Saturday, September 17, 2011

A milestone, a victory, a problem.


I got out yesterday on what was a beautiful morning and put just over 100kms on the Sprint V, ticking over the 3000km mark as I went, some imports never make it this far, some not even a third, so I am happy about that.
Now to address the soft seize I had earlier in the week.
My plug was black and dry. I was running a 105 main jet, one size bigger than stock 102 as I changed to a Sito+ exhaust, a 160 main air bleed, which is what came with the scoot and is bigger than stock, 140, and a B7HS plug. Everything else is stock, Now I'm no expert and I consulted wiser folk than I and opinions differed and I realised that I just needed to try a few things and see what happened, I also read a few related posts on the Modern Vespa site, great info.
Firstly I increased the idle slightly as someone very experienced told me it was a bit slow, now this won't affect the running of the bike once you actually move off, but it did sound better, and I thought a hotter plug might not foul so much when I have it idling for some time
I'm not sure why but I thought I'd go up another size jet to a 108, and a slightly hotter plug B6HS, after the ride out the plug was clean, the ceramic was white with a tinge of brown, the little bit bent over at the top was the same brown. I did a lot of riding between 60-80, a few squirts above 90 but after the seize, I was reluctant to push it for a long period, I might throw the B7HS back in and see how it goes.
I gave the engine a clean and noticed that I had a drip of oil on the clutch arm and the hub had patches of oil in it too, this was probably one of the first things that happened when I first got the bike, I replaced the small o-ring back then and will do the same again if it gets worse, there hasn't been a drop on the floor yet.
My youngest son Merrick just loves "helping" when I do any work on the scooters, I'll have at least one riding buddy when he's big enough.

1 comment:

  1. Well done Brett! What a great milestone. I just hit 50K (bought it at about 20), and just replacing everything now. So another 50K and it will still stay as reliable as ever.

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