le mudbug restoration; major newbie

[Spyke]

Hey guys

Just recently I have got into motor biking much to mums disgust. I really like to fiddle with bikes so I thought I might as well try and restore a bike. I got two old Suzuki ts 185’s (mudbug). Both are in a bad state at the moment but I should be able to make one good bike, good thing was I got them for free.

(1988)Red bike: seized, no muffler, good tank, good for parts, reasonable frame and rims.
(1987)Blue bike: motor turns over and most parts on it need a really good clean and paint. Rear rim is fooked and the stand has been welded back on wrong so the damn thing is so close to balancing point (fell over half an hour ago by the wind).

Electrics on both bikes look like they need to have a good sought out. I’m planning on taking all the wiring off, just leaving the sparkplug electrics and timing stuff?
The speedo and rev counter cables are possibly snapped.
Both the handlebars are bent quite a bit (stuffed). How far can you bend handle bars?

I’m generally thinking that I will pull the bikes apart, paint the good frame and clean and repair all the parts going back onto the bike, clean and paint all the plastics and tank.
Once the frame and parts are all on I will get the motor sorted and then she’ll be all go, well I’ll probly need help with the motor down the line.

also i need to learn abit about the fundermentals of how a twostroke is oiled.(i do know a tiny bit)

If anyone has a ts manual I could buy/have that would be really appreciated.

If you have any ideas/suggestions that can help me please post them up.


Cheers guys
andrew

[Conquiztador]

Simple 2 stroke bikes. You can easily set her up without battery if you are planning to run w/o lights and just a simple ignition. Connect the killswitch! Makes life easier when U want to kill the motor.

Do NOT use car oil in the gear box as it will make the clutch slip.

And what else..hmmm..

Her a few I put together:

Good Luck

[Spyke]

whats the best way to wire this simple ignition?

[team cudby]

Hey guys

Just recently I have got into motor biking much to mums disgust. I really like to fiddle with bikes so I thought I might as well try and restore a bike. I got two old Suzuki ts 185’s (mudbug). Both are in a bad state at the moment but I should be able to make one good bike, good thing was I got them for free.

(1988)Red bike: seized, no muffler, good tank, good for parts, reasonable frame and rims.
(1987)Blue bike: motor turns over and most parts on it need a really good clean and paint. Rear rim is fooked and the stand has been welded back on wrong so the damn thing is so close to balancing point (fell over half an hour ago by the wind).

Electrics on both bikes look like they need to have a good sought out. I’m planning on taking all the wiring off, just leaving the sparkplug electrics and timing stuff?
The speedo and rev counter cables are possibly snapped.
Both the handlebars are bent quite a bit (stuffed). How far can you bend handle bars?

I’m generally thinking that I will pull the bikes apart, paint the good frame and clean and repair all the parts going back onto the bike, clean and paint all the plastics and tank.
Once the frame and parts are all on I will get the motor sorted and then she’ll be all go, well I’ll probly need help with the motor down the line.

also i need to learn abit about the fundermentals of how a twostroke is oiled.(i do know a tiny bit)

If anyone has a ts manual I could buy/have that would be really appreciated.

If you have any ideas/suggestions that can help me please post them up.


Cheers guys
andrew

Hi andrew.Thanks for your kind words re bucket.I have a number of spares for your 185.Pm me.You can have them

[roger_doger]

Mate good on ya for getting stuck into this, I tell you what it'll be worth every bit of effort when you finally get to fire the thing up and take it for your first ride! (And don't worry about your Mum that's fairly normal). I did up a couple of old bikes when I was at High School and bloody loved it - I wish I had the time to do more now.

Anyway enough rambling, a quick word of advice - don't be discouraged if you hit a problem that you can't seem to fix - there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

This is what I would recommend: Get the motor going first before you strip it down. The reason being, that way you know it's going to go and it'll motivate you to do the longer and more tedious parts of doing it up.

For getting the motor going problems are most easily diagnosed by remembering the three fundamental elements that make a motor go:
1. Compression
2. Spark
3. Fuel/air (and oil in the case of a two stroke)

Compression is not usually a problem, especially in two strokes, so you'll be ok there

Spark you can check by pulling the spark plug out, put it back in the cap and hold the plug (by the cap) against the head of the motor and slowly kick the bike over. You should be able to see and hear the plug sparking. If no spark then try replacing the plug, followed by checking/cleaning the points (I'm pretty sure these bikes have points).

If spark is sweet check the carburettor, it may need stripping down and cleaning, and the jets blown out with compressed air. This is not to difficult a job, just be carefull with those small parts.

If all that is sweet, the bike should go!

In regards to oiling, don't worry about it too much, if you're not sure the oiler is working (there should be no reason why it isn't), then just fire up the bike for a few seconds then kill it and get stuck in to stripping it down.

The easiest way to deal with electrics is scrap the battery and pull the instrument dash off but leave the ignition if possible. If it's part of the instrument dash then still pull it off, and I think there's a wire you got to earth to get it to fire. Just check that you're getting spark as described above.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Phil

[Conquiztador]

whats the best way to wire this simple ignition?

Lets see if I remember from top of my head, I give it a try:

There is no points inside the magneto. You have two or three coils inside. One for ignition, one for charging and one for lights. Or the lights/charging can be same and you only have two coils.

If you take all the lights off the bike then you can forget about the others, just focus on the ignition coil inside the magneto. There will be two wires coming out from that one. (One earth and one with the ignition pulse)

I recommend to forget about the ignition switch too. You do not need it.

