Going to summarize my build log and get it caught up to today...

In original state, this FL350R basically needed...

1. Top end job
2. Carb clean
3. Battery
4. Starter rebuild / replace
5. New front tires
6. Clean-up
7. Re-assembly
8. Repair front bumper
9. Salvage the fenders; repair where needed

But I ended up doing...
1. Top-end job, 80mm bore/hone, Wiseco piston kit, piston drilled, ceramic coated dome, teflon coated side/skirt
2. Exhaust bridge relief and very light port work (defect removal basically)
3. Crank case vent plug and re-locate mod
4. New crank shaft seals
5. Replaced needle bearings in the gearbox; replaced seals.
6. Water-cooled head (After$hock) with YFZ450 radiator/fan, Mercedes pump, and Honda overflow tank; new electronics/wiring to match; custom mounts for everything.
7. New Mikuni fuel pump
8. Cleaned carb; bought +/- jets and 10-pk of plugs for tuning
9. Custom homemade steering wheel pod with Trail Tech Vapor, EGT gage, voltage gage, and fan & water switches.
10. Replaced the rear upper links with brand new aftermarket hardware (QS Components out of Indiana).
11. Picked up a better set of rear rims with damn near new Ohtsu tires, and custom offset front wheels with damn near new tires.
12. New bulbs for stock headlights.
13. Had to buy the side panels for the column.
14. Tore the stock front bumper down to the single tube and built a nice dune-buggy-ish front bumper out of some spare tubing
15. Sand-blasted the Engine mounts, covers, plates, etc. and painted black (would've p-coated if I had the p-coat stuff at that time).
16. Removed axles, inspected, and repainted with silver Engine paint; baked on with my heat-gun
17. New throttle cable.
18. Some pipe insulation pads here and there.

And my plans for this buggy are...
1. Install the brand spanking new-in-the-plastic-bag fenders on her, but remove them for riding (lol) (DONE)
1.5. Crack open the Engine and make 100% sure all is well, clean, and beau-tee-ful. (DONE)
2. Start her up and tune, tune, and tune. (DONE, needs tuned)
3. Fab a steel mesh "visor"
4. Fab a set of bolt-on tree-bars
5. Install my reverse light and cab light
6. Install a set of round dune buggy headlights (CANCELLED...restored stock rectangles to perfection from bulb to outer rubber seal)
7. Install a fire extinguisher and mount (DONE)
8. Make a mount on my gage pod to mount my phone (for camera and GPS).
9. Buld the visor for my gage pod
10. Powder coat the wheels (DONE)
11. Fab and install the additional link from the rear carrier to the frame (axle saver). Will be 5/8" threaded rod with 5/8" ID tubing through the middle, then a 5/8" heim at either end.
12. Side panels on interior; either steel mesh or aluminum sheet.
13. Basically get this one setup and tuned for trail / woods / snow riding, dependable, and fun.
14. Some more aesthetics along the way.

Then focus on buggy #2. #3, and #4 (will have their own build logs).

Thaaaaaaat should have everyone caught up. =)

Few other tangents I left out, like the attempts at different rear shocks, and the LT250R front a-arm/spindle/hub/brake fit-up (not on this buggy though), some issues re-assembling the gearbox (pay attention to the small gears at the selector shaft), starter swap, intake attempt (working on it).

Need to get off this laptop and into the shop, damnit!!! <running footsteps>.....<Coors Light opening>...<door slamming>....

Looks nice...

Got my gage pod wiring all tucked. While waiting for the pod mounting plate to dry, disassembled the rear shocks, cleaned em up, painted the springs, and reassembled.

Need to get the EGT probe hole drilled and probe installed, and get battery charged. Then will be ready to start this beast. Funny...just open to the 60'f air, the EGT is reading 82'f.

As I get closer to starting this rig, I'm haunted by the fact that I never cracked open the bottom end. Had both side covers off, but never split the cases.

Way back when...I rinsed the crank chamber with fuel to get any funk out. And there was a tiny bit of oxidation on the crank lobes. Crank is tight, bearings feel tight, and rod and rod bearing looked ok. Just worried that some rogue gunk in an oil passage or something stupid like will grenade it, along with the new top end.

I have a couple other engines that I could breakdown and 100% go thru.

What would you do?

If I had an extra Engine I would probly pull it and go through it to be safe.

Yep. I think just the fact that I posted it as a question, I'm pulling the Engine.

I've got 3 complete engines, one for parts, extra jug, and an extra cherry crank. I may just rebuild all three to also accomodate my recent additions to the buggy family. Sigh...but its the right thing to do.

I have always had one of the jug hex nuts in the back of my mind...the front clutch side one. I couldn't get the torque wrench in there to torque it. Just gave it a good tug. I didn't like that.

PS: Yep, convinced myself 100%. Maybe even do a couple engines with the works...new bearings, seals, and evne some p-coated cases / covers. Might as well do all three engines and be done.

Looking really good.

After a few long nights...she is running! :)

Was having trouble getting fuel to the cylinder, but quickly realized I didn't have the carb bowl plug on tight. I had to adjust the idle just a tad to get her purring at 1500 rpm. Having that tach rocks! Runs good and strong, but takes a couple seconds to come down. But tuning & plug chop is in her future.

