I purchased my first ever quad, a 1988 Tecate 4 for a whopping $450, the shop had taken it on trade, fresh build on the engine, new rear tires, but it would not idle.... Of course they told me I should buy a new air filter.... duh. After about 40 minutes of not finding the seat release to access the airbox i removed the rear plastics and found thats the only way, ever too exciting ^^ Needless to say, the whole entire problem with it not idling properly was what? Meh. 3 dead mice, 1 which just so happened to be jammed in the carb slide. I guess they were just too lazy to take it apart to find out and left it go as-is, their loss was most definately my gain. So to the shop, 2 days later new filter, 3 days after new front tires, total cost now $562 and it starts 1 kick ALWAYS, not bad if you ask me.

Now my wife has been saying the same thing to me it seems most people say..... Why buy that old quad when you can get a new KFX 450R? Pffff, if I wanted a 4 stroke I would buy the 450R, but I grew up in Alaska, riding bikes and sleds, ever seen an Arctic Cat with a 4 stroke?!? I havnt nor would I want one. You cannot replace the "rickityness" of a 2 stroke with anything, the vibration and seeming like its 2 seconds from blowing up or falling apart, a 4 stroke just does not even sound right. Besides that, the KFX 450R lists at like $7200+ and has how much HP? No one seems to want to tell. The '88 Tecate had 42hp and was rated #3 in acceleration and speed in 1988 and that was vs ALL Quads of '88 including the lt500 and banshee 350 which were #1 and #2.

Now my homework thus far has found a few decent resources for thes old quads.

CWR right here in Hanover, PA http://www.cycleworksracing.net/tecate.htm

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Herman Racing also in PA http://www.herrmannrac...om/.....mspage.html

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and the seeming highest reccomended Dave Roberts of ILR Performance in WA (I can provide his email or phone if ppl are interested)

So far I am working with CWR and ILR and thus far have a hopeful summer goal of about $5000 into this quad. Ok, everyone stop and say "Are you crazy?!?! $5000 into an antique?!?" Why not? ^^ Let us think about it for a moment and compare.

+3 A-Arms $550

+3 Durablue axle $380

330cc big bore, ported, polised full race setup, complete engine no core $2400 (he can make 330cc, 360cc, 428cc, 475cc and 525cc motors we build using our billet cylinder.) so the sky is the limit, I am chosing 330cc as thus far with 250cc I have yet to find 6th gear and its a bit of work keeping the front wheels on the ground, I cannot imagine more)

Works shocks with reservoir's $585

Rebuilt rear shock $520

From there the rest will be minor details, such as rebuilding all drivetrain components, replacing all bearings ect. Needless to say the finished product should be about $5500, this should push me to about 70hp as I have heard is common with the 330's race prepped, and more than enough ***** to leave a 4stroke sniffing my 2 stroke exhaust provided I can hang on, also keeping my cost well below that of a '08 KFX 450R with at least what? 2x the machine? People always claim "technology today bla bla bla" but never recall that technology also pretains to the current day production of aftermarket products for those dinosaur machines also, increasing their quality as well ^^

In truth, it is all a matter of opinion, I prefer a 2stroke any and every day vs a 4 stroke. Yet with my children and wife I would definately prefer a 4 stroke for durability and smoothness of control. So I guess it all comes to what you plan to do ultimatly. I hope to if not beat the newer quads give them a run for the money ^^ We move to Michigan in 3 weeks, I have noticed they have quite a few sand dunes and a lot of trails. So maybe ill see some of you there ^^ ill b the guy on the rickity looking antique trying to hang on haha.

Please note: Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated, even some sarcasim if needs be ^^ it is all good with a grain of salt.

 

tecate 3&4 are my favorite trike/quad. Rode a tec3 when i was younger and fell in love. Only seen one tecate4, it was on the back of a truck when i was heading to my hunt camp. I felt like following that dude just to see that bike run lol.


I wish i could find one like you did. I definatly put a bit of cash into it too. When its all done you will have one very rare quad that would probably spank most 450s. I bet most ppl when they see it wont even know what the hell it is.

 

"The '88 Tecate had 42hp and was rated #3 in acceleration and speed in 1988 and that was vs ALL Quads of '88 including the lt500 and raptor 350 which were #1 and #2. "

This is true but you may not want to call the Banshee 350 a raptor 350. THe raptor 350 is a warrior redo, totally different species. The tecate 4 wasnt too far behind the banshee either.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: twentycharacters

"The '88 Tecate had 42hp and was rated #3 in acceleration and speed in 1988 and that was vs ALL Quads of '88 including the lt500 and raptor 350 which were #1 and #2. "



This is true but you may not want to call the Banshee 350 a raptor 350. THe raptor 350 is a warrior redo, totally different species. The tecate 4 wasnt too far behind the banshee either.</end quote></div>

I corrected my typo, my spelling is a bit off as of late, been burning the candle at both ends packing to move to Michigan. thx ^^

 

All that blustering about horsepower and all is great BUT can you get that power on the groud? Or will it be more Banshee - esque revving and spinning the rear tires wildly in an attempt to find traction? Any way right-on for keeping a peice of history alive - hope you enjoy it!

 

A Tecate 4 for $450??? Man some people got all the luck. And the problem so simple to fix. Good find! And good luck with your mods. It'll be a beast when it's done!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: sandman74

All that blustering about horsepower and all is great BUT can you get that power on the groud? Or will it be more Banshee - esque revving and spinning the rear tires wildly in an attempt to find traction? Any way right-on for keeping a peice of history alive - hope you enjoy it!</end quote></div>

I have not had any problems so far with wheel spin, though have had a bit keeping the front end on the ground through 1,2,3 & 4th gear. The other day riding, a banshee had come up the same trail, and I did notice he broke traction quite a bit when we rode up a 5 mile stretch. Tires perhaps? I am currently using Dick Cepek Spider Trac's, he had Holeshots, I probally had him by 20 pounds or so also at about 185.

Dunno ^^ none the less I have been quite pleased with it and hopefully after we move this month I can get some parts on order and pix on here to share ^^

 

This is it oO, there is not even anything close to a crack on these plastics!! they are a bit dirty and could use a good cleaning. Any suggestions on how to "brighten" them up? perhaps a good buffing?

 

you can get most of your oem parts and some aftermarket stuff for your tecate at WWW.BIKEBANDITS.COM. i traded my 05 blaster for an 88 and 87 tecate 4 and the 88 is almost ready to go i have done alot of work on it.