Spring update.

I have been a bit quiet, sorry about that, life gets in the way when you are busy making other plans, so they say.
I have been documenting a few bits and pieces, lots of photos etc. here -  https://www.facebook.com/BlackCatSc
Swing by and have a look if you are on fb.
Brief update is that the 200 engine is running well after a few teething problems, the small frame project hit a standstill for a while but I am now reassembling the engine. The Sprint V cases and parts from the first engine is also going back together. Not sure what I'll do once all the projects are finished.....sure I'll find something.

Woo Hoo

Ok it's been a while again, just so easily distracted, and I was just procrastinating as well.

The update is this. P200E engine in and sorted, HT coil was the culprit, would idle fine, perform badly when given throttle. I have a replacement stator on the way, it's dragging its bum a bit though, been over two weeks since I arranged it, in the meantime I have a borrowed stator that's  just fine...

Yesterday I rode to Geelong for a club breakfast, started out having only done about 120-130kms on the new engine prior, but it was the perfect weather, cold and the road is also perfect, mostly flat, some hills varying in slope and of course some sweeping bends. I've opted for a ride it like I normally do type of run in, sans taking it WOT, so far it hasn't missed a beat, other than a few idle adjustments and clutch tweak, I haven't had to do anything, all I need now is for the rain to give me a break to ride more.

As for the other engine, it's pulled down, cleaned and is going into a real Veloce case, no rush on it though, like the 75cc rebuild, it can wait, I'll do it bit by bit.

What a journey from A to B it's been. 

Sorry.

I have been meaning to catch everyone up on what's been going on. It's been a long period of silence and I'm sorry.
I have had a few problems with the 200 and ended up putting the 177 back in to go on a ride out, I have finally run out of patience with the 200, I've tried everything with no joy. So now I'm going through a process of elimination, firstly after I dropped the engine I cleaned it up, found that the stator was rubbing the flywheel, I made good the connections in the wiring to be certain, redid the earth from the CDI was solid and I put it back together and in the scoot, same result, checked the timing again, it was fine., Plug was still fouling....fuck it, plan B is to try the ignition from the Veloce, points but hey they've been using them for a hundred years, I'm comfortable with them. Anyone that hasn't followed from the start won't know that my "Veloce" had a P125 set up on it as the 12v conversion, um yeah whatever, so it will fit the 200 crank fine, that's happening tonight, should that fail, Plan C is I have a borrowed a known to be working CDI, stator and flywheel. I'll just have to wait and see. Last option is rebuild the 177 parts into the set of Veloce cases I have.

State of affairs

Since I pulled the 200 out, I have found that the flywheel had been rubbing on one of the stator coils, evident from the scuff in the thin yellow paint on the inside of the flywheel and a slight polishing on the coil in mention. I hit the flywheel with some fine wet and dry and gave it another dusting of paint, I gave the coil the slightest buff as well. I read that I should check for play in the flywheel and the crank, the crank moves only slightly, I haven't put the flywheel back on yet, but will soon. I checked all the stator wiring for any signs of wire damage that may have earthed out at higher revs, all seems well there too, I double checked the earth from the CDI to make sure it was the best it could be. I've given the carb and jets another clean, I plan to lap the base of the air box as well, replace the gaskets and fit the carb off the running engine straight to it when I swap them out. If this doesn't get results. the next plan is to take off the electronic ignition flywheel, stator and CDI and try a new 12v points stator I have waiting to go into the Sprint V and I have got hold of a Veloce flywheel to match it, big thanks to K at Kickstart Scooters for that. If THAT doesn't work I'm going to rebuild the Sprint V cases with all the parts I have already in the bodgey, yet very reliable, engine and I know the Sprint V will have a matched case Veloce engine with a DR177 upgrade.
Looking back, I've learnt a bit from when I first replaced the clutch arm o ring to stop the oil leaking and felt like I accomplished something big........got me stuffed what I'm going to do when I'm finished, hold the phone I forgot the 75cc smallframe engine I'm yet to put back together, good.
On another note, this Blog will soon pass 15000 hits, I hope by stuffing things up and figuring it out, I have helped someone somewhere get their scoot back on the road, spreading the love. Cheers.

