Got me thinking....

I found out what went AWOL riding home, the bolt that holds the exhaust to the swing arm, this would also explain some of the rattling as well, On the last stretch up the hill from town to the driveway I touched on 80 again, speedo not actual, and I got a new type of vibration that I hadn't felt before, so I backed off and just cruised on home.
After I parked I began to think about the main bearing comments again and then sat down with a post ride ale and had a flick through the Haynes manual, suddenly it dawned on me. looking at all the exploded views the main bearings were quite obvious, then I got a slight sinking feeling, I didn't remember seeing a roller bearing, but I did see a caged needle bearing? I was focusing on the kickstart set up and getting that right.
I had a short discussion with the good wife and decided rather than stuffing up all the things I'd done, including the new kit, I'd at minimum split the cases and see what I had.
I was surprised at how efficiently I had the engine apart and the cases split, that bolt down the bottom got me again though....
And the winner is.

A needle bearing as a main bearing!!, I couldn't even begin to guess which model even had these to start with.

What to do? well I guess I had two or three choices, try and find a Veloce flyside case, or a sprint one and do some porting and welding work to get to match the three port cylinder, or a new set of engine cases all together.

A quick call to Vespa Wizard in Melbourne confirmed what I had already been told, rare as rocking horse poo, he did have a PX150 set that had been ported to fit a polini kit $300, bit more than I could afford, given the amount I had recently spent on the kit, but good to know that if I was stuck it was there.

I did the usual forum trawling and contacted my friend Porter G in the US to see if he knew of anyone that might have one, 5 minutes later I had a link to a guy that had just put one up for sale, a bit of email tennis and a day later and I have a Sprint V fly side case on it's way from the US at $76 AUD including shipping, happy with that.

I have decided to drop the engine and replace all the bearings and seals and have a general look see at everything else. The case could well take a few weeks so I'm in no rush, Time to get this scoot up to scratch once and for all.

First project- an engine stand.

Second Hit Out

A busy week has past since the last ride I did kick it over during the week, once for five minutes, but have decided I want to get it reliable before I start riding it to work, last thing I want is to be out on the footpath trying to kick it over at 530pm...suppose I could just leave it there inside, anyway.
The conditions were the same, sunny and a warm 30 degrees C, She went on the second kick and off I went, it went well I ended up doing 70kms around town and other than some sloppy gear changes, most likely me, it went well, through the gears up and down, at one point I was up to 80 on the clock and wasn't even at 1/2 throttle, I didn't push my luck though, as it was shaking, vibrating badly, there was a rattle that I just couldn't pin point. I took her up some long slow hills and lots of long, 2-3km long straight flat roads speeding up to about 70 kmph and slowing down to vary the revs. I stalled out twice, the first time I pushed across the intersection, bear in mind this is in a smallish country town not inner city Melbourne, checked the plug, kicked it a few times with the plug out to make sure I hadn't flooded it trying to start it, just gave the idle screw a slight 1/8 turn and back together started on the third kick, I reminded myself to find some shade next time or at least take the jacket off. The second time I did find some shade and went through the same things after I tried 6-7 kicks, this time I pulled the idle jet to check it wasn't blocked, I noticed on the inside top of the air filter quite a few small black bits of something, not sure where they would be from, the fuel tank is in good condition, it is a new tap with a fine gauze filter on it, the fuel hose is new and a proper reinforced fuel hose not a standard clear rubber Vespa hose. One source could be the springs under the seat upholstery, they have been painted and the more use they get the more the paint comes off in flecks, I always have to wipe a few off the top of the tank when I fuel, some of these may have ended up in there.
When I was checking the jet a man in his 80s walked by, he stopped and mumbled a few things, some I did understand, some not.
"I remember them from after the second world war, something, mumble, something France"
" No, They were made in Italy, Vespa"
"Oh I've heard of them, you know a bit about them then?"
" A little, you need to because they break down occasionally"
" That happens to everyone though"
" Yeah but you can generally get these going again"
"Good luck" and he wandered off
I got it going and decided it was getting too hot to do this a third time and I made a B line for home on the way something fell off or I ran over something that I didn't see.....beginning to think about a comment K made about the bearings.
Total 100kms into run in.

