1976 TS 185 Scrambler/ Tracker/ Vintage Grom

Hey guys-

So I bought this bike at the end of last summer and started a build thread. School started right after that and I went to boarding school, so I obviously had no capacity to work on the bike. Anyways I have now graduated, and my boredom, combined with some generous graduation presents, have got me ready for a restart on the project. Next year I am heading down from New England to Rice University in Texas. I play hockey so I'd love to have a fun way to get to the ice rink which is a short drive away. I would get something like a Grom, but this is a way more fun learning experience. Anyways, although this is my first build, I would love to do this build in ~3 months with no more than $1700.

Here is a photo of the bike as it sits:


Currently the only problems are an oil leak, a clogged carb (the bike needs to be bump started to run without the choke), and an absolute massacre of a wiring harness. I got a new gasket for the engine, so hopefully that will fix the leak, and, even as a beginner, I have rebuilt carbs before, so that shouldn't be a problem. The wiring I am planning to completely redo. I know this will be a lot of work, but I think it will be the best moving forward.

Other things I am planning:
New bars and controls - on the way
Shortened tail and new brat type seat
19" front wheel instead of 21" - on the way
New two stroke expansion chamber - what I am most worried about
New larger tank for larger fuel capacity because I seem to get terrible economy - on the way?
Clean, polish, powdercoat, paint, etc

Here is my sketch of what I was thinking:


I have a Beamer tank like this that I got cheap off eBay on the way. I'll update on that situation when it arrives. For now I am just going to try to fix the carb and the oil leak.

I am very excited for this project and look forward to talking with you all along the way.

Re: 1976 TS 185 beginner build

So I broke down the carb yesterday and to no one's surprise the gaskets need replacing. I ordered those and now I just have to wait for a couple of days before continuing work.

Re: 1976 TS 185 beginner build

Not a lot of love here so far, but I am sure you guys will join if I stick with it.

So some of my parts came today. The BMW tank is MASSIVE so no way that will fit. I think I am going to stick with the stock tank. Has anyone ever put like an inline fuel expansion tank type of thing. Like the line runs out of the tank than into a tank say under the seat then through to the carb, adding an extra couple of liters of fuel. So today I got the new 19" rim in. I slid the forks maybe an inch up and just put on the rim to mock it up. It sits a lot better now.

Now the question is how do I get this rim on this bike. I can lace my old hub to this new wheel right? Here is how the 19" hub looks. It's way to small and I don't have the brake for it.
I had some trouble getting some screws out, but using this tool I fabricated in a belt sander and a hammer really helped a lot. Cool tip just thought I would share

Re: 1976 TS 185 beginner build

Do you guys have any good, small width tire reccomendation. I want to go as aggressive as possible in terms of knobbiness within DOT standards. My rims are 1.4x19 and 1.6x18. I have had a lot of trouble finding tires to fit, and I need to fix my flat rear tire. Let me know.

1976 TS 185 beginner build

Shinko makes some small knobby style tires, see if they will work. As far as a secondary tank, I think you would need a fuel pump to get the gas from a lower tank in to the carb. To lace the smaller rim to your current hub you'll need some custom spokes.

Re: 1976 TS 185 beginner build

So guys I got the handlebars finished up today because the grips and clamps came in. So now onto the bad news. Here is the video I took with my ghetto old iPhone dash cam so someone could help me with this problem:
Courtesy Bad Quality Warning https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_OArWRi5WpZM0lPX3lJNFd3Nmc/view?usp=sharing

Essentially when I am in neutral, the beginning of the video, the motor works perfectly, although it has the tendency to die after a minute or so of idling without throttle. It does rev with no problems, and the bike starts pretty consistently on the third or fourth kick without the choke. Once I am in gear, I take off just fine, but when I floor it or even just give it any reasonable amount of gas, it seems to slow itself down and threatens to die unless I feather the throttle. In the video I floored it three times, essentially once after each corner, yet obviously the bike doesn't accelerate, and if you listen closely you can hear the engine change then me start feathering the throttle. I broke the carb down twice today and I am 99% sure my float needle is in perfect condition because I polished the cylinder around it and my carbs no longer overflow. Is there anything else this could be besides the float needle or even the carb? It seemed to improve a little when I put more give in the clutch cable, but that may have just been me overthinking the situation.

