New project, first quad - gonna be fun!

[HickInTheSticks]

What's up BF?! New guy here, starting up my latest project. Used to ride dirtbikes back when I was younger... pretty much just ride street bikes now, but have been wanting to teach my wife how to ride/shift... figured that'd be best done on 4 wheels.

Bought a little blaster from my buddy for $400. Runs pretty good, just doesn't have any brakes. Still, only took my wife all of 5 minutes to figure it out.

Believe its a 1994 (10th digit on VIN is a "R"). Has brand new tires all around. Plastic is a little rough and stitched in one place, one real small rip in the seat, sh*tty DG pipe/silencer... but really, for $400 I'm really happy with it. Gonna be swinging for some performance while cleaning up the looks a little.

I haven't even so much as started reading threads yet, but in my head I'll probably start with the following:

Brakes - I've read enough to know stock blaster brakes suck. Figure given there's no brakes at all, I should start here.... not sure the exact problem... front cable needs replaced for sure... no clue why the rears won't grab.

Port/Polish - Don't think this needs any explanation. Curious about cost of having this done though if anyone wants to chime in?

Pipe - F7 or Toomey or something.

Mod the air box or something.

Big Bore kit and carb eventually.... that'll probably be one of the last things, though due to cost factors.

 

[HickInTheSticks]

I know this isn't a blaster - but I wanna show off my most recent project that I'm *almost* finished with.

this here is a 31 year old boat (same age as me!) that I picked up for cheap and decided to try to bring it back to life. Got about $1100 tied up in it as it sits.

Boat came with a trolling motor which I converted from transom (rear) mount to bow mount and added an outboard, deck, below deck storage, bilge pump, running lights, nav lights, aux port (cigarette lighter) for charging phones and running a spot light.

Before and after:

 

[HickInTheSticks]

Not sure why the pics came out so small... you can see the stitching in the last photo, why that's the only normal sized one is beyond me.

 

[blaster_rider12]

What's up BF?! New guy here, starting up my latest project. Used to ride dirtbikes back when I was younger... pretty much just ride street bikes now, but have been wanting to teach my wife how to ride/shift... figured that'd be best done on 4 wheels.

Bought a little blaster from my buddy for $400. Runs pretty good, just doesn't have any brakes. Still, only took my wife all of 5 minutes to figure it out.

Believe its a 1994 (10th digit on VIN is a "R"). Has brand new tires all around. Plastic is a little rough and stitched in one place, one real small rip in the seat, sh*tty DG pipe/silencer... but really, for $400 I'm really happy with it. Gonna be swinging for some performance while cleaning up the looks a little.

I haven't even so much as started reading threads yet, but in my head I'll probably start with the following:

Brakes - I've read enough to know stock blaster brakes suck. Figure given there's no brakes at all, I should start here.... not sure the exact problem... front cable needs replaced for sure... no clue why the rears won't grab.

Port/Polish - Don't think this needs any explanation. Curious about cost of having this done though if anyone wants to chime in?

Pipe - F7 or Toomey or something.

Mod the air box or something.

Big Bore kit and carb eventually.... that'll probably be one of the last things, though due to cost factors.

Are you looking for more speed or torque or a little bit of both ( for pipe)

 

[bummer981]

Welcome to the forum. Nice restoration on the boat. The rear brakes are junk, the fronts are not too bad. I just upgraded my fronts to hydros, wiil send you the front brake lines for the cost of shipping if you like.

 

[dirtysquared]

Welcome. What caught my eye quick was the mis-matched front shocks. Some banshee front shocks, used works or elka's are a good upgrade for the front. A 400ex rear shock with KOR bushings is a good one for the rear as well.

It does look like a good clean start. Just remember the sky is the limit with a blaster. You can build it the way you what, for what style of riding you plan on doing.

 

[HickInTheSticks]

I actually have the matching white shock - but that's another thing I'll likely get to upgrading.

Riding style is just gonna be trails mostly. Not for racing or anything, I'd say I'm looking for mostly low and mid range power... since I'm not racing I generally try to be "easy" on my motors and not over-rev 'em. The quad has a nice kick once it hits the higher RPM's... wanna feel that lower in the RPM range. At the same time I'm not looking to lose much top speed because there's a lot of long open stretches I'll be riding on too.

I may take you up on the front brake line! Still need to decide if I want to keep them stock or what my other options are. Probably keep 'em stock though unless my calipers and stuff are bad... if I gotta spend all kinds of money on 'em I'll probably swap 'em out with something with some more stopping power.

Again, I've only spent maybe 10 minutes total reading up on a couple of different mods for the blaster. I never worked on my dirtbikes - I was only 15-16 and just kept 'em stock and had the shop re-bore whenever needed and changed the fluids regularly. So this'll be my first ever build on something.

My initial concern (other than brakes) is the low ground clearance. Maybe I'm just used to dirtbikes, but the frame by the axles is just inches off the ground. Is a larger rear tire a common upgrade on these blasters? I was gonna flip the wheels to get a wider stance to begin with, don't really wanna replace the tires since they're all brand new, but a larger tire = more ground clearance.

 

[Larry's Shee]

Nice job on the boat !! Couple swivel seats you'll be stylin'

Two different shocks on the front??

Stock rears can be made to work fair, best bet is hydro conversion. Did mine with parts from a Warrior.

If you do as good on the Blaster as the boat it'll be sweet.

Followed this on a flipper I did, worked good : http://www.blasterforum.com/threads/cable-rear-brakes-how-to-make-them-work.3830/

WELCOME !!!!
​

 

[blaster_rider12]

If your looking for more low-mid range power I suggest an fmf fatty and powercore 2 and some boyesen power reeds

 

[Blaaster]

For low down power and a great sound, DMC Alien all the way, perfect leak free fit up as well!

 

[HickInTheSticks]

Well, I got my rear brakes working. Just opened up the caliper, cleaned it up and put it back together, sans gasket, and it worked fine. Gotta remember to get a new gasket to put in there, but I can lock the rear tire up no problem now.

Front brakes work fine, just need cables.

Need to get some fresh oil in it all around. spark plug was pretty fouled up and was loose enough that I pulled it out with my bare hands. hit it with a wire brush and put it back in for now. sprayed the carb with some carb cleaner too. Bikes running a lot better already.

 

[HickInTheSticks]

Well, took it out on a wooded trail today to give my wife her first taste of the woods. Bike did well for the most part, absolutely no issues in the woods...

However, when I took it out on the gravel road to see how fast it'd go, seemed like the motor wanted to bog out at higher speeds. I'm gonna open it up and see if TORS is there or if its been removed. Thinking that may be the issue as it only happens when the throttle is held wide open.

Could be the carb, tho.

Wondering if anyone can tell me what all is supposed to be under the seat? Is the compartment behind the airbox just for storage or is something supposed to be there? There's a rubber strap there but its not holding anything in so I'm not sure?

Also, I'm taking bike recommendations for trail riding for myself. Currently at a Polaris Outlaw IRS or a YZF450. Maybe a 400z/ex... really wanting some opinions on this. Really like the idea of IRS for a trail quad, although I think the Polaris quads are really ugly compared to a YZF450 and co.

 

[Fast6hand]

The strap use to hold a factory tool kit in there. I've never seen one.

 

[Larry's Shee]

Clean air filter and carb, new plug