Rattle.

I was surprised that the brake cable I thought was snapped wasn't it had slipped from one of the anchor point, even so I make sure those are done up tight so I'm a little confused as to why this happened, It would take some serious force coupled with significant wear to actually allow it to snap.

I disconnected both ends and cleaned them up from grit and crap and put it all back together and gave it a little bit more to be sure, I changed the rear running light and decided it was too hot today to head out, next weekend will be much cooler, so I can get a good run then.

I have read that the rattle sound you can hear in the short video is normal, but would be happy to find a solution if someone knows of one. 

First hit out.

At a balmy 33 degrees C I decided it was time to go for a ride. The speedo read 4424kms.
How did it go? Well it wasn't my best ride out.
The engine ran well, strong and I didn't take it past 60km or 1/2 throttle, up hills, different revs, through all gears, no problems.......what I was having problems with was the idle, it was like it was gradually getting faster and if I stopped to adjust it the engine would die until I turned the idle back up, and there was a lag in the acceleration and a few things that pointed toward possibly an air leak and a gear adjustment, so after 30kms I headed home.
What I did included, adding about 50-75ml of gear box oil, the plug was a light brown colour and dry and I noticed the engine was a lot hotter than I remember the last cylinder and head ever being, I turned the fuel air mix screw out 1/8th of a turn to see how it goes on the next run, I re-torqued the carb down and noticed that there was some soot and leaking at the base of the head and around the exhaust port, so I re-torqued the head and exhaust as well, I also found that the one of those little screw tops off the end of a spark plug was sitting just below the plug hole in the head, it was in between the fins, but would have caused some trouble had it ended up in the cylinder. I gave the whole engine a clean, the wheel and tyre as well, and left it to cool down properly.
I went back a few hours later and kicked it over, first kick, being on dusk the lights were bright and I had blown the rear running light, the first globe since I did the wiring, and I pushed down on the brake lever to see if the brake light was ok and the cable went snap, FFS. That's a job for tomorrow. The light was fine by the way.

Australia Day

I had an issue with height regarding the top of the rear shock mount, I didn't realise until I started to fit the airbox. I resorted to using the shorter spacer that was on there and will pick up a new one, it was odd that the new spacer and the new rubber buffer thing had miss matched thread sizes. Anyway, since I was there I decided to replace the main engine mount bolt as well, there's a photo below, I cleaned out the hole as best I could and it also gave me a chance to have a look in there behind the mount, the frame was ok, a little messy though.That all back together I fit the airbox and carb, set the carb up and then on to the kit. you'll notice the rings have a chamfer on it, not sure if this is the case normally, but there is a lot of talk about chamfering ports so the rings don't catch, my thought is that the rings being chamfered is the manufacturers way of counteracting this practice. I put the rings on the piston and oiled it up good and positioned it in the cylinder where it would normally sit and spent ten minutes pushing and pulling it to see how it felt.
I then installed the gasket, cylinder and then the studs, piston and rings and after lapping the head to be sure, it went on too. Job done.
after I put the cylinder cowl and flywheel cover on it was ready for a kick.
Fuel on, choke out, kick nope, kick, nothing, the kickstarter was noticeably harder to kick and felt smooth though, I went on to kick 8-9 times before I began to.start thinking about trouble shooting.
First thing I did was change the 7 plug to a new 6 one and gave it another go, on the second kick I got a splutter, third she kicked over. Gold
The idle was steady and the exhaust was louder, the vibration was strong and there was another rattle that wasn't there before, from the engine and the headset rattle was more pronounced, I let it run for 10 minutes to warm up a bit and turned it off before I died from 2T fumes. it was about midnight by this time so I called it a day.
In the morning of Australia Day, I wheeled it out into the sunshine and kicked it over, second kick, and let it idle while I cleaned up the workshop, put all my tools away or back into the scooters tool box, swept up, changed the oil bottle over for the mineral stuff and I then took her for a spin up and down the driveway a couple of times, now the driveway is about 150 metres long so I got up to about 30kmph in second and  ran out of space. The feel of the bike was totally different and solid, the pull in first is very noticeable, second as well and it has a louder crackle sound than before too.
I'm running 2.5% mineral oil in the tank. there is no specific information in the kits instructions about oil, plugs it recommends everything be clean....really.
The plan is to put a 7 plug back in and take it out over the weekend to max half throttle and just put some kms on the clock, I plan to ride it like normal for a few hundred kms and go to three quarter throttle for the same and then away I go. I don't plan to wait for 1000 kms, I just won't take it on the open highway for a while and just see how it goes. fingers crossed.

