a stand still for awhile.

[Dirtcrasher]

Looking great John, you must get more excited every day!

[jeswinehart]

Alrighty then. Got a replacement axle in that is in beautiful shape and and a co-worker is picking up my under the seat parts from the Kawasaki dealer (yep, those under the seat rubbers are still available for dirt cheap).
And since I wanted to get a few more parts nickle-chromed, I am gonna add the axle to the list.
Got some sand blasting to do at the company's "main" office and then I will be dropping stuff to the metal finishers.
Pictures in a week or so.
Hey, ya never have too much chrome right :)

[dcreel]

I'm going to have to look into chroming and nickle plating as well for my build. Can't wait to see more pics, John.

[jeswinehart]

Yes, i am very happy with it. Holds up fine and my Red rider T-3 is a good example of that. I had those parts that are nickle chromed 4 (maybe 5 ?) years ago and still shiny new looking.
I some how only had 6 of the 12 lug nuts chromed so I tried wire wheeling the nickle plating off 2 of the chromed ones.
After several minutes of aggressive wire wheeling and really laying into it, all it did was make it more shiny. there is NO way you will wire wheel off a good nickle coating so normal wrenching do it no harm either.
Some of the parts I will be having coated is of course the other 6 lug nuts, 2 of the 3 exhaust springs I forgot, axle, rear sprocket holder disc thingy bolts, kicker, shift shaft (that toe rubber is really hard to get off w/o screwing it up but I got it),,, front caliper mount brackets,,, several other little things I can not remember.

[Eric250R]

Wow, looking great John. Sucks about your axle thou......

D.C I'd be down for a set of the fork " tubes" if you decide to make them. I'm sure a few friends would want some too....

[aldochina]

looks awsome. that is strange about the axle. why? wish the pics wer'nt so grainy lol, build like this deserves at least 5 mega pixels lol.

[jeswinehart]

The metal finishers said they was slow so they would be able to get my parts done quickly. Even thou I told the fella I was not in any particular hurry, he called so i went and got them.
2 day turn around,,,, not bad. My decal gal called too and said she had my order done. I love, NOT waiting :).

[Vootie]

Looking sharp, can't wait to see the final outcome.

[tapper190]

Wow, John you do awesome work! Can't wait until it's finished. That's a great idea with the fork tubes, I might have to do that with the 500x. Keep up the great work!!
Will that kick start fit on a Honda? If it will, that might be the type I'm looking for
Tapper

[Dirtcrasher]

Coming together VERY nice John!!

Anyone who wants to cover those upper tubes (many are pitted but the boot protected the seal area); Just measure your tube OD, convert that to "s (32MM divided by 25.4 = 1.259"s or a hair over an inch and 1/4 inch). Speedy Metals.com has DOM aluminum tubing, 6"s, 12"s, 18"s, 24"s and so on, and you can cover yours too.

I think I'd try to squash a couple o-rings to keep the crap out as it will be stuck inside the 2 tubes.

[jeswinehart]

That is a outstanding idea DC ! I was digging around for all the components for the chromed after market head light guard I will using and realized I will need to cut a 1 inch piece out of those tubes so the head light guard mounting arms will fit onto the upper fork tubes (that now have the tube over covers on).
So i am gonna take you up on that sound piece of advice and use either O-rings or perhaps rubber flat washers when I take the forks out and re-do them.
Good call DC. john

[jeswinehart]

Got to spend some time with the project and what a train wreck of a Saturday.
Got tires on it and down on the ground for the first time since I started this project to find
frame bent - sits goofy angled
engine leaks a little at the case halves
shock has a minor issue but basically least of my concerns
Decided I am going to "borrow" a few items from my Red tecate rider to "get er done" and go from there.
But on a positive note, it looks nice :)
Ahhh yes, just another build, just another day ,,,,

john

[Billy Golightly]

The nickle plating on that stuff looks awesome John! I like it a lot.

[TommyBoy1971]

sweet looking trike so far!

[jeswinehart]

Thanks guys.
I got it pulled back down to frame only last night and I will be darned if I can see any signs of a bent frame. I really doubt that the swing arm its self is bent, it looks straight too.
As you 84/85 T-3 owners know, those steel swing arms are just a massive amount of steel.
I am gonna bolt the "build" swing arm onto my red rider and sit it down and see how it looks.
My very first indications something was up was when I bolted the rear plastics on and they sat slightly uneven as compared to the grab bar (but that is straight and bolted on w/o hassle) and then again when I put the seat on (that the Mrs. insisted on recovering),,,, the right hand seat latch would not snap over the frame retaining post with out a couple of taps with rubber mallet.
I will know for sure what is the culprit in the next day or two, heck maybe it is both frame and swing arm ???

[sportvette]

:drool: well. i'm jealous. that nickel looks great. wish i had my axles and pipes dipped in some metal...

[TommyBoy1971]

well I'm going on 4 months, I really need to get my pipe dipped...lol!

[jeswinehart]

I narrowed it down to bent swing arm, so far. Wow.
I did not take a picture of how my red tecate sat before changing out the swing arms but it was definitely level.
After the swap, well you can see the lean it has. Exact same lean as my build had.
Well i reckon I will go tap out the new All Balls bearing from that bent to heck swinger. Picking up a replacement Friday to sand blast and paint.

[TommyBoy1971]

looks like that left rear tire is pointing inward a little, like a bent axle or hub or something.

