Resurrecting MAH RYDE

[kink]

NOTE: In spring 09 my scoot suffered an unfortunate fate. While it was being ridden at parking lot speeds the rider collided with a parking barrier and scratched and smashed a good majority of the plastic fairings.

I have since moved on to a different ride, however i still have the intact scooter (minus some fairings) which runs perfectly and am currently in the process of stripping and heavily modifying it.

BELOW YOU CAN FIND THE ORIGINAL THREAD WITH IMAGES OF MY SCOOT FROM DAY ONE UP UNTIL THE CRASH. I WILL POST PICS OF THE TRANSFORMATION AT THE END OF THIS THREAD AS I GO.

There she is, parked in my underground parking garage (aka the "bat cave").

So far the only "mods" I've done are iridium spark plug and a set of saddlebags. This weekend I'm replacing fuel lines, vacuum lines and fuel filter, as well as doing the full PDI. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to be upgrading to a Gates Powerlink Premium CVT belt.

This is the primary mode of transportation for my wife and I so future mods will all focus around making the scoot more capable for two-up riding. Together my wife and I weigh under 300lbs including all our riding gear. The bike is rated for 330lbs max load so I plan on configuring the suspension, transmission, and air/fuel flow around power and control under higher load. I'd also like to upgrade the headlights to help with out-of-city driving at night.

Our goal is to be able to do some short-distance touring and overnight camping trips on the bike. So far it has met every challenge we have thrown at it, including carrying both of us plus a large shopping load of camping equipment home from the local sports store! (the sales guy was amazed we managed to fit everything onto the scoot, I was all like "meh, that's what bungies are for dood")

Anyways, I'm done rambling... I loves mah scoot. ;D

[phaze]

so this is the intoduction to your pimped out scoot , take pics and keep us posted. i like the saddle bags they fit nice.

[kink]

Thanks phaze5. Those saddlebags are so handy, especially when riding around with the wife. She always seems to need so much STUFF. ;D

I just did Big Guy's PDI this past weekend. I'm hoping to have the pics uploaded to my server tonight so I'll have more to tell soon. On the whole the PDI went well, even with a few pleasant surprises! I'll leave the details for when I have the pics loaded up.

[kink]

Ok, time for the second installation in this special series of "Pimp Mah Ryde". This past weekend I undertook Big Guy's totally awesome PDI. I also had a look at a couple of other issues on the scoot and took some stuff apart just for fun too

Many of us have been through the PDI so I'll spare you the details. Basically I did the following tasks (in no particular order):

-Engine oil change
-Gear oil change
-Fuel line replacement
-Fuel filter replacement
-Full electrical inspection (including silicon on ground points and connectors
-Full inspection of all body panels
-Loctite on all frame bolts
-Carb adjustment
-Tire pressure, etc.

I didn't bother changing out the vacuum lines this time. I'm going to do it sometime soon, but I was pressed for time and NAPA didn't have the type I needed when I went in. I do have a nice pic of the new fuel lines and filter though:



Note the screw clamps. These are critical to the success of the fuel system upgrade in my opinion. One thing to consider here is that these clamps are a lot bigger than the crappy spring loaded clamps that come from the factory. I had to carefully consider their positioning and rotation in order to avoid them rubbing on anything. Also the new fuel line was a lot stiffer than the original stuff so the routing was slightly different.

I noticed something weird after installing the new fuel filter. Even when the bike is running it only fills up with fuel about half way. I'm not sure if it's because it's tilted or what, but the bike runs better than ever so I'm not going to mess with it! Here is a pic so you can see what I mean:


(Note the diagonal line of fuel in the filter)

Another BIG surprise was the CVT belt. I had planned to remove the CVT cover and check the belt size so I can order a Gates Powerlink belt as an upgrade. Much to my surprise when I popped off the cover I found that it already had one installed from the factory!



Also, a quick question about the belt sizing. I was under the impression that there should be three numbers in the belt size. My belt only has two: 835 20 What is up with that? I am considering ordering a replacement belt just to have on hand for longer trips but I want to make sure I get the right one.

