Off Topic 2004 Honda 650 Rincon ATV "Restoration"

It certainly was!

Made some teflon spacers out of a cutting board to space the oil cooler from the radiator so they aren't heat synced anymore.

Also cleaned the crud out of the oil cooler fins, that was a core. Had to soak it in water, hit it with compressed air, repeat until clean.

Boom! Spaced!

 

Got everything done other than the stupid oil change, including tie rods, sorted the front wheel bearings, fixed the winch (had to pay 10$ for 4 stupid square washers),


How to race spec an alignment!

Worked okay, there are probably better ways to do it, dialed it in to have about 1/2" toe out.

 

#pittysays that the spacers would probably melt, so I replaced them with 6 fender washers.


Shakedown went well, rear springs did not pop out of place, the rear did not rub and overall the tires just fit better. The fronts rubbed quite a bit so I had to re-install the front spacers. Also tested out both winches, which worked well. The racequad broke trail for most of the day, the snow was deep enough that it was spinning almost the whole way and it never overheated once, the fan hardly turned on, so I would say that was a success.

Today I did the final touches and replaced the timing chain tensioner. On cold starts the engine was pretty ticky, after a bit of research I found that it was a common problem on these quads and that the timing chain tensioners usually only last 3500 miles before they start chattering on cold starts. The local Honda shop quoted me 5 hours to do the job, it probably didn't even take a full hour. Most of the work was removing the old gasket which was stuck on there.

New tensioner was 80$, I have been getting all my parts from partzilla and would recommend. Cheapest OEM parts that I could find.

They come with a little key in there that you have to wind the tensioner in, when removed the tensioner applies tension.



Super easy to change, wind the old tensioner in with the supplied key, remove 2 bolts, replace the gasket. The location kind of sucks, and the edges of that key hurt my fingies



So the list is entirely done, ready for next hunting season. Forgot to mention that the quad got 2 tubes.. I might bring the other two tires in and get tubes in them and just be done with it!

 

Fun update! The day I took it out to check on all this stuff it started running like shit and I haven't dealt with it.

Either something to do with the spark, bought a new plug wire and ignitor to try that, if that doesn't work I will rebuild the carb, if that doesn't work, it is most likely a burned camshaft lobe. Apparently it is a common issue, seems to be congruent with that's happening.

You can really ease it up to like 60% speed, if you punch the throttle it bogs out, when you get high enough in speed it bogs out. So, seems like a spark blowout problem, or fueling, or, unfortunately likely the camshaft.

The day it died:

 

Yeah, I bought the thing for 1750$ and have put over 2000km on it so far. Engine is fixable, I just need to get to it.

 

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE

The simplest thing was the thing that was the thing that fixed the thing. New ignition coil, plug wires, and spark plug fixed it. Cost almost nothing and took like 40 minutes to fix it. Compression tested while I was there, 175 psi.

To celebrate I made a chainsaw holder.

Not much options, a chainsaw is too hot to put in the box, need to leave the front rack open for my bow case, and a chainsaw press wouldn't work because the box on the back overhangs past the rack, plus costs money..







Welds not that great, should have cleaned the paint off better before tacking it together. The metal I used was from an old electrical panel, so it was pretty thin and needed some bracing.






It's pretty sturdy, I stood on it to test.




For fastening the saw I have some plans, not sure which I will go with yet. The winch doesn't get very dirty, so I am hoping that even higher it shouldn't get that dirty also. It will definitely get covered in snow though.

 

Picked up this old boat trailer because no more truck life and SUV life, also got it for cheap. It used to be a boat trailer.



Needed some work:
Got all the lights working (not pictured)

Made the ramp less up and down, also lets me park the quad further back for better balancies.
Welded a thingy on for strapping it down.


Installed safety chains (x2, pretty fancy)


Figured out mounting

 

I like horns on skulls on the back wall!

Are you a vivid hunter?

 

Yup! Basically the only reason I have the quad and the pajero is for hunting.