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Have you ever wondered just exactly "HOW MUCH" it would cost to restore an old bike??

Here's s short story about me restoring a somewhat neglected bike to it's glory days.  My intent here is not to show anyone "how to do it right" or even how
not to do it.  Only to show what could be done to restore a well used bike back to racing condition.  That's right RACING condition, I'm not interested in owning a trailer queen. 
For now the cost of the bike doesn't matter, in the end just add what your bike cost to what I did and you'll be in the ball park. 
And if you skip a step and do something else like painting the frame for $10 instead of powder coating for $270, well then your going to need to do some math.

First off, the hard work ~ it's time to get dirty and strip it down to the frame.


The bike, a 1980 Can-Am 400 Qualifier 3.  As you can see from the photo above, my bike is "mostly" complete
and seemingly just a set of plastic and some elbow grease away from the next vintage race .... keep reading.


This was kind of a bummer, but it happens.  All big bore 2 strokes vibrate and 406 Rotax motors are no different.  When I removed the pipe I discovered that the frame had cracked around the left front motor mount and had been rewelded once before.  The problem is that one of the through bolt bosses was missing a chunk and the welding while looking plenty strong, had started to crack again just below one of the welds.  At this point I started to consider parting the bike out on eBay, but it's been a long time since I last owned a big bore 2 stroke and I was still having fun.  Plus, I just so happen to have another Can-Am frame, a 1980 MX-6 125 that's pretty much identical to my 400's frame and could be used so I pressed on.


Back from the powder coater!
I had mixed emotions about what color to make the frame.  The stock orange would have been nice but there was no way to really be sure that it was going to be "exactly" right, and if it wasn't then that would just ruin it for me mostly because even guys not familiar with Can-Am's could tell that something wasn't right.  So I decided to style it after the Q4 400 ~ "what the heck".  Also, I had the fork sliders and the swingarm coated in silver/gray.  Now the forks look good and they match the swingarm, and that seems to work for me.  Also note that I've already pressed in the head stay bearing cups and races.  These had been removed before going to the powder coater.

More set backs.

When I finished inspecting the frame I noticed that the pipe "had an issue".  It had already been welded on a couple of times in it's previous life so I kind of was already planning on finding a replacement later in the project.  Even so, having a hole large enough to make even the local mice colony look for something nicer was not in the plans.  However, knowing that a late '80's ATK 406 pipe would fit my frame and not be too costly, I really didn't care.


Normally when it comes time to free up a carb, any carb any age, I use Chem-Dip.  It's the real deal, it doesn't have a skull and cross bones label on it but it should and it's never failed me in almost 30 years.  I once had a frozen snowblower carb that had been left with a full float bowl of fuel for 8 years (it was my father in law's) and in 3 days Chem-Dip not only took off the varnish but ate most of the paint off that carb.  Today it met it's match.  My 400's carb had been left exposed to the elements and the slide had corroated to the carb body, forming one complete solid mass of dissimilar metals that loosely resembled a Mikuni.  It was so bad that I couldn't even read the jet numbers.  Back to eBay.


But the show must go on!!  Got a set of fenders and side panels from RTR Moto, they look great and after passing a Cat scan they were ready to be installed.


  At this point I've installed the forks aleady rebuilt with new seals and a set of .44kg springs from Race Tech.  The stock fork springs are "about" .27kg with the heavier .44kg springs that I installed I will not have to use any air pressure in the forks.  And because of that the seals should last longer, also the front end should be more consistant because I will not have to worry about losing any air pressure in one or both forks during a race or from moto to moto.  I even got a little crazy and installed a set of Pro-Taper fat bars although later in the build I swapped them out for a set of Renthal Twin Wall bars.  The Renthals use a cross bar and that seems to fit the look of a vintage bike better and I just liked the bend better.


FINALLY got the wheels on!!  Going to a left side front brake may not have been worth the effort ~ but it does look cool...  The bigger deal was finding a set of brake shoes for the rear.  It's a long and sorted story, the only lesson that I can give is that if you have a good set KEEP THEM!

I scored!
Things took a turn for the better when I found the next two chestnuts on eBay.


First off was a nice and shiny Mikuni and to make my day even brighter, the carb actually came off of a MX-6 400 that some guy had chickened out of restoring and was parting it out on eBay (wimp!).  Now I had a carb that would bolt right on and I could actually expect it to be jetted "close" if not spot on.  Although later I will have to find a place to do some jetting runs just to be sure, but for now I'm happy with it.


The second score was this 1990 ATK 406 pipe and silencer off of eBay for $125.  Dent free and only needing a sand blast and a coat of paint once it warms up, things were starting to look good.


Just over two months into the project this is where I stood.  Did you notice the new clutch and front brake lever assemblies and the new rear brake cable?  The rear brake cable only comes in one size and that's "too long" if you own anything other than a MX-6b with the Aluminum swingarm.  Clearance wise it worked the best for me to not use the cable guide on the rear brake stay arm, instead I ran it between the wheel and swingarm.  Eventually I did install a cable guide to the lower right shock bolt "just to be sure" that the wheel didn't grab the cable, but in all honesty the cable is so stiff  that I really don't think that it was needed.  Later on I do plan on pulling the motor back out and repainting it, maybe black or dark gray or strip it and clear coat...  Any suggestions??