Back in the saddle

It was foggy and cold but riding to work was the best start to the day, the 200 is on the bench at least for the next three weeks, I'll have a good look to see if I can find any reason for it not to work, it's gotta be electrical, anyway....so it continues.

P200E - 1, Me - 0

Dropped the engine, defeated for now, time is running out before I need to ride it to events, no time to run it in properly before riding 200 kms on the open road on consecutive weekends. 177 is clean, fresh oil, I'll get that back in today and get it going, then I'll go over the 200, I've got a list if potential causes from good folks across the globe trying to help. Hopefully it will be an obvious fix with the block up on the bench.

Last chance

Between work and family commitments, the weather and the shorter days I just can't get longer than an hour with it to get the new engine right. Tomorrow is the day, I'll get it right because I have to, I have a run in two weeks or so and would love to be on the 200 to help with the run in, OR I'll be dropping the engine and putting the DR177 back in, I'm missing what nice days we have had and some upcoming runs to consider as well. I feel trapped using a car, I miss scooting, so D day is tomorrow, Stand by for an update after that.

Ah ha gotcha!

Running out of things to eliminate in the hunt for what, in the end, could only be an air leak, I performed a classic troubleshooting method, the good old leak down test, I took the exhaust off and plugged the stub, piston to tdc, air filter off and pour clean petrol into the carb throat until it reached the top, wherever the leak is will soon become evident as the fuel will leak out of it, noticeable unless its the clutch side seal. It ran from under the air box, still to check the gear oil to see if its fuel free though, 

I pulled the carb and air box off and saw something I hadn't given a second thought before, the lower of the two is the one supplied with the parts for the new engine, the upper is a Vietnamese special. The 200 one has been widened to within an inch of its useable life, in this case a mm, so I believe this is the culprit. I swapped it for the other and will put it all back together today. Hopefully that's the end of it.

Fingers crossed

After doing the rounds asking the big questions, the brains trust is banking on the fly side seal. I can pull the choke out and the idle doesn't change, dropped the gear oil, no fuel smell this time round after the clutch seal was replaced last time. I read today another way to check for an air leak was to tape up the clutch breather and see what happens. I just replaced the fly side seal, getting the other one out wasn't pretty. I whacked everything back together, filled the oil back up and decided to leave it until tomorrow. Bit of luck I can tune it in tomorrow and ride it to work on Friday, riding my push bike is fun and all, but...

Still not right

 

It will start and idle no problem, from cold it will even rev with throttle when I give it a blip. I rode it  about a km down the road, gears are tight and it pulled great. Once the engine warmed up and I stopped, it died and would only idle? see video, when I apply throttle you can hear the intake sucking and it's not revving, more like firing every second or third rev, smoing a bit and eventually burps, farts and dies. Lucky it was a nice day for a walk....
I've tried everything to get it revving when warm. Pulled down and cleaned carb and jets twice, I'm running a 55/160 idle, 160 air, BE3 diff., 116 main with a 118 on standby for the Sito +. Plug is B6ES, ends up black dry and sooty. Fuel is premix 2%. Timing checked three times and is 23btdc, cold compression is 135. While idling, I have tried every 1/8th position on the mix screw from 2.25 to 3.75 turns out, tried two needles, even swapped out the clutch side seal after I pulled it down after having the same issue on initial start up....

update

I had the same issues with the engine not revving, when I apply throttle it's sucking air quite clearly, but only firing every second or third rev? I decided to park it up and see if I can sort it out, re check the timing, stator, and start again, I tried riding it up the street and it just bunny hopped and was missing power strokes all over the place, I did get one good bap of revs on the stand, but couldn't get it to do it again.
B6ES plug, black and dry, mix screw didn't seem to make much difference but I need to just work through it slowly.
standard jets, timing set at 23 btdc, it idles nicely, gets a bit better as it warms up, starts first kick each time after the initial start up.
I was hoping to take it to the monthly club meet in Geelong this week, don't think I'll be making the 150km round trip this month.
Stay tuned.

