200e restoration / finally got to ride!pics

[aldochina]

Well i started this project about 8 months ago.I bought the trike for 300.00 it was mostly all there, but was in pretty rough shape. all brakes and bearings were shot, i had to free the brakes with pb blaster and a hammer. Unfortunately I never took any before pictures(I could kick myself in the @^#@^) but heres some pics of her going together.

[aldochina]

I'm having problems uploading my pics its driving me nuts. I shrank the file size from 800-900 KB to 100-250KB and for some reason they wont work.

[aldochina]

got 1 out of about six to upload. I give up for tonight

[sandpuppi101]

Looking good,i see in your list of machine's you have a '83 200E listed .I assume this is the machine.I restored a couple bir Red's a few year's ago,one of my favorite's being the '82 Big red.You can click on my muddogs homepage below to see pic's.Keep the pic's rolling of the process too.

[Solid Snake]

Looks great. Keep the pics coming, seeing restores has always been my favorite thing on this site.

[aldochina]

Thanks for looking guys, sorry theres only a few pics. I'll figure it out eventually. Heres were i stand, all thats left is wheels, which i'm sandblasting now, racks, which I would like to have powdercoated but i have'nt found anyone yet, lever, and perch opposite sides, and the gas tank, which is in great shape, just had some light to moderate rust inside. I bought a gallon of EVAPO-RUST and poured it in before work, I checked when I got home it literally looks like new!!! It wasnt enough to fill the tank so I repositioned it and will let it soak. Anyone who has a rusty tank has got to try this stuff. I'm really impressed.

[aldochina]

These were actually taken about a week ago, but nothing else has gone on since. I unfortunatly broke a perch and lever during installation@$#@^#$.Cheap parts unlimited replacement lever was machined bad the oem cable just did not go in. The tit would go in but when you turned it it would bind up. Instead of mangling my new cable trying to force it I tried to pry it open alittle more and POP! perch had alittle slop in the lever tried to close it ever so slightly with some channies and POP!:cry: Chain gaurd has serious work(beating/welding/custom)came out sweet though. Also I did some welding on the frame would have got a new one had I known how cheap you could get them. I think it will be fine though. Also welded the exaust.

[gizmo_22]

looking great man keep it up! Its nice to see the little utility's fixed up.

[Texas 200x]

That's coming out beautiful. Good Work!

[hublake]

Aldochina,
Keep those rebuild pictures coming. I have just started mine. They will be a big help when I go to reassemble mine. It is going to be my winter project. Just finished painting the frame, am waiting for bearings to replace then will go from there. What kind of paint did you use on the tank?

[longbedGTs]

Lookin good man! Are you going with OEM tires?

[ChrisD]

Awsome! I'm happy to see someone do a quality restore on something other than an R, Z or Tecate. Great job!!

[edog]

Man that think is looking great!!!!!

My friends step father has one of those. It needs a resto bad.

[aldochina]

thanks for the compliments guys, I have a ton of hours on this project, Iv'e cleaned every piece of this machine including bolts, on a bench wire wheel, or with scotch brights, and elbow grease. I really enjoyed doing it though, and I know every inch of this trike. The best part is 75% of the parts restoration was done on company time!!!SSHHH. Anyway to answer some ?'s. The tank is original, only waxed it, pic is of best side, other side almost as nice, top is the worst, but not bad. Inside the tank was were it needed work. I would love to go with OEM tires, but I don't think you can get them anymore, closest thing are OEM 250es tires which are still available. The trike had brand new carlisle knobbys on the rear so I will stick with those for now. Here are a few pics of the seat, again no before shots. The seat was in rough shape, foam had to be repaired in to spots, and pan had to have some reinforcement riveted to the one side, it was rusted right through, a few of the teeth for the cover were rusted off but most were there. Got the cover off ebay. I think it came out sweet.

[thefox]

Looks great! Your are inspiring me to get moving on my 200e. Did you have to open up the front forks and rebuild them, they seem to be a weak point on these machines.

[aldochina]

Looks great! Your are inspiring me to get moving on my 200e. Did you have to open up the front forks and rebuild them, they seem to be a weak point on these machines.

Glad to inspire you, its a great machine. Yes I took the forks apart, and they were a mess, boots must have been torn up for years of riding, there was mud packed solid 5 inches up. I cleaned the springs and dampers back to bare metal, dampers still seemed good, and springs measured within service limit, so I greased the @%$# out of every thing and put it back together.

[longbedGTs]

Dunlop still makes OEM design tires. Check out my BR in my sig. Theyre KT325s.

