Back on the TRAILS!

dswwarrior350 · Jun 11, 2006

Well i picked up a 1996 warrior frame to replace my totally destroyed 2001 frame. The frame had a title and was in ok shape, nothing bent or broke but the silver paint was rough because someone spray bombed it over the factory paint (which looked great to me after getting that spray crap off in spots?!!) But anyway i wasnt putty a ****** looking frame with all my new parts and stuff so i started sanding/degreasing. Since i had to do it all by hand (too many bends for the jitterbug) its took me a good 8-10 hours of working on it to get it decent, and there was some grease i just couldnt get rid of in brackets and etc.. ohh well you will never see it anyway. But it was rough, i pulled an all nighter to finish it with one break haha. Many pieces of sandpaper and a bottle of simple green later i had a nice stripped frame ready for primer. I used rustoleum industrial strength grey primer, coated 2 times. Then For the bottom of the Frame i used a can of black Truck bed coating from duplicolor, used it on my pegs and stock bumper last year and they look great yet. Although you have to tape everything you dont want that stuff on off, otherwise it gets all over everything, 8-9 coats of taht to build strength and thickness. Then it was time for the base, Mettalic black (lots of sparkle) 2-3 coats of that on. Then clear 2-5 coats depending on location (example around the footpegs got 5 cause my boots rub those spots) Let it set overnight to dry and cure, I was up for over 35 hours at this point haha. So i slept for a good long while, woke up and checked out the frame, came out beautiful. Well nothing left but to assemble. That turned out to not be that bad since i know every part on this thing like the back of my hand and so does my dad who helped me with all the assembly (2 people are needed for some parts to make it faster) Everything went smooth and no real problems untill it came time for the wiring. The wiring itself it drop dead simple, but i forgot one minor detail....... 96 warriors had a diffrent CDI box than the 2001's and they have totally diffrent brackets on the frame. By the time we realized this it was 80 percent assembled, and there was no way i was buying another frame simply because CDI boxes bolted up diffrent. Even if i would have remembered prior to buying the frame the deal was too good to pass and i would have done the same as now. however this was the only problem other than a few little tweeks here and there which is 100% normal.

Working as a team the whole bike was together.....in under 9 hours i was riding, and that was by no means rushing in fact we could have had it done in less than that but we took breaks and etc. There are still a few very small things to do such as adjusting the tie rods, adjusting the chain, bleeding the front brakes. But other than that im ready to ride. It runs great haha, still ***** and gets for a warrior.

Hopefully ill get some pictures up soon. We can look at my warrior's timeline since i have pictures saved from when we bought it untill now.

warriorspeed350 · Jun 11, 2006

im not reading all of that........but get up some pics

pelphrey · Jun 11, 2006

im not reading all of that........but get up some pics

Why because you cant read or are too lazy to read. It took maye 2 minutes to read all of it.

Anyway sounds like a decent amount of work. But like you said you could have cut time down, but why do stuff twice if you can do it right the first time. Your warrior has been down for a few months so what a couple extra hours. And I agree with you the CDI would be the least of my worries since you can mount this thing nearly anywhere. Its awesome to hear about a young adult doing nearly all the work themselves. Even though you "know the warrior like the back of your head" it takes patience. I'm not much older then you are so I am not trying to sound that way just so you know. But I have learned to appreciate many things in life and it seems that so have you. We all appreciate our own hard work, and its nice to know when others do.

palerider · Jun 11, 2006

Hey Justin you know reading improves spelling skills.

J/K.

Interesting read and great job.

Now you know you will not ever be able to sell it now that you have that much sweat equity into it!!!

warriorguy5 · Jun 11, 2006

awsome DSW i cant wait to see some pictures sounds like it turned out great. i know how you say it took 9 hours with breaks and whatnot because i totaly redid my when i bought it me and my dad striped it down to a bare frame and he painted it blood red (he pants cars for a living) and put it back together it took us about a full day of taking it apart a day to paint and dry and a about 2-3 days putting it back together. i leaned so much by doing it.. was your old frame painted before?

~Eddie

dswwarrior350 · Jun 11, 2006

awsome DSW i cant wait to see some pictures sounds like it turned out great. i know how you say it took 9 hours with breaks and whatnot because i totaly redid my when i bought it me and my dad striped it down to a bare frame and he painted it blood red (he pants cars for a living) and put it back together it took us about a full day of taking it apart a day to paint and dry and a about 2-3 days putting it back together. i leaned so much by doing it.. was your old frame painted before?

~Eddie

Nope it was still the original silver, it was starting to show some wear now after riding all these years. I dont know what i liked better, the black is new and nice, but now everything is black, i need to get the mothers out and polish up all my billet and chrome.

But anyway i forgot to credit my dad, without his help i wouldnt have been able to put this all together so quick. Ill try to get the pics up soon.