$150 Craigslist Dirt Bike - Can We FIX It??

I'm going to finish one project at a time the next thing I need to do on this KTX 200 is finished modifying the electrical system for all of the street-legal stuff but that's going to have to wait until another video because a new dimension has been added to this project and that's what I want to look at today I was on the internet looking at cheap motorcycles for sale and I found a KD X 200 motorcycle almost identical to this one for just $200 I'm not really interested in getting another motorcycle like this to fix up and ride but of course not of course not so you just kept looking are you gonna let me finish sorry you won't let me finish the parts are what's valuable to me this is an older machine so critical engine components like the crankshaft and the cylinder are not even available from Kawasaki anymore so it only makes sense that I hoard as many of these as possible I contacted the seller he sent me some pictures of the motorcycle and said that if I came and picked it up that day I could buy it for 150 dollars so I got the coordinates I got the money put together we drove down to have a look it was about a two-hour trip and when I got there the man selling the motorcycle broke the news that even though the ad said that it was in running condition he wasn't able to get it started I didn't want to go away empty-handed so I still bought it we drove home and here it is 1991 Kawasaki KDX 200 you can tell just by looking at this that it spent some time outside it's got the nice weathers look on the seat here faded plastic rusty frame rusty brake rotors this front wheel bearing is a little bit looser than I would like the engine turns over it has compression but this stay nut on the kick starter is not original somebody out there with a Daihatsu car is probably missing a lug nut all of the oil has leaked out of this rear shock you can see evidence of it down here which will cause a pogo stick rear suspension I wonder if I could do a bunny hop did I get there you did so that works probably not the best setup for a motocross track one thing that worries me that I didn't even notice until I got the motorcycle home is that there is a coolant overflow tank right here behind this number plate that's hooked up to the radiators so if the engine overheats any excess coolant that boils over will be caught in this tank and not lost there was a genius that owned this machine sometime in its past who filled this up with two cycle oil that leads me to believe that they thought this was an oil injection tank and they could just pour oil in here rather than mix the oil in the tank if anybody ran straight gases through this engine for any length of time it will be completely toasted my course of action for today is to see if I can get this motorcycle running and even though I bought it for spare parts if it runs we're going to take it for a ride as is bouncy bounce rear suspension Wiggly front tire life insurance paid up so my gut feeling here is that this will run when we arrived to look at it I was overwhelmed by the smell of old gas and the guy was messing with carburetors so given the fact that it has bad gas in the tank and it has compression I think that with just a little bit of help we can see some life in this machine I wonder if I know enough about motorcycles that I could tell you what to do to get it running might make for a long video it might make for a short video during the gasps what is this is this accountability gym why why isn't my bike it's your baby okay well take a seat first my not too bad not too bad it's still liquid not expecting that at all what the liquid fuel or my idea your ambition with this project Oh careful they're the same color as the motorcycle but I think that's good because it means that it's mixed with oil that's not the color of raw gas and it doesn't smell that bad this smells like new gas clean the carburetor good call my let me look right at the bottom of that needle does that look like a clean carburetor to you okay yak that's something other than clean fuel goop so you might be on the right track here there it is the fuel or the stuff down there does not look like the stuff in the container that smells like a piece of freshly varnished furniture that smells like a gas station I think somebody in an effort to start this machine quickly like when a buyer was coming to look at it just dumped new fuel in the tank and started kicking even though the stuff in this carburetor is so thick you could lotion your hands with it can you rinse it with some of that gas you took out of it yeah that's a good idea I don't want that to go to waste but I'm not ready to run it through the engine either so let's see how this looks ten years worth of neglect on the side of a shed fresh fuel turns into tree sap so pull out this float this needle valve is stuck there it is it's not supposed to look that way do you think the carburetors ruined well two of the pass carburetors have been ruined and they didn't look nearly as bad as this one I don't know do you remember what this piece is called you know what it's wait wait wait it'll come to me Oh it's the thing that I called it a whatchamacallit or a widget it tells how much fuel goes through I think bigger ones are smaller ones main jet uh it's for jetting richard getting now weasel richard jetting pilot jet allows gas into the engine at low RPM and this is probably going to be a corroded mess i was wrong let's put it back together run it okay everything's clean enough to test on an engine that might be ruined anyway there now I think it'll do its thing the carburetor is ready to go back on except for the float Bowl this is filthy and the plug that goes in the bottom has corroded away but I've got a spare on the one hand I don't like it that the motorcycle has been sitting for a long time unloved forgotten I know how it feels you can't quit even for the voiceover not me but every moment that it's not being ridden it's not being ruined by use hmm okay carburetors on what's the next play coach I think you should take care of the oil in the coolant okay waste of time okay is that oil that's well it cool it well watch that's not oil that's water well they don't mix oh that's oil I already told you it was oh here we are the oil is on top and the water is down