[hang&rattle]

I narrowed it down to bent swing arm, so far. Wow.
I did not take a picture of how my red tecate sat before changing out the swing arms but it was definitely level.
After the swap, well you can see the lean it has. Exact same lean as my build had.
Well i reckon I will go tap out the new All Balls bearing from that bent to heck swinger. Picking up a replacement Friday to sand blast and paint.

Do you know what that's from John? I do. From you always looking over your left shoulder at all the folks you have smoked racing. It puts you on your right butt-cheek, hence shifts weight to one side. You could have prevented this by glancing over your right shoulder. That's my mechanical and scientific view anyhow, whaddaya think? It's simply genious in my opinion, full of shi*, but genious lol!, lol!! Is that the redrider? Did those fenders come with it? (low-pro miers?). I've noticed on sites that many switched over to green, you'd think some reds would be handy out there? Any knowledge?

[RID3R]

Ive had to cut the ends of axles before due to messed up threads. Tecate looks nice, ill keep posted!

[TecateDan]

Is that Powdercoat or paint on the engine???

[jeswinehart]

It is PJ 1 engine/case black Dan.
And that is a good point you make Tommyboy, I am gonna use different hubs too since I have a couple of sets to select from, just in case there is something up with the ones that come with the trike that I did not spot.
I really only want to put this together one more time. I can NOT express how much I want to do clean assembly work, one more time.

[ama009]

Man, I never really liked the Kawa trikes, but looking at your build has made me re-consider. Awesome job! The Tecate decals and fasteners are going to really pop!

[sandpuppi101]

Sucks to hear about the swingarm issue,it is totally suprising to me to hear that the swinger of all thing's has a tweak in it,I mean it seem's like a pretty well built chunk of steel that IMO seem's like a fairly good design and just does'nt seem like it could get bent,but hey with working on trike's I guess you think you've seen it all and then you have an issue like that happen..Anyway's the build's coming out fantastic John and it look's really nice with the white fender's IMO.Reluctantly with harvesting and now other thing's that have come up my T3 project has'nt changed much in the last month or so.On a more positive note I purchased a red '84 tecate recently so now I have another project for a rainy day.BTW that's an awesome idea on the polished fork tube's and DC that's also a great idea on the rubber o-ring's.

[jeswinehart]

Well before any of you say what the HECK you doing ! My rider will still have the same engine goodies (KX upper, DG high flow pipe with answer muffler, 38mm carb, V force 3 reeds) so I will be able to spray the sand in the wind @ Silver lake in 2011, but you can say good BYE to the Red look. Okay, that build will be another thread.
Getting the proven motor from ole Red put back to stock form with the low hour re-nicaselled upper/piston I have had in stash, and also readying it for a sand blasting + fresh paint. Then all those shiny chrome parts and custom coloured intake boot will be bolted on this engine for the current build.
I always wanted to make a red intake boot for my red rider but never took the time to do that but I am thrilled to see how the black intake has held up (perfectly) since I made /installed it. I think it was May-09 when I made my first couple of intake boots. The one in my hand is the 2nd. one I made. The first one went to the board member who sent me his very nice one to use as a pattern and for his input and for him to keep for letting me use his to make my molds.
So, moving on and looking forward >>>

[Eric250R]

Looks great John, sorry things didn't go the way you were hoping ( though they rarely do ). Btw, nice Tri-Z you got sitting there....:lol:

[Dirtcrasher]

Like some of the other guys said, the swingarm is one strong link in there. Almost looks like the whole subframe is off.

Once you get that swinger of, I'd take some measurements off it. IDK the origins of the frame etc, but maybe it took a big tumble??

Anyhow, hopefully you get it all sorted out.......

[jeswinehart]

Yeah, fast forward to today.
Took a couple of weeks off from this project to get other pressing work done and to gather parts for the tecate project.
Started re-assembling about a week ago and this is where I am at, about done. Need to add some fluids, bolt the rear skid plates on and wait till spring.
Oh I have several small item to take care of like replacing some bolts and screws with new, make a decent front brake line retainer but for the most part, done.
A HUGE thanks to the Tecate brethren on here for helping out with parts !

[dcreel]

Looking good, John

[tapper190]

That thing looks sweet John! I'm not a two stroke fan, but man that looks awesome, I might have to reconsider!
Tapper

[hublake]

What is that white stuff on the ground, John?

[mudbogger]

John, what petcock is that your using on the green project please? I have rebuilt mine twice, and it still does not properly.Did it bolt right onto the stock tank?

[T3 LOPES]

looking good John!

[jeswinehart]

I like using the "racers" style. My mechanic guy uptown sold me one years ago and I have been hooked ever since.
If a petcock gives my one bit of trouble i don't hesitate to use this style.
Darned if i can tell you what make it is Greg but they are about 15 dollars.
It requires a adapter plate and they are very easy to make.

[Jeepermc]

Wow that looks great John! Makes me wanna hurry up and do mine up nice

[Eric250R]

Wow, that thing looks freakin awesome John, great job!!!

[speed20]

Now John i have been away from the boards for a few years, BUT I never thought i would see you posting pics of redoing a kawi, but i must say you put alot of hard work and effort into ANYTHING you do, which hasnt changed since my first few visits on this site! Looks absolutely beautiful, and i love the color scheme! :)
Brad

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Looks amazing John. Awesome build.