Picked it up Monday. It looked fantastic. Sneaked it home into the shop. Took it apart. All the plastic, wheels, cables, etc. Everything that makes it look like a quad. So far so good. If the little guy does see it I am going to say it's a lawnmower. Or a pump. I have already made the front frame pieces that will accomodate the Blaster A-arms, which along with the hubs have been here waiting.
.....It is going very well so far. But I only have two weeks till you-know-what. Santa has to deliver.
.....It will have 6" travel front and rear, and be over 8" wider than stock with the combination of full double A-arms from a Blaster and wheels and spacers in the rear. I got the order in to Sandy at Works for the shocks this afternoon.
.....The Douglas wheels and wheel spacers for the rear are all here.
The DOM 1" tubing is bending well with the conduit bender and the MIG is ready. I will start tacking frame parts tomorrow. I have already done major cutting on the frame itself. There is no turning back.
..... I will post some construction pics and when it is done, of course. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img] Who's a Junkyard Warrior? That would be me. Raptorette 80
update Raptor 80 Widetrack

 

what about the motor? It needs some tuning to match the chassis mods.

 

You are pretty ambitious fourlix! I am very interested in your finished product and how it works. Please do post some pictures for us all to see. ARE you going to do anything with motor mods? Is there anything significant you CAN do? Good luck!

 

fourlix:Shoehorn a YZ426 motor in the little Raptor.

 

Ahhhh....congrats on finally getting it. I am sure you will make the Raptorette better + STRONGER AND SAFER for the little one.

 

Motor Mods? YZ426? How about taking the shift lever off so he's stuck in first gear and setting the throttle limiter to about 1/3? He will be 5 years old in April. The whole point of this is to make a wider, safer, mini with a top speed of about 8 mph,,,, till he's ready to go faster.
.......Graduating from the Power Wheels Ninja Kawasaki means learning to use brakes and learning throttle control. 6 months ago I bought him a Polaruseless 90 Scrambler, with an Autotranny. Even with the throttle limiter set as low as would allow it to move, the auto tranny would upshift and get going about 20 mph. After buzzing my wife, mom and friends having cocktails in the backyard, it went back to the dealer, for good.
.......I am getting a lot of flack for trying this again. This time I will make it work. This time I will do it with a mini that is built the way a mini ought to be built. Safe, wide, stabile, with real suspension that will work for a 50 lb. rider instead of the 2" of suspension they come with that barely moves when I sit on it.
........The only thing wrong with the Raptorette is the suspension. And it is as bad or worse than any mini out there. So a radical approach is needed.
....Chopping up a brand new mini is pretty radical, don't you think? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]
.... And this time I'm not going to leave off the second pontoon......

 

who ever is getting that quad is pretty lucky

 

<< Motor Mods? YZ426? How about taking the shift lever off so he's stuck in first gear and setting the throttle limiter to about 1/3? He will be 5 years old in April. The whole point of this is to make a wider, safer, mini with a top speed of about 8 mph,,,, till he's ready to go faster.
........The only thing wrong with the Raptorette is the suspension. And it is as bad or worse than any mini out there. So a radical approach is needed. >>


ooops: I though you were building a racer for a youth at least twelve years old, which is the minimum age recommendation for the Raptor 80. Ever thought about a bike for starters. (PW 50 would be more appropriate don't ya think?)

 

Maybe fourlix wants him on a quad rather than PW50, and the way he is setting the Raptorette up, he could build a mini racer out of it when his son is old enough. I knwo when my lil bro is 4, I am getting him an LT80, then when his riding ability progresses, he will have a mini racer. Any way, good luck fourlix.

 

Something like the Suzuki 50 would have beeen a logical choice...But he's big already, he wears an adult small helmet, 21&quot;, he would just outgrow the Suzuki way too fast. This is going to be much safer-wider and slower, at least while it's stuck in first gear anyway. And it can grow with him, with two more gears and more throttle as he progresses.
......What the Raptorette 80 doesn't have, besides suspension, is an engine with racing potential, hop-up horsepower wise. Obviously the two-strokes have a huge advantage here. But the Yamaha has durability, dependability, easy electric starting and enough pep to keep it interesting for a good while. This is much more of a very sophisticated trainer than it is a racer. But racer inspired yes. And it looks fantastic.
......Hey, day two and I've got both front and rear frame pieces fabricated, tacked and partly welded in place. I replaced both rear subframe struts and have the frame in place in the front for the A-arms. I have a lot of brackets and pieces to make to hang the A-arms and shocks. I will take some pics tomorrow, it is starting to look interesting.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]