Honey I'm home

Got it in, bit of a wrestle and some love taps but alls good. Clutch set, carb set, the gears are giving me a bit of grief, so I'm going to call it a day. A good day. Bundy calls, sorry P.

Out with the old....

Work has been particularly quiet the last few days, I opted to take some leave so I could switch engines and see how the 200 goes, today I'll get the 177 out , clean it up,  give the underbelly a good clean and check over, tomorrow I'll put the 200 in and take it for a spin. Can't wait!

Half way there, it really doesn't take that long to drop an engine, 6 cables, wiring and fuel, rear tyre, which I found to have a disturbing amount of play, way back in the beginning this happened, then it was the "restorers" had conveniently forgotten the spacer and had the split pin running across the top of the castellated nut, which of course loosened itself, this time I only checked it a week ago, I had noticed a change in the handling and braking, it was solid. I have a new one waiting for when I rebuild the Veloce engine transferring most of the parts into a matching set of cases I have sitting there gathering dust. So I took the split pin out and could undo the nut with my fingers.... 

Bit of a tidy up this morning and in with the newby.

ticking away

 

 

                                            

 

Apologies for the bad footage, but it's enough to get the point across, She burst into life on the third kick and idled away, I need to tweak the timing just a little but otherwise I'm happy with it, very little smoke this time, just the normal amount, plug wasn't oil fouling but had a bit of black soot on it. Still had the same response to the throttle, but I will just swap the engines over this weekend and give it a run, a tune and if it's going OK, leave it in for a while and begin to run it in.

I was stuffing about and decided to clean out the tool box, glad I did because there was a bit of water pooling at the rear from the recent rain, I just park it on the street outside work now, I have a piece of carpet upside down in the bottom to protect the bottom, this also collects all the dust and with the water, just turned it into a nasty sticky clay like substance, to my surprise I found a heap of change, $10.65 to be exact, score! I also had a champagne cork, zip tie, a nut and bolt and the plastic tag that had broken off my Armadillo jacket zipper. All things one should never be caught without on the road, you just never know.

Stage is set

Fully assembled, waiting on premix and a good stern kick or two. As for me, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to kick it over, today I have run out of time, motivation and sobriety. 

Almost there

A very productive afternoon, crank installed, cases together, top end on but only hand tight, stator in, alls left is the clutch assembly and some torquing down.

The cases went together easily, minimum of hammer love, not like before, the crank was happy moving freely after torquing the case nuts. I ran out of time and it was getting cold, should be able to kick it over tomorrow or Monday. Life's good.

A bit of prep

 

 

Ok some prep for the rebuild.

First up is a tool I just couldn't have gotten by without, my scribe. Thought it deserved a mention.

I made up a 1mm spacer for the inner sleeve of the fly side main bearing, I didn't have one before because I had read that the only reason the gap was there was so you could get the sleeve off with the factory puller, I have since been told that the gap also allows the seal to do its job better. The little selector arm is exactly the right size to snugly fit inbetween the crank webs for when I tap the sleeve onto the crankshaft, after heating it.

The third pic is the first crank I used and I was interested to see if it was out of true in the horizontal plain along the shaft. The marks represented where I measured with my micrometer. At 12 o'clock I compared the play in the conrod, the secondhand one was 3-4 times more play than the new one, that said it was still less than a mm at the big end bearing. The other measurements between the webs were the same for both cranks, so if the crank is out of true it can only be that the two webs have twisted somehow, I doubt it, but hey I'm no expert. Peace of mind that it's a new one going in.

Lastly, the wait for postage from the UK is about 3 weeks, which is what it was, I wonder though that it might have been quicker if they had of put the correct country on the address label? A testament to the postage systems world wide that it still found me here in country Victoria, Australia. I just hope that there isn't, by some freaky coincidence, a poor bloke in Elliminyt, USA is still waiting for his new crank....

