Father & Son Project 250X

[quadfamily]

I thought I would start this thread to document the build/ rebuild/ restoration(whatever you want to call it) of my sons 1987 Honda 250X. I bought this quad at least 5 years ago as basket case for $150.00 and it sat for a while. The engine didn't run and I really just wanted to get it running for a spare quad in case a friend came over who wanted to ride with us. The plan was to use all the used parts, tires, etc from our other quads to get it running and only buy cheap or used parts for it to maintain it. Well the plan never really took off and now my youngest son has outgrown the size and power of his TRX90. So time for this project. I told him I would finance most of the project and help/teach him each step of the way. The deal was he had to give me his 90 in return so I could give it to my 5 year old Daughter. He agreed. I'll post pictures with descriptions of everything along the way and try to give a little background of how we obtained parts and what not. This is what the quad looked like when we got it 5-6 years ago. It's the ugly one with the white front plastic and round cyclops headlight to the right of the 300EX. Unfortunately this is the best picture I have of it the way we got it. It was a real mess, the seat was ripped, teh plastics are all cracked, no compression, case broken around the chain, counteshaft sprocked was welded to the counteshaft, Gas tank was not bolted on, tires flat, etc... etc... etc...

[quadfamily]

This is the frame. The original frame was rotted out along the entire bottom. I was considering cutting out and replacing the tubing and in fact I began cutting out some but then I decided to do something different. I bought a used 300EX frame from the classified section here. I had is sent directly to Pappy for powdercoating and he did a wonderful job and shipped it back to me.

[quadfamily]

This is a picture of a section of the original frame. I had already started to remove some of the damaged metal but realized that I would have to remove and replace practically the entire bottom. This is when I decided to get a different frame for obvious reasons.

[quadfamily]

Here are the lower a-arms which I painted with gloss black Imron paint. I decided to do these with Imron because with the ball joints and rubber boots attached they really couldn't be powder coated. These are actually off of my 300EX because they were in better shape then the 250X a-arms.

[Butters]

cool, i hope to be able to do a project with my 300ex someday.

[zeppelin]

looks pretty cool so far, but that thing is going to be mint when you finish

[Rip_Tear]

Cool, I wanted to do a project 250X, had a good one lined up but the deal fell through. Hope you're havign fun with your son and the rebuild.

[quadfamily]

This is the engine we're going to use. This engine is the original 1987 engine. It had so many things wrong with it that it now has parts from a couple different engines. One case half, a side cover and the cylinder is from a different engine and so is the countershaft and some tranny parts. The cylinder is bored .050" and has a stock replacement .050 over piston. The cam is stock. My good friend Mark is a mechanic at our local Honda dealer and he rebuilt the whole thing for me for a very reasonable price(Thanks Mark!). It came apart down to the last nut and bolt and he went through the whole engine checking specs as he went to see if each part was ok to re-use. Everything that was questionable was either scavenged from another engine I got from a friend if those parts were good or new parts were bought. This engine has some new bearings, new timing chain, plastic tensioner, and gears, and all new seals. There were more things replaced but I can't think of them right now. This pic was taken today after we painted the engine with two thin coats of silver engine engine enamel.

[quadfamily]

This swingarm I bought and had shipped directly to Pappy just like the frame. The original swing arm from the 87 quad was hacked by one of the previous owners and no longer had the bracket to mount the skid. Pappy has made this one shine!

[quadfamily]

These are the upper a-arms that Pappy pc'd for us.