Every time I remove the plastics from the scoot I notice more and more of the "speed clips" are stripped, bent, distorted, or otherwise unserviceable. I have even lost one or two screws because of it. So I went to NAPA and got some stainless steel replacement clips and I picked up some stainless steel metal screws and washers from Home Depot. From now on every time I remove a panel I will replace all the crappy china screws and clips with these good ones. Another advantage is that the new screws are 1/4" hex drive heads so it's a lot easier to torque them appropriately:



I finally had a chance to properly tighten the top nut on the steering bearing. The lock nut is nice and tight now so I don't think it will loosen any time soon:



That's about it, one more thing to show you and that's the new emergency tool kit I put together:



I replaced all the crappy wrenches that came with the scoot with a ratchet, extension and 3 of the most common sockets for taking the plastic panels off the scoot. This includes the 1/4" socket for the new screws. Happily I have spares of all those sockets in case I lose them

["Big Guy"]

Jul 30, 2008 8:10:00 GMT -5 kink said:

...I didn't bother changing out the vacuum lines this time. I'm going to do it sometime soon, but I was pressed for time and NAPA didn't have the type I needed when I went in...

Ouch! This is one of the biggest problem areas, I hope you'll get to it soon...

Note the screw clamps. These are critical to the success of the fuel system upgrade in my opinion. One thing to consider here is that these clamps are a lot bigger than the crappy spring loaded clamps that come from the factory. I had to carefully consider their positioning and rotation in order to avoid them rubbing on anything. Also the new fuel line was a lot stiffer than the original stuff so the routing was slightly different.

Don't forget that your engine, wheel and suspension is a uni-system and you need to have play in the lines when the engine moves.

I noticed something weird after installing the new fuel filter. Even when the bike is running it only fills up with fuel about half way...

Yes, that would be a car filter and it is okay. They only fill 1/2 way and the positioning really doesn't matter as long as it's horizontal to some degree.

Another BIG surprise was the CVT belt. I had planned to remove the CVT cover and check the belt size so I can order a Gates Powerlink belt as an upgrade. Much to my surprise when I popped off the cover I found that it already had one installed from the factory!

Every year the scoots are getting better. For example, this year almost all of them are coming with Gates belts and NGK plugs as compared to 06 when none of them came that way.

Also, a quick question about the belt sizing. I was under the impression that there should be three numbers in the belt size. My belt only has two: 835 20 What is up with that?

The 835 20 UTV is a standard size and you can order this exact part number.

Every time I remove the plastics from the scoot I notice more and more of the "speed clips" are stripped, bent, distorted, or otherwise unserviceable. I have even lost one or two screws because of it. So I went to NAPA and got some stainless steel replacement clips...

Good move, most auto parts stores have the speed nuts, and they are much better quality.

Good job on the PDI! Once you get those vacuum lines changed out you'll be good to go for a long time!


-Rich

[kink]

Thanks rich!

If it hadn't been for your PDI I'd have no idea where to start. You're right about the uni-system, you really need to be careful how you run the lines. In my case not only did I have to watch to make sure there was enough length but due to the stiffness of the new lines I wanted to make sure they would bend in a safe way. Also rubbing from vibration is always a concern.

Vacuum lines are coming real soon, I'm hoping to hit NAPA tonight after work and get about 4' of 3/16" line and go to town. At least replacing the vacuum lines won't be as messy as the fuel lines

Now that the scoot is running solid, it's about time to make it faster ;D

[kink]

So, I had a little problem with the scoot this week. The bracket which the left mirror screws into just fell off. The weld was pretty shabby when I had a look at it. This is the second small weld which has failed on the scoot. The larger frame support welds look good and solid and appear to have possibly been done by an automated machine, whereas the smaller welds are clearly freehand jobs and are obviously rushed.

For those of you who didn't read my previous post on this, this is the piece which fell off the last time:



As you can see, the pin which holds the centre stand spring on simply snapped off. Here is a pic of the frame where the pin was attached:



The weld in that case was somewhat sketchy, but not as bad as the bracket for the mirror. It did have some rust INSIDE the actual join though, which indicates that the piece was either rusty to begin with or that it spent some time sitting out before the frame was painted.

At any rate, I fixed the pin by drilling out the rest of it from the frame and attaching a strong aircraft bolt in it's place. It is much stronger now. To fix the mirror bracket I have enlisted the help of a friend of mine who has a welding rig up on his farm. He is something of a motorcycle guru, having had some of his custom creations featured in several UK motorcycle magazines. Now he lives here in Canada so I'm going up to see him and his wife this weekend and I'll get the weld fixed then. I will be sure to post pics!

