my first restoration project. '85 350X

[nsampson]

this trike has been around me for quite a long time and, since it just turned 30 years old, i figured its about time its brought back to life.

the thing sat behind my good friends barn for about 6-7 years. i was in the navy for 5 years, i enlisted directly after high school graduation. the bike was in running order then, just needed a few things and some tlc. when i got out, i asked him if he did anything with it or planned on doing so. he was too busy basically to do any thing with it but let the earth reclaim it. cant blame him, he has several cool bikes including a very, very nice 200X that keeps him pretty occupied out side of work.

so i ask him if i could have it. he said i could, so long as i didnt sell it. so i checked to see if it would turn over, to my surprise, it turned over freely. we loaded it up in my truck and away it went to my garage to sit for another two years wile i wrapped up a couple of projects i had going. one day i decided to pull the carb, clean it up half-a##ed, put it back on and sprayed it with starting fluid and kicked it a few times. without doing anything else at all, it fired!!! fuel tank disconnected of course so it just revved for a second maybe. it did repeat the results several times though so my heart was racing and i knew then i had to save this thing.

this will be my first restoration project, so im not trying to go for a nut and bolt, perfect resto, but ide love to have a nice rideable trike. it is also my first trike, but ive always thought these things were super cool.

starting the tear down

[nsampson]

And holy cow that rear axle!!! i cant get that dude to move out of the bearing carrier for nothing. brake, retaining nut and lock nut is off. but the threaded part is stuck on the splines. any suggestions?

[f76]

Penetrating oil, heat, and your BFH.

[ironchop]

wow..... Cepek SPIDER TRACS! haven`t seen any of them in a long time.

nice project, good save.

That Supertrapp should clean up nice too

[nsampson]

Thanks. penetrating oil, heat, big pipe wrench, and my bfh was the only way that locknut was coming off. im not sure if i can get the threaded part off the splines without messing up the threads though. if i have time before i go into work tonight ill give it another try.

ive never liked spider tracks, i think they look rediculous. i do wish i could bring that pro vector on the front back to life though.

[ironchop]

ive never liked spider tracks, i think they look rediculous. i do wish i could bring that pro vector on the front back to life though.


me neither.....nice gimmick though. They were all the rage BITD for about ten minutes OR until you ran a set and took them right back off. Not good for lateral slides.

[pipeline triker]

First off thanks for your service. A 350x is a great trike and always worth saving. The biggest thing is to take your time on tear down and assy. get yourself a repair manual if you do not have one already, they come in handy for cable and wire routing and many other things. That front tire is toast, if you got it to hold air or tubed it it will only last a little while before it comes apart in a dangerous way, ask me how I know. STI makes a real nice 22x7x11 that would work nice on the front, called a tec 4 xc, Rocky mt has them for only $64.99 each. You might have to drive the carrier out with the axle in it and then break the carrier apart off the axle, and then just get a billet duel row carrier for it. Are you going to do anything with the engine?

[nsampson]

thanks pipeline, yeah i put the air to the front tire just for laughs. it moves so much air out so fast, i cant even get it to take a propper shape! hahaha. i cant decide which direction ill go with the tires. front will def be something close to the pro vector, out back though, i dont know. something functional or forctory looking.... thats down the road anyways. thanks for all the help. all this knowledge around here is gonna come in handy as this thing somes back together.

as for the engine, im gonna try really hard not to mess with it, maybe a carb and head pipe.... but im addicted to engine mods, on anything. so we'll see. i just cant imagine this thing "needs" anymore power.

[kazander]

always love to work on the x just hate to kick on them. tires are the easy part. I always buy the rear bearings in the carrier so if you need to trash the carrier its no sweat. the easiest and cheapest engine mod I have found is exhaust and a 400ex carb.

[nsampson]

I always buy the rear bearings in the carrier so if you need to trash the carrier its no sweat.


not sure what you mean. would yall mind walking me through process of removing the axle, it has me stumped. its about the only thing that i just cant seem to get my head around and ide hate to destroy something just cause im doing it wrong. if it needs to be destroyed because thats the only way its coming out, thats fine.

just finished sand blasting some motor mounts, straightened the foot pegs and blasted them as well as the handle bars. ill try to post pics tomorrow, just cause i love the look of fresh blasted metal.

[nsampson]

got most of my hardware, brackets, controlls stripped down. no pics though. i found a place local to me that does zinc plating. i think im gonna use them to have all of the nuts & bolts and a few brackets zinc plated. hopefully it wont look too bad. its about the only option ive found thats not gonna be crazy expensive.

and i finially got the lock nut off of the axle. had to destroy it to do so. the brake hub will have to be destroyed for it to come off the axle as well. i dont think ive ever seen anything frozen onto splines as well as these things are frozen.

