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 Post subject: -=Your Pilot? =-
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:04 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:40 pm
Posts: 22512
Location: Chicago
Everybody has a story behind their Pilot or Odyssey so lets hear yours...


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:19 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:40 pm
Posts: 22512
Location: Chicago
I bought my Pilot from a close friend, at the time I had a FL250 and another friend got hooked on them so he found a good deal on a FL350 and bought it, back then we raced locally, after a few races running my 250 with the 350's and Pilots it was clear to me I needed to move up to a FL350 or Pilot I stopped by my buddy Don's place to see if he knew of any for sale, Don had raced Pilots and Odysseys for years and worked on them all the time in his shop, he traveled from state to state racing and was in the Pilot Odyssey racing 'know' pretty good, his reply was "why don't you buy my spare Pilot" so I did :-)


Pictures of my Pilot are every where, some time in the future I will find some choice pics and post here.

My second Pilot I bought from Pilotman it was a total basket case, I bought it for the wife but she never rides it...

I have updated it over the years, I just recienlty rebuilt the whole Engine, rebuild crank, new bearings, seals, gaskets, hoserized cylinder, cool head http://www.pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?t=3891 Power pros torque pipe, new power bloc clutch, 39mm PWK carb.

http://pilotodyssey.com/basket.htm

My Pilot has seen some updates over the years too http://www.pilotodyssey.com/new440.htm


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:14 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:39 pm
Posts: 16
Location: ypsilanti,michigan
got my fl250 from my dad he can not ride it becouse of the lack of suspension and he has a bad back . so it made it to me and i am trying to make it rideable again.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:21 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 9:40 am
Posts: 89
Location: Chesterfield/Dinwiddie Virginia
I got my Pilot from someone that sells used lawnmowers on the side of the road about 1-1/2 years ago. One of those stories that you hear, but never think it could happen for you. Owning a Pilot has always been a dream or fantasy for me. I got a call from my cousin telling me that he saw what he thought was a Pilot for sale. I basically say yea right. A day or so later he confirmed it was a Pilot and got the guys number. I still was slow to react thinking it would be out of my price range. Well finally I couldn't take it any more and called the guy. I could not believe the price I was told. The sad thing is that I feel I could have talked him down even more as he did not possibly know the true value of what he had. Since his price was more than good I paid his full asking price of $1500. As far as I know these things as very rare in central Virginia. I know of no others in the general area.

The Engine spun the big rod end bearing a few months later, but thanks to Hoser I now have a Hoserized Engine that puts smiles on my face. I recently put a new power bloc clutch on it and if I decide to keep the Pilot I will get a torque pipe for it. Over tha last year or so I have fixed most of the issues I found it had. The last couple things it needs is a choke and parking brake cable. I could also use a left rear fender, but since it just has a crack at the very back I don't see the need to spend the money on it yet. I probably should have got one when everyone ordered them together.

Some are probably thinking "if I decide to keep it". Well shortly after I got my Engine rebuilt by Hoser I was able to talk my parents neighbor into selling a 69 Camaro that has been setting in their yard for over 15 years.
It needs a total restoration and I know this will cost me a small fortune to do. On top of this my wife and I decide we want to try and sell our house and upgrade while the deals on the new ones are so good. We got a contingency offer on a new house. After 3 price drops on our starter home (been here for 11 years now) and a big drop on price of the new house we have still not closed the deal. I am getting tired of the hassle and ready to call it quits on the new house. If I do this I should be able to keep the Pilot and have the extra money to slowly restore the camaro over the next year or so without getting into any debt. maybe by then the market would have started to turn around enough for us to get our house sold and still get a decent deal on a new one. I can't think of anything better than having my Pilot and 69 Camaro side by greeting me in the morning when I open the garage door. Although the Pilot has always been a dream my heart is with the Camaro. My first 69 Camaro was converted into a full out drag car back in the mid 90's and I regret it to this day. I will die with this one.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:14 am 
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Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:01 am
Posts: 87
Location: California, Central Coast
As a kid I always wanted an FL250. Then the FL350 came out and I drooled on those for a while but being 10 years old there was no chance of getting one. The Pilots came out and that was something I knew was just not practical to dream about since I was gearing up to restore a 67 Mustang and that was going to more than burn all of my budget. I finished the Mustang my second year of college and between that and my studies I lost the ATV bug.

After getting my engineering degree, I started working for Toomey Racing in 2002 and being in the industry got me thinking about getting an ATV again. I was looking into buying a Banshee since that is what we were living and breathing at work, but the safety of the Pilot was very appealing.