In other news I have ordered a performance rear suspension setup from autotech355 on ebay so as soon as that comes in the post I will do the install and post pics of that as well!

[kink]

Well we made it all the way out to our friend's place out east of the city. 200 mile round trip on a 150cc riding two up! The bike managed the trip like a champ with absolutely nothing to complain about.

The left mirror bracket has been welded back on. The right mirror, which was always loose, has been fixed with the help of a small bolt, a power drill, and a tap for making threads. Both mirrors are now solid and provide me a clear view of who is eating my dust at all times!!!

In addition, our friend who we visited had an extra 120 main jet lying around his shop which he gave to me! I'm hoping to pull the carb off the scoot this weekend and do a thorough clean and re-jet. I'll probably have to lift the needle a notch and we also discussed the possibility that it might require better airflow with such a big jet. His idea was to just drill a couple of holes into the stock airbox and I'm inclined to agree with him. My stock airbox has a tiny crack in it anyways so worst case scenario the holes don't work and I buy a straight filter. Then I'm going to have to have a look at airflow and see whether the vacuum port on the main slide needs to be opened up a tiny bit. Who knows, the stock setup might work nicely with the new jet but I have a feeling it will be a little too rich.

Still waiting on my rear racing suspension. I'm like a kid at christmas!

[kink]

Picked up the new shocks at the post office today:







They are OKO shocks much to my surprise. The auction on ebay said nothing about the brand name... They feature a 5 way adjustable preload and 3 different springs in the design. They are also colorful enough to be a happy meal toy, which is going to look kinda odd on my all black and silver scoot but whatever!

They are going on the scoot along with the 120 main jet this weekend! I didn't take any pics of the main jet since I figured everyone knows what those look like by now

Can't wait for the weekend!

[kink]

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm re-jetting the carb AND installing the performance suspension! Also there appears to be an oil leak somewhere, nothing too serious but I'm going to look into that as well.

Pics to follow.

[fufu2wheel]

Aug 19, 2008 22:15:01 GMT -5 kink said:

Picked up the new shocks at the post office today:







They are OKO shocks much to my surprise. The auction on ebay said nothing about the brand name... They feature a 5 way adjustable preload and 3 different springs in the design. They are also colorful enough to be a happy meal toy, which is going to look kinda odd on my all black and silver scoot but whatever!

Those look nice, could you supply an eBay seller or item # for these shocks?

Thanks.

[kink]

Those look nice, could you supply an eBay seller or item # for these shocks?

Thanks.

They are from autotech355 (ebay seller). They were the last two in stock at the time but I'm sure they will get more.

[kink]

So the installation of the shocks went really well. I have also fabricated an oil catch can to help with my oil dripping situation. I've got to upload all the pics and then I'll post a detailed explanation of what I've done so far. In the meantime here are a couple of pics of my feeble workspace:





As you can see I am well stocked with tools but living in an apartment sure places some space restraints on my work area (yes, the tool chest is in the closet of the spare bedroom).

Anyways, I've got a couple of things to do and then I'll post up the pics of all the work I did yesterday.

[kink]

So, I ran all over the place yesterday to grab all the bits an pieces I would need to put a couple of new mods onto the scoot. Finally at around 9pm I sat down to work on the bike. I live in an apartment so this means carefully selecting all the tools I need from the chest in my apartment, loading them into a toolbox and heading all the way down to the sub basement parking garage. The garage is a dimly lit dungeon and appears to have been last painted/cleaned at some point in the 70's. At least I don't feel so bad about the oil leaks

Anyway, the first order of business was to swap out the stock rear suspension for the racing suspension I bought from autotech355 on ebay. This was a straight up bolt off bolt on situation, although I did have to use a dremel and some patience to grind a small bit of clearance off the frame to accommodate the new suspension setup.