Crank it up

The wife just sent me a picture of the new crank in a box sitting on the kitchen bench, waiting for me to get home. Looking forward to getting the hands dirty again, I'll fill everyone in as I go along. You wouldn't want to have this as a hobby and have a serious problem remaining patient, you'd go nuts.

Cracking up

 

 

OK this has been ongoing, imperfections in the paintwork, hairline cracks etc., but I noticed on the weekend that there were two areas that had just reared their heads.

The first pic is a little out of focus, but you can see the hairline crack in three spots. Between the two stand nuts, to the left and down towards the corner of the pic and finally there is also one that is hard to see that runs up the diagonal join an inch or so. I know there is no welding in the tunnel because I have taken a photo myself during the first few inspections, I couldn't see nor feel any signs of repair welds and am sure that the cracks are the filler in the grooves cracking from the floor flexing through riding, sitting on the scooter whilst on the stand and transporting a box of beer on the floor once a week or so. The third pic is the non brake side, nowhere near as bad.

The second pic is of the trim cracked in two, this happened on Sunday when I rode down to Geelong for a club brekkie. The location of the two securing screws for the tail light cover has come through most likely by vibration and the top notch quality of both the paint and the painter, has come away. The corner is broken off, I'm not sure which one was responsible, but two of my boys were "helping" me "fix" the 200 engine I'm building, they went inside and I found the piece on the floor, most likely hit with one of the tools they were playing with...

There is a one inch crack on the rear of the bike below the back of the seat and finally I have had a vibration noise coming from the front somewhere and I now know where. the rear bolt that holds the front fender on had come loose, despite the Vietnamese restorers fool proof double nut securing system, this had caused a circle of paint to bubble away and I peeled it off, it was about the size of a fifty cent piece. I hit it with a small wire brush and cleaner, painted it with two coats of cold gal paint and finally I replaced the bolt, washers and nut. Good to go.

As for the rest of what's going on, on my way to Geelong on Sunday, the speedo clicked over 9420kms, no biggie really, but it is the 5000km mark for the DR177 kit, once I got it set up I haven't touched it, save an oil change or two, a re torque of the cylinder head nuts, check and clean of the plug. Hasn't been a problem since. although I do need to give it some love, the cables need to be adjusted, it needs a clean too.

She keeps jumping out of second, not all that often, but it does seem to happen when there is someone admiring the machine as I zip off from the lights or toot a group of girls passing by...all that other stuff can wait until the 200 rig is ready to slot in. On that, still no delivery, any day now. I have given the piston some 1200 grit wet and dry loving and a baby's bum would be jealous of how smooth it is, as I have said before, so now we wait.

Hanging

Just waiting on the new crank, it left the UK two weeks ago today, I expect it soon...in the meantime, I've had a chance to get some of the jobs around the house done, yay.

Those that have children or spend a lot of time with them will know that, at times they just come out with the funniest things, my middle son, 4yo, was singing and playing by himself and I was just pottering about when he started singing Incy Wincy spider....
" Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out,
Out came the spider robot and ate up all the sun....."

He stopped there to see what I was laughing at, I would have loved to have heard the last line.

The verdict

OK the beast is pulled down and here's the rundown.
Clutch side oil seal, although new, Rolf brand that came in a seal kit, and installed correctly, not caught on the crank, is the culprit.
Of course I wish it was that easy, just replace the seal and good to go....nooo.
When I drained the gear oil, it had the smell of fuel and given it had only been idling for a total of probably fifteen minutes was a murky colour, some of it would have came from the blue coloured grease, also there was a lot more tiny flecks of steel in it than I'd expect but it is the first time the parts had been run together.
As for the crank area, there were some small flecks of alloy or steel also, I'm guessing from the crank shaving the repaired rotary pad and I'd hazard a guess that some of the flecks in the oil in the gearbox had been sucked in as well, either way the brand new piston is scuffed, the scuffing goes a full half around the piston diametre on the exhaust or downward side of the cylinder, the cylinder itself fared much better , because it's cast iron I'm assuming, the rings are ok, they show some signs of the scuffing but no damage thankfully.
Where to from here? well I have a new crank on the way, piece of mind really. I have a new seal and I will be giving everything a really good cleat, I'll give the rotary pad another dusting with some wet and dry, I will do the same to the piston as well, put it all back together with care and love, fingers crossed...again.

