Hey gang, I've been introduced to this forum by Nitrosport_5. I recently had the pleasure of meeting this incredible young man, who builds some pretty awesome machines.

A little about me, and why I've come to the world of Pilots and Odyssey's:
I'm almost 54 years young, and avidly ride CR500's. I'm a technical woods guy (yep, woods-weapon of choice.... '86 CR500), but enjoy the sand almost as much. I've ridden bikes/trikes/quads since I was 8 YO. I have 4 sons, 3 of which are avid riders (more on my 4th later). Between my stable and theirs, we have several CR500's, several YZ250's, some ATC200X's, an ATC200E, my "85 ATC250R in-a-box" (which wants to grow up to be an ATC500R), a couple 350 raptors, a YFZ450R ('09 FI), and a Yammie Anniversary R6. I'm an old school hot-rodder (big trucks, fast cars and fast bikes), who has also learned by trial to build some hefty-horsepower turbo motors of today's technology. We like fast cars and bikes, racing fuel and the rush that goes with it all. In CR500 Australian slang, it's called being a "Hoon".

Now about my 4th son, and the reason I'm here. He'll turn 20 years old in two days. One of my pet projects for him has been to build a joystick-controlled Odyssey or Pilot. My son was born premature (by 3 months), and was diagnosed at birth with Cerebral Palsy. My wifey and I had a trip to Hawaii planned for a second honeymoon, we got pregnant, and decided not to postone the trip. Well, long story short, her water broke way early while we were on the beach on Waikiki. She spent two days in Honolulu General, until we could talk the airlines into letting us get on a plane headed home. The wifey spent the next several weeks in our local hospital, and gave birth to my 4th son. He's an awesome young man, in a wheelchair full-time, and desperately needs some new excitement in his life. With very limited mobility, I need to set up his soon-to-be FL350 purchase from Nitrosport_5 with a total stand-alone joystick control, so he can finally join in with the rest of the family for fun in the sand and mud. I've had this project in mind for about 4 years.

I look forward to learning about the Odyssey, and rubbing shoulders with the wealth of knowledge that I know exists here. Please give me some latitude as I may be asking what seem to be very newb questions. Thanks for inviting me aboard, and thanks to Nitrosport_5 for allowing me to make this dream project happen.

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your project develop and become a reality! Be sure to keep us updated and we will try and answer any questions you may have. This site is full of good info and good people, so you came to the right place!

Thanks Nelly. Matt (nitrosport_5) had many good things to say about this group. I'm looking forward to learning and enjoying. This will be an interesting project, with full 8-function, electro-proportional controls. I'm hoping to keep all the original controls intact, with "clip-on" style servos and such. Once I get all my ducks in a row, I'll start up a build thread. I work pretty long hours, so the posts may be a little sporatic. But, I'll eventually get the progress up on screen.

Thanks again for the welcome!!

Welcome to the site

Glad to see you made it over here and are going to do a build thread on this. I am anxious to see what you come up with as far as the controls go!

Thanks Matt, yep, looks like a great group of like-minded peeps here. We got it home without issues. I drove it right out of the back of the truck. I've started it several times..... lights up on the first crank, every time. This is an awesome running machine. I don't think I'll mess with the jetting until I can get a chance to run it and read the plug. It does not seem to be running rich (and more importantly, not running lean). Like I mentioned, I'll get a build thread going when I get started. Until then, we'll enjoy it as-is, and I'll just do my best to maintain it properly.

For those that don't know this machine we purchased from nitrosport_5, it's about the most original, unmolested FL350 I've seen in the last 4 years of searching. Thanks again for taking such good care of it Matt!! You are definitely going to be one of my go-to gurus, since the Odyssey's are new to me!!

We've ridden two-up in the back yard (yes, I'm a big guy, and it was a squish to get seated with Cameron up front), and Cameron was absolutely thrilled!! My neighbor, also an off-road nut like us, was out watching the backyard holeshots, and said has never seen Cameron smile like that before :). We'll strap up, helmet-up, and take it for an easy christening ride tonight.

