1985 250sx build thread, budget rebuild with pictures

[TrashTrike]

Hi, I'm Zach and this is my 1985 250sx..

My friends from Ohio where I grew up got me into 3 wheelers after going to Trike Fest last year and I found this '85 250sx dirt cheap on craigslist. It was advertised as a big red 250 but when I went to see it, I realized it was a 250sx. The seller wasn't trying to lie, just wasn't sure what he had. It sat in his barn for a few years after he flipped it (70+ year old man) and had 2 flats, a 20 inch tire in the front, angle iron that was stick welded to the front forks and back of the frame with a rack from a different ATV. Also, the swing arm bearings were so shot the inner races and balls were all missing, big rats nest in the air box, all of the typical barn find stuff.

BUT it had great compression when I kicked it over, the oil was full and not dirty/contaminated, the rear end moved when i put it in gear and kicked it over, and the trike was pretty complete and wasn't torn down. The old owner said it had an electrical issue and wouldn't start but the night I brought it home, we were able to plug in the CDI that came with it and get it to fire and run on starter fluid.. wasn't an electrical issue. I ordered an ignition coil and found out that the lights, reverse/neutral lights, and electric start worked (until I chewed up my starter gear).

Any way here are pictures of the 250sx from the craigslist ad when I bought it. I will update with more pictures of the trike over the last few weeks.

[TrashTrike]

Here is the 250sx after I cleaned it and brought it to my friends house... and his 200x and xr100. I don't have any pictures right now but between my other friends with trikes theres a Honda 185, suzuki 185, 200s, big red, another 250sx, 110, and I feel like im forgetting something hahha











My GoPed

[TrashTrike]

I brought the 250sx back up to Michigan where I live and the first thing I did was unbolt the angle iron from the front forks and cut the angle iron off the rear frame tips. This left holes in the frame, so I welded them and ground the frame smooth (enough).



Oh yeah, I'm planning on going to Trike Fest next week. Couldn't get off of work unfortunately so I will only be able to go to Haspin Friday night and Saturday.



Those swing arm bearings are a pain...



BUT, following advice found in past threads on this forum as well as the repair manual that came with the trike, the swing arm was not that hard to remove



The rear end needed gone through, a torn driveshaft boot led to a mess in the diff!







But, I cleaned up the diff, greased everything and re-assembled with new seals!



This was after finally re-installing the swing arm and rear end, I put new swing arm bushings I bought (All Balls Racing off of Amazon) If anyone has any specific questions about swing arm bearings or pressing out race lands without any special equipment, feel free to ask because I figured it out! lol

(and no, the makeshift drive shaft boot did not work, I am figuring something else out for that)



Made a lot of progress installing new swinger bearings, rebuilding the diff, cleaning the axle, greasing the other bearings, and installing new seals... but it still looked terrible! haha. All of that work did pay off though

[TrashTrike]

Last week I changed the oil and filter then ordered a rebuilt carb off of amazon. I bolted it on and ran new fuel lines, filter and petcock, as well as cleaning the tank and it started the second kick! This picture is a big moment where I first got the engine to run and stay running/idling and got to pull it out of my garage and find out all of the gears and reverse work







After I got it running and found out it drove fine, it was time for paint and new tires. Found a set of 4 used wheels/tires off of a 350 4x4 Rancher ATV. They're 24x10 in the back and 24x8 in the front. The back fit great and should be awesome in the mud, even though they are an inch narrower, the tires are taller and the wheels give the rear a wider stance (11 inch wheel in the rear and 12 inch front). I need to flip the front wheel around and run a spacer, but will post more info about the front wheel when I get the spacer.

[sawgrass]

Hey.. you did a great job. Looks like a nice machine. Enjoy!

[Matt85'350x]

You did a great job fixin her up on the cheap!

[CAJUNCANNON03]

Boot for drive shaft is still available from Honda.

[TrashTrike]

Boot for drive shaft is still available from Honda.

Nice! I found one for $15.. ordering tonight

[79Bird]

Looks cool with the big tires!

[fort9erfan]

Awesome job man. I got a 85' sx never had the rear end apart so that was pretty cool to see. Ill be interested to see the final product. Keep it up!

[TrashTrike]

Thanks everyone! It's been a fun project and is still a work in progress, but I'm going to try to ride it some this weekend