Restoration of the "Twins" ( Taurus 650 )

[MattDragontamer]

So a while back I posted about the two Taurus 650's that I bought.
I started soon after to tare them apart and have been working on restoring and acquiring the parts
needed to rebuild them.

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So as of now (12/21/2013), both have been torn down to their frames.
I have acquired the new parts I needed and I am still searching for a driven clutch to replace the one
I have to chop up... sad few days that was...

But anywho... I started with the rebuild of one of the engines. I had it board .010 over and it runs... :)

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I will update as things go on.... as near or far as they may be...

[Dave8338]

AWESOME work on the engine rebuild and detailed painting. Looks PERFECT !

I didn't realize that Briggs were put in wheeler's in a twin format. GREAT engines and very reliable.



This will be a fun thread to follow.

[kb0nly]

Looking sweet! Good old Briggs motors... I have dealt with them many times, but not on a trike!

[bigdaddyvw185]

looking good man! the twins will be looking fresh!

[MattDragontamer]

Thanks, yea, I want them to look new.

[fabiodriven]

Awesome build man. Tauruses make Big Red's look like 200S's. Good for you for bringing them back.

[aldochina]

those are beasts! They are impressive in person! Great work on that hog of a motor. looks top notch.

[King Trikester]

this is the first ive ever herd of a taurus 650, super cool, they look great, they must be rare great job on the build so far. I will be following this and hope to see a video of them in action

[JasonB]

man you clean things up nicely! your first Taurus build thread was great, im sure this wont fall short ;)

[MattDragontamer]

Just a few little updates on the progress...

I blasted most of the parts needed for the rebuild. Painted some and boxed them up.
I am still working on the rear gear boxes, got them all cleaned up, just need to get them
blasted. I tried my self on one buy making a makeshift outdoor unit out of plastic bins... worked
ok until the axle broke through. You have to take the gear box apart to replace the axle.

If you should so need a new front axle or adaptor like you see in the pics below, feel free to pm me.
I can get some made...

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[Ghostv2]

I never seen a rear end like that, that is cool. Did anything else have anything similar? Or was it unique to them?

[MattDragontamer]

I never seen a rear end like that, that is cool. Did anything else have anything similar? Or was it unique to them?

Nothing that I have personally come across... but you never know... new finds on little unknown trikes are found now and then.

[oscarmayer]

next time, please do not use a screwdriver to pry apart your cases. get yourself a nice brass blade like a scrapper only thicker and sue that, it will help keep the gouging in the gasket sealing surfaces from being too bad. you can typically find them at most hardware stores.( thick paint scrapers is what they usually call then) i have even used plastic ones once i got a thin brass inserted.

[MattDragontamer]

next time, please do not use a screwdriver to pry apart your cases. get yourself a nice brass blade like a scrapper only thicker and sue that, it will help keep the gouging in the gasket sealing surfaces from being too bad. you can typically find them at most hardware stores.( thick paint scrapers is what they usually call then) i have even used plastic ones once i got a thin brass inserted.

Yea, it's not a screwdriver (but I see how it does look like one...) it's a sharp point chisel/pry bar. I only used the little one to help
pry open the case evenly. This way it kept open and gave me leverage when opening the case.
I used the mudding trowel to crack the bead and open it enough to get the pry bar in there.
The casing was glued shut. I spoke with the guy that I bought the parts from.
He informed me that unless I wanted to build a custom even puller rig, that the only
other way is to carefully spread the case apart and file down any spurs that show up from the separation process.
This gearbox was made to be heavy duty and not easily replaced.
To replace the axle ( if ever needed) you have to open the case. No other way.
So I thought it would be a good time to take a look see and know what is involved. Now I know.
The case is rather hard to put back on. But a little heat and grease, and little convincing taps with the soft mallet and all went well.
I took about 6 hours, but I eventually got it open with a little help.
The insides looked to be in good shape, I found the reason why it didn't shift properly and fixed the problem.
Turn out a ball bearing fell out of place from the shifter arm from someone tampering with it in the past.

[MattDragontamer]

So a small update... I have started on the second engine... waiting for parts.
I cleaned up, blasted and repainted various other parts.