Now I'm waiting on shocks.  The original shocks were a tail of two very different stories, one was good with lots of damping the other made an awesome oil soaked paper weight that could not be rebuilt.  After spending way too much time thinking about it I decided to go with a set of Works Performance steel gassers.  The dual rate springs and the threaded body preload adjustments seems to fit the bill. While I was waiting for my shocks to arrive I fitted the engine, and installed the pipe.  And if anyone is wondering the the tank support rubber cushions already mounted on the frame came off of an old '81 RM250.


Peak through the spokes ... here's a closer look at the rear brake cable and the wire bracket used to keep it from getting caught by the rear wheel.  You can't really tell from this angle but there's lots of room between it and the wheel and the chain.  I also re-engineered the lower chain guide.  The original one had done it's job but was ready for retirement.  The replacement uses two ¼" aluminum plates and two nylon rollers and in the garage look like they will last a very long time (we will see!).


A front chain roller was also added.  I did it by installing a longer bolt into the rear brake height adjuster which just so happens to be in the right location to double as a mount for a real chain roller.  It was almost if the factory had intended it to be there.


Time for fenders and side panels.


Ok, let's see now ... shocks installed, carb installed, air box installed, new fenders, side panels and front number plate with a cable guide installed.  Need to start working on the electric's and figure out what I'm going to do about a seat base and gas tank.  The snow is finally starting to melt here in Michigan (it's only mid March!) so I am getting a little bit excited about starting and riding this beast!  I am planning on pulling the motor back out and either repainting it or just stripping it and clear coating it, the pipe also needs to be painted.  All of that will be taken care of after I actually start it and go for one quick test ride.  Although with the current day time high's in the barn reaching a cool 45 degrees F, it's not like I could paint them now anyways.

April 11, 2011 ~ Update!
It's alive!!!




Let's see, I did have to do some sorting out of the Qualifier wire harness mostly to switch  it over from a full but highly butchered Qualifier harness to a more simplistic MX design.  It still
has the hot wire and power coil for the lights, just plug in a regulator and some lights and you'll be back in Qualifier mode.  And the best news of all is that not only does it run but I actually
rode it around my back yard!!  Oh yea!, the impression of power would have been better if I had a new rear tire, but then again I only have one acre.  As for starting it up, it took about
10 kicks to fire it up (ok - I did get excited and forget to choke it) and after a quick idle adjustment it purred like it should.  Restarts were a simple but healthy single kick effort. 

I still need to replace the seat cover and buy some vent hoses for the carb and ignition cover, and I still need to decide on what to do about the engine color ~ orange or clear coat bare metal...
Plus I need to sand blast the pipe and paint it.  Beyond all of that it's a runner and a rider!, and I look forward to enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Questions or comments?? ~ feel free to email me, just click here:  Awesome Can-Am!

Jun 8, 2011 ~ Another update

Scored! - Al Roberts found an OEM ~ NOS rear brake cable in an amongst his vast supply of Can-Am parts


I also got the seat recovered.  Originally I wanted to get an MX-6 cover, mostly because it just looked good with the orange "MX-6" logo.  Although with the Qualifier
gas tank and the fact that deep down (i.e. the frame serial number) it really is a Qualifier, I decided to just go with a plain black cover.  Heck, some day some one might
install a head and tail light as it still has an e-coil, just like all the later gereration Can-Am MX'ers, and bring it back to a "real" qualifier again. 
So going with a plain black cover will work with either.

It looks good to me...




Thanks Al !!

Writing the checks.
 You just saw what I did, now some of you may be wondering "what did it cost"??  Well, I hope your sitting down because it wasn't exactly cheap (and it's still not done).



And for what it's worth, here's my current set up
Forks:    .44 mm/Kg springs
    Oil:  425mL of 20w Bel-Ray fork oil
    zero air pressure

Carb:    Mikuni 38mm VM (round slide)
    Jetting as of March 2011
    Main jet:  280
    Needle:  6f9 1st clip with washer (same as second clip without the washer)
    Pilot jet:  30
    Air screw:  1½ turns out

Spark plug:  NGK B8es

1990 ATK 406 exhaust pipe and FMF Universal silencer (with USFS spark arrestor)

Work Performance steel dual rate springs for 180lb rider & Cross Country riding.

Gearing:  15/46

1984 Can-Am ASE 175 front brake cable

1980 Can-Am MX-6 400 carb


So the "needed" list is getting shorter (sort of).  The problem is that even before I looked at the bike I had called another (now unreliable) friend (not the guy I bought the bike from) who had assured me that the AHRMA Cross Country series was going to come back to Michigan in 2011.  Well, the schedule is out and Michigan is not on the list (dang it!!).  And that's the entire reason why I did this project ~ to race it in AHRMA's Cross Country series.  Oh well, I do plan on completing the bike however if anyone has a DRZ-400 that they would like to trade for it email me and let's talk.

click here to email any questions or comments.