1985/86 Yamaha Tri-Z 250 rebuild. Need help/advice/comments please.

[elvetost]

Hey fellows.
Just picked this up today.
Uber rare out here, never seen one in person until today. And I bought it. :P
Think it is a 1985/86 Yamaha Tri-Z 250.
Not had it running there, but it came from a friend that I've known for 25 years and he said it had been rebuilt (piston rings etc), ridden for a few times and then stored away for like 7-8 years..
It appears its mostly ALL there. Well minus a front fender and some little bits n bobs. Like very little.
Needs new cables all around, a good cleanup and the paint removed from the plastics. The plastics seem fine, no cracks, no splits.
Here's some pics..



So what do you think guys?

Cheers,
Chris

[elvetost]

Oh yeah, the plan is to really USE this. Like kick the crap out of it!
This way I can keep my tecate mint and save it from been taken off road and kicked about. I'll still use that but not abuse it..

Next now, full service and get her started.

[muthey]

well I will confirm that I believe it is an 85, I just don't agree with the thought of beating the crap out of it, you said they were rare over there so why make it harder to repair in the long run.

[adamszwheeler]

My guess is 85 too, looks like 85 forks from the style of the air fillers and the rake..actually looks pretty nice once you blow the dirt off. Parts aren't too hard to find, lots of threads on here as far as interchangeable parts. Tons still available from Yamaha as well, I wouldn't worry too much about braking/ wearing something out. Nice find!

[elvetost]

Hey thanks guys! Lets call this an 85 till I decode the vin then!(which will prolly confirm it) Good stuff!
Cheers for the comments too! Much appreciate the input.

Muthey maybe I phrased it wrong man. I meant to say that I will use the trike and not care so much if I scratch it or bent it(a lil). I never really abuse my toys, I just enjoy using them a bit hard sometimes. Then I fix them when they break. LOL. The tecate I got will end up a really nice trike, all sparkling so defo wont be so nice to "ride" it.. This one on the other hand will see a fair bit of use...

Adam I spent a good 3 hours with the power washer and my preffered degreaser. It actually looks really clean now.

Then I started it. Drained the old petrol (more like oil left in there), unplugged the carb inlet tube, gave it a few kicks to clean the tubes out, then flooded the carb and she fored right up after 2 or 3 kicks!
The motor is super clean, seems really fresh and runs great! It makes a ton of power run cleanly through the revs, no hicks or misses at all! I am well happy that this is a good motor.
Everything else works. The brakes work, the suspension is dampening great, the forks work well, the lights work, everything works!

Allready stripped a fair few bits off it, gonna be buying some supplies and few odd bits locally tomorrow and will shoot some fresh pics. And a vid.

The thumb throttle's gotta go (never liked them, just personnal preference) and I got a twist throttle to put on from my kdx250.

These trikes as I said before are uber rare out here. About time I show them one then!

Really, really chuffed with this find.

Cheers!
Chris

PS. I sooooo want the frame back to the oem yellow.. And the forks black. With yellow gaitors.. On the to do list...

[elvetost]

There's progress in this. Been sanding frantically for 3 days now and the plastics are starting to show like they'll do a comeback! Albeit there a marks that will not come off (gouges), there are no cracks, no splits, no major issues really!

Here's what I done so far...

Stripped all the paint off with paint stripper.
Then scrapped all the oxidised plastic with a flat blade.
Then got to 100 grit dry paper.
Then 150, 320 and 600 grit wet paper..
Tried to get all the stress marks out with the heatgun seems to be working ok.

As it stands I want to sand them with 800 grit sandpaper and will be using the heatgun to melt a layer of the plastic and try to get some shine back.
I will prolly hit them with my polisher and some medium 3m compound too.
Was also given some of this stuff to try out as a final step. The treatment is meant to last for over 6 months and initial tests seem promising.. We shall see..

http://www.owatrol.com/pdf/technical-en-polytrol.pdf

Pics to follow when I hit the mancave latter tonight.
Cheers!
Chris

PS. got the gf out for a spin on the tri-z on sunday through some fields and some woods around home. was loads of fun. got heavily rained on from a summer storm that passed by, but we had a lot of fun still!

[elvetost]

So here are some pics of the tri-Z as it stands now.

I have gone through the plastics with the airgun and they have sealed up pretty good.
They have also shown all their imprefections..
Hmm, might have another go with 600 and 800 grit papers, just once more and go through the heatgun process for a second time.