Connect the two wires up to the ignition coil (that is under the tank). If you have taken any wires off the ignition coil then you connect these two to it in the same places. (You can also connect one of them to the frame if the coil under the tank only has one wire coming to it) Try one way, if it does not work then try the other way and you will have a spark. Take out spark plug so she is easy to kick over and you soon sort out what way the wires go (no spark = wrong way. Spark = right way)

Then you use the engine on/off switch on the r/h handle bar to connect to the ignition coil under the tank and you have your self a kill switch. This one will earth the coil and stop the sparks.

Good luck.

[Spyke]

thanks guys tomorrow i'm going to get stuck into the electrics and ill see if i can do it, i have taken off the carb and its pretty clean (forgot to check main jet and idle jet ) but the airbox is pretty discusting.

i can't beleive the amounts of wires on this bike, its simply amazing. i'm not sure if i should wait till i have done the electrics to wash the whole bike thoroughly?
is there any easy way to clean the expansion chamber?

i've cleaned the red bikes tank and its fuel tap.
and i have fixed the brake and clutch levers.

the throttle levers on both bikes aren't the best and both the on/off switches have really bad connections. (had a look inside them but it looks like the copper conductors have wore on abit)

and thanks for all the information it's helping alot

cheers
andrew
pm getting sent to the cudby's (cheers guys)

[tommorth]

my first bike was a seized tc185 suzi it had been in a shed for couple of years
we pulled the head off got a block of wood and the axe put the wood in the barrel and whacked it a few times till it came unstuck, put it back together put fresh gas in it ,gave it a kick and the dam thing took off accross the shed into the wall was in gear with back tire half on the ground as a crate was under the motor

[Spyke]

my first bike was a seized tc185 suzi it had been in a shed for couple of years
we pulled the head off got a block of wood and the axe put the wood in the barrel and whacked it a few times till it came unstuck, put it back together put fresh gas in it ,gave it a kick and the dam thing took off accross the shed into the wall was in gear with back tire half on the ground as a crate was under the motor

i've been told by a few people these bikes are pretty much indistructable which is a dam good thing for a first bike. i can just imagine this scene what a crack up .

[Spyke]

i'm at the point where i'm waiting for my dad to take me to the cudbys to pick up the parts i'm getting (hopefully next week), and to see if a guy we know can help out with the motor.

still haven't figured out the electrics. (hopefully when i see mike cudby he'll inlighten me)

i can't wait to get the thing running, i've kind of forgotten the feeling of riding a motorbike.(last time was over three months ago)

the front forks are abit skewed any thing i can do?
2 strokes have a different section for transmission oil don't they?
and i think with the speedo the little gears inside the drum casing is stuffed because the actual speedo and cable are fine.

[Spyke]

Hello again,

well alot has been done since i last posted on here, alot has been learnt but i still haven't finished the bike. This has been the most long winded exerience in my life but its making me a better man.

I've learnt how to check if the fork legs are straight, which none were, atleast i could make a decent pair of forks out of the two though. (p.s. stick fork booties on before reasembling)

I made new bushes for the rear swing arm, took off the old tyre (hard as hell)to put on the newer rim, learn't sticking the tire on is so hard especially when you've got to the last part of the bead then puncture the tube and have to take it off again. I bought a new tire after that. (tires are so demoralising)

completely stripped the frame and painted it, the swing arm and components. (paint brushes worked on the mona lisa, but not on the ts what a streaky affair)

i got the front wheel speedo gearing working again, axle grease be my friend.

loosing half the steering head bearings in the lawn, I've got dad to do the lawns ever since. lucky I had the two bike so i scavenged some more.

cut the airbox hole bigger, new air filter. the oil is sooooo damb thick and goes everywhere, i tried to get as much out of the filter i could but its still dripping out.

fixed old handlebars with the gas set

I cut open the exhuast and burnt it out then went a step to far and took out the restrictor plate. (bad idea?) then i welded it back together.

and regreased all the bearings.

Thats what I've done to date, now I have the problem of changing the bent gearchange shaft and tight screws which has stalled my progress, i have the spares, impact srewdriver and I bought an old haynes manual.
I realised that trying to change the shaft myself will end in a bike motor not being able to be put back together.
the simple loom conquizulator was talking about I have yet to do as i'm not aware of how the electrics fully work. (Heard of plenty bikes catching fire )

If anyone not to far away from Napier and Hastings Is willing to mentor/help me do the electrics and motor there will be rewards of beautiful golden beer and lovely cut lawns, Oh and You can have the honors of firing her up and doing a victory lap.

I'll stick a photo up of the frame when the batteries to the camera are charged.

sorry for the long post pretty enthusiastic about it now.
cheers guys
andy

[Spyke]

Heres a few pics, It's a pitty that I didn't stick in new nuts and bolts. Theres always the next one.

[tri boy]

If anyone not to far away from Napier and Hastings Is willing to mentor/help me do the electrics and motor there will be rewards of beautiful golden beer and lovely cut lawns, Oh and You can have the honors of firing her up and doing a victory lap.

If that doesn't get some HB crew round to help, then nothing will
Good work mate. Your getting through it. Everyone has drama's with tyres etc the first few times. You will be a gun by the end.

[Spyke]

Thanks tri boy for the kind words, I'm getting desperate now as i can sit on it and can roll it around, but no power to push me along

[quallman1234]

From the sounds of it, it would probabaly be best to just swap the barrel head and pistion from the non siezed one to the siezed one, also take the muffler or whatever's missing from the rubbish one. It seriously won't be such a hard job, the electrics in the red one might even be ok .