Here's some photos of the stock setup:





Here are some of the new suspension:





Unfortunately I forgot to take any pics of the dremel grinding process. I was somewhat preoccupied as I had to push my scooter into someone else's parking spot to get access to the only electrical socket in the parking garage. Basically, I just rounded in a small section of the metal CVT cover extension near where it attaches to the bottom of the left shock absorber. As a tip for anyone who would undertake such a grinding process with a dremel, I used a cone shaped diamond covered grinder. It worked fairly well but took a while. In retrospect I probably should have used a diamond cutting wheel but didn't have one to hand. Anyways, there is just the slightest amount of clearance now but it won't vibrate or rub.

As far as the performance of the new suspension goes, I've had a chance to ride it with the wife on the back and it handles everything a lot more confidently now. I can push the cornering quite a bit more when I am riding solo as well. The ride is a bit rougher but when you hit a bump you only feel it once and the suspension recovers a lot faster and more precisely than before. Right now I've got them on the lowest preload setting and it is stiff enough. I wouldn't want it any tighter than it is, but then again the wife and I way about 270lb COMBINED with all our gear on

Now that I've done this I'm thinking that I might put thicker/better for oil in the front shocks and try and get them a bit tighter. I'm also really considering doing a tie bar across to connect under the seat with the front half of the frame. All in good time.

Anyways, I'm going to post up the pics of the new oil catch can/breather I made in a bit... need to take a bit of a break for now.

[kink]

So after experiencing a rather nasty oil leak I have decided to take a few steps to make sure that the oil system on the scoot is up to par. The first step will be sorting out the valve cover gasket which appears to be leaking from somewhere. I'll be thoroughly cleaning the engine tomorrow night with degreaser and finding the source of the leak. I'll probably need to scoot over to the dealer and get a new valve cover gasket.

In the meantime I did notice that a good quantity of oil has also dripped down from the airbox where the valve cover breather tube is hooked up to. Since I'm not a fan of oil drips of any sort I have decided to build a custom oil catch can to take care of the blow off.

Here's a pic of all the parts I used to make the can:



Basically I've got:
-liquid fuel bottle from camping stove
-steel scouring pads
-very small K&N air filter (kind of overkill to use a name brand but it was shiny )
-brass tap to hook up the breather hose
-vacuum hose
-hose clamps
-silicone

I started with the air filter:



As you can see it came with air filter oil (which we don't need) and a sticker (yay!). I then attached a small piece of PVC tubing to the bottom of the filter:



I then drilled one hole in the side of the fuel canister for the brass tap to connect to the breather hole and a large hole in the bottom of the canister for the air filter. I then cleaned out the canister, stuffed it with a steel scouring pad and used some silicon to seal the air filter and the brass tap to their respective holes:



Finally, after the silicone had cured I attached the top of the bottle (which has now become the bottom and will be used for draining the can). This is the final assembly:



So the air and oil vapor will enter the can through the tube from the valve cover. Upon contact with the steel scourer inside the canister it will condense into liquid oil. The air can escape out the air filter and I can simply drain the canister each time I do an oil change.

I got this idea from a Nissan Skyline DIY forum. The catch can they showed was pretty much identical except much, much larger.

I haven't mounted it on the bike as I want to check the valve cover gasket to make sure there isn't a secondary source of oil there. Once the engine compartment is all tidied up then I'll post pics of the can install.

[mortar235]

hmm my breather hose has a plug in the end of it, so the hose basically acts as an oil catch. I don't see the need for the added capacity, if you're losing that much oil you've got a problem

[kink]

Wow, a plug? I've never heard of that before. Are you sure it's not a one way valve or something?

It's hard to tell how much oil was coming out of my breather hose as I think there might be a leak in my valve cover gasket as well. I'll post an update as time goes on and I drain the canister. Either way I am most likely getting rid of my stock airbox fairly soon so I would have had to re-route the breather tube anyway. Building oil catch can was cheap and easy so I figured why not?

[mortar235]

nah its just a rubber stopper basically. The oil collects behind it and i just put a can under it, pull the plug, and let the little amount in there pour out.

[kink]

Everything that I have read on the subject has indicated that that hose is there to relieve excess pressure underneath the valve cover, not just collect oil. The air needs somewhere to go to relieve that pressure otherwise it builds up and then your gasket will likely fail.

That having been said, a lot of people don't seem to have a problem with oil pressure. On my scoot it has caused quite a mess so I was inclined to come up with a more elaborate solution...

[fufu2wheel]

So, do those shocks ride any different?

