Giving back moto build

[Gravy]

I've had some moderate success finding and restoring some bikes.
I've got this 14 year old neighbor kid who wants to get a bike and just got his first job at Lagoon.
So the plan here is to find a smaller bike and restore it:
He is going to help me build the bike (LABOR) and save up
and if he's got enough for the bike and parts we spend ONLY by the end of summer he can buy it.
If has saved up the money- he gets a bike, and if not: I'll sell it and share the profits with him.
My intention is to help him learn some skills and perhaps he'll get a nice bike!

He's a great hardworking and trustworthy kid who always is mowing lawns and helping to work around yards and babysitting already
and he is really excited!

So let's get to it:
I found a 2003 Yamaha YZ85 in a storage unit auction sale.
...And it is a stucco bathtub.

 

[pELYgroso]

What did you get the whole unit for if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Gravy]

What did you get the whole unit for if you don't mind me asking?

I didn't buy the whole unit. I let someone else deal with that. I have NO interest in selling all that junk to break even: however I do know what HE paid.
$2800.
AND
I'll even tell you what I paid (now remember this is extremely A-typical AND I spent dozens of hours finding this deal AND it needs a TON of work AND parts).
$650


Just as a side note: these kinds of deals only work if you can show a lien was placed against the original title holder (for the storage unit) and YOU fufilled that lien by purchasing it and there is some fairly complicated paperwork.

Not expensive- but you've got to know what you're doing correctly or the original owner can try to make legal claim back on the property.

 

[Kevin B.]

I work with a guy who used to make a nice buck on the side at storage unit auctions. Says that went to hell when the TV shows started, auctions got flooded with noobs bidding way too high.

 

[Tonkaman]

I've had some moderate success finding and restoring some bikes.
I've got this 14 year old neighbor kid who wants to get a bike and just got his first job at Lagoon.
So the plan here is to find a smaller bike and restore it:
He is going to help me build the bike (LABOR) and save up
and if he's got enough for the bike and parts we spend ONLY by the end of summer he can buy it.
If has saved up the money- he gets a bike, and if not: I'll sell it and share the profits with him.
My intention is to help him learn some skills and perhaps he'll get a nice bike!

He's a great hardworking and trustworthy kid who always is mowing lawns and helping to work around yards and babysitting already
and he is really excited!

So let's get to it:
I found a 2003 Yamaha YZ85 in a storage unit auction sale.
...And it is a stucco bathtub.
View attachment 113048

Cool idea! That kid seems like a good egg.

 

[Gravy]

I work with a guy who used to make a nice buck on the side at storage unit auctions. Says that went to hell when the TV shows started, auctions got flooded with noobs bidding way too high.

I can only imagine. Lots of people have no imagination for business ideas. This guy has to sift through mountains of garbage to make a living.

Cool idea! That kid seems like a good egg.

This kid is my favorite. He has an amazing work ethic on stuff he likes to do. He will go on to accomplish a lot in life if he knuckles down a little bit more in school.

 

[Gravy]

Here are some before pics.
(Seat off).




What do YOU see wrong with it?

 

[Gravy]

Well.... here's the first thing I broke.
I pulled on the radiator shroud and the plastic was SO brittle it broke clean off.

 

[Gravy]

The kid lined up with the degreaser and a brush then power washer for a loooong time. (I told you he's awesome, check out his Cherokee shirt!)

 

[Rot Box]

I think what you're doing is pretty awesome. Especially around that age... I remember tinkering with dirt bikes kept me out of a LOT of trouble!

 

[Gravy]

Seat before and after.






This is kind of a terrible before and after... Haha.
But in real life it's like night and day.
Soaked and scrubbed in degreaser, then pressure washed and wiped with acetone.
I might have to give this somemore love... Lol

 

[Gravy]

Razor blades and hair dryers.
The graphics on the gas tank were gross.

 

[Gravy]

Bare. I found the kid an old toothbrush and he got to scrubbing all the nooks and crannies.

 

[Gravy]

We actually got this bike to run before we bought it.
It lit off on some starter fluid then it went to the moon at idle....

Obviously there's a reason it got parked haha.

 

[Gravy]

See if you can identify the problem here:

 

[Gravy]

The idle screw is actually snapped in half in the hole. Luckily it's plastic so it'll be easy to drill out.



And the gas petcock holds fuel like a colander...

This basically catches us up to where we are Thursday.
Waiting for about $350 in parts to show up... Tracking says today.

 

[Greg]

Are your pouring Whiskey on the carb? Does that get rid of Whiskey throttle??

 

[Gravy]

Are your pouring Whiskey on the carb? Does that get rid of Whiskey throttle??

Fantastic!
The best use for the stuff I've heard of!


Thank goodness for easy-outs!
Also the schematic shows a idle screw spring... It does not exist on the carb.

New parts! Hooray!
New carb boot.

 

[Gravy]

The kid swapped the reeds. If you look up a few posts you can see that one of the stock reeds wasn't closing all the way.
So we got Boyesen Super Stock reeds for an upgrade in breathing and compression.

 

[Gravy]

Little displacement motors need top ends pretty often, so I ordered a piston kit.
When we pulled the cylinder the piston was in really good shape, but we decided to swap it anyways. It's good insurance.





Some new coolant and we're good to light it off.