And a couple of months back I dropped off some parts to be re-chromed.
After a grand later I finally got the parts back... boy do they look good!

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[MattDragontamer]

Got the frames ready to get powder coated... I had a little more work then expected to be ready for the new paint. Mainly straitening out the rear grab bar and fixing some welds. Thanks to Coolpool and (if I remember correctly) Robert, the welding got done and the frames are ready to be washed and dropped off at the coaters.
The frame has some damage that to be fair will never go away... oh well.

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[MattDragontamer]

A small update... So here you have the frames PC'ed Gloss Black. The areas with no paint are areas that have parts that are a tight fit, are fasters or have gaskets of sorts that need to slide on bare metal. I got the rims done too, they are the originals, a couple have a bad ding in the outer rim, but nothing that is a big deal.

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[MattDragontamer]

Made up the new battery boxes for the twins. The green Taurus I use has a battery box under the seat that looks to be home made.
The original position for the battery was down the center of the frame between the engine and the gearbox.
By moving the boxes up and beside the shock, it allows for ease of access and all around safer position.

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[briano]

Lookin good. I'd love to have one of those, I've never seen one around here.

[Dirtcrasher]

Awesome work!! You obviously aren't a hack, not sure why someone pointed out a screwdriver after viewing the posts prior........

[ironchop]

THANKS FOR THIS ENTIRE RESTO THREAD
Caps intended.

Nice work. Ive never even seen a Taurus. No offense to anyone else but this thread helps breathe some life into this forum. Please keep'em coming!

[MattDragontamer]

So here both engines are done... Sooo shiney... :)

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[90guy]

My Lord looking good for sure!

[MattDragontamer]

So after a drawn out search for replacement air cooling tubes I was comming up empty.
But recently I came accross a pic online or a radiator hose that looked to be the same spiral tubing i was looking for.
I spent about two weeks with no luck finding the right ID/OD + length tube. So while I am back in the Bay, I decided to check out the local busineses to see if I could find something. Well, turns out it paid off... I found some radiator hoses that matched the requirements needed to replace the old fabric tubes. The measuments are 1-1/4" ID x 23" long. This makes the outside of the tube 1-1/2" thick whick is required to fit the boots on the engine. The spiral body of the tube matched up perfecly too. The rubber tube will last alot longer than the old fabric ones.

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[danbur55]

The air cooling tubes you refer to, are they the air tubes from air cleaner to carb? Looking great waiting to see it rolling under power!!!!

[fabiodriven]

It's probably ducting for the fresh air to cool the engine. People fail to realize why these engines are shrouded. The flywheel is finned and draws air in to cool the cylinders. Pull that off and the engine will overheat and fail.

Matt those engines look absolutely stellar. I'm truly impressed. Go to Trikefest!

[MattDragontamer]

Lol, yea I guess a bit more detail should be added... The tube is for the cooling of the drive belt located on the left of the engine in the fiberglass casing. The engine flywheel on the right side of the engine forces air to the left side using the tube to keep the belt cool and dry.

[fabiodriven]

I never would have guessed that.

[danbur55]

makes sense now, the fabric ones looked alot like the air intake, but never thought about cooling the drive belt back then, even though my 93 polaris trailboss has ductwork to cool the belt

[MattDragontamer]

.Matt those engines look absolutely stellar. I'm truly impressed. Go to Trikefest!

It's not set in stone, but i am planning to go to Trikefest. If i can find a set of red fenders for one of the tauruses, I will consider going with my trailer. The guy that has the listing for $4500 in the states won't take my offer to trade greens for reds. I even offered paying for the shipping both ways.

[MattDragontamer]

Alright, so here we go! I have 99% of the parts for the build and ready to get at it...

So I got myself all set up and ready to go, some of the fenders are in the back my truck ready to be brought to the self serve car wash to get a good soapy blasting of hot water. After that I will give them a back to black coat to make them shine.

So stay tuned... This might just be a once in a lifetime double build! :D

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[MattDragontamer]

So here is the progress report for today...

