Taco Super Trail 100 S082 Restoration

[marksteinhilber]

This is the story of a frame off style restoration of a Taco Super Trail 100, frame S082. But first, a little background on why I'm restoring and how my project came to be this model Taco.

I restored my childhood Bonanza Cr-400 last summer after it sat about 35 years in my parents garage. Loved doing it and how it turned out, So I wanted to build more of a custom rider with a bunch of cool parts that made sense to me. Parts are so much more are readily available now because of the internet as well as original brochures and information. This site is wonderful and I'm thrilled to be able to tell this story.

I really wanted another Bonanza minichopper to build for my 4 kids. A Bonanza MX 1410 or 1510 was on the radar as was a Taco 100 because of the suspension and mechanical setups that are similar to my chopper.

I learned some realities about Ebay bidding for highly sought after vintage Cr 400 and Cr 500 rollers. I saw a few go to people on this site as well as rust heaps that looked like they had not survived Katrina. I started watching Craig's List here in LA and Orange County for frames and started to see Cats, Bonanzas and Tacos that I liked, but I wasn't ready to fork over $300 - $400 for a running bike in need of restoration or the $150 or more asking price for each frame piece from a Taco. I lost lots of auctions for kidney bean wheels, sprockets, and really any decent Bonanza chopper parts that showed up. I didn't realize yet the likes of Mac, GTO, Injuntom, TacoJoe and others were scouring the web and the swap meets for exactly the stuff I wanted. And these are the guys with garages and sheds full of some gorgeous bikes that got the bug a little earlier than I. Well, it seemed like many or most of the choppers for sale were from back east where I grew up with my CR-400 as a kid. Shipping cost is really the thorn when it comes to all vintage parts and especially frames and motors.

Well the local mini bike collectors missed the fuzzy picture in CL of what I thought was just a more common Taco 100 with everything painted flat black. I called the kid selling and arranged to see the bike. It had a briggs 5hp with an aircleaner that was chopped down to fit under the frame, a newer model engine that was apparently not original. It would turn out to have swallowed a lot of rainwater from the open and upturned aircleaner with rusted intake stems and a damges lifter. It had a horrible seat they were going to throw out until I asked if there had been a seat. I paid cash and threw it nose down in the passenger seat of my wife's two seat convertible sports car with top down and the rear wheel out the window. Should have taken a picture of that one!

 

[tomsprops]

Anymore photo's ? I have a Matterhorn and st100 as well Vin# s001 That i'm getting close to restoring too.! Let me know if you need any referance photo's.

 

[marksteinhilber]

Hi Tom, I talked to you on the phone about seats and your Matterhorn a few months ago, and I saw you were after that ST 100 one page brochure on e-bay a couple days back. How do I continue the project log? Do I open a quick reply or do I somehow get the editor to add to what's there. I have about a dozen pictures of all the parts I have reconditioned including the infamous brake lever, footpegs, handlebars, etc.

 

[marksteinhilber]

TACO ST 100 Urban Garage Camouflage

I got it home, and disassembled the entire bike in under 40 minutes, squirriling away every part indifferent parts of my garage. "Do you think my wife will mind" takes on a whole new meaning in my house. My wife doesn't really like my own childhood minibike restored, let alone me building a death machine for my kids, 3 girls and youngest age 7 boy.

So I only had to hack saw one shock bolt near the spring arm. I found the bike to be essentially complete and original with Ceriani Shocks, the Honda QA 50 drum brakes, chains, jackshaft, throttle, and a very heavy triple tree with headset ball bearings, not what I expected from a Taco 100. Over time, I cleaned, stripped, and polished various parts, taking them from hiding for the ten or fifteen minutes that I could spend before I sequestered them in their hiding spots. I have enough toys, bikes, windsurfers, tools, a skiboat, and the convertible in the 3 car garage so that some parts are hidden in plain sight. They just blend in with the other things on shelves or under the boat. It's kind of like urban garage camouflage!