Caution

I've decided to split the cases and have another crack at it. After many a discussion and opinion from more experienced than I, I've troubleshooted to the best of the collective ability and have realised that the possible causes and the outcome from checking each pose a risk of damaging something on what is a new engine. Unless someone else has a suggestion I'm going down the road of caution.

The facts.

- When putting the flyside bearing bush on the crank, I got half way through tapping it on after heating it when I realised I hadn't chocked the crank webs, Mistake 1

- Pulling the crank through the bearing, clutch side, I was so focused on keeping the home made pulling contraption straight and the pressure off the bearing, I neglected to ensure that the conrod was clear of the case, it was only after realising while turning the nut on the bolt got harder, that I realised the conrod was caught and was most certainly caught with enough pressure to cause the crank to be forced out of true. I undid the nut and hit the crank back enough with a rubber mallet to free the conrod, did this unseat the bearing? I don't know? I just pulled the crank back through until it was home, I should have pulled it right out and checked everything. Mistake 2

-Once installed I noticed a bit of play in the bearing, only a few mm and I was assured that it was normal. I proceeded to put the case halves together, I had a lot of trouble and it seemed to be getting stopped by something. On and off a few times and finally, without really finding anything out of sorts, I got them together by heating the cases and giving them some love with a rubber mallet, only to realise that in my efforts to try and figure out why they wouldn't go together, I forgot to put the kickstart gear back in.....off and on again and then I realised that the crank wouldn't turn without some slight force and a spanner on a nut on the flyside of the crankshaft, I kept turning it and it got a little better, but it was catching on something. Mistake 3

- I split the cases and found that there were small shavings of alloy throughout the crank area, seals etc, the leading edge of the crank web was shaving the smallest amount off the repaired rotary pad. I eventually pulled the crank and  tidied up the pad and the crank web with a dremel and tiny wire wheel, I chamfered the leading edge of the web slightly to avoid it shaving any more. I reinstalled the crank and put the cases together, the crank spun by hand so I though it would be ok. Mistake 4

 I proceeded to finish getting the engine to a point where I could kick it over, to my surprise it did after a while, ran for a few seconds and stopped not to be started again that day, something wasn't right, turned out the retaining clip on the clutch assembly didn't want to play and the clutch fell apart in the case. Since then I have tried everything to get it to rev with throttle applied as explained in previous posts, idles ok for a while, plug fouls with oil,  lots of white smoke, 2% mix, 2.5 turns on the mix screw, timing is fine, carb and jets checked and cleaned, everything is torqued to spec and the only thing I haven't done is actually put the engine in the frame and hook it up in prep to ride it, but I can't see what difference it would make and I'm reluctant to only because the engine in there is running like a dream, reliable and I've learnt over the years that if it ain't broke, don't fix it....the only thing I can think is not quite right is the crank as explained above.
Back to the drawing board for now. Happy for some input guys....

Sitting Idle

The bloody thing won't play. It will idle fine but no joy with the throttle opened, it does speed up a bit, but doesn't sound to be firing on each stroke, I have tried a few things, adjusting the timing and checking it manually and confirming it with a strobe. Cleaned the jets, changed the carb gasket, tried every combination of airbox on, off, a rag stuffed into the bellows opening, starter fluid, choke on, off, adjusting the air-fuel mix screw, I even changed out the carb float needle and the list goes on, the plugs are fouling with oil, I only have 2%, maybe a smidge more, have a new B6ES plug. blowing a lot of white smoke too, only thing left to try is to actually fit the engine in the frame and hook it up ready to ride and see what I can get it to do, the idle will be able to be adjusted a bit in the frame, but I can't really see what difference it'll make. The fuel delivery might be the issue, a longer than stock hose connected to a plastic bottle, gravity shouldn't be a problem unless it's delivering too much fuel?
I've asked around and tried all the suggestions.... I'll persevere until the weekend when I'll be able to swap the engines over and see what happens. Lucky the other engine is running so well, touch wood.

