Giving a 1997 Warrior a Second Chance

[zacusnyr]

Hey Guys (& Gals).

I have an 07 Raptor 700 and my gf wanted to get a Warrior - so we started a search for one and found a "deal". We went and checked this thing out - was late and dark. Bought it and brought it home. Went to take it off the truck and the clutch cable broke. :lol: :banghead:

So we just got it, all she wants to do is ride it. Threw her the key to the 700 and said ride this whenever you want, lets take this thing down and clean it and grease everything.

Wait a sec, the headlight that was "removed because I didn't need them" was a frame bracket that SNAPPED off. :banghead::banghead:

Well gotta get it welded.

Oh dang that steering stem is bent. Oh dang the swingarm is cracked down the welds. Oh dang the swingarm pivot bolt is stuck in the bush. Had to sawzall the swingarm off.

Every attempt to remove the steering bearing retainer nut failed. NO matter how hot, how strong of an impact or long of a breaker bar. :mad1: :mad1:

I got angry enough to cut it with a dremel and air hammer that beotch out of there.

 

[zacusnyr]

Well it's stripped. Lets clean and reassemble with new parts.

eBay swingarm, came painted factory grey, fresh coat, over EVERYTHING. Lame. Paint stripped, sanded, resprayed right. :banghead:

Frame headlight bracket straightened and welded on. Frame painted.

New steering bearing. Can't believe I didn't destroy those threads. :thumb:

New steering stem. Clamps from my 700 - those are brand new so they got recycled to the warrior

A-Arms and Axle Carrier. The ball joints feel fine and I wasn't willing to seperate them - so we taped everything off.

A-Arms installed. Needed a bunch of new dust caps. Bushings were suprisingly tight still.

Bought my gf some Pro-taper SEs for her b-day. (yes she really wants bike parts for her birthday, and there is already a want list for x-mas. How many of you guys can shop at rocky mountain for your gfs/wives for birthday and x-mas?)

 

[zacusnyr]

New Front bumper, shocks on.

Rear swinger, suspension, PRM Grab bar installed.

Brake covers, side profile shot.

All 4 hubs on finally - ready to roll. The axle it came with is a +2 Durablue axle, it was older and the chrome had flaked off in most spots. A LOT of sanding to polish the steel, I can't believe how good we got the axle looking. And I was able to free up the posi-lock bolt and get that sucker tightened up. That's me putting the axle in :rockon:

 

[zacusnyr]

Picked up some Nerfs with the new bumper.

Also i'm redoing the top end. Getting it punched out 1mm and going with a 10.5:1 Wiseco top-end kit. I tore the motor apart - didn't take any pictures of that yet.

Got the chassis together and rolling. New tires are on the to do - after it's running/moving.

Should be done soon. Will keep updating

 

[20warrior00]

nice, good job

 

[micheal654]

Man , you doing a great job. Nice looking warrior

 

[lildaisygrl18]

Hey thats my quad ;D Im the girlfriend. I cant wait till its done

 

[zacusnyr]

Some more pics - just waiting on some parts so i'm working on putting the chassis together.

 

[klutchbuster350]

Lucky girl lol.

My girlfriend rides as well, but she's not that into it.

 

[DeadLastRacing]

Lookin good

 

[zacusnyr]

Did a lot of cleaning of parts, sorting out misc nuts and bolts. Need to do another OEM order for some misc mounting hardware that we forgot the first few times :tantrum

Getting the chassis together, still got a lot to do. But it's nearly ready to have a motor thrown in

Below is my creative thinking Lightly polished, made to look brush to match the rear suspension bladder and axle.

Foot rest and nerfs bolted up. I'm wishing I cut off the mounts for the rear heal guard. We're not going to get any to put on, this looks much cleaner then with them.

Kimmy cleaned up the headlights and we're going to get the new plastic covers for it since a few of the honey combs are broke/missing. Havn't put them on because they're all apart.

 

[lildaisygrl18]

Gonna be done soon ......i cant stop looking at it i cant wait to ride it

 

[zacusnyr]

Finally it's done - after many months of waiting. Countless dollars spent. And hundreds of hours worked on. It's ready to get dirty. :cry: :cry:

A girly touch, afterall it is for my girlfriend.

Cleaned up real well!

This pic is funny, the foot-board/peg on the floor is an original started product. The rest of the quad was in that shape.

The eco-Alba nerfs are really nice. Don't think they'll take any hard hits so if you're riding in fast rocked up areas, I wouldn't run them. They should hold up no problem for the stuff we ride in and track duty.

Moved the indicator lights to the gas tank cover, we put the factory plastic holder on the bar and we both gave it a :thumbsdn:

Brake and throttle.

Did the ebrake block off and removed the whole crummy cable pull assembly. But there was so much junk left over on the perch and I wanted to keep a working clutch switch so I fabbed up the perch - removed all the mounting points for the factory ebrake setup. Thanks goes to my die grinder and bench grinder. :bonk:

Nerfs/footpegs.

If you can notice in the original pics, the FMF logo on the pipe was missing half it's color. We stripped it and polished it. Looks better!

I'll get some better day-time ones. It was dark when we finished

 

[DeadLastRacing]

that looks crazy sick man, well done. I can appreciate a re-build such as this one. I laughed when I saw the DVS on the key chain and the black and white plastics I have those same things going on mine as well. Really did the relocation of the indicator lights, never seen them there before.

 

[ncwarriorrider]

Your absolutely right about the alba nerfs mine are bent to hell after a run in with a relatively small rock.

 

[redkaz04]

what did you use to paint the frame?

 

[worm1]

Congratulations...you have definitely but in the time. Actually I think this is a good tutorial topic on a complete rebuild.
Great work.

 

[zacusnyr]

Heh a simple tutorial is take everything apart, put your hands in everything, spend a butt load of time and money.

This is a fantastic warrior right now. Feels solid. The current carb on it sucks. I'm going to switch over to a 36mm CV carb from a DRZ400 (Same carb as the LTZ400, just has a plunger choke)

 

[warriorguy5]

Great rebuild !! looks very nice, you should shorten that powercore that thing sticks out lie crazy i bet it will scrap if you put it back !

 

[zacusnyr]

yea the tip would hit. But thankfully my gf won't ever be standing it up on the grab heh