95 ATK 250 rebuild

Garand1
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Garand1
Edited Date/Time 7/14/2018 1:59pm
Hi Everyone, I posted earlier in the old School Moto section about this bike I just got. Just picked up last weekend(bought on ebay this past winter but never had time for the road trip - 1700 miles in 30 hours). Was going to wait for winter, but, couldnt wait, wanted to get started. Originally was looking for a CanAm Mx6 250 or an ASE 250. Then the ATK showed up on my radar, guess I looked at it as the next generation of what CanAm was going to be.

The bike is pretty solid with some minor issues - oil leak from shift/start shaft, wrong front brake lever, painted gas tank, bashed pipe, ect. I didnt even try to start when I picked it up from the buyer. When I got it home and unloaded started on the 2nd kick.

I'm not really a fan of the current black color scheme, the fuel tank is painted black(was a good job, very glossy, and no flaking thats easily visible & very little flaking in general. The fenders and the side number plates all appear to be nearly new. Color wise, I'm thinking more stock red, white, blue or something closer to the old CanAm orange color scheme.
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Micahdogg
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Micahdogg 7/7/2018 6:40pm
7/7/2018 6:40pm
I approve! I never appreciated ATK when I was a kid, but they have really grown on me. Looking forward to your build.
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Garand1
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Garand1 7/7/2018 6:52pm
7/7/2018 6:52pm
Heres a picture of my two CanAms........Orange white, & orange black.....not quite sure on the ATK. It uses mid 90s Ktm plastics. White is harder to find but I can find orange pretty easy. Wish there was more color selection for the plastics. Guess thats one of the drawbacks on working on the old bikes. I did an 88Kx250 3 years ago and searched EBAY for 8 months before I found the purple plastics I was looking for.


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BR8ES
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BR8ES 7/8/2018 5:25am
7/8/2018 5:25am
Love those bikes. There is a 500 local to me that I want badly, but nervous about it, would be cool though.
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Garand1
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Garand1 7/8/2018 8:40am
7/8/2018 8:40am
Pulled the ATK tank decals off and when they came off they took 75% of the paint under them came off. The paint peels off in sheets almost like decals.most of the paint comes off pretty easily, though some I'll have to use a plastic razor blade so as to not cut the tank up.

The decals are in nice shape so I will keep and reuse more than likely


The tank looks about like I thought it would under the paint & decals, some of it is fairly clean & white and some is severely stained.


This shows the glossiness of the paint, its almost like a vinyl coating.

The Shop

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Garand1
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Garand1 7/8/2018 5:56pm
7/8/2018 5:56pm

LIke I said, this paint pretty much came off in sheets.


The decals came off and the adhesive is pretty good, so I placed some wax paper on them to keep them in good shape. though I'm sure I should probably should put something more on them when I re-apply them....though I'm not sure what would be best to use.
Micahdogg
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Micahdogg 7/11/2018 7:11am
7/11/2018 7:11am
Did all of these bikes have the cool ATK chain tensioning system? Or just some models? I can't really tell what I'm looking at on the swingarm of your bike.
ATKpilot99
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ATKpilot99 7/11/2018 10:45am
7/11/2018 10:45am
Micahdogg wrote:
Did all of these bikes have the cool ATK chain tensioning system? Or just some models? I can't really tell what I'm looking at on the...
Did all of these bikes have the cool ATK chain tensioning system? Or just some models? I can't really tell what I'm looking at on the swingarm of your bike.
93 was the last year of the chain tensioning system . After that all models had a conventional setup.
Garand1
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Garand1 7/12/2018 7:05pm
7/12/2018 7:05pm
Hi everyone....Does anyone here know what kind of plastic was used for the fuel tanks.........Have been thinking about my discolored white tank and have run across a few posts here and there that have talked about using Dye to color the tank.....dont know.....may keep it white and try to clean it with peroxide, .....may have several options.

Micahdogg
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Micahdogg 7/13/2018 6:31am
7/13/2018 6:31am
I think you would have better luck sanding out the discolored portion as the section that was covered with the graphic looks pretty good IMO. I also find it interesting how well that part held up. I'm still not sure what exactly causes the discoloration on these tanks (yamaha too). Its either the exposure to fuel, light or both.
Garand1
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Garand1 7/13/2018 11:32am
7/13/2018 11:32am
I've talked to a couple of body guys and we've pretty much determined the tank was sprayed black with a removable spray paint. I took some of the coating that peeled off and had them look at it. It was on there really well(who knows for how long) but Its a possibility of re-dooing that in an ATK color. Red, White, Blue or may be some combo. Will have to see.
TrailDigger 7/13/2018 4:27pm
7/13/2018 4:27pm
As for dying, you have to have a good set up for it. You need a lot of boiling water and need to keep it hot for awhile. Lots of prep and setup.
Garand1
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Garand1 7/14/2018 11:09am
7/14/2018 11:09am
TrailDigger wrote:
As for dying, you have to have a good set up for it. You need a lot of boiling water and need to keep it hot...
As for dying, you have to have a good set up for it. You need a lot of boiling water and need to keep it hot for awhile. Lots of prep and setup.
I talked to a guy on one of the ATK FB pages. The guy states he is a plastics engineer and was very knowledgeable about the plastic used in fuel tanks. Said it would take dye just fine butt i maybe would want to do some smaller test pieces before i doo my tank. Its an option. Many options available. Wish I was better with graphic arts programs. would like to play around with photoshopping some pictures to give me a better idea of what i want it to look like.
Garand1
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Garand1 7/14/2018 6:36pm
7/14/2018 6:36pm
BR8ES wrote:
You probably know about this MX-6



http://www.vintagemx.us/cgi-bin/largephoto.cgi?C=4q5vHPoSxq8c1tAn
No, I hadnt seen that one.......Awesome 801/2 or 81 Mx6 250B........a more sought out model then the std 1980 MX6 The B model had a few upgrades, Aluminum swingarm, remote reservoir Ohlins, a couple little things. ........certainly not a bad price based on what I see. Someone will snatch that up. Br8es, thanks for the link!!!!

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