General Information
Found this diamond in the rough a few months ago, it was sitting in a mans outbuilding and left under a cover for 15 years. The story given to me was the property belonged to the guys elderly father and his father parked the quad (in working condition) 15 years ago after he had had a stroke. They were selling off his estate sense he had just passed away recently. The father had owned this quad sense it was new and they gave me all original paperwork with it. He had a service manual filled with dates that he changed the oil, spark plug and air, oil filters. The sellers did not know a thing about the machine other then it used to be there fathers atv that he used to plow his driveway. They had not even tried to start it. So when they said “just give us $400 and you can have it” I tried not toa k to excited, I gave the guy the money and he helped me load it. I had a massive smile on my face the whole way home.
Getting it home and looking it over. Well I can tell ya this, letting a machine sit for 15 years will do a lot of damage. The quad looked good but gas had been left in it and it had long sense dried up, there was two mouse nests that I found in it and the battery had exploded years ago. Tires were dry rotted along with vacuum and gas lines. Luckily the wiring harness looked untouched by the mice.
Bringing it back to life. First thing I did was evict the mice out of the top of gas tank, air box and battery box. Took all the plastics and racks off, removed the gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pump and carburetor. I took the spark plug out and sprayed penetrating oil into the cylinder and left it to soak over night. Took carburetor completely apart and soaked it over night in solvent. The next day I came out and slowly turned the engine over using the kick start, luckily the engine was not stuck. So I moved forward and ordered carb rebuild kit, found OEM gas lines on line and fuel filter, picked up spark plug, oil, oil filter, air filter diff oil. The metal gas tank was junk, it had rusted from the top to bottom due to nous nest, in fact the mouse nest was inside the tank. So I had to find a replacement for that. Few days had past and I got the parts I ordered and I got to work. I did drain the oil and change filter even before trying to start it. Got the carb, fuel lines, filter and fuel pump back on, , replaced all the vacuum lines then used a make shift gas tank (temporary). Installed a new battery and gave it a try....Holy cow, it started up and blew some pretty nasty smelling smoke out the exhaust. I played with the air fuel screw until I found the sweet spot and bam....She runs. Again, I have a big smile on my face...lol
Anyways, those are the first few days with my diamond in the rough. I continued to work on it for the last couple of months. I did not do an off the frame restoration but I was very detailed with it. Over all I think I spend about $600 in parts on this project. I am sure I could write a book with what I have done to this classic Honda. This is how she sits today, she looks and runs great. This ATV is Honda at its best, i can see why the 86-88 TRX350s are so loved. There simply awesome machines!
Getting it home and looking it over. Well I can tell ya this, letting a machine sit for 15 years will do a lot of damage. The quad looked good but gas had been left in it and it had long sense dried up, there was two mouse nests that I found in it and the battery had exploded years ago. Tires were dry rotted along with vacuum and gas lines. Luckily the wiring harness looked untouched by the mice.
Bringing it back to life. First thing I did was evict the mice out of the top of gas tank, air box and battery box. Took all the plastics and racks off, removed the gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pump and carburetor. I took the spark plug out and sprayed penetrating oil into the cylinder and left it to soak over night. Took carburetor completely apart and soaked it over night in solvent. The next day I came out and slowly turned the engine over using the kick start, luckily the engine was not stuck. So I moved forward and ordered carb rebuild kit, found OEM gas lines on line and fuel filter, picked up spark plug, oil, oil filter, air filter diff oil. The metal gas tank was junk, it had rusted from the top to bottom due to nous nest, in fact the mouse nest was inside the tank. So I had to find a replacement for that. Few days had past and I got the parts I ordered and I got to work. I did drain the oil and change filter even before trying to start it. Got the carb, fuel lines, filter and fuel pump back on, , replaced all the vacuum lines then used a make shift gas tank (temporary). Installed a new battery and gave it a try....Holy cow, it started up and blew some pretty nasty smelling smoke out the exhaust. I played with the air fuel screw until I found the sweet spot and bam....She runs. Again, I have a big smile on my face...lol
Anyways, those are the first few days with my diamond in the rough. I continued to work on it for the last couple of months. I did not do an off the frame restoration but I was very detailed with it. Over all I think I spend about $600 in parts on this project. I am sure I could write a book with what I have done to this classic Honda. This is how she sits today, she looks and runs great. This ATV is Honda at its best, i can see why the 86-88 TRX350s are so loved. There simply awesome machines!