I finally made the leap to an ’89 Pilot in 2003 off of eBay from Nor Cal. I had never ridden one and did not know much about them, including if I would even fit since I am 6’6”. I was able to squeeze into it for a test ride and it ran very strong so I loaded it on the trailer and took it home. I did not know it at the time, but it had tons of work done to it including ATVR LT front, chrome moly roll cage, Torque pipe, porting & head work, extended capacity gas tank, Desert bumper and skids, Beard seat, Power Block, beadlock rims, Hondaline nerfs, and a relocated radiator. It has been lots of fun.

In 2005 a stock ’90 eBay purchase resulted from not knowing anybody that could go riding with me so I bought #2 as a loaner. I am now married and my wife loves to ride it.

I have not done much to the ’90. Earlier this summer I rebuild the top end and it is running well again.

The ’89 on the other hand I have rebuild the top end about 4 times and top to bottom earlier this summer, including a Hoserized cylinder & intake and Speedchaser Cool Head. I modified the rims to accept bead locks on the inside and outside and CNCed the retaining rings. My next mod will be to design and build an LT setup for the rear. I am thinking of building billet aluminum arms. I am going to use Fox Air shocks and I picked up a set of 4x4 Tuff axles… but that will be a while before I get around to that since we now have our first baby on the way, the Pilots will take a back seat for a while.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:52 am 
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Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:51 am
Posts: 2703
Location: Upland, Ca
I'll try to scan some pics at kinkos tomarrow of the after

My story:
I grew up in Vegas riding quads. One day in 1988 my dad brought home a pair of fl250's me being 10 years old I was just big enought to ride them. I was hooked on the little buggies. We then moved to So Cal and in 1997 I bought my first fl350. I bought it from a family that raced in the 80 in socal. I sold that one to my dad and then purchased another one from the father of the owner of my last fl350. But this one was built my Lekich racing and blew everything away. I was offered 5500 for it in 1998 so I let it go and came accross a pro-atv phantomIII car. I bought it for 3000. I pulled the fl250 converted to 500cc Engine that was junk and installed a 440cc fancooled snowmobile Engine. After it sitting for nearly 3 years in 2001 I sold it on ebay for 6000 and put the money into my new sport of drag racing. Well 2 years ago I got back into riding again so I got a quad yfz450 but it didnt do it for me. So 6 months ago I noticed a neigbor of mine had a pilot sitting in his sideyard. So I hit him up about it one day. He told me he had no paperwork and told me 3000. So after trying to get the vin checked I offered him 2800 and he took it. I got all the paperwork done and registered. It was in bad shape. So I tore it down replaced the rollcage 3 fenders 1 side panel all new fluids, filters, new brakes 1 headlight assembly. Then I upgraded to a beard super seat atvr front LT with 2007 yfz450 shocks. New axles 39mm airstryker carb atv-r older style torque pipe. and custom air intake with ultra lid. I fabbed up a front and rear bumper and went racing..............................


before


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:35 am 
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Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:02 pm
Posts: 533
Location: Bellevue WA I OWE Hoser $300.00
My story is an odd one, but here it goes.

I always wanted a Pilot or 350 of my own. My dad had raced them for years when i was younger, but I was only able to drive the go kart we had ( i was 8). Time went by and mom and dad got divorced. Dad stayed in iowa and I moved withn mom and my bros and sis. We moved to Seattle and shortly after and my gokart was stolen a few days following.

Well my dad was jackass and never stayed in touch, so when I turned 14 I saw a FL250 sitting in a guys backyard, I got a job delivering papers... lol yea, and went back when I had 300 saved to buy it, it was sold around the time I saw it..haha. But the man pulled another out of the shed and said I could have it. The only thing was that it didnt have a rear end on it, I put it on a wagon and pulled it home. Engine was there, no axle or tires though, so I got on Ebay and bought those. It was my 15th b-day and I was riding it like crazy. I loved that thing, my friends all had their quads and dirtbikes (like 250cc) and here I was in my 20yr old machine going down the trails with them.

Fast forward to about 3yrs ago. There was a FL350 for sale in OR that i can afford from a guy on the other site, well he told me he had the title, registration and wanted 2300 FIRM. My mom and I drove down there and it wouldn't start at first, he didnt have the title but had a bill of sale, and after we went all that way, he wanted 2500. We drove around the town and she decided to lowball him until he accepted the 2300, she told him that's all we had with us and that's all he was going to get. He got all pissed and made her swear that he was going to get the extra 200 when we got back to Seattle. So we get back to Seattle, electric start didnt work, pull start didnt work, couldnt get it started and after priming it about 30 times and getting a new plug, it finally fired. Took it to Honda, it needed reeds, and new rings (compression test he gave was a lie apparently). Got that done and told Kevin I would only give him 100 more, he got pissed, yelled at me, had his wife yell at me, kept calling and e-mailing, finally I sent the Money Order for the 200 to make him shut up and what does he do? Calls me and says "thanks for the money you little brat asshole" and he reports it as stolen. Well, luckily for me I had a friend at the DMV in MN, he got me a title for it with my bill of sale from Kevin and after seeing it had not been registered I got it titled the day after i got it home so nothing but a quick VIN check happened. Later on I guess he found the COO from Honda and tried to use that as proof, didnt work.

