Howdy! I don't have a ton of posts on here, but I'm starting a new project and I thought I'd share. I'm no where near as good as some of the great builders on this forum, but I'll give it a go. This post is kind of long, but there are pictures at the end
Almost 3 years ago I got a good deal on a pretty original '85 BR for only $400. It was my first Big Red and it's been a blast. It certainly isn't collector grade, but it is pretty clean and unmolested and runs fantastic. After seeing a thread about the 300SX running around in the UK, I thought it would be cool to do a 300 Big Red or 300SX. More power is always fun!
I began browsing Craigslist looking for a good deal on a TRX300 engine. I found a '95 TRX300 2WD less than a hour away. It was a complete bike, except the rear end was trashed and the wheels + tires had been taken for another project. The axle had actually seized in the rear end, and the previous owner beat the crap out of the axle and it wouldn't budge. We messed with it a bit and it started right up and didn't smoke, so I bought the whole bike for only $100. I was going to swap the 300 in the '85 BR, but I realized it was too nice of a runner to mess with. I didn't want to tear into a (mostly) original bike, just to swap it and go beat on it.
Over a year passes and I found a cheap '85 250SX. Owner said it ran, but it was rough. ROUGH. I ended up buying it in the dark and dragging it home. After pulling off the mismatched plastic, seat, and tank, it was clear this bike was done. The frame had been hacked on and the rear end had no oil and was instead packed with grease! It had a full size car battery mounted in an angle iron mount, random muffler welded on, and the wiring harness had been chewed up, with a full size car starter solenoid hacked in. I got it to run, but it smoked very badly and blew oil out the exhaust. I saved the engine, forks, and a few small parts, but ended up scraping the frame and rear end.
Nearly another year passes, and I decided I needed to do something with this 300 I've been sitting on, so back to Craigslist. I was hoping to find a non-running Big Red/250SX for cheap in decent shape, then swap in the 300, thus getting an old 3 wheeler back together and getting rid of this non-rolling mess I'd been holding onto. There doesn't seem to be too many Big Reds for sale around me (Central TX) right now, and most of the ones I found were running bikes. Then I found an '86. Listed as not-running, with some broken plastics. The kid selling it clearly didn't know much about it, just that it wouldn't run and he didn't know why.
I took a chance and drove 2 hours to go look at it. I made sure to bring tools to inspect the rear diff this time around. It was a bit nicer than I expected. Other than sun damage to the plastic tank, seat, and fenders, it wasn't bad at all. The rear end was full of oil, no water, and the brakes needed adjustment but were complete. The fishy part was the starter was off the bike, and clearly the entire air intact track was not installed right. The forks have zero oil in them, but aren't seized up and the boots are still intact. I bought it for $350.
Even though I wanted to swap it, I wanted to take a shot at getting it running first, to hopefully sell the 250. The starter had all of the teeth rounded off badly, and after pulling the starter gear cover the idler gear was just gone. The 250SX engine I had saved provided a good starter and gear. After connecting the neutral switch, cleaning the filthy carb, and replacing the fuel line that was gunked up solid, it fired right up and runs great. It doesn't smoke and shifts through all the gears. Success!!
After having some fun moving around the non-rolling TRX300 with my tractor, I got the engine out of the frame without too much trouble. My current plan is to take the output shaft off of the 250SX engine and swap it onto the 300, leaving the BR 250 intact. Once I get the 300 in the bike and running, I'm going to rebuild the front forks and get it ready for some trails.
I think it would be cool to do a big bore and/or stroker kit of some kind in the future, to build a 350cc or 425cc BR, but I'm not ready to dump that kind of cash (yet). Maybe after I get some miles on it...
On the trailer on the way home:
Condition as brought home:
After getting it running and removing the home-made add-ons, though the front basket is a Hondaline:
Donor almost totally stripped:
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Originally Posted by 6speedthumper
