We are Anne Marie and James Thompson. We put this channel together in 2019 as a collection of our life experiences as a video journal for the future. We invite you to sit back and enjoy life made in our slice of Vermont.
As the channel has evolved it has come to focus on enjoying the outdoors, particularly on small off road vehicles (ATV's, Go Carts) and what it takes to repair, rebuild and maintain them so we can spend time outdoors enjoying trail riding with our friends, family and neighbors.
The hope is that through these videos people will learn and be inspired to take on an old project and realize the satisfaction that comes with bringing classic ATVs back to the trails for another ride.
Our channel is always kid friendly.
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Yes, an air leak can make your two stroke rev to the moon like a runaway. Kills compression making starting and running tough but the lean condition can/will wreck a motor.
Would it work with the original lighting circuit or would i have to do anything different to make work with oem lighting circuit in my head seems like if i still wire yellow and red wire and still have rectifier on same wire and then earth battery to frame/ engine would it still work ?
In this case I converted the lighting system to dc power then put a regulator in to provide a consistent 13-14volts to the battery so I didn’t kill it. In the scenario you are proposing you would need to find some form of regulator/rectifier that does the conversion from ac to dc, then regulates the output to the battery otherwise you risk destroying your battery. I’m out of my depth though. I would suspect if you put a dc regulator on an ac circuit you would have issues and fry something.
Thanks for the insight. I’ll give it another go. It’s been running well so it would make sense. That or my knock off compression tester is also way off :).
@@VermontLife they are hard to find because of cost and the knowledge of how to even run one. The one here in Illinois is a “load cell dyno jet chassis dyno (motorcycle/dirt bike/SxS/quad/go-cart)
I hope u didn’t use synthetic (premix) in ur oil-gas mix too.. on “break-in” so the rings seat is 16:1, 3-heats “slight revs” up to operating temp 170’s with crappy “non-synthetic” oil
You had me thinking for a bit about what clamp you were talking about. The exhaust clamp right? Makes perfect sense now that you mention it. I’ll do that. Thanks. Sometimes you can’t believe how obvious something is in hindsight :).
@@VermontLife I believe SOME people just do certain things wrong to CREATE the COMMENTS but I see ur TRUE ADMIRATION and ENJOYMENT when working/riding that machine so when I saw ur disappointment on a engine u just put together I HAD TO SAY SOMETHING!!
The rear diff has it's own oil fill at the diff (80w) Otherwise the only oil is wet clutch safe motor oil in the motor case which lubricates the transmission and gears.
These are from amstarmanufacturing.com/ check eBay for the full kits as that’s where I got these and ‘seems’ to be where ASR sells those. (I can’t find this kit on their site.)
These are 1986 trailboss 250 atvs. I’d try RitterCycle.com. I bought a number or parts from him and if anyone has parts he would. Might have to email him to get what you need if you don’t see it on the site. There’s also a preset strong Trailboss/trailblazer Facebook group you might join as well to get plugged into where to get parts and tips. Good luck!
Hello, been watching your tech for a while. TksQuestion: It will not start: with wrong oil filter - it poured out oil from gasket. I replace w/factory , filled oil and it will not start???2003 650 Prairie , 200 hrs. It sparks, trys to start one cylinder when gas in carb, No noises, a compression check w/ weak battery measured 35psi ft & 45psi rear.Suspect front chain tensioner?? if front, any special way install or check or can just R&R. Please let me know thoughts, any ideas Tks, mark / georgetown ca.530-333-5986
Hi Mark, I can’t say I have any experience with the prairie but the 35 and 45 psi compression sounds really low. I’d check the spec in a manual or forum. I might suggest looking to see if there is a Facebook group for the Prairie’s that could give you better specifics but certainly check that compression spec. Good luck!
I run the same LRD exhaust on my stock/Airsal/Vito's cylinders. For my CT cylinder engines I like the CPI left bend pipe - those are pretty much like a completely different engine with a 4mil/CT setup. Nice build. Enjoy it.
Big thanks to HPMPowersports.com for all the support and custom one of a kind parts. It's great to work with a small company putting out innovations for builders to keep classic sport quads not only running, but improving!
Picked up an 88 Moto 4 350 a few weeks ago so I've been researching like crazy and saving important links and videos. Came across your channel the night I bought it and subscribed right away. Thanks for the awesome videos and for actually knowing what you are doing haha! Any chance you have a Mikuni carb laying around that you don't need? Or any other random Moto 4 parts? Thanks!!