W.O.T. mark II

Another fantastic morning, a slight breeze though, swirling a bit so not really favouring any direction, same deal, same road and....same speed 93kmph, the GPS flicked to 94 but just couldn't make it, so I'm convinced that unless I ditch the tools, don the lycra and drop 15kgs I'm not going to get to 100kmph real speed. Never mind the 200 engine will.

W.O.T.

The Lava run has given me more confidence in the DR177 to really give it a go speed wise, so this morning I took the old girl to a road I have mentioned before, Deans Creek Road, where everyone goes to blow off the cobwebs and get some wind in their hair.

 

The morning was a crisp 8 degrees C (47F), no wind and as you can see, not a cloud in the sky. The road is a couple of kms long, straight, flat and rural traffic, read hardly any, I set up my iPhone in a zip lock bag, electrical taped it to the headset above the speedo and I was good to go.

Once in fourth gear I assumed position, bent down with the face shield against the headset, knees and elbows tucked in and throttle wide open......I wound the needle off the clock as far as it would go and I held the throttle open as long as there was enough road in front of me to stop before the highway.

The result...........couldn't get past 93kmph (57mph) GPS speed in the space I had but that is respectable enough, I will do a few more runs when I get a chance, just so I can see and because it's fun.

Lava run

I was invited by some guys to join a run that would eventually find it's way close to my home town, organised by the Wild Dog Creek SC from Melbourne and the geared and classic clubs were invited to attend, the final group ended up at 19 scooters and 20 people representing I think nine scooter clubs, I heard someone say anyway. The plan was to ride out from Melbourne and around the south west district of Victoria which , as it turns out, is the third largest Lava plain in the world, I know, exciting stuff.
I arranged to meet the group outside of a small farming town called Cressy, halfway between Colac and Ballarat, as is almost always the case the fuel stops and such took a little longer and I ended up riding half way to Shelford and caught them on the road. The first three pics show me loaded up ready to go, parked up halfway to Shelford near a classic example of a volcanic rock wall, the local farmers had to pick up all these rocks over many years to make the land usable, grazing mainly, some cropping too, so they decided to use them to keep the cows in, these fences/walls are scattered around the countryside in the district and will outlive anyone living here today. Third pic down is the group in the distance, I fell in just in front of the tail end charlie and the fresh country air I had to myself became a plume of 2T, lovely. The old DR177 held its own, I still couldn't quite keep up with the 200s though, but it didn't matter, the ride was superb anyway, rolling countryside, old farm houses and wineries, stone churches and cows, plenty of cows, this is dairy country BTW, the group was separated by one minor breakdown and me overshooting a corner and testing my off road skills, You can see my spare fuel tank on the centre floor mat in the first pics, well I had it occy strapped around both sides of the stand legs this meant that the stand hung down a bit, coming into this corner I could have slowed down a bit but didn't and as I leant into it, the stand scraped the ground. I knew then that 1- I was going too fast and 2- I was going to run out of road and would need to bail, mind you it was a one lane country road, gravel on both sides. First thing that went through my head was " fucks sake don't drop it....or hit that tree" I clutched in and put my feet down, straightened up, braked as best I could and aimed at where I wanted to go, twenty metres later after coming to a stop next to the tree and having endured shrubs, branches on the ground, eyeing off the barbed wire fence to my left, a fucking foot to my left, the two riders behind me stopped, "you OK?" yep I said laughing and feeling like an idiot " scoot OK?" apart from a branch stuck up in the front wheel guard "yeah I think so" "nice recovery" "thanks" and off we went......
 After a regroup at a small place called Lismore, pic 4, we headed off again to the highlight of the ride, Mt Elephant, seen in pic 5, a dormant volcano standing proud on the otherwise flat landscape, the community group had opened it up for us to see and ferried us up on the back of a ute, it was fascinating to hear about the history and the view was spectacular, pic 6 & 7 are at the base of the Mount, after this we stopped for a late lunch at Camperdown and on to our overnight venue, Gellibrand, we all stayed in the caravan park in cabins, two guys braved the frost and camped, dinner was at the local pub and was followed by tall stories, two stroke tuning talk, the differences in skinhead scenes around the globe, pool and what decent music anyone could find on the jukebox, oh and it goes without saying, beer flowed, wine was quaffed and laughter filled to small room.
In the morning we headed into Colac for Breakfast and after having the local paper come and take some photos and ask a few questions, the guys waved and bid farewell and continued on home to Melbourne, I went home, kissed the kids and the missus and went out to the shed to finish putting the 200 engine, last post, together. I have clocked over the 9000kms mark as wee in the last week, on the way to the Club brekkie in Geelong in fact, that's over 4500km on the DR. Bottom pic isin the morning getting ready to leave and of course my new front rack, a freeby, from one of the WDCSC guys, I put the word out and he had one he didn't want, score.