[nsampson]

how common are holes in the side case in front of the drive sprocket? im guessing it was from a chain coming off at some point and wrapping around the sprocket.

i cant imagine running with a hole in the side case can be great. pretty sure finding a way to fix that is gonna be interesting.

[Jmoozy27]

Ouch I have heard that is one of the few downfalls of the 350x, hope you get it taken care of.

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[nsampson]

thanks, ill get it. i just have to figure out that situation when i get to that part. i just noticed it as it was sitting on the bench while i was moving stuff around for more room.

[nsampson]

not nearly all of the parts i have blasted, but a few of em that i did the other night. i cant wait to get this thing all plated and powder coated.

[nsampson]

i also got the brake hub off, axle pulled, bearing carrier removed and the sprocket off. unfortunately, the brake hub is trashed now due to the method i used to get it unstuck. my slide hammer is pretty serious and really took a toll on the hub before it gave in and came off of the splines. the sprocket hub is also stuck worse than the brake hub was. i don't207357207358207359207360207361 have a pictures of the damage but i pretty well destroyed the outside lip of the hammer. its mushroomed out so bad it wont stay on the part of the hub that's closest to the axle splines. ill have to cut the end of it off asap and try it again but im afraid i may have to trash the axle and just look for another one. hopefully these hubs aren't too hard to find.

[joe_foster]

Subscribed for sure. good luck.

[nsampson]

i got a few more things done with the teardown last week. finally got the axle out, getting the sprocket hub off the axle was crazy. it took alot of heat and a big press to get it off there. took the carrier out, destroyed it removing the bearings and started making some gussets for the frame. ill start welding on it this weekend after i go out and get a new spool of wire for the mig.

i found a crack on the frame near the motor mount on the right side. its hard to see it but it goes almost all the way around.

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ive also been doing alot of searching, and ive found a few places to get oem bolts and little parts im going to need that i dont want to get cad or zinc plated.

[ironchop]

you definitely get an "A+" for effort.

any worse, and that thing would have been scrap...good thing you rescued it from your buddy`s yard.

what part of southwest Hoosierland are you in?

[nsampson]

haha, thanks ironchop. i pretty much go all in when i decide to do something. though its never easy on the checkbook. in outside of Evansville. about to get back to welding in the gussets and fixing the crack. hopefully everything will be ready for powdercoat and cad plating Wednesday. parts should start rolling in in the next couple of weeks. got a nice new billet bearing carrier in today.

now just to decide to do about the cracked engine case. i didnt want to get into the engine but it looks like im gonna have to. looks like it leaks oil a little. i cleaned it up with degreaser and a pressure washer and found a big gob of what looks like JB weld or something that whoever broke it patched it up with. ill get some pics up of the nastyness later.

[nsampson]

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i got started on the gusseting at the motor mount where the frame is cracked. i welded the crack, made a sheet a metal wrap for the area and welded it until it looked strong. the welds look like garbage, but im ok with it. i may be approaching hobby level welder :naughty: so i expect em to look sub par but they got some good penetration and i think it will hold.

that case is pretty gnarly huh?! i wish i hadn't fount the JB weld (im guessing that's what that is). maybe i can keep from modding it when i tear it down to replace it.

[nsampson]

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done with the gussets, and cleaned those nasty welds up. headed off to the powder coater.

[nsampson]

well after a much longer time than expected, i have my frame, swingarm, and other misc stuff back from powder coat. of course by now i have other projects like landscaping going on so i dont have much time to work on it. but as i slowly progress i will try to keep everything posted here.

i tore the engine all the way down to fix the busted crank case. An old timer from work patched it up with his magic tig skills. before i got the case separated though, i found a terrible sign of trouble. metal chunks in the bottom of the crank case!:mad: the chunks turned out to be teeth from a couple of gears in the trans. presumably from when the chain broke through the case and brought the engine to a quick halt? i have no idea really, but i found a good gear set on gypsybay and swapped out the gears. while it was apart i decided to do some measuring. the rings were toast, the piston was a bit under size from the specs outlined in the service manual.... really not sure why on that one either, actually it confused me a bit. regardless of my confusion, i knew it was a perfect opportunity for a little modification. so i ordered a wiesco 10.25:1 piston and ring kit.

this week ill be trying to get the engine prepped for a fresh paint job... after i clean out my mess of a garage.