I might have an oem carb. I do have a lot of left overs. If you’re looking for something shoot me an email at Thompson.jamesc@gmail.com and I’ll see what I have. I’m actually working through putting take off parts on eBay this week as well.
1987 polaris 250 trailboss 2 stroke New battery,spark plug ,carburetor,oil injector,solenoid,crankseals new magneto, flywheel. ran for 7 minutes then shut off now can't get it started again.any suggestions?
Recheck things, do you still have spark? Is the plug now fouled from cranking and not starting. I’d go through my fuel, compression, spark tests again to be sure. Perhaps a wire ground came loose?
@VermontLife I've got a bad carb I believe I try cranking it up and fuel started leaking out the air filter and bonedry in the top end were the spark plug is so I will update tomorrow after carb rebuild with new parts love watching your channel thank you for answering
I’m four years late but am also wondering what hydraulic line you ran to the back brake. I saw somebody else ask but you weren’t sure where you got it. I did a fair amount of searching but can’t seem to narrow it down. Love the set up and I’m planning to do the same to my 212cc swapped 110! Thanks for showing me it can be done!
Best guess is it is a hydro line from a tao tao 49cc scooter for the front brake setup. I had to redo one of those around that time. They are easy to find on Amazon for the Tao Tao scooters. Good luck!
hey I have a 1986 350 yamaha moto 4 that has one fire and stops. Do you have any idea what it could be ? I have replaced the cdi box and the staor still one spark.
I fought a one spark situation on another build in the channel. Looks hard for a frayed, broken wire in the harness. Anything that could be arcing to ground. In my case I swapped in another harness to solve it.
Hard to find any specs on these. When you buy a head they come with the valves already in them. Best thought as this is a Honda clone would be to get a spec for a Honda version and work from there. Other option I’d consider would be to pose the question to some Tao Tao Facebook groups and see what you get for feedback. Sometimes there’s some really talented people in those groups just watch for the scammers.
Hmm, if you can’t change the idle any lower so that the pulley doesn’t grab… then I would introduce a little more slack into the belt so it ‘sits’ further out. Usually this is done by sliding the motor on its motor mounts until you find that sweet spot but first I would ensure you’re not just idling too high on your carb.
I thought only loss of 1-2 psi over the course of 7min is acceptable…. Looks to me like you lost almost all PSI in your test ? Psi should not go below 5 psi during 7 min test correct? Making this a fail ?
I’ve never had a motor perform that well. I have always let them go from about 6 psi to zero and timed it. Anything over 6min is what I’ve aimed for. That said. I’ve heard rumors of folks whose 2-strokes will hold the psi over night. I haven’t seen a validation of that thought. (Would love to.) My best efforts on these motors have, so far, always been 6-8min on 6psi but anyone with insight from your experience on these please chime in.
@@VermontLife me! I held full psi until I stopped it … I just did a full rebuild on my blaster over the winter. It held six psi for about 15 minutes and then I let it go. If you lose anything more than 1 to 2 psi over the course of that six or seven minutes there is a leak that needs to be addressed. I think you lost all of your pressure. That’s a pretty major leak
@jayd879 that’s awesome that you held that long! Really nice work. I’ve still never achieved a motor rebuild to that level on leak downs. I get a little better each time though.
in last vid i saw u put num 2 shift fork in top slot on shift drum is incorrect might want to check shifting. i just did vitos 240 build came out great. good luck
I am finding your build of this blaster very interesting. Are you going to make a list of all mods that you are doing to this build? I am getting ready to do a complete tear down and rebuild of a 2002 blaster. It has Vittos 240 kit but has not run in six years.
Yes, I did that for the previous Big Bear 350 build and people found it very informative to understand costs, where I sourced the parts and feedback on them.
Huge shout out to the team over at MotoTassinari.com for getting me setup with OEM parts right off the factory floor. Stand up team for sure! Stop the guesswork and support local. Buy from the source or an authorized reseller.
Do you mean the belt cover? In that case I have found the plastic can warp from heat resulting in it not sealing. I replaced mine as otherwise I would get a good deal of debris in there which would affect the belt performance. It's the seals on the crankshaft that really matter as without those (the one's I replace in this video) you'll have an air leak that could lean out and ruin a motor.
