Life Line

A series of events has put me in a position to secure a matching set of Aussie delivered, I believe anyway, Sprint V engine cases, which I have jumped on. I think the best way to approach this windfall is to get the new cases cleaned up and as finances allow, I can slowly rebuild it with all new components and eventually drop it in the frame I have. after that I can get the other engine right as a spare or sell it off.
The current project will continue to plan and at the risk of upsetting the purists, I am quite enjoying the challenge of getting this going again just to see if I can. If not, all the good and usable parts will be shifted into the new cases and the leftovers can be placed into the box of things destined for retirement from active scootering, unless someone wants them of course.
A delay on the final seal has put progress on hold a couple of days, but I should get it today and then tonight the cases will go together, the top end and carb next and then the scooter re-assembly, a busy weekend with my Mum visiting for my second boy's 3rd birthday, and a Club event Sunday will delay the kick over until next week....unless I burn the midnight oil.

stone wall

Ok this oil seal problem is going to be a little more complex to rectify than I thought. I got in another flyside oil seal and it was the same as the one I ruined. a bit of tooing and froing, surfing the web, asking a few local experts, measuring and just thinking about it has lead me to ordering in a special seal from a performance motor bike shop in Brisbane. The Maz crank is for a P/PX which is fine since half of my case is suspected to be anyway, the trouble is that the Veloce flywheel side case half will accommodate the oil seal for a Veloce, 20 40 6 , but the actual seal is a couple of mm too small for the collar on the crank. The PX oil seal 24 35 6 fits the collar but is 5mm too small to fit into the steel seal holder.
My options are to use the old case half, don't really want to as I'd have to take the new bearing off and throw on a bush for the main caged needle bearing, use a different crank, straight out no, or get in a seal to fit, a quick google had me ordering an 24 40 7 oil seal it should work OK, I'll just need to round out the internal hole on the steel holder a mm or so to suit.
The positive side is I put the cases together last night as a dry run and everything sits well the crank turns smooth and feels solid. I have rebuilt the clutch so I might get that in place over the weekend, I can put the stand back on and that's about it.
Some things are sent to test us.

Stop start stop.

With the new seal I had little trouble getting the crank in, crank out of the freezer, case and bearing warmed up with a heat gun, it was a snug fit but I could do it with my hands, happy with that. I went on to get the cases ready to put back together, all the gears and the kick start mechanism in, the fly seal in place, a light coating of loctite gasket sealer on both cases to be sure and the gasket in place, I was right to go so I heated the case just to assist and as I lightly tapped away I was getting excited but, why is there always a fking but....I'm not sure if it was my fault or whether it was the wrong size but the fly side oil seal rubber began to bulge out is it got close to home, WTF.
I took the cases apart to have a look and the little spring was damaged and the rubber had split. so after a quick measure up and a dry run with the seal alone, it appeared too small to go over the final collar of the crank shaft without damaging it??
Does the Malossi crank have a special size seal or did I just do the installation wrong, It might work better if I put the seal in place on the crank before I install the case?? SO it's back to the drawing board until I find out whats going on.
Tonight will be the clutch's turn for a re-build.

Idle Hands

I had the weekend to just potter, clean etc. So I took advantage of it and did some reading, luckily I did as I found out a better way to install the crank that I wouldn't have otherwise, I'll cover that in a later post when I actually do it.
The top photo is the new and old crank side by side, on the left is the old one, note bushing in the con rod small end and the nut in front of it was the nut securing the clutch onto the crank. On the right is the new crank, the special lock washer and castle nut that is supposed to secure the clutch on and just off you can see the caged needle bearing for the small end, this is what is supposed to be in the Veloce engine.
The next two shots are of the case after getting it soda blasted, it came up pretty good.
I thought I'd put the cases together to see who they mated, my heart sank when one of the studs was in the wrong spot, in the fourth photo you can see the three holes, the end one on the right is fine, the stud was in the one in the middle and should have been in the one on the left, thankfully all I had to do was use vice grips and brute force to undo it, clean out the other hole and screw it in. The funny thing id on the flat to the right of the right hand hole is a number stamp 464, the number stamped on the fly side case is down the bottom at the rear and in a different font, taller, and is 460, close but no cigar, even if the numbers matched the cases still wouldn't, but it would have been a coincidence.
In my boredom I replaced a few grommets and this one, pic. 5, was well needed, it is the plug that the pin on the right side engine cowl slots into so you can lock it in. I also replaced all the domed wheel nuts for standard stainless nuts with proper washers and spring washers that they didn't have before. piece of mind.
That seal might come today, tomorrow at the latest.