here we'll call this the Exxon Valdez example whoever put this oil in must have done it fairly recently I wonder if it was the gentleman I bought the motorcycle from Philip the oil tank gas top off the oil in the water tank there coolant tank is reinstalled so what's next I think she'd kick it over just kick it well put on the gas tank with some fuel in it okay see what he thinks all right that gas tank is back on the motorcycle I don't know if this format is the greatest idea because I may be causing my own obsolescence if I teach you how to work on motorcycle right look nicer than me gallon of gas in there should you blow out the air filter there's that dumb thing to do smart that smart imagine if the air filter what we haven't even looked at yet is a crumbled disintegrated mess the instant we start the motorcycle foam ingestion catastrophe in the combustion chamber you're a genius first let's find a nut for the Kickstarter though but hold that thought do you find one I got one now sometimes you amaze me it looks pretty good we should get a light in here for the viewers or better yet let's get the motorcycle out into the light because it's going to run momentarily so this filter isn't brand new but I can tell that it's recent enough that it doesn't just fall apart to my hands so it's good enough for a test start for kicks for more kick I'm goal is 6 the exhaust is not too bad [Applause] [Music] that backends a little squirrely with the bouncy bounce action but I think this calls for two things switching out the rear shock absorber for the parts bike unit did you see me almost crash I think so switch out the shock absorber and then we'll go for a ride and I mean you - oh I don't pretend that I do everything perfect by the book that's one of your best things but look here instead of replacing the nut with the proper one on this critical suspension pivot bolt somebody just used some wire don't wrap around it should be easy to remove though what do you think is torqued down to there camera girl hard to say two twists like three what water is mixing into the oil it gets in through the water pump seal which is behind this cover probably because this has been sitting so long the rubber got brittle and cracked and then when I started it up it gave out all the way because when we looked in the beginning it was clean oil and now it looks like a mocha frappe blendy soy to replace the seal itself is a little bit tedious and time-consuming stop yawning you putting me to sleep so instead of doing that I'll just swap this entire cover with the one from the other parts bike motor which is underneath that towel over there but first we'll do this three things to do before we go for a ride perfect fit thank you for your sacrifice now I'll drain the coolant and transmission oil pull off a few accessories so I can remove this cover so is this actually going to be my bike I'm afraid this might turn into a viable motorcycle you didn't answer the question if you like it it can be yours I'll warn you though this will be more of a handful than the ruckus I've got the cover removed you make such a mess and the other ones off the motor - ready to go let's put it on nice that was one of the attempts that I did not the first I'll get this buttoned up the rest of the way I've already replaced the shock absorber for better handling fixed a leaky water pump seal and now I'm lubricating the pivot joint for this brake pedal you don't need a smooth action rear brake pedal on a parts bike but I'm a hopeless case and there's no cure all right time to see if we get any good test number one the rear suspension what do you think this time I think no air give it your all I'm stuck to the ground about time you were more grounded test number two am I still going to mix oil and water in the transmission I think it'll be okay if not we'll just toss in an egg and some flour make a loaf of bread two kids Oh [Music] [Music] we've been running the motorcycle for about 10 minutes what's the verdict down here at the sight glass it's not milky at all it's clear this engine runs better than the other one it's a little bit late and cold tonight but tomorrow we ride how about this hill ooh just like yesterday it took me more than one night to get out here because of that weedeater video but I'm doing this for a couple of reasons I want to see if I actually like the KTX 200 motorcycles I'm spending a lot of time making the other one street-legal I want to see if it's any good [Music] I've only written the KTX 200 the few minutes today and I spent about 20 minutes on the other one when we were still living at the cabin I didn't even write it long enough to figure out how badly the engine ran [Music] I'm getting my sea legs I'm getting my sea legs have you got a DAB you got a DAB [Music] first jump with KTX 200 [Music] this is a lot of fun really this bike runs good gotta watch out for these rocks [Music] [Music] I haven't even thought about my front wheel it's still turning I think I can get this one [Music] oh yeah [Music] I'm curious to see what I look like from camera girl's perspective I think I'm pretty good out here but we'll take a look at the tape I'll look like big bird trying to do jumps on a razor scooter I'm happy that I'm fixing up the other KDX motorcycle but I think it did pretty good I almost forgot I think you need to go for a ride give it a shot you can turn around here and go over there okay let's show them what for oh okay okay medic medic well you made it up the hill pick a better excuse were you tired take three [Music] [Music] [Music] how's that that's one of the reasons I really want to get the other KDX street-legal is so I don't have to push it into the back of the truck after your arms are tired from hours of riding I've convinced myself that the KTX 200 is great in off-road stuff but now I need to finish the primary project the Shasta the other KTX a great afternoon thanks for watching

Channel: Jennies Garage

Views: 1,546,752

Keywords: dirtbike, dirt bike, 2 stroke, 2-stroke, 2 stroke dirt bike, cheap dirtbike, cheap dirt bike, dirtbike project, yz250, kx250, rm250, cr250, kawasaki, clean dirt bike carburetor, water pump seal, water in oil, dirt bike water in oil, kdx200, kdx 200

Id: JKCC4Tcx18A

Length: 19min 49sec (1189 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 12 2018