Ok,
I promised George I would post the pics of my Basket Case Mongoose. From here on out known as BC Mongoose.


Purchased for 500.00 from a nice young couple who buried it in one of those mud bogs down south. From the looks of it, it must have set under for a while. The couple was pleased that I gave them 500.00 for it. We had aggreed to 400.00 after they had sent me pics. They were very honest about the condition. They were concerned that the motor was ruined. After I started it I told them that their motor sounded fine but they had some kind of clutch/xmission issue. I offered to fix it for them or give them 500.00 for the bike. They said that they had it since 04 and rode it into the ground and were ok with the money.

This is it received:


After scrubbing on it for about 4 hours and then again for about 2 hrs it pretty much looked similar.



The bikes clutch area was a mess. The water and sand had set in it for a while and I decided to just scrap the secondary and rebuild the primary with new rollers and one drive face. I used a red secondary spring (just because I had an extra one, prefer green) and some twenty oz weights.



All 4 brakes were metal to metal and the slave cylinders all had water and grit inside the cylinders.

This required removing the slave cylinders taking them apart and cleaning. I did put seals in one of them. Don't remember now which.

What do you think the total investment has been now..
is it up and running or still a work in progress ?

Whats the cc's ?

I replaced the handlebars as they were bent a little and I had an KTM magura bar laying around. I also replaced the thumb throttle with a Motorcycle throttle just because I am really a motorcycle guy at heart.


I replaced the front wheels as they were so bent up that they would loose air until the bead of the rim was beat in place.


One of my customers gave me his yellow plastic because he had originally wanted to replace the plastics on one of his bikes but bought a yellow unit so he had no need.

The bike to the left is my customers. I was doing some testing with it and finally have it running decent. (he purchased from the photographer for MRP).

I also broke down a couple of months later and purchased new rear wheels just because I like the wheels I used that have an reinforced bead. They are desert rims but I ride in real rocky terrain and we tear up our rims. These seem to hold up the best.


So today this is what it looks like:


Other mods I did were to replace the engine piston with an oversize piston (powroll) and replace the cam and rocker arms. I had these parts laying around as I purchased them last year on ebay for such a project. I knew I would find something and finally I did.

I replaced the chain and front sprocket. The original was hooking and had the retainer bolt broke off in the sprocket. The chain was an example of what rust can do.

Things I still need to do.
Replace the rear wheel bearings, heck the front ones too.
Replace the Secondary shaft bearings.
Replace the rotors.
Modify a bracket to hold the dash on. We have it 90% complete. Just grinding and painting.

Optional but what I would like to do.
Maybe some stickers.
Replace the swing arms and a-arms from a Mongoose 300 for additional clearance.


Do I recommend others to do this:
He11 No. I could have bought a decent used Kymco with little use for what I have invested so far. For what I will eventually tie up in it I will have been able to purchase a leftover new unit.

Why I did it:
I dunno. I just feel driven to. I wanted to see the worst that could happen to a unit and see if I can fix it. It is also poor mans financing. It is easier to do a little at a time. I purchased in October and will ride for the first time tomorow in Davis Oklahoma.

The displacement now is 267cc. They call this a 300 kit but that's a little optimistic.

I will go with what the parts cost. About 1200.00. I had lot's of stuff laying around and stashed so it should be more.

I am not finished but I am riding it now and it drives fine. Acid test tommorow. 2 hour trail with no turnarounds and no short cuts. Luckily, a friend has his Kymco which he calls tow truck so I should be ok. He is always towing our other friends suzuki back just about everytime they go riding.

Hope evrything holds up OK on the first real test !!

pics of the event ?

Hey George,

Went well. I found a couple of issues. The fan does not come on when hot. I need to check that out. The bike doesn't usually need the fan but I discovered while idling waiting for the group.

I think also the neutral switch has an issue. Everyonce in while when I hit a rock just right on the right side it would cut out or die.

Aside from that it did great and led the ride at a very fast pace. I do need to change to the green spring. Nothing works better for the type riding we do.



I really wish I would have taken pics or better yet my helmet cam. You would not believe some of the terrain this place has.


Oh, that's cool what you did at the top of this thread. You are becoming quite the media master!

its real easy to do with SLIDE.COM