Re: 1976 TS 185 beginner build

If the adjustments are off on the carb that'll affect how it runs and idles. Set the air screw and pilot screw to stock positions (or close) then go from there. If the issue was in the clutch, I'm pretty sure the issue would be putting power down and the trans slipping, not the engine trying to die.

Hey guys,

I was on vacation for the last week so I really haven't done that much, but I did get the oil injection working. This is awesome because now I don't need to premix. I still am having on and off problems about bogging at higher throttle so I am going to change the fuel filter then maybe check out the petcock. Anyways since I am going to lace a new hub to this 19 rim I am wondering if anyone can give me some information about how to do a disk swap or maybe get a better drum let me know. I have seen very brief mentions of gt185 swap, anyone know about that? Also, does anyone know of a way to make an oil tank without welding, although my current valve stem and Fanta bottle tank is pretty awesome.

Sorry it's been awhile shipping on stuff has taken longer than it should've and I'm still struggling with the nerves to jump knees deep into this project. Anyways today I got the wheel I am planning to use which has the size I want and a disk brake. Here is how the bike looks with the kx80 big wheel.

Right know I have a foam ball as a spacer but I ordered a long spacer which I can hopefully cut down to the length I need. Do I need some sort of oem spacer to cover where the bearing is or can I just use a washer or even just the spacer. Here's how it looks with the kx85 two piston caliper.


In the above picture you can see the price of cardboard which is a rough picture of what I think I can do to mount the caliper. This is where I have to ask your guys' advice. These are my mounting points options on the forks now.
The fork brace mount:

The axle tightening bolt (I could slide something on then tighten the nut):

So would a plate from those top two down to the bottom which the rotor screws into work. How thick would this have to be. Any better ideas?

Thanks for any help

Anyone have an idea what thickness of metal I need on a bracket like this??

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You might want to consider swapping the entire front end instead of putting all that effort into making a bracket that may not work.

As for the thickness. You should be taking a lot of measurements and based on those determine how thick is possible. Maybe look into rear caliper mounts off other bikes with the same diameter rotor and axel. That could solve your spacer issue at the same time.

This is just an idea but personally I would swap forks or relace a different rim to the stock hub.

I feel like mounting to the axle mount bolt is a bad idea. There's going to be a lot of force on the mounts when braking, I'd bet more than that 6mm thread can handle. There's a reason The bolts to mount the caliper to the fork are so meaty.
I agree that it might be easier to look in to swapping forks. Check what front ends will direct swap, or what forks have the same tube diameter as yours. From there, find a set that had stock disc brakes.

Thanks boys, but Ive read there really arent any good options when it comes to swapping out the forks on these bikes, so at least for now I will try to do a bracket from around the axle up to the caliper.
On another note have you guys ever seen someone mount a battery in this area. I worry about heat, but Id rather put it there than obstruct the area under the seat.

In other news, Ive worked on modifying my headlight ears to move the headlight closer to the frame and it looks great besides still needing a good clean up:
Before(it was mounted to the outer hole initially though):

After:

Not sure what you're talking about with the carb (view is a bit blocked by the battery...) but that looks close to stock location. Plenty of older bikes have carbs in that area, but if you're really worried about heat just find some heat tape or something and put it on the bottom of the carb.

Haha my bad man meant battery (fixed the post now). I can't imagine what ran through your mind when you read that lol. Better proofread next time. I think you are on to something with the heat tape though!

As far as the front end...
1986 Yamaha TT600 front end. Factory Disc Brake, and you get to go from 30mm tubes to 43mm. Overkill? Probably. But, lower the forks a bit internally and you'd have a pretty bitchin front end.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-1983-1986-TT600-Forks-Triple-Trees-Complete-Front-End-XT600-/181712365147?hash=item2a4ee6a65b&vxp=mtr

Its all good, just checking. I've never seen one mounted there, and I'm not sure why you would. Seems like an awkward location, plus it blocks carb (for tuning and such) and looks like it could interfere with the kickstand. I'd find as small of a battery as possible and tuck it low in the triangle.

Is there a way to find out if that front end is a straight swap. If I'm gonna have to do a ton of fab for this I'd rather just do fab for the setup I already have.

P.S. The battery doesn't seem to be in the way of anything. I would go for an antigravity, but I don't feel like having a $100 battery when I could have one like I have now for like $15

According to All Balls it is. Go on their website (allballsracing.com) and put in your bike. They don't have the ts, so put in the tc. Should be the same frame. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the 250 had the same steering stem dimensions.