Need to get the coolant system filled and burped so I can run it longer than 15-20 sec.

Also took a run powder coating a set of stock wheels. Blasted them with some Black Beauty, cleaned with acetone, baked one coat of ultra silver chrome for 10min at 400'F, baked a coat of clear gloss for 8min at 400'F, and done. They came out okay, not perfect. But for a cost of about $5 a wheel...I'll take a nice look and durability! Expectations...Just have to remember that a non perfect surface can't be fixed with paint, and that a $50 old oven in my garage won't likely output showroom parts. :P. They'll look good when I'm flying by at 55mph.

Coolant system is full and leak-free. Basically filled it until the pump overflow spit out some fluid. Then run the pump for a few seconds. Fill some more. Pump. Fill. Then with pump running, add more fluid to the rad until the pump isn't cavitating at all, cap the rad, and voila. You can hear the pump constantly pushing fluid - no cavitation.

Need to drill the head pipe for the EGT probe yet.

Went to Belle Tire and got my front tires mounted on my custom offset p-coated wheels, plus new valve stems. They did em for FREE. Those guys rock.

Got most of her together now. Got my #2 set of fenders on in these pics (the trail set). Few more things to bolt on yet. My poor garage...

Got a few more things bolted on last night. My doo-hicky that holds the Vapor wheel rpm sensor under the brake rotor...got that secured with some new hose-clamps. And it works!!!! It was like I was 12-yrs old and my pinewood derby car won a race or something -- I'm just a 36-yr old kid! lol Still need to program the vapor's odometer.

Then got the bottom rear skid plate bolted on, but discovered the remnants of two snapped bolts. Took 45-min, some PB Blaster, and some F-bombs to back those out. <sigh>

Got the gage pod bolted together and secured, and made a couple cardboard prototypes of the visor / shield. The little blue LED on my water pump switch decided to stop working. That's a $4 switch for ya! Switch still works, though.

But then I sat in her, started her, drove 3' backwards, and 3' forwards, and just smiled. Clutch engagement feels right, but still haven't had her WOT (Wide Open Throttle).


Hoping to get everything bolted on, completed, and checked this week so I can take her to my dad's farm on Saturday for a test / tune session. Then if everything is good to go, I'll bring home buggy #2 to start its make-over.


EDIT: added pics showing my method of tracking wheel RPM for the Trail Tech Vapor odometer and speedometer...

Happy Friday! My baby daughter was an angel tonight, so the wife had no problems with my 3hr garage marathon.

Got the EGT probe in the pipe finally. Had the probe wires reversed...unless my Engine is a cryogenic pump and runs below -300'F. lol. But she is running solid. Hoping to tune this weekend.

Had the seat out to get to the head pipe easier, and decided to wire wheel and paint the seat frame. And armor-alled the seat.

Happy Friday! My baby daughter was an angel tonight, so the wife had no problems with my 3hr garage marathon.

Got the EGT probe in the pipe finally. Had the probe wires reversed...unless my Engine is a cryogenic pump and runs below -300'F. lol. But she is running solid. Hoping to tune this weekend.

Had the seat out to get to the head pipe easier, and decided to wire wheel and paint the seat frame. And armor-alled the seat.

Looking Good D$!

I noticed one thing in one of the photos though...

Is this a crack in the axle hub? or just a piece of debris?

looks like grease to me. You can see it oozing out closer to the brake disk.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! lol It's grease.

whew!

Got her all together and then did some spring cleaning. Took it for a rip around the yard, too. Runs awesome! It gets trailered to my dads farm Tuesday, and I'll bring buggy #2 home for the next build. Love this rig!!

looking good!

Turned out great, Nice job!!

Thanks! It's been fun, and I can't wait to start the next one here soon.

I noticed it was taking a few more RPM's to engage the clutch. So, in looking at the clutch and the belt, I noticed the new belt that was clamped to the cage (as my spare) was wider then the one on the buggy. Duh. I had a 25mm belt installed, when the new one was a 30.2mm. MUUUUUCH better engagement!!

Also adjusted the rear camber via the new links to get the rear tires right.

I friggin' love this thing! It's my first ATV with reverse, and it just rocks. Turning radius could be a little better, though, but that's what reverse is for, right? ha I'd like to get some taller tires on there. These are 21" and have a flat profile. I'd like to get 23"s with a little more of a rounded tread. But these were also only $40/pair.

I'm also please at how decent the $100 of fenders looks on her. It took some feeBay hunting, but they aren't too bad at all! The NIB set is still N and IB.

Crawling underneath I noticed there is a little bit of surface corrosion on the front sub-frame. I'll get that wire wheeled and painted, for sure.

Anxious to get this thing to the farm, get her tuned, and go for a good afternoon cruise around the back 250 acres!

I need that ringer washer to wash my shop towels and work cloths lol

Went for a ten minute rip in the 14'F air, and holy Jesus what a fun machine!! Loaded her up and relocating it to the platground (250acre farm)..


PS....the little manilla envelope ziptied to the steering column has my extra jets in it. Planning to go one step bigger to 145 since she seems to have more top end to give up.