Some days I get an hour or two when the wife and kids aren't home and I can enjoy my hobby. All the flat black paint washed off the frame with lacquer thinner. The frame was mostly a kind of Ford engine blue that other recently discovered examples of the ST 100 also wear. Although it is very hard and resistant to the lacquer thinner, I don't think it is powder coat. I'm sure it is the original paint that was sprayed over bare steel. That is, except in the many places where I found Taco Purple under the blue. True restoration or not, I chose to go with Mopar Plum Crazy auto lacquer in true Taco spirit. Saw a lot of Taco 22's and the members bikes on the Taco site in purple that I just loved. Then I started watching GTO restore another ST 100 and also choose purple. If Tomsprops #001 frame was found in the medium blue, I'm guessing that's what he'll go with and he can provide the museum piece. The forum has been fun to watch the banter over missing parts like the foot brake lever, handlebars, and the like. I'm sorry if I should have taken pictures to help, but I'm new to this, and oh, the parts are hidden. Camera work gets suspicious, and computer chatting would get me busted. I'm feeling better about my intent (excuse) to build a bike for my kids and especialy my son to enjoy with me. And hey, I'll explain how my buddies at work had found this piece of junk that needed fixing and knew I had just done one, so they gave it to me.

I prepped the frame with some grey primer, but decided to use silver as an undercoat to make the Plum Crazy pop more. Here's thumbnails of the parts as they were finished and ready for reassembly.

For most of the parts, 3m surface conditioning disks in fine (blue) or very fine (grey) do a great job of cleaning chrome, aluminum brake hubs, and prepping rusty parts. Done carefully, you can polish aluminum like the handlebar mounting blocks, and clean up original bolts and acorn nuts. Spray on paint remover will take the original white paint off an old Tecumseh HS40 and leave a beautifully shiny aluminum engine block and case.

I found the steering bearings and trees to be like the Honda QA 50, and that the suspension parts like the shock boots would fit. The trees are different, but if studied, they are similar to some other mini cross style bikes of that transitional era. Same thing with the rims, they're very much like the Honda QA 50, but have a different number of bolts and holes, and the hubs and drums are quite different. These wheel assemblies also show up on those other bikes manufactured around the same years. My front tire was flat, but when removed, the rim was good. the rear tire still had air, so I assumed it was good. It turned out that I would hae to cut the rear tire off due to the amount of rust scale inside the tire bead. The thin steel pressed rim halves were heavily pitted in way of the tire bead. One half required welded repair that I'm still waiting on.

 

[GTO]

Tomsprops is the guy to worry about if you live in CA. He's a bloody Taco whore! :doah: I'm just a little guy with a small mini hobby. :thumbsup:

My story is similar to yours, saw a fuzzy pic on CL for something like $125 and I thought it was some kind of Taco with Honda 50 wheels. The old guy who sold it to me thought it was a Honda 50. Not many Taco's here so I felt lucky to get what I got.

I posted it here and on the Taco forum and it took awhile for us to figure what it really was, people thought it was an F-85 with the wrong sprocket until Tomsprops sent me some pic's of a super trail and the "S" ser # was the clincher. I've been going off that pic since to make fenders,pegs and stuff I was missing.

Unlike you I bought "mini van" for hauling mini's and it can hold 6 or more and tow a lot more..

I'm almost done but keep jumping on to other things right now.:doah:

 

[GTO]

Looking good! Your Paint looks good, mine looks blue on camera but is purple and I think my clear coat actually killed a lot of the zing but it still pops in the sun and the blue flakes in the paint looks more like the original color it once was.

 

[marksteinhilber]

My Taco is a slower project than yours.

Yep, I've been watching your progress on the kitchen table frame off rotisserie and we've conversed a few times. Quite amused with the banter between you and the notable villains. I've talked to Joe on the phone about seats and particularly his Matterhorn, boy is that a nice looking ride. I'm slowly adding photos to the project log today. Not sure if to edit or keep sending replies with additional info and photos...

 

[GTO]

looking forward to the progress. :thumbsup:

The only reason it was on the Kitchen table was it was so clean you could eat off it. And it was 20 deg in the garage.:doah: Il ike the super trail because it stayed more like a mini bike. (no tank)

 

[marksteinhilber]

Tree

Recognise that fork tree! I used the clear coat too and think it adds a lot of shine or gloss without affecting the color. I'm painting a lot of parts with some various colors, especially on the motor to add some interst to the eye.

 

[marksteinhilber]

$20 Motor

Got a Tecumseh HS40 for $20 last fall. Got a used carb, manifold, and pull start. It has the wrong Craftsman shroud, but looks OK painted. That shroud is hard to win on e-bay for a fair price. I think your paint looks great GTO. Are you going to use Hunt Wilde throttle. I don't get why Taco uses something with no cushion on a vibrating bike. My Bonanza has the soft waffle type grips that I've loved since I was a kid. I'm tempted! I have a new set that looks just like the old ones on my chopper. Here's that throttle hanging on the motor for testing.

