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'87 Tecate 4 Refresh

TrikeKid

TrikeKid

Junk Hoarder
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
246
Messages
1,786
Loc
Spana-graham, WA
Here's where you can follow along as I spend probably too much money and time reviving a rare-ish 80's sport quad. So a coworker of mine walks over and shows me a picture of a TRX250R that he found and going to buy for dirt cheap, and mentions the guy has a bunch of other machines. Later I get pics/info on this pretty decent, clean title Tecate 4 that the guy doesn't want a ridiculous amount of money for. I've casually been in the market for a sport quad and the market here has been silly the past few years, can't get much of anything that's really worth a fuck for less than 4-5k. Paid 3600 bucks and came with probably a grand in extra shit. Full set of sand tires on wheels, new dirt tires/wheels on the rear and matching wheels for the front still in the box along with a box of misc new parts. Couldn't really say no to the perfect storm of 2 stroke, pop up headlight and clean paperwork.
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First order of business was to go through the carb so it'd quit pissing gas all over the place. Guy claimed that the carb had just been cleaned, pretty sure he was remembering cleaning the one on the R that my buddy picked up, not this thing, she was pretty gross.
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A few hours in the can and it's way more better. Worth noting that this PWK is an upgrade from the Mikuni that this bike would have come with.
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Also had to get some rubber on the new front wheels and get them bolted up

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Now that it looks decent and runs decent, it's time to fuck with it. Scored some Renthal Twinwalls in a bend I like and the right color for a song on Craigslist. Threw those on with some adapter risers for now, I'd like to add an inch or two to the steering stem on this and find a 1 1/8 bar clamp I can adapt on for a little cleaner look but I've run these before without issue.
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Got the first step in making this thing handle decent in the form of a Durablue Eliminator +4 rear axle. Threw carrier bearings and swing arm pivot bearings on too, along with the new chain/sprockets that came with the bike. In the process I found that the linkage bearings are all absolutely hammered and mostly discontinued, so I spent an exorbitant amount of money tracking all those down on eBay.

Stock vs the new axle, really like the Durablue axle nut setup, much easier than jam nuts.
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Like those 90's Pontiac ads said, wider is better!
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Also picked up a front bumper from the guy that had the bars but I'm not real sold on it so sticking to stock for now. I could cut this up and make it work but aluminum welding isn't something I can do in house at the moment.
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I put an order in with Full Flight for some +2 front arms and some braided brake lines to get the front widened out and fix some of the geometry issues these had from the factory, still at least a week out before those ship.
 
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A KX500 motor goes in those pretty easy. Makes them much more fun.
 
bdkw1 said:
A KX500 motor goes in those pretty easy. Makes them much more fun.
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500 is a rare bird up here far from the desert, I'd be in a core engine as much as I bought the quad for. Big bore (295-310) in this engine is much more economical and I'm sure equally qualified to buck me off into the underbrush.
 
Very fucking cool.:smokin: When I was a teen the Tecate was on my list for first quad. I had posters in my room and shit...lol
I ended up with a banshee.
Following...
 
Tecates were by far the best handling stock quads. While the other makers cheesed out on ATV engines, the Kawi's were very closely related to their MX counterparts.

The torque of the 500 motor is what makes them fun. Running paddles in glamis you could pull the front end up at will.
 
Nice score I always liked the way those look I rode my friends tecate trike years ago was pretty quick. I still have a 86 lt250r had it out last summer a few times they are fun machines to bad the sxs killed the sport quad market.
 
KrustyTJ said:
Nice score I always liked the way those look I rode my friends tecate trike years ago was pretty quick. I still have a 86 lt250r had it out last summer a few times they are fun machines to bad the sxs killed the sport quad market.
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An 86-87 Tecate 3 is at the tippy top of my bucket list machines to get but they have gotten crazy expensive. It is sad how the sport machines have gone away, glad that at least for now Yamaha is keeping that flame burning.
 
TrikeKid said:
An 86-87 Tecate 3 is at the tippy top of my bucket list machines
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My dad used to race desert races in the early 90's on an 84 Tecate 3. That thing was fast.
Parents had a pair of them. His was built, hers was mostly sstock. He is finally at the point where he wants to get rid of them.

Its cool to see them coming back around.
 
maveric said:
My dad used to race desert races in the early 90's on an 84 Tecate 3. That thing was fast.
Parents had a pair of them. His was built, hers was mostly sstock. He is finally at the point where he wants to get rid of them.

Its cool to see them coming back around.
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$3.50...
 
I wanted one of these as a kid....bad
the button, it had a BUTTON on the side to POP the headlight :eek::smokin::laughing:

now I appreciate the rest of it :grinpimp:
 
Got a new to me pipe that is allegedly a DG for this thing in the mail today. FMF half-assed the pipe design for these and they sold based on name alone despite losing power over stock. Someone at FMF decided that just slightly tweaking the Tecate 3 pipe to fit the T4 frame was all that they needed, despite the KXT and KXF engines being different bore/stroke and porting. Got a silencer with a spark arrestor that i'll have to fab a mid pipe to go between but it'll keep the tree cops off my case if I decide to take this out to the woods.

SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
I wanted one of these as a kid....bad
the button, it had a BUTTON on the side to POP the headlight :eek::smokin::laughing:

now I appreciate the rest of it :grinpimp:
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The headlight is by far my son's favorite feature of the whole machine.
 
maveric said:
My dad used to race desert races in the early 90's on an 84 Tecate 3. That thing was fast.
Parents had a pair of them. His was built, hers was mostly sstock. He is finally at the point where he wants to get rid of them.

