It's Alive! '71 DT1 MX

[Tracker]

Last Saturday morning 3 kicks ended several months of work by my son and I. After a minute or so of warm-up off it went. A little anti-climatic actually. No fiddling or problems to get through. My son just rode away on it. He came back in about 15 minutes and said, "Yeah. It all works".

Below is how it all started. A neighbor I barely know approached us and asked if we would be interested in helping him clean up his property by taking some of the old motorcycles off his hands. He had an answer in about 5 milliseconds.

We didn't take any in-progress photos but we did take a few after it was done.

Now, before the purists and the Yamaha experts scream I have to say that this was not supposed to be a factory-spec "restoration". It was more like a fun resurection or rebuild. It was made from the parts of three similar bikes, all from the same period, with the goal to make a period-correct, good running dirt bike that could have existed from the early to mid '70's. The budget was nearly non-existent which fit in with a saying from the day: "Run what 'ya Brung". With any project involving this much work you would like it to look good and maybe get a couple of "OOOhhh's".
I know the 250 MX had a yellow stripe and it was the 360 that was black and red. We both liked red and had a couple cans left over from a helmet project. My son was project coordinator. I was only general labor and technical advisor.

One of the frames didn't have a front end on it so our generous neighbor slid a Bultaco FE on to make moving it to our house easier. You can see the Betor dust guards if you look at the "Day One" pic. The whole front end wouldn't come close to working but the rim had 36 holes at the right angles so we laced it to a Yamaha hub.

The best working forks of the lot were the ones on the '74 YZ but that nice alloy triple tree didn't have the splines for the factory steering damper. It ain't no Scott's but once you have had one you get kind of partial to them. Re-packing the damper with grease was all it needed to work.

UUmmmmmm - zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Haven't heard that sound in 30 years.

This was on the back fender that wasn't used so we cut it out to save and maybe velcro on the back where it would have been. The current one will be where it belongs. I'm thinking this would have been one of the first stickers, seeing how it expired in '74 it would have been issued in '72.

The muffler is a MM&J special, (Manny, Moe, and Jack). I don't think the BLM would have cared for the stock exhaust. The stinger was cut, plugged, drilled, and put inside a couple of tail-pipe repair sections. The sound is identical to the street-legal Yamaha Enduros. And it would pass the poker-in-the-tailpipe test if it had to.

All the sprockets were good but we went with Malcolm's because he's cool and still around.

The oli pump and tank were missing from this bike so we just stayed with pre-mix. With no tank a big ugly hole appears on this side so a little custom aluminum work was in order. My son had watched me do the number plate up front so he did the side cover. The aluminum was provided by some sloppy target shooters who stole street signs and left them off Stephen's Mine Road with not too many bullet holes in them.

I went through a few of these in the day. Had to mow a lot of lawns to get the $11 each time too.

We did spring for a couple reproduction parts. These old Yamaha's will exist as long as Ebay does.

That's all for now. My son will use it as his pit bike for a couple of desert races and then it will probably be sold. You don't like to get rid of something like this but not everyone has the money and space it would take to keep them. I came home yesterday and found this one in a hundred pieces in the garage. Here we go again.

[Woody_393]

That's awesome! You did a really good job! Thank you for sharing.

[Silver_Fox]

Thanks for the pics and story, nice!

[DRGSin393]

What a great thread! Love the story line to go along w/the pics. You guys did an incredible job! Cant wait for the next project.

[Flash393]

Very nice, great job on the restore.

BTW I use to live off avenue S west of the 14 near the aqueduct.

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Flash393

Very nice, great job on the restore.

BTW I use to live off avenue S west of the 14 near the aqueduct.

That's all new houses now in what used to be just open space. What isn't houses yet is dotted with little orange survey markers. You would never think that a landfill could be a good thing but it kept some of the area from being built on.
I know where you used to ride. Through the hole in the fence of the Ritter Ranch and up to Sierra Pelona and / or Rowher Flats.
I'm over in Green Valley but if I put that in the profile everyone thinks I'm near Big Bear.

[Mainjet2001]

250 and what year?

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

250 and what year?

This one is a '73 RT3 360. All it lacked to be 100% was turn signals and levers when we got it so we didn't touch it during project DT1. With the experience we got from the 250 this one should turn out nice and be a little faster project too.
If you were wondering, yes- the guy that gave us these Yamaha's is the same one who gave me the Hawkstone. He stopped by to see how the DT1 was doing and asked me if wanted the Greeves too. After giving us 5 bikes he's down to 13.

[YZ pilot]

Nice! I am having flashbacks to my ACE100 and YZ125X . Preston Petty and Malcolm Smith , that says 70's . How about a compression release .

[OLDMXRACER 393]

Awsome job and a great write-up man!!

[Freak]

wow!! Awesome work on that bike. Looks very nice Tracker. Always wanted to do a resto on an older bike.

[TRexRacing]

Nice job.I enjoy seeing the older bikes being ridden.Far too many have ended up scrap metal.

[yzernie]

That is very cool. What a great project for you and your son to do together. Sounds like he is on his way to restoring history. Great job guys!!

Man, the memories that go with the Akront rims, Preston Petty fenders, the term 74 YZ...wow, thanks for the flash back!! The only thing that would make this better for me is to have the name Blendzall mixed in there (pun intended) somewhere!!

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by yzernie

That is very cool. What a great project for you and your son to do together. Sounds like he is on his way to restoring history. Great job guys!!

Man, the memories that go with the Akront rims, Preston Petty fenders, the term 74 YZ...wow, thanks for the flash back!! The only thing that would make this better for me is to have the name Blendzall mixed in there (pun intended) somewhere!!

The stimulus that puts me in dreamland is the smell of the old Castrol oil. I can close my eyes and picture a 501 Maico going uphill toward the first turn at Claude Osteen's Motorbike Park.
The remanants (frame, engine, pipe, seat, front fender) of that '74 YZ are just taking up space and they won't be used for the 360. I'm guessing that my son would part with them way cheap if not free, if anyone is interested. I'll ask him.

[Mainjet2001]

Tracker....
If you decide to get rid of the 360, let me know.

[OLDMXRACER 393]

Originally Posted by Tracker

The remanants (frame, engine, pipe, seat, front fender) of that '74 YZ are just taking up space and they won't be used for the 360. I'm guessing that my son would part with them way cheap if not free, if anyone is interested. I'll ask him.

I'm interested, but also guessing you're in cali?.?.?.

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

Tracker....
If you decide to get rid of the 360, let me know.

The 360 is going to be a restoration. I hear he wants to ride it to school next semester. I have a feeling that he will quickly tire of riding a 2 stroke enduro on the street and want to parlay it into a street bike of some kind. He knows I'm not going to buy a barn to keep these projects in. Out with the old, in with the new.

Actually, for the Greeves I may buy a small yard barn.

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by OLDMXRACER 393

I'm interested, but also guessing you're in cali?.?.?.

Apparently Flash393 used to live real close to me. Maybe he still has a contact in the area.

[MaxPower]

Did you ever have a 360 MainJet?

[Mainjet2001]

Originally Posted by MaxPower

Did you ever have a 360 MainJet?

Yea Max...had the 73 360MX. Raced desert and enduros with it. Best 2 stroke I ever had and it never missed a lick.

Max...come and post when you can.