I've had some baby steps of progress of lately I cleaned up the inside of the headset, it had a 5mm layer of crap, caked in dust and grime sealed nicely with a coat of paint, I scraped it all out with a screwdriver and wiped it clean. When I replaced the gear cables I had reinstalled the bit that holds the cable ends to wrong way and the gears didn't feel right, so I pulled that out and re-greased everything and put it back in, I changed out the new cable anchors to the gear selector with the smaller ones so I could get the dust cover on, I adjusted the cables, cut and soldered the cable ends, greased it all up good and replaced the cover. Now rolling the scoot back and forth to check the selecting, it feels sloppy but until I can get it out and running I'll just leave that until later.
I have tested the newly installed fuel tap for leaks and to determine on and off position for when I reinstall that too.
One of the trademarks of a bodge is the ignition key under the seat, well I'm taking it out and I had some fun trying to find something to plug the hole. I did though and I have to tidy up the hole a little as it was crudely drilled to start with, then I will take a picture.
I also remade one of the handle bar dust covers, I wasn't completely happy with one of them, now I am.
By now you'll be guessing that I'm just about sick of waiting for this wiring....53 days since I ordered it. I don't blame the parts shop, it's on back order, so I am directing my impatience toward the suppliers, whoever they may be.....anyway this morning I sent off another email stating it wasn't good enough and I want out, given the time difference, they had approx. three hours to respond before they closed and I received no reply, nor did I get one from the email I sent earlier in the week. A little disappointing.
So in moving forward I'm going to go where I hadn't planned.
A guy that has helped me out with advice before just said "why don't you wire it up yourself? it will help you understand how it works better..."
So that's what I'm going to do, I have all the bits, with the exception of finding a better regulator, and running with the switches I have, all the lights are new anyway. just need to find some small wire, just over 1mm I believe.
Just writing this I am starting to get some excitement back, if I can get this working, I'll be pretty happy with myself. If I stuff it up, I'll concede and order a new one, from somewhere else.
Sitting back and looking at the bike sitting there all dusty and with bits scattered around the garage wasn't the plan I had for her. So watch this space on that.
Lastly the photos at the top are of a new stator I ordered, I believed that it would be a simple swap, I was wrong, I was looking at both of them trying to figure out how best to orientate the new one so the points would open at the same time. Something was wrong, then I found out what, the new one wouldn't fit into the flywheel, bugger, I felt that familiar wave of "for fuck's sake" and a head shake, I had a good look and thought maybe I could rebuild one to fit. Nope wasn't going to work. what else was there to do but grab a beer (after I was done, Fanta) and sat there, again, looking at the scooter and feeling sorry for myself.
So I contacted Paul, from Vespaspares.co.nz , who I ordered it from, and he was happy for me to return it, which I did.
The thing with treading water is the longer you do it the closer you are to the inevitable.
Ill fitting or wrong parts, waiting, breaking things, finding new problems, waiting, paying postage from all corners of the globe, every oddball nut/bolt size and shape, a string of bad luck and my own stupidity, oh and the waiting has almost broken my spirit.
Almost.....there's still a little bit of treading water left in me before I go under.
No comments:
Post a Comment