I started my day with removing decals, rivets and other stull form the fenders. I have the green ones in there because I plan to use them later...
I took the fenders to the car wash to power wash them nice and clean... well as clean as they were able to get.
The rear gearbox was next, I went over both gearboxes to ensure a clean set. Man what a difference!
The original shocks were pretty gunked up with oil and dirt... it took me quite a while to clean them up.

So the main goal today was to get the gearboxes into the frames. This I knew was going to be a big deal...
I thankfully got help from both Pete and Sam to marry the gearbox to the frame.
On the Taurus, there is a fiberglass ring that acts as the bushing for the metal pivot at the top of the gearbox.
This allows the gearbox to move up and down on the bottom end as the suspension. The shock is attached to the frame and the gearbox.
The ring is a pain in the ass to install. Mind you I did not think of it until Pete mentioned it that I could have chilled the ring to shrink it... but it was too late by then.
Sam fastened the five socket head screws on the left and Pete got the large bolt on the right while I held the gearbox into place.

I found myself re-tapping the socket screw holes in the second gearbox because the screws weren't going in right... I am assuming the threads were a little damaged.
But all is good... re-tapped and in they went.

My goal for tomorrow is to have the front forks on, rear brake, tires and possibly the engine in place.

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[fabiodriven]

Awesome work man. It's not every day you see a Taurus build, never mind a double Taurus build!

[MojaveRider]

Great progress! I can't wait to see these done.

[ironchop]

unique machine for sure and it looks well built.

that swingarm/gearbox assembly is curious

[Afrothunderkat]

Thats a hell of a frame!

[MattDragontamer]

So here is day two...

I didn't hit my goal today, the forks were quite the battle to get done with only two hands. But I eventually got them on.
The front tire went on with little trouble, still missing a lock washer for the front axle nut.

A good part on my day was taken by the brake reservoir... which is becoming a pain in the butt. I will tackle the reservoirs first thing tomorrow and get the calipers cleaned up.
I can't seem to find the pin rubber for the reservoir, I was sure I got a few... worst comes to worst I will have to order some more and put them on later.

Tomorrow is another day...


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[MattDragontamer]

So onto day three...

Thanks for the replies, comments good and bad are welcome!

Anywho, I started the day off with the battle of the hydraulic brake system.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYY!!!!!!!!!1

yea. So working on 25 year old Hydraulic brake systems is no fun... and for anyone who disagree, you can post your replies below and we will have to see what happens.

Moving on! So yea, the brake calipers took up most of my day. They are worth about $250 USD new just for the body... so buying replacement calipers was not even remotely an option. The reservoir is discontinued and to get new old stock I would have to dish out about $180 each.
So... yea.

Onto the cleaning... I managed to remove the caliper plungers with compressed air. Warning to anyone doing this later... be sure to cover the plunger with a thick rag and apply good pressure with your hand. I failed to do that the first time and POP! an instant projectile! It was a moment of fear and confusion.
The plunger came out rather easily with the air pressure.
Once everything was disassembled, I gave all the parts a good rundown at the wash station and let them air dry.
When it came time to reassemble, I tried some WD 40 to lubricate the plungers in both the calipers and the reservoirs.
Turns out WD40 dries out... so I then used the Dot 5 hydraulic fluid that actually goes in the system.
Turns out it was the correct choice! Yea... should have been a no brainer.
So the plungers are working fine now and the parts are clean.

As a change of pace, I installed the right side tire and the engine.

I moved on to assembling the "Torque reduction system" a.k.a the drive belt.
The housing went on fine, the drive clutch screwed right on and the driven clutch slipped right into place.

The exhaust system was next. I found myself quite relieved when the exhaust went on... originally taking the bugger off was a colossal pain in the buttocks.

And finally back to the brake system, everything mounted up nicely... a small battle of leaks went on for a bit, but once everything was tightened up, all was good. Finished things up with a brake line bleed and tested the brakes.

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[coolpool]

Matt is doing an epic job on these machines. They are coming along nicely. We were talking tonight how cool it will be to roll in the Canada Day Parade with three Taurus', three 70's and two US90's. Should be quite the spectacle. He's off to Red Deer tomorrow for Taurus number 4!

