So my daughter has moved up from a 50cc Kazuma to her brothers modded LT80. He has moved from the LT80 up to a Honda TRX250.

I needed another mid-sized quad for my girlfriends kids to ride.....Im over at my mechanics and I see an unloved Yamaha Moto4 setting in the corner.

Story is this guy brings it in to get it running.....then cant pay the bill.

$450 and its mine.



Runs great....starts easy.....newer Yuasa battery.

The only problem is after it sets for a couple weeks it will smoke a little bit for a few minutes till it warms up. If its ridden often it doesnt do this. Im thinking leaky valve seals....but hey, its been setting for alot of years prior to this so it may come out of it....either way, a little smoking for a few minutes occasionally is NOT a big deal.

Thinking of going a few ways with it.

The newer Raptor 80 is almost identical to this thing.....part for part. The newer Raptor 80 plastic almost bolts right on this thing. The rear does....the front requires slight modification to 2 brackets.


That would definitely be cool....but eh, Im lazy and cheap.

So Im thinking truck bed liner (the kid this is for doesnt like red....he likes black and blue) the plastics.

Ive ordered new blue bars, new blue grips....and a new black/blue seat cover.

Paint the wheels black. Hit the frame with some fresh 99 cent a can flat black. Add number plate.

UNI air filter on order (old one disintegrated).

I kinda wish the plastic were more ragged out.....I hit one spot with a little buffing compound....cleaned and shined up real good.

.....but these never were very popular, atleast around here....so Im attacking it with truck bed liner.

Stay tuned for the carnage......hopefully it doesnt turn out to bad.

 

woo hoo another moto4 owner i had myne off the dealer in 86

they are bullet proof you can also buy used blue plastics of ebay

 

"the kid this is for doesnt like red....he likes black and blue)"
But does he like to ride?....Ride red...LOL
A 80cc moto4 was Angela's first quad. Couldn't pull itself out of a mud puddle. LMAO

 

Hmm...thats odd. I rode this one around in a fairly muddy field (were getting enough rain here in Iowa everything is muddy) and it didnt have any trouble at all.

In fact I had my son ride it back to back with the LT80 and he thought the moto4 might have had a bit more top end. Admittedly our LT80 is fairly mild with just reeds, filter and a pipe.....but the moto4 was bone stock.

 

Today I played with the truck bed liner.

Power washed and prepped.....



After 3 light coats I set it out to dry....2 hours later I had this:





Like new...certainly not.....good enough, yep!

Tomorrow Im going to hit the frame with some cheap black....tape off the wheels and paint them blue.

The rest of my stuff (bars,grips,filter etc) shows up Friday-ish....so hopefully by the weekend I can move on to another project.

 

Looks good!

 

What did you use to shine it up? My son has a well worn '86. I bought some Maguires, but wont' try it until the weather is warmer.

 

All I did to get it as shiny as it is in that pic of it setting on the stand is a power washing.....no soap, just water.

I did a small spot (on the rear plastic) with some rubbing compound - it shined it up even better. In the end the red wasnt the color he was wanting so I stopped.

 

Yesterday I sprayed the frame quickly (less than 5 mins) with some flat black paint.....and shot the wheels with some blue.

Im shooting for it looking good from 20 feet away.....lol. After all its an old 4 wheeler thats about to get flogged by small kids.

 

If all you did was power wash it, it's in better shape than mine. It looks great!