The Landfill 69/70 El Tigre

#1
Been along time since I posted on here. Figured since I just got this and started working on it today, I might as well enter it in the build off.

Sorry for all the text, but I like a good back story

Just to think this poor thing was one bulldozer push of dirt from being gone.

So here’s the story and plan:

Last Monday, I drove an hour and half to go pick up some chevelle wheels and while I was down there I saw an ad on marketplace for an H60 and kohler k181. When I got there, the conversation went to minibikes and it turned out he was as sick as me with them. Really terrific guy and a great minibike collection. So I got the motors and he said he had a frame he just put up in the loft he probably wouldn’t get to if I was interested. Of course I was...so he pulled it down for me and sold it to me for $10. He told me that a friend or family member who works pushing the dirt over full landfills had spotted it one day and brought it home for him....I have lovingly named it the Landfill bike.

My build plan is to put it back together as a survivor style bike and keep it on a budget by using some of the odds and ends I have collected over the years. Unfortunately, the front forks have been broken and welded, so I am working on fixing those first. Amazing to me was that the original kickstand and shocks were still there, as well as the scrub brake retainer. Also, the rubber foot pad is still on the brake lever


So some pics (will post the shoe pic soon) it’s out in the shop and other than power washing and taking the forks off is pretty much the same. 7746086C-8804-4E1B-8A09-9BDA1D7AD2C5.jpeg B44B88AF-012D-4EEE-A0B8-C75EA6058427.jpeg
 
#5
Been along time since I posted on here. Figured since I just got this and started working on it today, I might as well enter it in the build off.

Sorry for all the text, but I like a good back story

Just to think this poor thing was one bulldozer push of dirt from being gone.

So here’s the story and plan:

Last Monday, I drove an hour and half to go pick up some chevelle wheels and while I was down there I saw an ad on marketplace for an H60 and kohler k181. When I got there, the conversation went to minibikes and it turned out he was as sick as me with them. Really terrific guy and a great minibike collection. So I got the motors and he said he had a frame he just put up in the loft he probably wouldn’t get to if I was interested. Of course I was...so he pulled it down for me and sold it to me for $10. He told me that a friend or family member who works pushing the dirt over full landfills had spotted it one day and brought it home for him....I have lovingly named it the Landfill bike.

My build plan is to put it back together as a survivor style bike and keep it on a budget by using some of the odds and ends I have collected over the years. Unfortunately, the front forks have been broken and welded, so I am working on fixing those first. Amazing to me was that the original kickstand and shocks were still there, as well as the scrub brake retainer. Also, the rubber foot pad is still on the brake lever


So some pics (will post the shoe pic soon) it’s out in the shop and other than power washing and taking the forks off is pretty much the same. View attachment 255328 View attachment 255329
looks like it has a sears tag on it
 
#11
If you decide you want a set of forks my buddy has a perfect set off an El Tigre. Love these bikes, will be following along!
Thanks for the lead! Can you find out what he would want for them? I’d be interested, but to be honest, there’s nothing really perfect about this one, so if they’re really that good there might be a more deserving candidate. It would be nice to have a chrome set with the suspension in tact...
 
#14
Today progress

Front fork rebuild
I was able to get the slug out of 1 side pretty easily the other side fought. This situation probably doesn’t come up often, but shown below my solution was to drill/tap a hole in it, then use a bolt/socket to pull it out 46C21F4B-3780-4E22-B9D9-9D99F813C87A.jpeg 50E07109-5AFB-4190-AF3E-0FA1EF6912C2.jpeg F4F646D6-71BC-41E3-9224-A1318E252171.jpeg CA66F485-149D-4C9E-B725-E12B06A1BC31.jpeg

Next, I cleaned up the lowers by cutting off the no longer needs spring cups and prepped them for welding. I then cut 2 new 5/8” by 10 inch solid rod for reinforcement. 1916CBDF-8D14-4274-B52B-5DACE4F8F4DB.jpeg 0DDDB82B-DC20-40F3-A4CF-FDD0CA63C5E1.jpeg E152EFD7-BC5C-4C5E-950B-C6E14611601F.jpeg
Last, I welded them all up and gave them a test fit
C9219AF3-2ECE-4D32-B5C1-5A16142E880F.jpeg 2DBAC8A4-A04B-452C-B6A4-158C0628ADFA.jpeg
 

Attachments

#15
Wheels!

Since it didn’t have any wheels I dug through my parts stash and came up with these:

The rear is actually a drive wheel from a go kart. Very similar to what was used originally, only not chrome. It will get blasted and painted
8620E34A-D17E-41A5-949B-FD1EB2F40889.jpeg 5D65AB79-2278-4A0D-9D85-86DAB1E0ACAF.jpeg

To spice it up a little and give it a little muscle bike look I’m going to use this alloy wheel that I got with a bunch of parts. I never did find out what it came from. It has what appears to be a new ARCO tire on it, but I’ve never seen a man ARCO bike with one. It will get a full polish
FAEAE3E5-D371-4C32-8C50-B3FB5F357A64.jpeg FE071880-70C6-44FF-92FE-191B46F4CDB1.jpeg
 

MSPTREX

Active Member
#18
Wheels!

Since it didn’t have any wheels I dug through my parts stash and came up with these:

The rear is actually a drive wheel from a go kart. Very similar to what was used originally, only not chrome. It will get blasted and painted
View attachment 255473 View attachment 255474

To spice it up a little and give it a little muscle bike look I’m going to use this alloy wheel that I got with a bunch of parts. I never did find out what it came from. It has what appears to be a new ARCO tire on it, but I’ve never seen a man ARCO bike with one. It will get a full polish
View attachment 255475 View attachment 255476
The aluminum 2 piece wheels are 69-71 Taco wheels. Do they have a sprocket with them too?
 
#19
The aluminum 2 piece wheels are 69-71 Taco wheels. Do they have a sprocket with them too?
No, I only got the one lone wheel, I’d hate to know what happened to the bike. I went over to buy a fox scamp and ended up buying the guys leftovers from a bunch of bikes he had chopped up to build “custom” minibikes. That wheel I picked up outside with some other forks and stuff. Luckily he hadn’t messed with the fox much yet...
 
#20
Not much photo progress to show. I’ve been meticulously going over the frame, doing my best to polish out and save the original finish. In spots where that is not possible I’m chemically treating the rust and then touching the chrome up. As an example the bolt hole in the left has been rust converted. The one on the right looked exactly the same, but I carefully touched it up. Happy with the results so far 8B9CC06A-69F7-46C5-A19B-EF7038440B46.jpeg
 
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