Its cool to see them coming back around.
Click to expand...

Have em listed anywhere? I know a few guys really into the hot 3 wheelers.
 
Small update because I'm waiting on parts, found a normal clutch perch in the parts cabinet and swapped that for the big ugly parking brake perch.

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Well in all of a week I've gone from fighting the rain to work on stuff to waiting till it cools off in the evening. +2 +1 arms (2 out, 1 forward) from Full Flight Racing showed up yesterday. Got the arms on. I was gonna rattle can the existing tie rod ends and reuse them, but they'll be getting replaced now that I found one bent in the threads from being run with the jam nut loose. I put them back on for now and ordered a set. Didn't get the new brake lines on today, I don't have any brake fluid on hand apparently and the mosquitoes were getting thick by the time I had the suspension back together.

Had to change the front to match the arms and I grabbed a rear from Off-Road Innovation so everything matches, stock rear line is showing its age anyway. Now with so much new in the front end I'd really like to find some better shocks, may pull these off and paint them at least so they're less crusty.

No more squawking bearings and ball joints.
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New vs stock (well, stock 88 arms that had been swapped onto this machine anyway)
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Pushed it back into the toy pile and had to take one more of the new stance. Obviously gotta wait till I get tie rod ends to align it. The Tri-Moto got some 3" wheel spacers this week too,

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Swapped the FMF for what's allegedly a DG pipe, could also be a Klemm, I know it's not stock. This one fits a ton better, still need to fab a mid pipe and hang the silencer. I'll probably (maybe) take this back off and have it ceramic coated at some point.

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TrikeKid said:
500 is a rare bird up here far from the desert, I'd be in a core engine as much as I bought the quad for. Big bore (295-310) in this engine is much more economical and I'm sure equally qualified to buck me off into the underbrush.
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Cheapest ive seen one in the Southeast was about 5500 running. There was one popped up for 3k a few weeks ago but everything, even the motor, was in a box. Always been a kawai fan.

Liked the cats but I always drooled over the ~2000 or 01 works gncc quads. There was a rolling chassis from one of those on eBay a year or so ago. No shocks but roller chassis other than that. Went for 8250.00 I think. Probably bout what a chassis would cost new these days for one. Anyway nice machine you got there!
 
Yotota said:
WE NEED A VIDEO OF THE POP-UP HEADLIGHT WORKING!

Please and thank you. :smokin:
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Ask and ye shall receive.


I believe I scored the last new Hi-Flite Tecate 4 seat cover and tall foam combo. Sent them money anyway, seems like one dude is trying to run the whole thing since the owner passed.
 
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TrikeKid said:
Ask and ye shall receive.


I believe I scored the last new Hi-Flite Tecate 4 seat cover and tall foam combo. Sent them money anyway, seems like one dude is trying to run the whole thing since the owner passed.
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BADASS!!!
 
Got the front brake lines on this afternoon. Master cylinder was full of jello and muddy looking crap so I pulled it and hosed it out best I could. The new lines are not really made for this bike, going off the part number I'm guessing they're meant for a 400EX. They fit but there's no way to bolt the T-fitting to the original mount, MC to T line is a little long and the lines from the T to the calipers are the same length. I ended up just letting the T float in the middle and zip-tied what/where I could. If it becomes a problem later I'll do something else.

Took longer to bleed them than anything. Had to pull the bleeders and drill 35 years of crusted shit out of them so they would pass air/fluid. After lots of pumping, back bleeding with a syringe and beating the shit out of the MC they work and feel pretty dang good.

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SLOWPOKE693 said:
This thread has me searching CL and FBMP for the elusive KTM 450/525 XC quad again. I've always wanted one....

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Ktm still produces those overseas I'm pretty sure. Not that it will help you find one stateside. The sportquad market is DEAD here in the US. The ama needs to drop that production rule for racing as well. Was nice when there was 3 or 4 different chassis company's to buy frames from.
 
Doug Roll sure built some bad ass shit in that era. Sucks there's not enough market for him to be selling 250R chassis anymore. BVC OffRoad has done at least one CRF450R to quad conversion, Along with a bunch of modern trike and big wheel conversions), they're the only ones I've seen really trying to work on a true modern aftermarket quad.

Hung the new silencer today, turned out to take a lot less fab work than I anticipated. I was able to use a chunk of the stinger that comes with these universal FMF silencers to sleeve the old FMF mid-pipe to adapt it to the new clamp on silencer. Someone had already wallowed out the stock slincer mount on the subframe so I punched that out to 3/8 and stuck a nice stainless button head screw in it to make up for a standard bolt on a Jap bike.

Went to start it and see how it sounds and about broke my fuckin' foot since I elected to stick with my welding slippers instead of going inside and putting shoes on. Got it lit off and I'm not sure it's any quieter than the Toomey but it's got a deeper tone to it. Main thing is that it's got the spark arrestor so it's legal.

Also got the rear brake line on and bled with much less trouble than the fronts. Need to pick up some clamps to bolt it down to the swing arm and the brakes will be good to go.

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I've started just bringing my M6 and M8 bins out with me when I work on this bike. Almost everything I've touched that a previous owner has worked on has had mismatched or flat out wrong bolts in it. Just the M6 bolts that hold the plastics on have had 8mm heads, 10mm, phillips and Torx. Nevermind all the 1/4-20 I keep finding rammed into things.
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