OK, so this one isn't finished yet, but tonight it started to look like a bike, so I'm all happy and full of enthusiasm...
This was a $50 special that was laying in the same paddock as my MX125A. I grabbed it because.... well, I'm not exactly sure why....
Anyhow, it was a '74 DT175 with matching numbers, and very little else to recommend it - the engine was full of water and corrosion due to being left sitting with no intake.
At some point, my brain decided to build it up as a cheap and cheerful, very low budget racer.
The colour scheme was decided upon simply because I had the decent IT400C front guard in the shed... That sums the whole build up, really - just use whatever I've got, even if it isn't brilliant.
Motor. Motor was given a freshen up with new bearings and seals. The barrel was a freebie from a friend - its on the original bore, and has been ported a bit. Interestingly, the porting is pretty close to what Lozza recommended for my YZ175. The piston is the least worn one from my pile (rough, I know) but compression seems excellent.
The crank was (amazingly) in beautiful condition, despite the water having sat in the top end.
Sub-total: $80 for bearings and seals.
Ignition is (once again) an electronic set-up from a monoshock DT175 - but I think the stator is dead, as there's no spark regardless of what CDI box I use (coil is known to be good). This is why the stator cover is removed in the pics.
Carby is a 34mm jobbie that was donated by a forum member. It fits between the pipe and cases only when twisted slightly anti-clockwise.... And is a very tight fit into the original rubber intake boot! Air filter is a sock filter, which I hate, but am going to put up with.
Sub-total: $80 + $45 for a
pair of sock filters + a favour = $125.
Pipe is YZ or MX125A, with a dodgy stinger. Again, another freebie from another mate. Fitting it was hard work, and I nearly gave up and just slapped the standard DT pipe on. A LOT of material had to be removed from the cylinder head fins, and a custom bracket needed to be made for the pipe mount. Because I didn't think of this until after I'd painted the frame, I simply made a small plate from scrap aluminium and used a couple of "P clips" to hold it to the frame.
Frame/suspension.With the engine sorted, I cut all of the extra brackets off of the frame, and fabricated MX-style rear guard mounts.
It was then painted in White Knight gloss black epoxy enamel.
Subtotal: $125 + $15 = $140.
Footpegs are pit bike specials. $45/pair, and they fit straight into the DT footpeg mounts. The LHS mount was missing, but Tim754 sent me a brand newie. The RHS mount was very poorly welded to the frame, so I cut it off and welded another one on.
Sub-total: $140 + $45 + another favour = $185.
Forks are DT250, from a $70 DT250B wreck. They're actually really good forks with just the barest hint of rust, and apparently good seals. New tapered roller steering head bearings were $75.
Shocks are from my DT125 racer, as its getting a YSS upgrade. Ditto the rear wheel - the 125 is getting a newly built wheel with non-rusty spokes and a non-DID rim.
Front wheel is from my shed - its ugly but spins nicely.
Sub-total: $185 + $70 + $75 = $330.
Body work and bits.Tank is a real roughy - it came on a $10 wreck that I bought 18 months back. Some bog and some aerosol paint has it looking presentable - in the pictures at least...
LHS side plate is a spare YZ125C item from the shed, while the RHS one is all about Nathan teaching himself how to fibreglass. It is suitably ordinary.
Front plate is a VMXPlastics jobbie - it makes the rest of the old plastics look like shit...
Seat is also from the DT125, as its scoring a MX125 fibre glass seat.
The rear guard is worth mentioning: It's one of the VMXPlastic's first YZ125D/E rear guards that have been released into the wild, and I went and hacked into it to fit a DT frame....
New grips, chain, kill-switch and front brake lever blade. Clutch lever is late model KX (I scored a big pile of these from another friend: $0)
Tyres, throttle assembly, bars and are left-overs. Cables are ratted from my pile.
Sub-total: $330 + $50 fibreglass kit + $5 tank + $30 front plate + $50 guard + $15 grips + $20 kill-switch + $12 lever + $45 chain + yet another favour = $560.
There's probably another $40 in new bolts and oils, so I feel that calling it a $600 bike is fair.
(I apologise if I've screwed up the figures. I kept remembering things, and then tried to add them in).
If I can sort out the lack of spark, and there's no other unforeseen dramas, it will debut at the Crawford River Classic this weekend.
Future plans are a rebore, and a MX-replica seat. I think that it'll probably become more of a Vinduro bike than a VMXer, especially once I get around to finishing my DT250A racer.
Yes, my shed is a pig-sty. 
As always, the list of people who have helped (directly or indirectly) long:
Tim, Snowy, VMX Plastics, YZ360A, lms, Quickie, 090, Wright Motorcycles, Nifty, Lozza, and undoubtedly some others that I forget right now. (My apologies if you're one of them!)