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[ironchop]

your welds don`t look that bad. Looks like good penetration to me.

You`ll be done in time for Haspin Acres this summer?

[Berger83]

My dad and I put the same wiesco piston kit in his 86 350x and had a cam ground for it and wow did that make a difference. Compared to his all stock 85 350x it is an entirely different machine.

[dman10]

Nice project. I just picked up a 85 350X to restore, far worse shape than what you have there. Looking forward to seeing this finished.

[ride red #1]

It's looking good.

[crownvicguy]

I'll take it off your hands :)

[nsampson]

Unfortunately i'm working the weekend of trike fest. I was really excited about it when i learned about it though. Hopefully next year ill be able to go. Berger, I wont have anything to compare this one to but i'm sure its going to be plenty quick enough to put a smile on my face. I keep thinking about a cam, I just know it don't "need" it so I cant really justify it. I'm sure the piston, 400EX pipe and carb will be good... For now anyways.

dman, i didnt know they could get worse than mine. good luck with it, though i feel a little sorry for you. joking, I've had a great time messing with this thing so far.

crownvicguy, i dont think this one is going anywhere. unless you have a '73 or '74 Kawasaki Z1 :cool:

[Geegun70]

Great job! Coming along nice.

[nsampson]

holy cow its been way too long since ive done anything with this project. i got back at it today. its assembly time. looks like its not going to just fall together as i throw parts at it as i hoped :lol:

ive got a couple things to order tonight, but other than that it looks like i have most everything to get it back together.

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while i was taking the exhaust studs out of the head, i managed to break one of the studs. no big deal i figured. i cut it off level, drilled it and broke an extractor off trying to get the rest of the stud out. i then put it in the drill press, and managed to break the side out of the protruding hole from the head. i used steel stick to form a wall for the part that i broke out. i filled the hole with JB weld and put a brass bolt in. after the JB weld dries ill cut it off flush, drill and tap a new hole. i think it should be ok, we'll see.

[nsampson]

o and forgot to post a picture of the seat that cosmic quads did for me. this seat is amazing!

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[nsampson]

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I got the engine in the frame last night. I layed the engine on its side and layed the frame on its right side and went over the engine that way. That was super easy! I also got the skid plate and engine mount spacers cleaned up. Im hoping to have a ride able trike by Christmas.

[Jmoozy27]

Starting to come together nicely. Good work sir.

[nsampson]

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Got a few thing thrown on over the last couple days. Finished the rear suspension, along with the swingarm and axle buttoned up.

400ex carb is mounted.... That was more of a PITA than i expected! Fitting the air box breather tube required quite a bit of "convincing"

The new neck bearings are in, and tripple is installed. Forks are just hanging in place, i hope to get them filled and mounted along with the controls next week.

Also cleaned out the vin numbers with a scribe, taped it off and sprayed it with metallic paint. I think it looks cool.


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[nsampson]

so i lost track as it started coming together and sort of stopped taking pictures as progress went on... but im calling it "done". my project is completed as i wanted it to be. it took much longer than i expected, was a little more difficult than i anticipated, but i cant express how happy i am about it. i think its a great bike, cant wait to ride it. (im not too keen on riding it while its wet and nasty out yet)228272228273228274228275228276228277 here is my 400ex head pipe modification and install.

[nsampson]

228292228293228294228295i picked up a nice reproduction case saver from here, and a sprocket cover from gypsybay. also got the rear caliper with parking brake done.

[nsampson]

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done, and im pretty happy about it.

[Action69]

Looking good...

[vanvranken]

nice build!

[Jd110]

It's got to be nice to sit back and look at it. Real nice job!

[oldskool83]

Nice, you gonna ride it or not? I love to see them all nice...hate to see them all nice then being used lol.

[nsampson]

Thanks for the kind words. It's definitely nicer than I thought it was going to be. I'll ride it, just when it's dry. Right now everything is saturated. It is nice to sit in the garage and stare at it though.


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[nsampson]

It's mainly gonna carry beer back n fourth between my house and my neighbors once I finish fabbing the cooler rack. No intentions of it getting dirty.


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[loxboy1]

228292228293228294228295i picked up a nice reproduction case saver from here, and a sprocket cover from gypsybay. also got the rear caliper with parking brake done.



where did you find the case saver, I've looked on here but couldn't source it. I'm in the process of getting my 86 350x back up and running.

[nsampson]

It's in the 3ww parts shop. I just put case saver in the search box and it came up.


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