[aldochina]

Thanks longbed, I didn't know about those dunlops. I'll have to order a set of 3. What do they run you and weres a good place to get em.

[aldochina]

just wanted to update the thread. Just about ready to fire it up. Put my new perches and levers on, new grips, got the wheels painted. I have to put the tank on, charge and install the new battery, put oil in it and hpefully she will fire right up. I hav'nt been able to get the racks done yet though. Hopefully the next pics I post it will be running with seat , wheels, and plastics on.

Just a note, I have a nicer set of wheels that I am going to have powder coated eventually. One of these wheels has been repaired as you can see in the pics. Not sure if it was a real weld, or JB. I sand blasted, and painted these with the tires on the rim. I scored the perch+lever set off ebay for 37 bucks, they are from an 84es though.

[aldochina]

newest pics, got everything except the racks on. She needs oil, gas,and battery and hopefully were off. I have a brand new skid plate to put on also. The 350x is my next project wish me luck!!

[aldochina]

well the site is giving me problems uploading, again,gotta go to work, try again later.

[atctim]

Very very nice work. Can't wait to see it done.

Where did you get the forks? Are they what was on it? All of my early Big reds have Junk seized up front forks.

[Texas 200x]

Definitely can't wait to see the rest of the pics!:pics: :pics:

[aldochina]

do any of you have problems uploading you files? Its telling me my file size is to big yet there smaller than the 200kb max. If i shrink them any more they will disapear? any suggestions? I even tried posting pics that I have already posted here, and its telling me there to big. must be a glitch in the site. Get it fixed!! I wanna post pics!!

[oOGoFastOo]

I was having the exact same problem posting pics today i shrank on to 5.23kb and it still sait it was too big????? oh well. that is a really nice looking bike good work on it.

[Taiser]

GREAT job...nice too see another machine saved from the scrapyard.

[aldochina]

finally got the pics up hope you enjoy. the 350x is next.

[aldochina]

more pics!

[andnuaa]

Hay aldochina you did a very nice job on your build it looks very good. I can't wait till you start on your 350x also your 350x looks like it has a 86-87 200x front fender just thought you might want to know in case you didn't

[aldochina]

ya, I know about the fender, i new someone would point that out, Thanks for all the compliments guys. The real excitement will be when she fires up. I didn't get into the motor at all, and it ran great before I tore it down so we'll see. Hopefully tomarrow i'll have time to get her running.

[aldochina]

well I came home from work and started buttoning everything up, added fluids,tourqued a bunch of bolts, popped in the new battery, said a prayer and bam, she fired right up no hesitation. I was stoked beyond words! Going to try it out tomarrow. Only thing is the rear tires dont want to hold air. Do you guys use tubes, and how easy are they to install?

[4 wheels?]

I don't have tubes in my 84. One tire does leak so I am thinking of jsut putting tubes in them. I have used a few tubes before and they seem to work well.

[russell56443]

Nice Red!!
Hope mine will look that nice one day!
Then I will be afraid I'll get her dirty LOL!

[threewheelin-feelin]

great job on that bike...but why do the handle bars look so far down?

[drkilldrmz]

I don't have tubes in my 84. One tire does leak so I am thinking of jsut putting tubes in them. I have used a few tubes before and they seem to work well.

hope you dont have the crappy split rims i have..No one wants to deal with them it seems:confused:

[aldochina]

well i loaded up and drove 45 min to my cousins to rip around alittle, but as soon as i got there it started raining, so i put it in his garage. It never stopped raining, and I didnt get to ride a lick. To top it off when i was coming home it poured, so no riding and a soaking wet trike to boot. hopefully tomarrow will be better.

[4 wheels?]

hope you dont have the crappy split rims i have..No one wants to deal with them it seems:confused:
Oh you better believe that I have them :(

[aldochina]

went for a cruise around the property. Seems to ride good, sounds like theres some vibration in the sub trans, and the rear drum must be close to its service limit because i had to adjust almost all the way to get them to grab. Other than that it ran great, once warm it will idle for ever.
some pics of the red, I did more work than riding, but its that time of year. Cant wait to get my racks on so i wont have to ride one handed with the chainsaw.
I figured i'd test the low range on the red withe that big oak. I notched it, and sure enough it wants to go the other way. barely got the saw out. I dont know what holds um up sometimes!!

[Shawn72]

Man thAT THING LOOKS GREAT. nOT OFTEN WE SEE A REBUILD ON ANYTHING BUT AN R OR TRI-Z. KEEP THE PICS COMING