I then got promoted at my job and after a few big moves I had enough to buy my first ATC, a 1986 200x... I popped it into first gear and it knocked me on my ass. Few tries later and I got it, was pinning 6th gear on my local streets...was awesome. Neighbor gave me a 200e Big Red for 100 and I have used that for hunting and fishing and also driving around camp in the snow... haha I love that thing!

End of winter this year I had been looking for a Pilot for a while and DunePilot came through and found me one here in WA! The guy wanted 3500 at first, but after he couldnt find the title, he sold it to me for 2800 and went with me to the Honda shop to get it all cleaned and ready, paid for new plugs, liquids, battery, headlights and a good tune up...he was a great guy and also told me to rip it up on the farmland to make sure I liked it. Well ran it almost out of gas because he kept wanting me to ride it more and more. Helped me load it up, and I had to remind him about the money! Haha, he was happy it was going to a owner that would use it. I got new tires, made some skids, went out to a little race up here and kicked ass! Haha I felt like my dad all those times I saw him racing around the tracks and that grin on his face... my mom and brother say i have it too.

The 200x, 200e and Pilot are my favorite rides. The 250 I still have and also one with a challenger rear kit on it. The 350 I sold for 2000 to a guy that wanted it badly (called me every day). I gave him a link here but havent seen him join yet.

that's my story =)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:39 pm 
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:04 am
Posts: 59
Location: Maryland
"When one door closes another door opens" my Parents always say. This is true in life and how I came to buy my 1990 Honda Pilot FL400.

I grew up riding ATC's and when they were outlawed, and then I started riding ATV's. I started riding ATC’s in 1981 at 6 years old. I had a good friend Russell and his older brother Tony that rode ATC’s with me all over Paso Robles California. There were tons of riding areas and none of the neighbors called the Police or chased us away. Those were the good ole days!!!

Russell (same age as me) and his older brother and I would meet after school on Friday evening to go riding. Russell rode a brand new 1982 Fl250 Odyssey and his bother had an ATC 125. I rode an ATC 70 & ATC 110. There were about a dozen guys and girls that would meet up on the trails around San Luis Obispo County. I still remember the first time I got to ride on the back of an ATC 250r!!! That machine is a beast!!! I was only 6-7 years old!!!

After a while Russell decided to compete with his older brother. He decided he needed to ride an ATC as the Odyssey was not as nimble as those ATC's were. So we traded and I started riding the FL250 Odyssey. What a Blast!!! After that I was a huge fan of the FL Odyssey series from Honda.

My family moved down to the Thousand Oaks California/Agoura Hills California area for their careers, and sadly there were no local riding areas...however Pismo Beach was very close by, and we only went on a special occasion...since I was only 8-9 years old, dependant on my Parents for transportation, and my Parents were so busy then as they were preparing to move to the Middle East for their careers.

Fast Forward to 1985, my 10th birthday, and to my surprise I received a new 1985 Yamaha Moto4 80cc Quad. I was glued to the seat of that machine!!!! It was so much fun and easier for me to ride compared to an ATC.

By this time we moved to the suburbs of Washington DC (Maryland) and there were a lot of huge trails & riding areas back then in Anne Arundel County Maryland. We all rode on the old Nev-A-Mar plastic factory property (they made Christmas Trees & Formica counter tops) and there were miles of old abandoned Baltimore, Washington & Annapolis railroad (W.B.&A.) tracks from the early 1900's, to ride on. The rails and tracks were long since removed as scrap metal and these areas were considered great riding areas.

The State of Maryland built a new highway through the plastic factory property, and at the same time a huge 5,000 new home subdivision was built around the old riding areas. The abandoned railroad tracks/trails were paved for bicycle riding & runners (hiker/biker trails as they are now called) around the new subdivision and overnight the new neighbors complained and signs went up that ATV's etc were not allowed to ride there anymore.

We started going to West Virginia to ride ATV’s and that was 8-9+ hours driving time back then. That was before Interstate 64 & the Interstate 77 (West Virginia Turnpike) was finished. By then I was outgrowing the Yamaha Moto4 80cc quad that I loved so much.