In the meanwhile I picked up a sample from my powder coater who also is a good friend of mine.
The last 3 pics show the ral 1021"Rape Yellow" sample on the fenders. It is a good match to the plastics as they stand and looks just a hair darker than the yamaha yellow that was on the frame.
It is in stock and I think its a go with this one..



Now the worst part of the pastics (scrapes and scrathes aside) is that big crack you can see on one of the pics. i'll think I'll plastic weld it from the bottom with my soldering gunand possibly consider reinforcing it a lil somehow. Not fiberglass though. Hate that stuff..

Tomorrow I'll try to ressurect the headlights. One need a repair in the bottom mount, the other the lens needs to be glued back on. Both need polishing to bring back and transparency on the glass. I know I can get replacements on ebay for circa 35bucks each but they'll have to wait and I gotta make do with what I got mainly for financial reasons.. Oh well.. At least they'll fill the holes up..

Sooo..l thoughts anyone?

[nd4speed]

Really nice work on those plastics, very impressive !! That TRI Z looks really good now...

[elvetost]

Thanks man, much appreciated.
It looks much better now actually. Managed to get 95% of the "dead" plastic off and will start polishing tomorrow. Not today though, its me birthday and I want my cake!
Cheers!
Chris

[homes1]

Killer job man, I would have never guessed you could make the plastic look that good!!!

[elvetost]

Thanks man!
They actually look much better now, after another 2 days of sanding down/melting with the heat gun. I also managed to get most of the distortion out of them too...
I also finalized my "custom" short levers setup. I had some Chinese sort levers lying around (from my kdx trials bike after a crash they got replaced for likes), a complete clutch perch and lever and a broken brake lever. Also had the oem broken brake lever.
So... combining the broken shorty and oem one I got this! :



Also done various bits and bobs on the bike. I take it out every now and again to check up on stuff and finalize my works list, as it will be getting stripped down sometime this week for paint/powder coat/wrench report mods...

I have to say I am very happy with the tri-z. Yes it is not the most powerful, or the best handler (in oem form). but its a very compliant package, very cooperative and easy to work with. It fits my (big) frame (at 125kg LOL) VERY well and seems much easier to ride than my kxt!

QUICK QUESTION PLEASE: How extended is TOO MUCH on the rear axle? I got the wheels flipped 180 degrees (+3 inches? - works very well) and was thinking of the G-force extended axle(+3.5 inches?) and maybe even the extended hubs(+3.5 inches?) from rocky mountain atv. Maybe all this together is a bit much? I mean I know I can take components out if I wanted to, or flip the wheels, but all combined (at 10 inches?) WILL IT BE OK? It will be used like that on flat track (if I find a track lol) / duning. I don't really do jumps...

keep the comments coming guys. much appreciated!
Cheers!
Chris

[adamszwheeler]

WOW! Been a few days since I've been on and this thing looks nice!!!! I finally got mine running after 6 years last night. I will do a whole post on it soon. Still working out some bugs and just basically finishing it up. What I did and really like is- banshee hubs and 9" rims, stage one wrench porting, dg pipe and silencer- junk but it was the only game in town- just don't like the fit up, 36mm mikuni vm, power reeds, factory air box which I might have to change- fit like crap with the new carb but I was desperate to run a heat cycle last night. New sleeve, basically factory bore. So far its insanely impressive, hits hard, rides smooth. Nothing to really compare it to, rode it once when it was beat and then its been sitting waiting for time and money. My bet is there isn't much around that can keep up, this thing is FAST!

[adamszwheeler]

Oh running 25/20's with 13/42 sprockets, so far so good...hopefully pics and maybe even some youtube links after the weekend.... your's is impressive though, wish mine all I had to do was sand

[elvetost]

Hehe, thanks Adam! God stuff man, post some pics up will ya?
Trust me there is a LOT that need doing on my trike. Just started off by sanding lol.
Next step will be a complete teardown to take care of paint and maintenance issues.
My motor is running very strong. It has been rebuilt by a previous owner and they done a good job on it.
I will also be doing (most) of the wrench report mods too. looking forward to hearing more feedback from you man!

Stick some pics of the banshee hubs and 9 inchers for me please. Getting ideas this way, lol!

Cheers!
Chris

[adamszwheeler]

Here's a teaser...late Wednesday night after first heat cycle.