As some of you know, the first iteration of the fat tire swamp donkey built from a krusty tw200 and bw200 parts went to live out its days under the slaving hand of Deviant1 as a Gulf Shores Beach cruiser. If anyone wants to catch up on that build, its here:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=75455.0
While the original swamp donkey is where it belongs and with who it belongs with, its absence has left a fat- tire-bike shaped hole in my life. I recently found a deal on a 1986 BW200es close to home for a fair price given the current market on these machines. It was complete and did not appear to be overly abused, coming with a stack of receipts from the original and second owner.
Once I got the bike home and fired up for a test ride, a few trips around the parking lot behind my house coaxed a few issues to rear their ugly head. The top end valve train was making some VERY unsavory noises, and there was so much oil puking out of the air box from the crank breather from blow by that you could track the route that I had taken around the parking lot. Long story short, the motor needs a top end overhaul. That is all fine and well, they are simple motors, parts are easy to find etc. The only caveat is that while riding the tw200, which is the same power plant where it counts as the bw200, is that while its power output was adequate to haul my 260 lb self around, adequate doesn't always equal fun. Sure it pulled me up, around and through the Mid Ohio hare scramble course without missing a beat, but it did so much like a lawn mower would. No frills, just chugging. Just like any good red blooded American, I want more. I need EXCESS.
Enter the Honda XR400R powerplant. This engine has alot going for it, but mostly the 34 H.P. compared to the 15 H.P. of the BW200. The other thing it has going for it is that it fits in the frame of a bw200. I found a this picture on a bw200 facebook page of a guy who put the engine out of a 400ex into a bw200 chassis. The 400ex is a very similar motor to the xr400r, with some differences including electric start vs the kick start only of a XR400. Below is a picture of the 400ex swapped bw200. I like that this picture proves that it fits, but I will not be doing the goofy swingarm stretch or dropping the front end. I still want this machine to be able to eat up the single track.
After deciding the route I wanted to go with an XR400R powerplant, I decided that I'd casually keep an eye out on craigslist and facebook market place for the right donor xr400. The universe had other plans. I was meant to find THE PERFECT donor sooner. That day in fact. While cruising along, I found an xr400r Parts bike. It was the frame, carb, ignition, oil cooler and motor. Perfect for an engine swap, and I don't have to feel bad about pulling apart a complete bike in order to complete my goal. Better yet, the whole xr400 pile was $150, which added to the $450 purchase price of the BW200 only puts me at a net total of $600 into this whole project so far. If I play my cards right, ill have a really wicked machine for under $1k. I have not yet decided how I am going to go about working past the oil in frame issue of the xr400, but there may be a bit of frame grafting going on between the xr400 frame and bw200 frame, but I will keep that up to date in this build thread.
Here is how the xr400r came to me after a 4 hour round trip down by Urbana last night:
So, pull up a chair, and follow along with the next hair brained project out of Hurco's Garage. Like all the rest, progress will likely be fast and slow, then rinse and repeat.
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=75455.0
While the original swamp donkey is where it belongs and with who it belongs with, its absence has left a fat- tire-bike shaped hole in my life. I recently found a deal on a 1986 BW200es close to home for a fair price given the current market on these machines. It was complete and did not appear to be overly abused, coming with a stack of receipts from the original and second owner.
Once I got the bike home and fired up for a test ride, a few trips around the parking lot behind my house coaxed a few issues to rear their ugly head. The top end valve train was making some VERY unsavory noises, and there was so much oil puking out of the air box from the crank breather from blow by that you could track the route that I had taken around the parking lot. Long story short, the motor needs a top end overhaul. That is all fine and well, they are simple motors, parts are easy to find etc. The only caveat is that while riding the tw200, which is the same power plant where it counts as the bw200, is that while its power output was adequate to haul my 260 lb self around, adequate doesn't always equal fun. Sure it pulled me up, around and through the Mid Ohio hare scramble course without missing a beat, but it did so much like a lawn mower would. No frills, just chugging. Just like any good red blooded American, I want more. I need EXCESS.
Enter the Honda XR400R powerplant. This engine has alot going for it, but mostly the 34 H.P. compared to the 15 H.P. of the BW200. The other thing it has going for it is that it fits in the frame of a bw200. I found a this picture on a bw200 facebook page of a guy who put the engine out of a 400ex into a bw200 chassis. The 400ex is a very similar motor to the xr400r, with some differences including electric start vs the kick start only of a XR400. Below is a picture of the 400ex swapped bw200. I like that this picture proves that it fits, but I will not be doing the goofy swingarm stretch or dropping the front end. I still want this machine to be able to eat up the single track.
After deciding the route I wanted to go with an XR400R powerplant, I decided that I'd casually keep an eye out on craigslist and facebook market place for the right donor xr400. The universe had other plans. I was meant to find THE PERFECT donor sooner. That day in fact. While cruising along, I found an xr400r Parts bike. It was the frame, carb, ignition, oil cooler and motor. Perfect for an engine swap, and I don't have to feel bad about pulling apart a complete bike in order to complete my goal. Better yet, the whole xr400 pile was $150, which added to the $450 purchase price of the BW200 only puts me at a net total of $600 into this whole project so far. If I play my cards right, ill have a really wicked machine for under $1k. I have not yet decided how I am going to go about working past the oil in frame issue of the xr400, but there may be a bit of frame grafting going on between the xr400 frame and bw200 frame, but I will keep that up to date in this build thread.
Here is how the xr400r came to me after a 4 hour round trip down by Urbana last night:
So, pull up a chair, and follow along with the next hair brained project out of Hurco's Garage. Like all the rest, progress will likely be fast and slow, then rinse and repeat.