At a Honda ATV dealer in Beckley West Virginia, I saw a brand new 1985 FL350r Odyssey for sale and it brought back memories of the FL250 Odyssey. The salesman did a nice job with his presentation of how the new FL350 was different from the FL250 (reverse, electric start etc) however Santa Clause did not bring one for me that Christmas morning. LOL!!!

I still found some local places to ride in Maryland too, and I was still a regular tire-kicker at the local Maryland ATV dealer. Back then it was only Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, & Kawasaki and they were all in one showroom!!! My how the ATV sport has grown!!!

In 1989 I had to buy some parts for my Quad and I went to a new "ATV superstore" They dealership was huge and had just about everything...looked at the Honda Fat Cat that sat unsold. I looked at the new 4x4 ATV's that were now on the market, and as I looked around the showroom of that huge ATV dealership, I saw exactly what I wanted, the new Honda Pilot FL400.

I still remember the first time I saw a FL400 Pilot in the Honda showroom. I was awe struck!!! My Dad and I inquired about the machine and the salesman (dealer owner) invited us back for a Honda Pilot Demo-ride day. What a day it was!!! The dealer built a hay bale track in the parking lot. I remember 3 Honda Pilots zipping around the small, flat track. The demo-ride was by invitation only, and there were swarms of people driving by, looking and asking how they could ride too. I remember the feeling of riding the Pilot FL400 and I convinced my Dad to go back a few days later to try and purchase a Pilot.

Oh, man I was so close!!! I was convinced by my parents that a car would suit me better than a FL400 Pilot. I was 16 and there were no local riding areas, we had to travel hours away to ride, and I needed a car since I was in High School.

So by this time, there were no more local riding areas in Maryland. We had to travel 5+ hours to West Virginia (some of the best riding on the East Coast) and I was getting busy with High School & preparing to go off to college. I decided that my Parents were right. So, I sadly sold my Yamaha ATV to a high school friend for $400.00

I put the ATV's, and any thought of buying a new ATV or FL400 Pilot on hold and focused my efforts on buying a car, graduating from High School and getting into a good college.

By this time (high school) I was in need of a cool car and I wasted a lot of time with buying a collector's car. After having the car rebuilt 3-4 times over to make it "right" I sold the damn thing, lesson learned. I was really disappointed with my beginning into owning a car...a cool collector’s car to boot, however it needed so much damn work as it was stored improperly. When I sold it my Parents knew that I was disappointed reassured my wise decision to sell it when they said "when one door closes another door (of opportunity) opens".

After college I moved, all over the place, following my jobs & career. It seemed as if all I ever did was work. No time for fun. So I decided to consciously enjoy the things in my life and to take time to stop and smell the roses, as they say.

I was wanted to do something fun on my days off. As I looked through the magazines at the bookstore & searched the internet/EBay for something to do, I thought about buying another ATV. I didn't know what kind of ATV's were available these days so I went to the local ATV dealer.

WOW!!! I was impressed. The new line-up from each manufacture was very impressive. There were new contenders on the market now (Polaris & Artic Cat to name a few) and I had a dozen factory brochures to read over after leaving the "power sports" dealer that day.

I decided to do some internet research. I looked on EBay for a couple of reasons. I wanted to see how much the new ATV's depreciated and how many of a particular model was for sale. I reasoned that if one of the ATV's I was considering to purchase was for sale in abundance on EBay, then they must be unreliable, dropping like flies, and the owners didn't want them anymore and I would not buy that model ATV. Sounds Simple.

While on EBay, I typed in Honda Pilot ATV by chance and to my surprise a few Pilot’s & a ton of parts were for sale!!! I read the owners description and I got a better understanding of how well made the machine was, and how much fun it was to own. The Pilots that were for sale all looked like there were in excellent condition and the owners went on to say that their Pilot's receive a full fluid change & maintenance after every ride.

I was interested and I wanted to own one. If I found a really nice Pilot that was well taken care of properly, I would buy it. The best looking Pilot, for sale on EBay that day, was only a few hours drive away,

I made arrangements with the owner to drive the 6 hours to come up and look at the machine and ask a Pilot owner what to look for etc.

After all, Pilots were now 17 years old and I didn't know what to look for, there wasn’t a buyer’s guide on the internet, and I had no idea how well they held up, or even if Honda still made parts.