Psst, do you think he's planning a slow takeover of my shop? ;-)

[MattDragontamer]

Psst, do you think he's planning a slow takeover of my shop? ;-)

trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro he's onto me!

[MattDragontamer]

Anyways... can't talk much tonight. As it was mentioned I have a trip tomorrow and a half decent nights sleep awaits.

So here are the progress pics from today... day four. Enjoy!

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[fabiodriven]

Psst, do you think he's planning a slow takeover of my shop? ;-)

He's not going to take it over, he's just gonna take it. He's going to hook up his two Tauruses to it and drag it away!

[DohcBikes]

And the award for best use of a four wheeler or "quad" goes too......





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:BounceMattdragontamer!! for his retro still life- 'the bulls' best assests':Bounce

Hopefully somebody gets it.

Jumping in a little late on this build, but that's a damn fine job Mattdragontamer!! Kudos to you for tackling such an important restoration project, its looking steller so far!!! If not for you I'd have no idea what a Taurus 650 was.

[MattDragontamer]

And the award for best use of a four wheeler or "quad" goes too......

:BounceMattdragontamer!! for his retro still life- 'the bulls' best assets':Bounce

Hopefully somebody gets it.

Took me a few tries to understand what you meant... lol
Believe it or not, they are freestanding!
As demonstrated in the attachment below.



Jumping in a little late on this build, but that's a damn fine job Mattdragontamer!! Kudos to you for tackling such an important restoration project, its looking steller so far!!! If not for you I'd have no idea what a Taurus 650 was.

Well SOMEONE had to take the initiative to edu-ma-cate you people! :welcome::lol:

If you are going to trikefest, you'll have the chance to see them up close... REAL close.
And that is assuming nothing messes with my plans.

But seriously though, thanks everyone for the comments!

When ever anyone puts in time, money, blood, sweat and tears into a project, the greatest reward is hearing the compliments of others.:w00t:

[MattDragontamer]

So... I came back with ANOTHER TAURUS... yea... like rabbits!

Anywho... the Taurus I picked up will be for parts... yep... stripping her down to the bones. Anyone need a replacement frame? Let me know through PM.
The reason for this is that I don't have spare parts for my green rider. Soooo yea.
Pics of the bike can be seen in the following thread... http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php/166694-Got-my-hands-on-another-Taurus-650

Moving on, I started today by pulling off the rear red fender off of the parts Taurus and the rear fuel tank cover.
I bought some plastic coating paint that had the closest match to what the original fender color is.
I tested the paint on half of the faded piece. As you can see... it's pretty close.
I am considering painting all the tops sides of the fenders to have them all match. I will have to be very careful handling them and reinstalling the fenders as the paint will take 7 days to fully cure and be scratch and chip resistant.

So with the little time I had tonight, I managed to assemble both the Brake cable Assy and the throttle Assy.

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[MattDragontamer]

Well day six goes by... Today I got around to taking off all the plastics off of the parts trike and getting them all cleaned up.

I spent a major part of the day scrubbing the old plastics, painting the red ones with the red shown in the previous pics and swapping out the better condition parts that were on the parts trike to the restored ones.

The day was finished up with work on riveting the decals on some of the plastics and installing the headlights.

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[MattDragontamer]

Welcome to day Seven! :w00t:

Day 7... yea, 7 days. (spaces out reflecting)

Anywho, here is how things went down today... on a side note, I really can't believe how time flies when working on such projects.
Some days I look back and say "WTF did I do today..." But it's all the little trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro and running around that seems to kill off the time.

So, I started by CAREFULLY assembling the newly painted red fenders onto the frame, placed the decals and reflectors on where they are suppose to be and
stuck on the info stickers.
I moved on to putting the emergency kill switch in place and the grips on. Pain in the butt grips... even with lubricants they are a pain in the ass... turns out though mothers back to back works great! So yea...
I cut out the batter slot in the tan fender and got the rest of it all mounted. Man check out the chrome!

Now, I am unsure, but I think my camera auto adjusts for lighting... maybe that's why some of the pics look out of colour.


