Hi all,

New to the Pilot/Odyssey world. Long time offroader. Worked on many two strokes over the years. Very comfortable with everything 2-stroke, top to bottom.

Stumbled across a listing in my area for a FL350 for $1800. To me that looks like a great price even if it needs work, but I know nothing about these machines. Seller says it runs great. I haven't had a chance to go over yet and check it out. So far from the pictures the ratchet strapped fuel tank seems a little suspect but whatever if it works it works.

Attached are the pictures of it. Any tips/suggestions?

Welcome new guy.
I hope you weren't scared away because of all of sudden spammers we had. Hoser is the site admin and has wiped them out. It happens sometimes.

OH MY another new guy to these machines. Where do I start, I'll keep it short.

I see: Good and Bad

The good: I would buy it for $1800 for a few reasons.
These are rare machines in complete form. Almost every machine will be a re&re in my opinion.
That machine has a straight cage it looks like. It has not been rolled.
Everything seems to be there except the original gas tank.
I would do a compression test before you buy it though.
Also I would demand to take it for a very short spin to verify the transmission does not have issues. These parts and many others are no longer available from Honda and are very pricey if you find the parts. Derek Tisinger has parts for these. The transmission shifter MUST move freely when you put it in forward or reverse. The gears WILL grind if you don't let the rpm come WAY down. You must be at idle when you shift into gear and the rpm must be set low.

The bad:
Original gas tank is missing. I do not like those gravity feed tanks. You will run low on fuel at full throttle if the carb float valve has not been replaced with a bigger unit. I bet my rent money it has not been done. If you lean out a two stroke it's over. You'll melt a piston. Also the tank must be vented or no fuel flow. You must also run a vacuum fuel pump.
Is still an air cooled Engine. I won't get into it much here because it's an argument point but run AVGAS. The oddy was built in ancient times when we had better and higher octane fuel. If you run this thing hard you will melt pistons if you don't.
Seat is ripped. You'll get a wet bum if it's not fixed or covered.

Pressure testing that Engine will be a must to see where you are at.

The step by step is :

A) Seal off the intake manifold with a plug or rubber gasket (inner tube) and a plate

B) Seal off the exhaust port with an automotive expanding rubber “freeze plug” or a rubber gasket (inner tube) and a plate

C) Attach an air fitting that lets you pressurize the Engine, usually threaded into the exhaust test plate or the spark plug hole and also add a low pressure air gauge to see any leak down

D) Pressurize the Engine to 6-10 psi via a hose that has an in-line gauge - be careful - if you go over 10 psi you could blow the seals out on the crank

E) Watch your in-line gauge for 5-10 minutes to confirm you have “absolutely no loss” of air pressure. A loss of even 2-3 psi is not acceptable.

10 lbs for 10 minutes --- NO LOSS of ANY air

Here is a thread I did several years ago. It has a lot of the info you need.
You can click on anything highlighted in blue and download it to your computer.
Tremendous amount of info in that thread.
Here it is: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18393&hilit=manuals

CO