I called my Dad for advice and he said "after 10 years after the end of production any company is not legally bound or does it have to continue to manufacture parts". "Great" I said, "not only did I miss the boat back in 1989, Pilots were just collectors items". I told my Dad that Pilots were only made for 1989 & 1990 according to EBay & the message boards on the internet. He said that there must be something wrong with Pilots for Honda to discontinue them and to do a lot of research before I purchased anything…and to keep the collector car fiasco fresh in my mind.

After driving almost 6 hours, just to look at the Pilot, I arrived at a very beautiful, nice, elegant, gated community full of large elegant houses. Once past the guard and arriving at the house, the owner came to the door and said, "I really didn't think you were crazy enough to come all of this way just to look. I sold the Pilot to the highest bidder and the auction is closed". I couldn't believe it!!!!!! I drove all that way!!!! I told him I was coming to look!!! How could this guy do that to me and not call me ahead of time????

I kept my cool and casually asked his advice about what to look for, when buying a Pilot. He invited me in and as we sat down in his beautiful home, he explained the difference between the 1989 & 1990 Pilots. Showed me the different service books, owners manuals etc. He went on about how safe they were how much fun they were, etc, etc, etc. and after listening to him talk about how wonderful Pilot’s are, I was sold on buying one!!!! He said that the 1989 he had on EBay was going to a new home in New York.

I asked it there was anyway that I could see the Pilot, since I drove all that way. He was very cool and said, "Of course, follow me!!!"

We jumped into his truck, and off we went. I thought to myself that I must be getting ready to be kidnapped or something worse. He took me to a very large warehouse inside of an industrial estate. He unlocked the doors and once inside he locked the doors behind us. "Oh Shit... I'm going to be on the back of a milk carton for sure" I said to myself.

The owner turned on lights and the room had 5 well preserved 1989 & 1990 Honda FL400 Pilot ATV’s!!!!!! I could not believe what I was looking at!!!!! There were other ATV's in that warehouse; I couldn't tell you what they were, as I was so focused on the Pilot's.

The owner said that he purchased a Pilot when they were new in 1989. (Pilot #1) He got married and his wife wanted a Pilot to go riding with him too. He looked and looked for a nice Pilot to give to his wife. He found a pair of 1990's for sale in his local area, and to get a nice Pilot for his wife, he had to buy two. (Pilot's #2 & 3) His brother-in-law saw Pilot #3 and offered to buy it from them. The Brother-in-law's wife wanted a Pilot too, so the search went on for another Pilot. The Brother-in-Law found two Pilot's and purchased them, both 1990 models (Pilot's 4 & 5)

So, the owner sold his original 1989 FL400 (Pilot #1) on EBay. The one that I drove all the way to look at. When I asked him why he sold his 1989 Pilot, he explained that he had purchased a new RZR to ride. He said that his wife was no longer interested in riding ATV's (since they never had time to ride) and that he was going to list his wife's 1990 Pilot (#2) on EBay. I told him that I was interested in buying it and to my surprise, he opened the door, showed me how to start it properly, and let me ride it around the industrial park a few minutes. I was sold!!!

A few weeks later, I flew back to his house on Southwest Airlines, rented a Penske truck and picked up my 1990 Honda Pilot ATV. To this day, I have yet to take it off road and ride it. I do start it every few weeks and I have purchased a trickle charger from Battery tender, which I hook up once every month.

Thanks to everyone here for (reading this long post) their great advice and technical information. Especially you Hoser, as without you & your enthusiasm, this message board, the Honda Odyssey & Pilot ATV legacy, and any outlet for these wonderful machines would not exist.

Sincerely,
Michael Pack

P.S. A picture of my 1990 Pilot was in the "letters" section of the September 2008 Dirt Wheels ATV magazine.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:29 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:17 pm
Posts: 3620
Location: Wichita ks
Seen it nce ride. Wondering who it belonged to.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:13 am 
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:40 am
Posts: 346
Location: Australia
My story,
First seen a FL250 when I was about 15 and could only dream of owning one because financially it was out of the question. Then in the early 80`s saw a FL350 and again went on dreaming as the money was still a issue.
Fast forward a few years ,after I started working, and I bought a FL250 which I only kept a short time as I needed the money to by a bike. Fast forward a lot more years after marrage and kids and a morgage and the 40+ year old kid started to surface and I went looking for a FL350, I had seen Pilots on the internet but they were only in the US as Honda did not bring them out to Australia .
I found a FL350 on Ebay and got talking to the owner and found out he had imported a Pilot and that I should do the same as he had a good shipping contact out of California.
Let the stress begin, I had no contact in the US to checkout anything I found and Pilots at the time seem to sell as soon as they were advertised.To cut a long story short I finally found a Pilot ( after months ) on a online trader site I rang the owner and the guys wife answered and I swear she thought it was a prank call when I said I was calling from Australia to buy the Pilot. Over a couple of phone calls I felt I could trust the guy selling the Pilot and deposited full payment (a lot of money) into his bank account and he delivered the Pilot to the shipper.
More stress, the shipper (who lives in Australia) had his local guy supposably pack my Pilot into a container with another Pilot ( being imported by Baz or bugeye59) however over 6 weeks later we finally get the news that the Pilots are not in that container and that they are still in a holding lot in California, both Baz and myself were sweating bullets as we thought they had been stolen. Another 6 weeks past and finally my Pilot arrives I drive a 2000km round trip to pick it up as I could not take anymore stress of having another transport company deliver it .
When I first see the Pilot I`m totally blown away at how good these things look in real life and everyone that sees it are amazed.I was chased down on the highway coming home from picking it up by a guy that owns one and he could not believe his own eyes that a Pilot had just passed him. The Pilot are rare here I would have at a guess that only about a dozen are in Australia.
I rairly use my Pilot but get enjoyment from just owning it.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:19 am 
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:40 am
Posts: 346
Location: Australia
My Pilot (Right) and Baz`s Pilot (center) waiting for shipment in California :-)


