Well in the attempt to find my daughter an inexpensive semi auto quad to putt around in the desert for the last couple months of the season, I ran across a 1987 LT230 on my local Craigs list for $500.

The bike runs, but has a blown head gasket. It appears that 2 owners ago there may have been an engine swap from a shaft drive model, only reason I thnk this is in the extra parts there is a case cover for the drive sprocket shaft that has a larger seal then the chain drive cover on it.

Included with the sale was a set of paddles on alum rims, a folding ATV ramp, 2 brand new round slide mikuni carbs (Carb on the bike is a flat slide mikuni), and what appears to be 80-90% of parts for another engine. So I'm not to dissapointed with the sale.

The bike is a chain drive, pull and elect start, 5 speed semi auto with reverse. The best I can tell from the Bike Bandit site parts lists it appears to be a 230 EH model?

The plan is to get the head gasket replaced and the neddle valve replaced in the carb so I can get her in the dirt by Presidents day weekend. Then do a complete tare down and get her looking pretty for next season, about October time frame.

This is already a little long so I will follow up with some questions/opinions on a nother post.

 

Question #1

How hard is it to work with the internals on these engines? The engine on the bike looks like crap and I want to swap cases with the parts I have.

I have never been inside a MC engine. I have done top end work and have messed with cars for the majority of my life, but for some reason the thought of getting into the gear box concerns me. But in the attempt to keep cost down I'm willing to give it a shot.

Ideally I will have all the top end components overhauled (by ouside shop), cleaned and painted and in hand. Spare Gear box cases all cleaned/painted. Spare crank reworked, I believe I seen a post reffering to a guy name Vince for the rod bearings/crank overhaul?

And do the swap out of the rest of the interal components from one case to another on the bench. Is that a simple enough task? Any concerns for those that have worked in these engines?

Thanks in advance for any and all feed back.
J

 

i know the auto-clutch side of the engine is a pain in the rear. trans gears are not so bad. just be sure to test shift it through every gear. Lucas Oil Stabilizer helps out a ton during a rebuild. And take pictures of the trans once the case is open, it helps in remembering where everything goes, the black and white pictures in the repair manuals suck, and they never show you the entire picture any way.


Vince is a great guy, give him a call for the current crank rebuild prices, all i know is the prices also includes return shipping. Go to the link at the bottom of my post, and click on it( The LT230 Vault), then go to Valuable Links, it will have his website link in there, Vince's Cycle. He doesnt sell parts any more but he still does crank rebuilds.

 

Thanks for the info and tips.

I dont know why Mikuni can not just stamp the model of the carb on it, unless I missed it somewhere. Did a little research and from the info I could find and the measurements I took, it appears I have a Mikuni TM28 Flat slide Card. Ordered a new needle and seat for the float, hopefully that will fix the fuel running straight through the carb and out the over flow.

Also was able to pick up an upper motor mount off ebay, PO either didn't know it was missing or didn't feel it was that important.

J

 

the TM28 Mikuni is a really reliable carb. Alot of lt230s owners upgrade to those flat slide carbs. The TM28 doesn't require constant tuning, once it's set it usaually does a good job. Not to mention, it increases the bottom and top end power a little bit. With that carb you can get an aftermarket exhaust and air filter for it too.

 

Cool my first upgrade! More to come I'm sure.

Trail
Your frame paint came out real nice, any pointers on prep and paint? I'm hoping to be able to get the frame bead blasted first, it would be nice to start from scratch. (Other than what you provided in the vault? Nice write up thanks.)

Also looking for tips on what works good for prep and paint of the motor.

Thanks
J

 

Vince is a great guy. I'm gonna have him do my crank just for fun, who knows, might be able to have this thing last a life time. I'm buying a powerder coating kit for paint wise. They cost about $100 on ebay, and its alot better than paint. But if you do decide to paint the cases, paint them when everything is stripped down. Nothing looks worse than painting bolts, seals, washers, sprockets, etc. It looks like your trying to cover up something. Check your bearings in your lower end while your in there too, they tend to wear, especially on a hard beaten engine that never had its oil changed.

 

Well with the frame, i had it sandblasted. Then i used a self etching primer that way primer ate its way into the bare metal. then depending of the color you choose for the frame, you can go dark shooting the frame color over the self etching primer, or after the primer shoot a coat of flat white to really make the color pop. The tribal designs i did on my frame were a pain.

The engine paint was Rustoleum High heat paint 2000 degree is a must. I just lightly sanded my cases and shot the wrinkle black right on. The paint on my engine took a beatin and still held. I would only paint the engine cases in a heated garage, with the temp in the garage above 80 degrees, to make sure you get a good full cure of each coat. it only took 2 coats of the black and it was done.

yeah i miss my old lt230s, it was a work of pride. Sadly, the kid i sold her to, wrecked her in less than a week. I guess he wasn't ready for a quad that did 5th gear wheelies.

 

Well, I got the head gasket replaced and the new needle valve put in and got her running for a big weekend out in the desert this Holiday weekend. Overall the bike ran real good and started very easy. Ran it most of the time with no battery and it would fire right up with one easy pull. It did appear to smoke a little when it was reved up, but not very noticeable. There were some signs of oil burning when I had the head off, the overhaul this off season should fix that. Should be able to get one or two more trips in this season then the project will begin .