Project Blaster

Several months ago I had made a post about "Project Blaster" and wanted to document the repair process. After my quads have been temporarily detained (in storage) I'm finally able to post before and after pictures of the repair process. Here's the story of the resurrection of the mighty 1991 Yamaha Blaster. It was originally purchased used by a friend of mine several years ago, I believe around 1999. He rode it for a couple of years until his brother blew the motor. So I rebuilt the engine with Vito's performance parts, gave it a tune up, and it was good to go again. Fast forward 3 months and his genius brother somehow managed to ruin it a second time. I didn't even bother to ask what happened, as I knew it could only lead to a stupid conversation. The poor Blaster was then parked in a barn and forgotten about, withering away to nothing until the Catastrophe Lads got a hold of it. It was 2011 when one summer's day I nonchalantly ask my buddy, "So... that Blaster you have... any plans of fixing it up and making a come back tour?"

"Nah, just gonna let it rot away in the pole barn."
"I'll buy it off you for $200."
"Sold."

And that was basically the entire transaction in a nutshell. I rounded up my truck and tow straps to make a trip to the pole barn to pull this poor quad out of moth balls. It was covered in bird crap and enough layers of dust and dirt that you'd think it was excavated from an Egyptian pyramid. I've definitely got my work cut out with this one, but the satisfaction of rescuing a forlorned and under-appreciated fourwheeler is the greatest joy ever. The first pic I have is when I got it back to my house for some cleaning and power washing. Mind you, I had already scraped most of the bird feces off this:

Yeah... the pictures just don't do it justice. It was nasty. I gathered up a list of things that I needed to get started and I was off and running. The list of repairs includes: new clutch, new brakes, new carburetor (sans TORS thank God), new K&N pod filter w/ outerwear, new ignition, removal of the leaky oil injection system, re-painted exhaust, cleaned out gummy gas tank, and a host of other cosmetic repairs. Fortunately, the engine and transmission were still intact so no need to take those apart. And even though the quad was covered in feces and grime, it wasn't weathered at all from the barn storage, so the plastic and seat were in excellent condition. And the feces didn't stain the seat somehow! That's Yamaha quality for you. After a few months worth of time and a few hundred dollars the Catastrophe Lads were able to get it up and running again. Next on the list: Project Banshee or Project Warrior depending on what we can get our hands on.

The finished product:

Shiny! That about wraps up the harrowing tale of rags to riches, Blaster style. Stay tuned for more pictures and projects!