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:52 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2003 4:54 pm
Posts: 1360
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Got there late, rode hard and fast, goosed the trophy girl, hauled ass home. repeat


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:19 pm 
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:39 am
Posts: 3294
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
[quote="finallygot1"]I got my Pilot from someone that sells used lawnmowers on the side of the road about 1-1/2 years ago. One of those stories that you hear, but never think it could happen for you. Owning a Pilot has always been a dream or fantasy for me. I got a call from my cousin telling me that he saw what he thought was a Pilot for sale. I basically say yea right. A day or so later he confirmed it was a Pilot and got the guys number. I still was slow to react thinking it would be out of my price range. Well finally I couldn't take it any more and called the guy. I ..........

Good story. Got pics of the Camaro? Great car to restore., I just finished mine about 2 years ago and drive it every weekend. If you have any questions during the resto PM me. I went through just about every square inch of mine and tons of questions and little quirks here and there I finally got it done.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:17 pm 
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:04 am
Posts: 59
Location: Maryland
Nice car...Awesome car. American Muscle Car prices went into outerspace. IMHO, it is the chance of a lifetime to own a car like that!!!

Sincerely,
Michael


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:18 am 
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Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 9:40 am
Posts: 89
Location: Chesterfield/Dinwiddie Virginia
stix9567, I don't have any update pics since I last posted in the projects sections months ago. I just have not had any time to work on it because of selling my house. Things are looking up though as the builder said he would buy my old house if we can't have it sold by the time he completes the new one. My agent told me his offer is a good one, but she won't tell me the numbers until she has it in writing. If that works out I will just have to talk my wife into letting me work on the car in the attached garage until I can get some type of detached work shop built.

My car is a rust bucket so I am stripping it completely apart and rebuilding to a driver/very mild pro-touring car. I love your RS. My first 69 is a RS and like a dummy I converted it into a family sponsored race car and now it just sets in the car trailer.


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File comment: This is a pic from 2 years ago. the last time we raced it.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 4:58 pm 
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Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:51 am
Posts: 2703
Location: Upland, Ca
Well I finally got a camera setup so heres my after pic from my post on the first page


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:36 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:06 am
Posts: 69
Location: Las Rozas-Spain
I saw one Pilot in Egypt, Sharm el Sheikh, few years ago, I felt in love, i never saw one like this before, neither I new about it.

When i was back in Spain I started to find one, it wasn't possible, no one in Spain nows about this dune buggy, even Honda.

During some years I got two Hovercraft, one Kart, some atvs, and more "toys" but no Pilot at all.

Then, one day seven years ago, looking for another ATV, I saw one announcement in one ATV's web site..."vendo buggy Honda Pilot FL400R, buen estado, sólo 3.600 €" (I sell my Honda Pilot Fl400R buggy, good shape, only 3.600 € -4.400 US$). I contacted with the seller and got my Pilot for 3.000 € in Barcelona (North east of Spain).

Back to Madrid the Pilot didn't run as well as I thought, the problem was the main jet (to big), I changed it for one smaller and was magic.

I'm always thinking about the rims, always thinking get some aftermarket rims (nice, brilliant, very good loock) but thanks to Hoser and some of you i keep the OEM ones, and happy.