 

Here's the front of the local paper the following day, Chris from Melbourne on the left, Sharon from Hobart on the right and my front and centre, grossly mis-quoted as well, the drug bust had nothing to do with us, but was obviously more important than a bunch of classic scooters gracing the town and giving it some class, albeit for a short time.

Give me some revving love..

  

 

OK after some stabilising of my dodgy engine stand, shown proudly below, the additions allowed the engine to sit, be stable and most importantly be free standing, I went through a few things before I kicked it over again. Just on the stand, my Mum always said never to judge a book by its cover, the stand was thrown together and held together is such a fashion that Homer Simpson would be proud to call it his own, once done I'm sure there is an art gallery somewhere that would love to add this contemporary piece to their collection, or i could go into reproduction mode if anyone would like a replica :)

I pulled the float and needle from the carb and saw that the needle tip had the tiniest piece of rubber hanging off around the base of the rubber tip this must have been getting caught and stopping the needle from seating, therefore explaining why the fuel was dripping from the little tube in the venturi with the engine stopped. I dropped the main jet size to 118, what it was before I upped it for the Sito, I double checked the air fuel screw to 2.5 turns, changed to a new B6HS, just for kicking over purposes, premixed some new fuel 2.5%. Even though it has marks on the electronic ignition stator, I checked the timing manually, TDC check, 23 degrees BTDC as per Haynes manual check, some adjusting once I got the timing light on it and it was good to go, It has no problem starting and even idling, but there is no response from the throttle, it's almost like it is 4 stroking and it is definitely not revving, I'm going to put this to smarter people than I to see if there is something I'm either doing wrong or just plain don't know about. Apologies for the bad video, it gets the point across.

It's alive, not without problems.

Got a chance to have a go at starting the 200, after stand stability problems were sorted, gear oil and fuel supply, a cut off wire to stop it. I also hooked up a choke and throttle wire then I did a compression test and it came through with a 135psi after 4 kicks. Nervously I began kicking it, it took me a second to realise I wasn't in neutral, my advanced fuel supply unit, a coke bottle upside down with the fuel hose taped to a hole in the lid, failed pretty much straight away so I caught what I could as it ran down the hose leaving the hose full, that'll be enough for now I thought, next the super duper choke wire handle fell off, so I made a more robust one, OK good to go. I tried a few times and it was hard to kick, four or five times and finally a burst of life and the next kick she was off, it idled for about 10 seconds and died, I was trying to get the throttle cable but missed to opportunity. I was happy with the start anyway. I tried to give it another go, got nothing no pressure from engaging the gears on the kick start, engine not turning over, yet turning the flywheel by hand it did. my heart sank, I just packed everything up and left it at that.
Good old Modern Vespa comes through with the goods, confirmed by someone smarter than me, signs point to clutch problem, not splitting the cases as I first thought, sure enough the retaining ring on the clutch basket had popped out, just glad I wasn't doing 100 kph at the time. I rebuilt the clutch and put it back in, I will have some time tomorrow to have another go. I'd put it in the sprint but I am going to a club brekkie on Sunday and want to break the engine in a bit before I take it that far from home.