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Now here is something cool... a rare piece of documentation that I didn't even knew existed.
A SET-UP MANUAL! Yea... totally blew my mind! :D
Turns out the guy I bought the parts bike from owned a fishing lodge and bought the Taurus to work and maintain the grounds.
After skimming through the pages, it looks like the Taurus came in a box... yep, and this makes me think that maybe... just maybe... there is a sea-can
filled with them from when the line was discontinued... ... ... here is to hoping.
Anyways, here is a glimpse...

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This past week has been quite the exciting, stressful and finally release of a lot of weight off of my shoulders.

I will be posting the final results when I get my seats done and the new ignition switches come in (Still on backorder :mad:).

Sorry to be a ball buster, but that's the way it goes! Dammit

[MattDragontamer]

So I am getting around to doing the seats.
I don't have the resources to make prefect replicas of the seats, but I do have the material to make some decent ones.
Maybe down the road I will get like factory seats done.

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[zoomerman]

Nice work where did you buy the new foam from? how does it feel when on the bike? not to hard/ not too soft? Nice Job, trikes are looking good.

Just curious, what is the top speed of a taurus?

[MattDragontamer]

Nice work where did you buy the new foam from? how does it feel when on the bike? not to hard/ not too soft? Nice Job, trikes are looking good.

Just curious, what is the top speed of a taurus?


It's regular outdoors bed foam. Med-hard. With a little 1/2 inch blue padding foam to cover up all the imperfections.
As for the Taurus speed, Here is a link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM2zAvrIDoQ

[MattDragontamer]

Alright, so here are the pics of the finished product.
The first bit are misc close ups, then the Tan pics and then the Red ones.
Enjoy!

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[MattDragontamer]

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[MattDragontamer]

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[MattDragontamer]

And finally a little something to top it off... :D

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIz4Mi8sZyQ

[clmeue37]

Phenomenal machines!

[jays375]

Watched the video and it is impressive.Very top notch restoration.Times two makes it even more impressive.I hope to find a Taurus some day.

[fabiodriven]

Superb man. Just jaw dropping.

[90guy]

Absolutely Gorgeous! those are extremely nice! Good work! :beer

[MattDragontamer]

Thanks for everyone's comments. It took some time, but I got it done.
I can say with certainty that these will be the last of the fully restored with OEM parts.
There are a lot of parts left, but many of the plastics and fiberglass parts have run out.
Unless someone dishes out a lot of cash to get parts made.

I hope this thread will help some people down the line to get their Taurus back on three rolling wheels. :)

[ironchop]

Thanks again for this entire thread.

your skills are keen.

Fantastic builds and machines.

[MojaveRider]

Amazing! If anyone bitches about finding parts for a Honda, we should just send them to this thread haha.

[MattDragontamer]

Now here is something cool... a rare piece of documentation that I didn't even knew existed.
A SET-UP MANUAL! Yea... totally blew my mind! :D
Turns out the guy I bought the parts bike from owned a fishing lodge and bought the Taurus to work and maintain the grounds.
After skimming through the pages, it looks like the Taurus came in a box... yep, and this makes me think that maybe... just maybe... there is a sea-can
filled with them from when the line was discontinued... ... ... here is to hoping.
Anyways, here is a glimpse...

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Update for this Manual... The scans have been made and should be up soon at http://www.atcmanuals.info/

[DohcBikes]

Mattdragontamer, BRAVO man.

Two extremely rare machines, beautiful work and attention to detail on each, and an educational build as well. The video is also excellent and even inspiring.

In my opinion, there is no question, these georgeous machines should appear in the Top Tier forum.

[skjr001]

I have never seen one of these before until last night, then I ran across this posting on CL : http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/snw/4463463550.html. While surfing through the new posts I see your resto's. Very nice work!

[coolpool]

I have never seen one of these before until last night, then I ran across this posting on CL : http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/snw/4463463550.html. While surfing through the new posts I see your resto's. Very nice work!

After being involved with Matt's builds and seeing what he had to work with at first, that one in Oklahoma is in awesome shape. The price may seem high but the hard to find parts are there.