Finnally i draw the decals and got one "close to original" Pilot:


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:46 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:54 pm
Posts: 58
Location: Coal City IL
Is that picture from a parking garage? Is that where you always keep your Pilot? There must not be any crime in Spain.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:51 pm 
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:39 am
Posts: 3294
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
G5? too many vehicles, have to designate where to park? :-)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:21 am 
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Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:06 am
Posts: 69
Location: Las Rozas-Spain
bubba66 wrote:
Is that picture from a parking garage? Is that where you always keep your Pilot? There must not be any crime in Spain.


This is a Private parking.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:42 pm 
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Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:15 am
Posts: 5
Location: Ireland
Image Image Yes it could do with a clean!!


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:41 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:40 pm
Posts: 22512
Location: Chicago
Bump


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 Post subject: Re: -=Your Pilot? =-
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:20 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:38 pm
Posts: 1785
Location: New Mexico
Here is my Pilot story...

I owned two FL250 Odysseys way back in the early 80's and always loved them but I still think a lot of my back problems I have today are from bouncing around in those two old Odys all those years ago. Fast forward 28 years and last year for Christmas, my wife and I bought my 11 year old daughter a used Yerf dog Spiderbox go kart as a gift. I only had to ride with her a few times in that thing to get the bug pretty bad to find something for my self.

I started looking for a cheep FL250 so I could go chase her around the trails here close to our home. i bid a on a few on ebay but was never able to win anything. I found out a neighbors kid had a blown up FL350 and I tried for about a month to buy it but they never would part with it, so I started watching craigs list. After a while I found a 350 in the phoenix area for 1800.00 and I made the trip out to pick it up. It was a little ruff around the edges but ran like a scalded dog and I was like a kid in a candy store with this thing. I couldn't be happier with it. We would all go out and ride as a family my wife & two daughters would trade off riding the Ody and the Yerf Dog and have a great time but we were really 1 buggy short.

Not long after I found another 350 Ody out side of Phoenix advertised for 900.00. I made a fast & furious trip out to pick it. It was a "rode hard & put away wet" kind of buggy but it ran and was cheep, but 850.00 later now my whole family could ride at the same time so life was good. lol..

I was pretty new to this board when I met Steve and went to go ride for the first time. I had a blast he brought his son's newly restored Ody and it a was a great day of riding until I flipped mine in some deep whoops and broke the bead on the right rear wheel. That ended our day.

I met with Steve again with in the next couple of weeks and this time he brought his Pilot. His was the first pilot I had ever seen in person. We rode & were having a great time until i melted the piston on my Ody. DOH!!!! I had to be pulled about 4 miles out of the canyon by a Razor. Once we were back up top he let me ride his Pilot and I was flat blown away by the difference in the way it handled.

We met to go ride again after Hoser was kind enough to bore my Top end and then I had trouble with the bottom end sucking balancer oil. I got that fixed and we met to go ride again and this time he brought his wife's Pilot. The thing that amazed me was on just a flat out drag race the Pilots didn't seem that much faster but though the whoops I might as well have been pushing my Ody. Poor Steve would have to pull over and wait for me, he was so far ahead, and believe me I was trying the best I could to keep up.

I started really thinking about doing some upgrades to my 350 like a water cooled head, works shocks, new clutch etc... and when I factored in the cost i figured I could just step up to a Pilot for not a whole lot more money. I sold off the 850.00 beater 350 Ody & started looking for moderately priced Pilots all over the country but mostly on the west coast. I wanted to find something that I could just do a weekend road trip to pick up. Every one I found i forwarded pics to Steve and he was kind enough to look them over real good and point out the flaws that me being a newby never noticed. I bid on a couple that were in California on ebay and got out bid in the last few seconds. It seemed like just when i was about ready to give up afastcar posted the link to a 90 Pilot in the San Diego area. It was just what I was looking for so I called the seller and asked for more info. I told the seller I wanted the Pilot and would drive to CA to pick it up towards the end of the week. I told him i would call the night before I was leaving to make sure he still had it and asked if he would be kind enough to hold it for me while I was driving out there about 830 miles away. The seller was kind of rude and said he wouldn't hold it with out a deposit and for me to put a check in the mail. I told him there was no way he would receive it over night so I would just take my chances. After talking with him I had a bad feeling so I started looking for back up Pilots in the area.

The morning before I was headed out an 89 Pilot popped up only about 6 miles from the 90 i was headed out to buy. I called the seller and he sent me pics and that evening. I told him I was headed out there to buy that 90 but I was also very interested in his because it looked to be a bit cleaner. He said I could stop by that night to inspect it when I got there if I wanted. Being very excited I burned up the highway & I made it to his house about 9pm Ca time and looked it over really well did a compression test and made a deal for it on the spot. He agreed to let me pick it up the next morning because I was worried it might get stolen during the night at the hotel. The next morning I met him at 6:30 am loaded it up and headed for home with a grin from ear to ear. :-)

I have only had the chance to ride it a few times so far but I am very pleased with this Pilot. It looks to be a really well taken care of machine that was garage kept most if not all of its life.