My son, Cameron, in his new Odyssey:

Thank you for the pictures and i am happy to hear that cameron loves his new toy. it has always been great to me, usually has fired right up. I thought it may have been jetted slightly rich but no so much that it fouled plugs. So once you got him in there, did he want to get back out or is he still sitting in it smiling as we speak . I hope you guys have a lot of fun, and feel free to get ahold of me anytime you guys need anything.

Welcome to the site that is a clean looking 350 I am sure the son will enjoy

Hello Rooster,
Welcome, I'd like to extend an offer of any adaptive parts you may need. I will have access to joysticks and controllers if you need. Also depending on your power supply I will have good used gel type batteries in a variety of sizes from 2.5 amp - 50 amp and an occasional 70 or 100 amp hour battery that you are welcome to have. I will also have a variety of liinear actuators although they are not high speed or weather proof but again if you have a need you are welcome to them. Let me know what you need and I'll see what I have.

Millette, thanks very much for the generous offer!! Sorry for the radio silence.... we've been on a week-long riding trip at St. Anthony's.
I also spoke to my best friend who is a general supervisor at Boeing in Everett, WA, and has offered to help design the electronic system (his department wires the cockpit and fuselage on the 747's, 67's, 77's and now the DreamLiner). I'll let him know we have you as a possible source for components. Will let you know as soon as we come up with a game-plan.
I'm REALLY excited about this opportunity to get my young man out enjoying motorsports. He's been very patient, but is ready to test his abilities riding some open range motoring.

Thanks again - More to come.......

Start another thread and post up info and pics of your St. Anthony's ride, wish I could have been their.

Hoser, I'll get some pics posted, but we didn't take the Oddy. Cameron and Mom stayed home, since we were tent camping. It's pretty miserable for Cameron when we don't have the 5th-wheel. It's pretty hard to make him comfortable in a tent.
I'll eventually be trading in my 35' 5th-wheel for a toy hauler, or build a rear transport deck for the Oddy on the 5th-wheel. For the time being, I also have a flatbed bike trailer, which we can trailer behind the 5th-wheel in Idaho, Oregon and Montana ("doubles", yeah baby!!). This trip just didn't fall into place for Cam to go.

Just checking in...How is the joystick Oddy conversion going?

Didn't see this first time.Welcome to the forum.I am anxious to see how this joystick thing works out.

Stix, sorry, been away for a while - REALLY busy at work (I should be very thankful I guess). Nothing has moved forward on the project other than some ideas and initial schematics scratched out. I'm hoping to meet up with my buddy from Seattle around Xmas, and see what he can muster up for ideas. Meanwhile, Cameron and I have ridden the Oddy several times close to home (we can ride from Spokane Valley, where I live in WA State, clear into North Idaho, literally without touching pavement). He absolutely loves the WOT (Wide Open Throttle) runs on the trails along the highway. I keep telling him he turns into a giggely little girl at about 45 mph - LOL. The Oddy is currently winterized and tucked away for the winter (or until we bring it out to play a little in the snow). Stay tuned, I'm very determined and excited to get started on this and make some progress. Believe me guys, I'll be tapping into your knowledge before long.


Thanks for the welcome

Rooster, welcome to the forum. I am also a relative newbie myself(-1yr) and have found this forum to be a GREAT HELP on many of my 350 questions! I reassembled my 350 that I bought as a bare frame and tubs full of parts from a guy which was a great experience! I've even gotten parts from nitro and several others on this site as spares and replacements, so if you need something- speak up and ill help all that I can. Enjoy the odyssey(they are a blast) and good luck!

Randy

Thanks for the welcome and offer Randy. I've done a lot of searching/reading (not much posting), and yes, there's a wealth of knowledge here. I look forward to becoming a little bit more of an active member, once life slows down a bit.