• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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Your opinion please for WR 400 1985 !!!

petros67

petros67

Husqvarna
AA Class
Husky WR 400 ..... 1985 .....

Ok , I visited sellers premises to inspect the bike , He is a collector and owns 26 vintage bikes , so he is aware of the value.
Price is 2000 euro ( 2500 $ ) non negiatable....... take or leave it he said.

The bike has been raced for sure .........at some stage.

Here are detailed photos , my main concern is that the frame has many dents under the engine ,
plus one dent which shows on the photo possible fm a colision fm a rock , plus rust under
will require repair + white plastic coating , engine shows ok but needs a good repaint ,
plastics are very rough repainted and paint is chipping off and front fender is not original , tank is repainted and where paint is also chipping off , swing arm is quite pitted and rims have many scarfs , the ohlin shock has some rust on the yellow spring and pitted scarfed too ,
the front fork has also many scurfs and requires full repair , one foot peg broken needs welding.


List to do would be : ( in order for bike to end up to my standards )
frame repair ??? + white plastic coating ,
Engine cosmetics , paint etc....
seek of another tank and keep this one for spare
new plastics
aluminum radiator & hoses fm e-bay
repair wheels with shiny spokes , sprockets etc....
repair ohlins rear shock
repair front forks
etc.....


My purpose // dream for this bike is to ride it maximum two times anually
as I love the 400 2T power and to have it for showroom in my living room.
So the rebuilt will cost me some amount of $$$.

I'm open to all opinions as I can not decide.
Should I get into this or wait for a better condition to show up.....
I'm sure this will end up costing me at least 4000 euro ( 5000 $ ):eek:

HuskyWR4001985_zps6d6faa73.jpg


HuskyWR400a_zps2aa8f8ea.jpg


Frame damage + under .....which does not show
Husky400e_zps74710da2.jpg


Husky400c_zps38216286.jpg


HuskyWR400b_zps78c6d129.jpg


Husky400d_zpsc52688c1.jpg


Husky400g_zpsfa72545c.jpg


Husky400f_zpse8fd25cf.jpg




Petros
 
That's a nice bike in "fairly" good/original condition. While it IS a very nice bike, it's not quite of the rare or collector category, at least here in the U.S. If you are planning to do everything in your work list, I'd personally start with a less expensive bike. So, if the choices are take it or leave it... I'd leave it.
 
+1 on dukkman, you can find cheaper one's .If you are going to use it as a show bike then you will still need to repair /replace almost every part. Mine cost $550 and i spent $4000-$4500 and still counting. $2000-$2500 is a good price if you are just going to fuel it up and use as is.
 
I got a much more authentic 1985 400WRX(which is what you are looking at) with original front end with drum brake for a lot less in 2007 without any frame damage. The WRX was only made in the 2nd half of 1985 so it may be somewhat collectible if original which the one you are looking at is not distinguishable from a 1986 (much more common, not so collectable) The frame on my WRX is premo considering it did 1 year of service under a New England AA enduro rider sponsored by Husqvarna through a dealer. I have a frame for a 1986 400WR that has a crushed frame guard rail that is crushed almost as much as the one you took picture of. I have been wondering how to fix without cutting it off and have a new tube bent and welded on.
 
The 1985 400WR was twin shock,same as 1984 400WR. 400WRX was released limited production mid 1985 , single shock,LC, full lighting & speedo, XC suspension,and drum front brake. Also after a closer look initially thinking someone just applied 1986 graphics, the lack of rear stay arm on the swingarm is a characteristic of the 1986 WR
 
Are you open to going to the dual shock water cooled or the 87-88? That 85-86 frame in the swingarm pivot and linkage can be more problematic even though the 87-88 is a long way form the real fix in the older single cam section on here. The inserts at the rear of the engine can loosen and worse. The gearing between the kickstarter and the clutch can be in suprisingly poor condition. I would find one less used for your display purposes and not listen to the guys who say get a cheaper one and fix it up. The purpose of these things was for the origional owner to go out and get trophies. No matter how much maintance a rider does they can't do much between the start and the finish which can be pretty far past the first mud hole.
 
Thank you for your replies and great info.
After giving this a huge thought , I decided to skip this one and keep a look out for the proper one to come.
Only if the seller was a little more flexible .........but that frame made me to turn this down.


Petros
 
good call petros, considering what the final cost of your display bike could be:eek: you need to start with a good base. cosmetics arnt cheap.
 
My 85/WR400 cost me $200 AUD [ about the same as USD ].
Total repair cost ?
A lot and I did all my own labour.
 
Mine cost me ~ 3 - 3.5K including purchase price (which was huuugely discounted as they thought it was a 240!! and this is a good bike (in VGC) before resto) just looked crap but all bearings, rims, spokes, brake shoes, swing arm bearings etc were in great shape needing little more than a good clean. the water pump was U/S and took a bit of work to make serviceable and the motor was given a fresh set of bearings and gaskets but i was able to use the existing top end. so with a sad" example i would have spent at least a further 1.5 to 2K A$ if it was a real basket case needing spokes, Rod, top end etc. So picking a good base for the resto is vital and you need to look past the obvious stuff and concentrate on the mechanicals. think very clearly .." I want to ride this bike in competition" How it looks is irrelevant... as once the "make it go" stuff is done, the make it "look good" can be done nicely later. good luck finding a nice one.
 
I was lucky. I got mine for $500 USD and it ran perfectly. The only issue at the time was the clutch plates were stuck so I did not even try it out. Got it home and drained the oil. It came out green. Hmmm, funny color for oil but been away from dirt bike for 20 something years maybe new oil I had never heard of. Got the clutch cover off and found the source of the oil color was the missing magnesium in the water pump region of the case. Probably my biggest expense was having the JB Weld machined to retore the pump side seal pocket. A whopping $65.00 for machine time. Only other puchases were a front brake cable and a new set of grips
 
jimspac said:
The 1985 400WR was twin shock,same as 1984 400WR. 400WRX was released limited production mid 1985 , single shock,LC, full lighting & speedo, XC suspension,and drum front brake. Also after a closer look initially thinking someone just applied 1986 graphics, the lack of rear stay arm on the swingarm is a characteristic of the 1986 WR
Click to expand...

Yup that's correct. I owned a WRX, and in fact, after upgrading the forks to KTM units, I still think its the best bike I've ever owned. It NEVER failed me and I could always beat my buddies on their new Japanese bikes, year after year. They would buy the latest and greatest and I'd be right along side them. Great transmission and power delivery.

Bought it when it was only one race old after the plastic Y-pipe coolant hose failed during a desert race and pitched the owner off the bike. I just happened to be at South City Cycles when he brought it back in to have it fixed. He was soooo pissed-off that he sold it for a song on the spot.

I remember how sexy it looked in the shop with the single shock while all the bikes around it were dual shockers. Kept it until late-1990's when I sold it to someone how vintage raced it(i am sure he a CafeHusky member.) I wish I still had it!
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
 
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