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 Post subject: Re:
PostPosted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:54 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:35 am
Posts: 2010
Location: Ottawa, IL
[quote="hoser"]I bought my Pilot from a close friend, at the time I had a FL250 and another friend got hooked on them so he found a good deal on a FL350 and bought it, back then we raced locally, after a few races running my 250 with the 350's and Pilots it was clear to me I needed to move up to a FL350 or Pilot I stopped by my buddy Don's place to see if he knew of any for sale, Don had raced Pilots and Odysseys for years and worked on them all the time in his shop, he traveled from state to state racing and was in the Pilot Odyssey racing 'know' pretty good, his reply was "why don't you buy my spare Pilot" so I did :-)


Pictures of my Pilot are every where, some time in the future I will find some choice pics and post here.

My second Pilot I bought from Pilotman it was a total basket case, I bought it for the wife but she never rides it...




I think that man Don you speak of is who caused me to dream of the 350's and 400's as a
kid. Don V. used to rebuild snowmobile engines for my dad. I wasn't very old but I
remember loving going to his shop. He always had the coolest of cool toys. My dad even took us on a camping trip to Crandon, WI to watch him race. My dad bought my brother and
I an "odyssey"(as we called it) but I'm not sure if it was an fl250 or one of Dons home
builds. All I can remember was that it was all black and it definitely wasn't a 350 Ody or a
pilot as that's what we dreamed of.(now as an adult and knowing how good Don is id be
proud to own one of his home builds) It definitely had hand controls. From what my dad
remembers it had a 340 fan cooled Engine and we got rid of it after we seized it up. Now so
many years later here I am with 2 fl350's to restore. I havnt talked to Don about it yet but
I'm hoping this spring he will be willing to walk me through my Engine rebuild and share
some of his knowledge with me. Can't wait to get my Ody back together and rip it up!


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 Post subject: Re: -=Your Pilot? =-
PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:06 am 
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:26 pm
Posts: 78
So you want to hear my Pilot story... OK, I saw it on EBay and bought it. End of story. (short and sweet)

Now about me... When I was a kid, my folks wouldn't let me have motorcycles or mini-bikes but my dad built a wooden go-kart and put a 5 horse Brigs on it...I thought I was Mario Andretti racing AJ Foyt and all the other greats in our backyard. After graduating college and getting married, I had a few steet bikes but always had a place for off-road. I was in advertising sales and one of my customers was a small Kawasaki (Action Cycle) dealership in Marion IA. The owner, Bill Clymer, and I talked a lot and he got me into couple of off-road bikes, a co-worker taught me how to ride without breaking my neck and I was having fun, even got to ride for DirtRider Magazine as a test rider for their 24 Hour torture test. In 2004 Kawasaki introduced the KFX700...a big ass sport quad...and I was hooked. I bought on Saturday, raced it on Sunday. My bike racing never did much, I sucked as a racer...on the KFX, I was a force to be reconned with and when the young jocks on their little 400s and 450s lined in the gates next to me and started with the old man jokes and where's the plow for the big Kaw...well, I loved my trimmed finders and they hated them...LOL. Pending the track, I could give the boys a good run for their money and I won more holeshots than I lost...

So I made a name for myself MX racing a 550lb V-twin Kaw...enough that I got some national sponsorship, did the 12 Hours of ATV America with a #1 GNCC rider as a teamate using my machine. Ended up getting some calls from Kawasaki, they had heard of my MX racing my KFX700 so I did some photo shoots for them...been in a few mags. My KFX and I have raced every type of ATV racing there is except mud bogs. I have MX'ed, flat tracked, drag raced, Hare Scrambled and ice raced...not to mention thousands of miles on trails and dunes. BTW...any of you MX guys think you are the nats butt for danger and doing big air jumps, try flat tracking where you are on 2 wheels powersliding into a corner where if you screw up, you highside and get power slammed into the track and your quad runs over you plus the guy behind you runs over you...I have a set of nerf bars all banged up from "rubbing" to fight for position...

I'm getting older, wanting to get back into racing and interested in UTV racing but the cost of a new machine is a little too much for me to be justify plus to be competitive, a stock machine isn't going to do it...$20,000 to get back into a sport without much payout is labor of love... So bought my FL400R on EBay, contacted a local promotor who is willing to let me race it and boom, I'm back into racing at a fraction of the cost...

I'll post some pictures up soon for you all...


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