DR177 in da house

The cylinder kit arrived first thing this morning, a few days early too.
With it comes the nervous excitement of doing my first kit installation and most likely my first real run in. A quick online search will soon have the uninitiated swamped with information on the best way to do it.
Basicly two schools of thought. Gently gently or ride it like you stole it. and each method then breaks into a number of differing methods and it goes on and on.
I will read the manufacturers recommendations and incorporate my method, based solely on my research and opinion and I should be rolling in no time.

The Box

Kit unpacked and waiting

Old 150cc Piston and new 177cc, not much difference hehehe

The gasket on the bottom came with the kit, it had a significant crease in it, fortunately for me, I'm paranoid of something going wrong and like to have a spare just in case.

Just a comparison

Same

A new style of fuel/air screw, because of it's location I think I'd prefer the old screwdriver head, thread on the new one is finer too

I chose the DR177 over the other kits for a number of reasons, firstly it is not classed as a racing kit but more of a simple bolt on kit that gives you a little bit more ooomf over the standard 150cc engine. Its a cast iron kit that if, god forbid, I do seize up, I can put my newly learnt Vietnamese phrase "để vì lợi ích fucks"...and I can have it machined out and it can still be used, some of the other kits are aluminium and if you seize one they become an expensive paper weight.
Another reason is that other than chamfering the ports so the rings don't catch, I don't need to do any porting work on the cases. price was a factor also, but not the deal breaker.
The first thing I did was fit the airbox and gaskets, then the carb, throttle and choke.
The 24/24 came with a 55-160 idle jet and a 160-BE3-118 main jet stack, this seems to be what most people that have this kit seem to run, with the exception of the main jet being one or two points bigger or smaller. I have a 120 that I might put in initially and run slightly rich for the first run, I plan to use a B7HS plug, but have an 8 and 6 to try also. Tonight I will chamfer the ports, give the cylinder a good clean fit the gasket, cylinder, rings and piston, and get as far along as possible depending on time.

Rear shock mount.

Since I had the tank out I thought I'd check out the rear shock top mount, for the lower one, I put an 8mm bolt in ages ago when I pulled out the one that was in there, bent, rusted and ground down from 10 to 9mm to fit.....
Anyway, no surprises the spacer was cut and about an inch shorter than the new one I had and was rust covered, as was the spring washer and washer, there was a few washers and a spring washer missing, according to the Haynes Manual exploded drawing. The rubber was a good inch taller than the stock rubber, probably why they cut the spacer, and was quite clearly in place when they sprayed the SPV green as the top side was red.
I threw most of this in the box of crap, cleaned up the tall nut as I couldn't find a nut to fit. So I re-used it.
A side note  is I'm not sure if this is the case on a regular non-asian resto, but just about every fking nut, bolt whatever is different, up down up down changing spanners and sockets, if only I knew how to say for fucks sake in Vietnamese.....
I gave the spring and dampener  a good clean, degreaser and then petrol to be sure, some of the crud is too dense and entrenched for degreaser alone, replaced the lower bolt and nut, gave the case I could now get to a clean too.
Put the tank back in and took a look at the tools strewn all over the place, decided to sit for one beer and called it a night. Workshop can wait until tomorrow for a tidy up.
Note. I am not an employee of Coopers brewery, the bottle cap was there because I was in the zone and forgot to throw it straight in the bin. Not an advertising sideline, but if Coopers brewery need to tap into the scootering market, I am available.