1978 Honda XL250s Brat tracker/scrambler

1978 Honda XL250s Brat tracker/scrambler
G'day fellas and girls, I have been on here for a while now and have been following many of your builds and I figure its about time I posted my build.

I purchased this little beaut from a one legged fella only half an hour away from where I live. The bike was in very average condition, both shocks were done for, forks were leaking, cam chain was loose, it had huge dents in the fuel tank, the handle bar was bent, but it started and the frame was only dirty with minor surface rust so I gave him $200 and threw her on the back of my mates ute.

Here is the first pic from when I got it home, thats my girlfriend who was suprisingly cool about me buying it:


From here I needed some inspiration. I love the look of Scramblers and Brat trackers so I thought i'd follow along this track. I am also in the Army so I thought a militray theme would suit quite nice too. Here are some images of inspirations:

Here is the first day of tearing it down. As you can see, we live in a block of units with no garage so it got difficult at times, but I worked with what I had.




My working space...

for those of you wondering, yes that exhaust has been cut up as it was rusted with holes and bends and it just wasnt worth saving. here is another pic:


next up, I pulled out the engine and had a look how bad it was.



This is how it stood for a few months while i struggled to find time and space to work on it.


So to get out those big ass dents I tried nearly all the youtube tricks out there including boiling water and sealing it, gluing a hammer to it and pulling, ice and hair dryer, piece of dowel and hammer, nothing worked!


Next I tried to pull down the motor further, but I got stuck with a really stubborn cylinder head bolt! it just wouldnt move, here is the huge breaker bar I bought to try and undo it:


Nothing would undo it past the first few revolutions so i took the engine down to Melbourne to see if Lucy's (my partner) dad could help with all his wisdom and tools. turns out there was dirt and crud blocking it right up so we drilled off the head of the bolt and just lifted it off the bolt.

We finally got a new home and it has a garage!!! wooo. I was finally able to pull it completely apart



removed all the paint from the frame


next up I de-tabbed it and mocked up the rear hoop. I will need to source someone with a welder to put it together for me, but for the meantime duct tape will do.




figured Id flatten out the old seat mounts and re-use them


Got the tank back from redback racepaint, a morotcycle smash repair place and I reckon they have done a fantastic job! still requires bulk car filler, but all in good time. I think I will use these guys for the frame welding.



I thought I would make a template for the seat


This is the style seat I would like to go with, I was thinking of re-using the vinyl from the old seat and using a nice tan colour for the stitching. havnt decided if I an going to risk Lucy stitching it up or whether I should go to an upholsterer


And this is where I am now. this weekend I will try and fix up the fuel tank with car filler and get it ready form primer and paint. I will also get the frame, swing arm, hubs and rims clean for powder coating. Sorry I'm a bit new to powder coating, is there such thing as a 'clear' powder coat or am I better off getting a metallic or silver colour?

Got a few hours off today so went home to play with the puppy and while he was distracted I was able to grind down the lugs for the rear hoop so now it fits.


added the old forks and wheel to get an idea how it may look. Getting excited!


This weekends do do list:
- bondo the fuel tank and sand it down
- mark out where tabs will be welded back onto the frame for indicator and rear fender mounting
- potentially take the frame and tabs down to redback racepaint to get the rear hoop and tabs welded up so I can later prep up the frame for powder coating.

BoJordan said:

Click to expand...

HAHAHA, looks like van Gogh's scream. Seriously though looks like you'll have this thing done in no time.

misfitfiend said:

HAHAHA, looks like van Gogh's scream. Seriously though looks like you'll have this thing done in no time.

Click to expand...

Yeah does a bit ey haha. Nah still a while off I reckon, I think the engine rebuild and 12V conversion is going to be the ball breaker and time consumer. Im aiming to have it registered by the end of the year though... see how I go

You definitely seem determined. I on the other hand have an acute case of procrastinitis. Good luck with it all though.

Yeah my mate just got his license and first bike and is riding my arse to get it done so we can ride together haha. procrastinitis is an awful disease! I just hope I don't come down with tight-arse syndrome (aka Jew boy syndrome) where I stop spending money on it. cheers mate!

Haha lookin' sweet! If you can get it done by the end of the year, that would be epic! Keep up the determination and keep the photos rolling! Lovin' ya work! ;D

Good progress! Keep it going! Most of us get stuck at 3/4 finished. Ha!

Well, not as productive as I had wished, however I am over half way with the tank now I reckon and the seat pan is nearly done too. Went to Clark Rubber to get quotes on foam for the seat. Was thinking 9mm yoga mat type foam for base then 12mm high density foam followed by 19mm memory foam. Sounds comfy in my head, but not too sure. anyway here are some pics. Be kind as its the first time using car filler, will still need more sanding and more filler, but its heaps better than it was!








The old seat pan bender-upperer aka letterbox

Havnt stopped working on the old girl, just lacked significant progress worthy of a post.

started working on the rear fender. Have an idea how I will mount it and will post pick of it when I do it.




Got the rear hoop and seat mounts welded in too. here is the seat pan bolted on:



I also picked up the foam for the seat. its 2 layers of yoga mat topped with high density foam. Also used some ingenuity and glued some sand paper to a grinding disc which saved heaps of time sanding doen the edges of the seat.




Now I have a question. I dont have a welded and I dont really have access to one. I had to take the frame to a place that fabricates balustrades to be welded. My issue is that I would like the bolts to be permanently attached to the seat pan so I can just glue the foam straight onto it and only worry about undoing nuts when I want to remove the seat. Does anyone have any idea how I might be able to attach the bolts without welding? At the moment I have smothered it with araldite glue, but I am anticipating this to not work too well.

Cheers

Araldite works well for me, I did my last two seat pans with it.

notlob said:

Araldite works well for me, I did my last two seat pans with it.

Click to expand...

Cheers for your reply mate! if you tighten the bolt quite firm the araldite doesn't give in?

I put a thin rubber band around the head of the bolt to stop the araldite flowing out too much. You just see on the bolts near the tank. I used nyloc nuts so I dont have to use excessive force to keep them tight.

Today I played around with the seat. Me and my missus tried to to the ribbing sewing ourselves, but the sewing machine wasn't strong enough so I may have to take it all down to an auto upholsterer to get it sewn up, at least I have everything cut up and labelled so hopefully they cant charge me too much.


I also glued the foam to the seat pan.


I also pulled apart the rims and forks so I now have everything ready for sandblasting and powder coating. hubs and rims will be black, fork lowers and frame will be grey/silver.

looking good.. like the rear chrome guard option

are you going to stick with the 23" front?

nixon said:

looking good.. like the rear chrome guard option

are you going to stick with the 23" front?

Click to expand...

Cheers mate. Nah,I bought a 21"as the 23" didn't have as many tyre options.

I'm starting to think about the future and what issues I may run into, one of those issues being the electrical system and whetehr or not to convert to 12v. If you have any input, please comment on the topic I just started here: http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=53093.new#new
cheers