Blue wire on the right will act as a temporary kill when grounded to the case.

not pretty, but this puppy ain't going anywhere.

                                          Choke lever and the throttle cable (wound up)

This is what popped out at me when I took off the clutch cover, all sorted and back together now ready to go.

oh so tight.

OK three boring pictures of an engine on a dodgy stand, it's all stitched up and tonight I'll start the electrics, if you are wondering why I have connected the fuel hose, it's because I hope to set it up to kick it over on the stand or a modified version of it, and talk about tight, by hand I find it quite hard to turn it by pushing the kicker with the plug in, it's easier with the plug out and it's tight, can't wait to get a compression reading on it.
I'll be making a start on the smallie soon as well, now that I have all the parts. that's going to be a challenge since it was months since I pulled it apart and my method of putting all the nuts and bolts in the one container.......well it will be interesting at least.

On track again

The last of my parts arrived this week and I spent a bit of time making sure I didn't stuff something up again, the status is cases together and torqued to spec, clutch is in and also torqued, clutch cover on. selector box on, airbox and carb on, I will sort out the top end tonight, exhaust stub and exhaust after that and then the electrics, I hope to modify the engine stand and hook up some fuel and some sort of throttle set up so I can try and kick it over some time next week.
The good news is the crank spins freely now, fingers crossed.

Typical

So true to form I cleaned up the rotary pad and the web on the crank and put the crank back in, I get the cases back together and realise i forgot the little kickstart gear, I split them again and then proceed to fuck up the main needle bearing! Mercy dash to the local bearing shop once the wife and kids get home.

It's never simple is it?

OK, I was excited about getting everything together, until I tried to move the crank, it was firm to tight with a spanner on the flywheel side nut, I thought about it and realised I might have damaged the crank when installing it, the con rod  got caught on the case as I wound in the puller, it was probably an eighth of a turn of pressure on it before I realised and backed it off immediately and gave it a tap with a rubber mallet to release it, I have no idea how easy it is to put a crank out of true, and pulled it through until it was home, fast forward past the clutch, gears, cases together, which took a decent hit with the same mallet after heating it. gaskets, piston, cylinder, head on and all bolts done up hand tight, I put the flywheel nut on and tried to turn the cranh, it was hard and uneven, like at the same point in the revolution it got hard and then easier.....I asked the question to all and sundry and decided to split the cases and see what's going on. fast forward again and once I had it dismantled, the crank spun freely as it did before I put the cases together, I saw what was happening, it was obvious the leading edge of the web was shaving a bees dick off the rotary pad each time it was turned, there were thin shards scattered about. Fuck! was my first thought, double fuck I'll need a new crank, this one was second hand, I felt it for play and measured the gaps. Vertically when pushed up, the bottom gap was .8mm, down, the top gap was between .5 and .6mm. The side to side con rod play was about .2 - .25mm both sides. Anyone want to chime in??
Anyway, I'm going to pull the crank and have a look. There is always something.

Wasting little time

Rode down to Geelong for a Vespa Club event, had to take a pic of the sunrise, the trip home wasn't as nice, a strong cross wind and eventually rain...A good day out though.

 

 

I haven't wasted much time, got everything together no problems, the cases were a bit difficult to get together, some heat and a decent whack with a rubber mallet soon did the trick, I installed the piston and cylinder then realised that one of the four nuts was just a little too big so that put a stop to the building activities for the weekend, that and I need the five studs that go around the crank part of the case.