Delayed

I went to install the crank and bearings and realised that I need a different clutch side seal, since this clutch side has the oil seal on the crank side of the bearing and not the outside, it needs to have a bigger internal diametre, a brief exchange with a shop in Melbourne had me sorted with what is a p125 oil seal, unfortunately it won't arrive until next week now which leaves me with little to do over the weekend except probably throw the stand back on, tidy up the workshop and no doubt I'll find something else to do. oh well.
I did pick up the case I had soda blasted today, it came up pretty good too, I'll post a couple of pics probably tomorrow.

Ball is rolling.

I started putting the engine back together last night, the mounts were in, I got my main bearings yesterday, pic three next to the one that came out, this is still in good condition so will do as a spare for now, the clutch side went in OK, nice and tight, no case heating required, I used the old bearing from the Veloce case I got from the US as a drift and five minutes of tapping with a rubber mallet had the bearing home and the securing circlips in place. I fit the lay shaft and Christmas tree, needle bearings etc, also put the main shaft/axle in also, the selector rod and cruciform, after the photos I continued to put the gears back on and that was about it for the night, I have a package at home and should get the last one tomorrow.
The top two photos are of the US case, I cleaned it up a little but as you can see the orange paint might look good on the right scooter, just not mine. hopefully that's blasted and cleaned soon too. An interesting point is in picture 2 is the little steel spring flap that is riveted where the spring for the kick start gear would normally sit, I get the theory of it, the spring can be troublesome when trying to join the cases back together, I'll see how it goes.

Building up.

Since I had the tank out I had another little root around in there cleaning and found there to be a little dust about, assuming it was a combination of dust that had come in through the frame and some surface rust dust, I got into it with a small wire brush as far down onto the tunnel as I could reach and then gave it a good vacuum out, I had been recommended fish oil to kill and prevent rust and had noticed that the Father in law had a tin on the shelf, decided to slop some in, pick up and tilt the frame so it would run just about everywhere without going silly and tipping it right over, I then let it sit back on the chocks and let the excess run out and dry over a few days, not the most pleasant smell but some people swear by it and come to think of it, I have never seen a rusty fish...
The parts are beginning to arrive, yesterday I got my new Clauss Studio mounts, they are a breeze to install, a few light taps of the rubber mallet and they were home. The new clutch corks, steels, springs, cups came too, the corks are getting a nice soaking until they are needed, I also got a new selector box, it is tight compared to the old one, I cant wait until I can feel the difference and hopefully it will stop the occasional popping out I have been getting. The seal set came also along with some nuts and bolts. The casing should be done by Friday, the clutch and a box of bits should also arrive by Friday. I will be heading around to the local bearing shop today to chase up the main bearings they are getting in for me, and I'll pick up the last of the hardware I need and come Saturday, I'll be good to get into it. I'll get plenty of photos over the next day or so as well. I hope to be kicking her over on Sunday.

Mounts out.

I hadn't given the mounts a second thought until it was bought to my attention that it would be a good idea, and I'm glad I listened. I drilled out the bigger one, which is why it is in bits, it was in pretty bad shape, as was the smaller side, didn't take much to hammer the pipe section out either, I got in there with a small wire brush and got what crud was left, including the cavity where the handful of dirt fell out of a few weeks ago, a quick scraping and brushing netted another good handful of dirt and sand. I have a free day this coming Saturday when the family are attending a birthday that I'm not required at so I will be doing some serious cleaning, buffing, polishing and preparation for re-assembly. I have ordered some new mounts from Clauss Studios in the US, I have a box of bits including the new crank coming from Germany, I'm sourcing some hardware and the bearings locally and have a short list of parts coming from Melbourne over the next two weeks, my case from the US is in transit still as well, I hope to be on the road and running in again by Easter long weekend. Fingers crossed.