Originally Posted by scooterroo

hello all, new guy on these forums with a few questions on an 87 lt230s quadsport. im picking one up this weekend for the just right price of 200 bucks. the thing runs good, smokes a little bit when first started and cold, but when warmed up, it goes away. no ticking in the topend, no knocking in the bottom end, clutch seems to be pretty good, shifts fine, but i will still be pulling the motor and tearing it down to rebuild it. the plastics are beat, looks like something doc frankenstien would have. rear fenders have multiple cracks in them that are ziptied together, fronts have been cut sorta like qracer aftermarkets, headlight shell is cracked and also ziptied together, so i will be looking to get new plastics for it also. the thing is basically a stock, white, beatup qsport. i had an 86 quadsport, brand new off the showroom floor when i was a kid, and i had a viper hurricane kit installed in it before i took it home. cant quite remember what the kit entailed, but it gave it a noticable punch compared to my cousins 85 he had.

my questions are...
1.) i wanna give this motor some punch. this is what i was thinking of doing to it. bore cylinder and new piston, port and polish the head, new cam and valves with springs, perhaps lighten the crank, timing chain, intake and carb, custom fab an aluminum airbox for it, an aftermarket pipe and silencer, new clutch kit in the bottom, and while i have the cases split, new bearings and seals.

what kind of performance parts are availible for this model? as in parts i mentioned above...

2.) i'm looking to go with an old school flat track racing look on this rebuild, so i want to do whatever i can to mod the suspension. i am thinking of widening the front a few inches and lowering it down, are there any aftermarket extended a-arms availible for these? what kind of shocks are availible as well? if i have to i guess i can fab some custom parts if need be, but would rather buy them already to bolt on and go.
in the rear i would like to extend the swinger and widen the axle. are there any aftermarket swingarms availible, as well as axles? or is extending the stock arm and wheelspacers the only way to go? are there any kind of adjustable rear shock mounts availible as well? like i said, i can fab if i have to, but would rather just buy the parts to do it and bolt them on.

3.) plastic plastic plastic!!! every inch of the plastic needs to be replaced. front fenders, rear and headlight shell. are these still availible by any chance either thru suzuki or maier, maybe bigdawgs? i more then likely wont be using the headligth setup on it, but would still like to have it just incase. i would be sticking with the white color it is now, so no worry about finding them in another color, like black, blue, or whatever.

4.) rims and tires... want to go with new itps all the way around, and either a full set of hoosier tri-tracs, american racers, or the kings tt's. what bolt pattern do i need to get for the rims front and back? 10 inch rims fit all the way around correct?

now a friend told me that possibly quadracer front arms, and rear axle might work on these, but he is not 100% sure on that. does anyone know if this is true or not? if so i should be able to go and get a set of extended arms and a durablue axle for the racer to fit on this bike which would be awesome.

well, i have no pics as of yet, like i said i am picking it up this weekend. but if will post some up when i get it and get it in the garage and on the operating table. thinking of going with a charcoal aluminum powdercoat color on the frame, silver metalic on the arms, swinger, bars. white plastics. and suzuki blue highlights, meaning seatcover (have an oldschool nos one that has suzuki printed on the sides in white), grips, hubs, perhaps motor, and if ican find them.. decals.

i will going thru everything on this bike, every nut and bolt. i love to restore and mod the older bikes, im just a vintage type of person. they are alot simpler and easier to work on in my opinion then the newer rides of today, plus they bring back alot of memories and nostalgia for me seeing is how this is the era i grew up in and learned how to ride.

any ideas, suggestions, whatever, is greatly appreciated. point me in the right direct please!! and thanks for reading. stay tuned for the resto thread once i begin.

thanks,
scott

Originally Posted by Trailrider230s

ok lets get the parts compatibility right here guys

warrior rear shock is correct but a new bushing needs to be made for the bolts.

lt250r axle will only widen your wheel base like 4 inches or a hair under.

lt250s front shocks need alot of mods to work but lt250r front shocks set on the lowest preload bolt right up.

lt250s a arms are impossible to find but if you do find a set plan on spending some cash. they are not cheap. and you dont cut the mounts you have to trim down the pivot tube on both sides of the arms and cut and extend the tie rods.

there are cheaper way to widen the front without cutting and welding and wont sacrifice strength. i suggest a pair of .160 Douglas wheels, they widen the front out 2 inches on each side which gives you 4 inches overall, not to mention its a bolt on upgrade.

Originally Posted by JustRandy

Flipping rims or buying offset rims to widen the front increases bump steer and puts a lot of stress on the tierod ends. You can do it, and I ran like that for a while, but the bump steer sucks and wont be long till you're shelling out cash for new bearings.

There is another way.... Its called a frame-widening kit. LT-Z250 (includes shock conversion kit) | Diamond J Customs | Quad-Rodding Systems & Suspension Kits Its still not the "right" way, but no bump steer.

Originally Posted by Trailrider230s

well i adjusted for the extra stress on the tie rods. i upgraded to a stronger set of tie rods made by ASR, i think thats the company. they have bigger threads and stronger connecting tubes. and i also switched to 87 quadsport hubs for the thicker bearing carrier.

and i still havent got a clear definition of what "bump steer" is. i have been riding with my wide wheels all year. i think i logged over 300 or 500 hours of riding without problem, well other than my axle bearings from quad boss being junk. i shoulda got All ***** Racing bearings instead of being a cheap ***. I almost paid the ultimate price by cracking my mag cover, thankfully my leg and ankle took the hit instead of the mag cover.

hey randy
can you send me the link for the windowed chain that you got? i cant seem to find it on rockymountainatv.com.