Oh, and here's the muffler that was on the Taco when I bought it. It was a slighly newer Briggs 5 hp with the sliding lever rotary choke and kill switch. That motor needs the intake lifter replaced as it is bent and only allows the engine to turn over just more than one turn...

Ever seen this muffler on a Taco or another mini before?

I do like the tank on the 102 and have three Hodaka motors that I hope to make one run from...

 

[GTO]

I was dumb on the clear coat and wanted to use a two part but had a bunch of dupli-color high heat engine clear I got on sale and I think the ceramic muted the "zip" in the paint slightly. It still looks fine though.

Yes I got a good deal on some NOS "Hunt" grips and they are fine and are correct for Taco's. I didn't notice any uncomfort using the old ones when I got the bike. Go with the grips you like,, not a permenant mod anyway.

Carefull getting the swing arm on with fresh paint! Mine was tight and I used a padded jack.

You've come along faster than I thought and looks good. :thumbsup:

PS. I say no to the muffler on that bike. :thefinger:

 

[marksteinhilber]

Mufller paint etc

I won't use that muffler because it mounts on the side and looks ugly. Pretty sure it wasn't original based opn all the brochure pictures I've now seen. The original Teke HS40 had an L shaped box muffler that curved over the intake manifold. They're available. I have a pitted Taylor made curved pipe with spark arrestor for now, but I'm partial to nice chromed straight headers with maybe an RLV silencer straight out the back under the seat. One picture I use for Tacoinspiration for a nice looking mini bike motor. The other photo is what I think of when I hear GTO!

My paint is from AutomotiveTouchup Micro finish LLC, 1970 Barracuda Plymouth code ay2fc 12 oz spray. I used their matching clearcoat and it really gives a wet gloss. My pictures were taken in bright Socal sun which may be part of it.

 

[tomsprops]

Mark it looks Great ! Really nice job. I'm gonna do a search for that paint did you find it online ?
Watch out for the Goat he's really the Devil ! :devil2:

 

[marksteinhilber]

Great Taco Spray Paint

I searched for Plum Crazy and ended up finding 1907 Plymouth Barracuda paint code ay2fc7 for 19.95 in a 12 oz spray can. It worked great over grey primer or over silver paint. The matching clear coat $7.95 gave it wet gloss and improved the look too. I got it online at Automotivetouchup.com Touch Up Paint, Aerosol Spray Paint and Paint Touch Up Accessories

The picture shows it going over the silver, but it's pretty much the same over the gray primer. It does chip easily. You shoulda seen me trying to get the new jack shaft bearings and the jackshaft in with all the spacers, sprockets, and setscrewed and keyed bushings. I had painted all of them and basically had to take off all the paint in way of the surfaces that touch. Here's a glimpse of the jackshaft back in with new bearings. The footbrake assmebly too. I work near the port of Long Beach where there is several good bearing suppliers. I'm changing out the wheel bearings too.

 

[tomsprops]

Here's a photo of what your Kick stand should look like .I was gonna ask how durable you thought that paint is .

 

[marksteinhilber]

It's not as durable as the original medium blue paint that seemed to be a baked on paint, but I don't think it was powder coat. It's not as durable as the paint on a car. perhaps it is all about the adhesion of the primer. I washed the bare steel with lacquer thinner first, so I should have good adhesion...

I'm pretty certain that my kickstand is the original. Parts on my frame #82 may have differences from #001 or others. #40 has an unusual clutch cover, but it looks as old as the bike. My kickstand spring has no hole drilled in the engine plate. it was hooked in the motor mount hole. And although the brochures show the ST 100's coming with a Tec HS40, the wear pattern in the original blue paint on the engine plate would make an investigator think that the Briggs 5Hp was the original motor. I saw a faint shape or wear pattern on the steel plate that also looked like the HS40, but it was so faint compared to the Briggs footprint that I can't believe an HS 40 was ever on there very long. Is it possible that Taco would switch engines based on what buyers wanted before bikes were sold...

 

[tomsprops]

It'll be interesting to see if that kick stand will be long enough once you mount those 8inch wheels ?

 

[kbs8ball]

Nice looking project !!!!

 

[GTO]

I doubt very much that that's the original kickstand, mine was missing and I though the stock one was HUGE so I made one from scratch of what I thought it "should have been".

They went to Tecumsehs on these bikes and I have a 1970-71 hs40 but The briggs ran too damn good in it and was the engine used in the glory years.

I was thinking about the hunt grips and the shocks or so cushy you don't really need soft grips.

 

[GTO]

Nice looking project !!!!

Yes but I don't want anyone copying my two to seat! :thefinger: Another "should have been"