Do they have any damping properties that rid of the pogo-stick ride from the OEM shocks?

How do they perform at higher speed?

[kink]

Aug 25, 2008 9:40:33 GMT -5 fufu2wheel said:

So, do those shocks ride any different?

Do they have any damping properties that rid of the pogo-stick ride from the OEM shocks?

How do they perform at higher speed?

Short answer: Yes, Yes, and AWESOME!

I am going to be posting a full review in the 125cc section, but so far I really like the new suspension. It is a bit of a rough ride even on the lowest preload setting, but it is far tighter. Damping wise - it recovers from bumps in the road without any "aftershocks" or bouncing, you feel the bump once and that's it. In the corners the rear end feels less floaty. At high speeds stability is improved a lot. It also rides 20mm lower which seems to make a bit of a difference both at high speeds and launching off the mark, where the lowered angle on the swingarm seems to take the shock of a quick start with less energy lost.

It also handles two-up riding much better than the stock setup. I can carve corners really smoothly even with a passenger and my wife says the ride is more comfortable for her than before.

Next on the agenda: I will need to find a way to tighten up the front suspension, I'm thinking of changing out the fork oil and seeing if that does anything. It rides really well right now but if I could reduce the front end dive slightly it would be REALLY good. Also, I'll probably put in a frame brace from under the seat to the front frame bar at some point to stop the "U" shape from flexing.

[kink]

Well,

Monday night I finally got a chance to replace the vacuum lines on my scoot. I also re-routed the valve cover breather hose and installed my new custom oil catch can/breather!

I've got a few things to work on this weekend so I'm hoping to get some pics up after that. With any luck I'll be re-sealing the valve cover with liquid gasket on Friday night and while that gasket cures I will spend Saturday taking the whole carb apart, cleaning it, swapping the main jet for a 120 and raising the needle a tick. I'm hoping that opens it up a fair bit. If it seems to rich from there then I'll probably do a straight intake next. My stock airbox is all cracked anyways...

[mchlwise]

Aug 25, 2008 6:20:24 GMT -5 kink said:

Everything that I have read on the subject has indicated that that hose is there to relieve excess pressure underneath the valve cover, not just collect oil. The air needs somewhere to go to relieve that pressure otherwise it builds up and then your gasket will likely fail.

That having been said, a lot of people don't seem to have a problem with oil pressure. On my scoot it has caused quite a mess so I was inclined to come up with a more elaborate solution...

The way I understand it from looking at my scoot: the breather hose from the valve cover comes into the stock airbox. There is a baffle there to help catch the oil, which runs down to a hole near where the breather hose came in. Coming out of the hole is a clear tube, about 8" long with a stopper in it. This is your stock oil collection device.

Since you're replacing your stock air box, it looks like you've got a pretty good setup. I would be concerned if you're loosing a lot of oil out of the crank case breather, though.

[kink]

Well for one thing, mine didn't come with the little clear hose and stopper. The hole was there though, just draining oil all over the inside of the engine compartment!!

I think the reason I lost so much oil out of the breather is because I overfilled it a bit before going on a very long (200+ mile) ride. At least with the new oil catch in place if I do this again I won't have the same problem.

Unfortunately I also seem to have an oil leak in the valve cover gasket so that's going to need attention this weekend as well... oil, oil everywhere!

[mchlwise]

Aug 27, 2008 13:17:56 GMT -5 kink said:

Well for one thing, mine didn't come with the little clear hose and stopper. The hole was there though, just draining oil all over the inside of the engine compartment!!

Yeah, that could be a problem!

Again, nice solution.

[fufu2wheel]

I have taken off my crankcase vent box about 2500 miles ago on my scooter. My crankcase vent hose is just a hose with a little piece of sponge at the end, vented to open air. I could feel the air forced out from the crankcase when the engine is running, once in a while I get a drip of oil from the sponge, I check my oil level every week and it never seems to loose any oil... even after my longest single day ride 260 miles in 6.5 hours of riding time.

I wonder if valve clearance have anything to do with you loosing oil?

[kink]

Aug 28, 2008 7:12:42 GMT -5 fufu2wheel said:

I have taken off my crankcase vent box about 2500 miles ago on my scooter. My crankcase vent hose is just a hose with a little piece of sponge at the end, vented to open air. I could feel the air forced out from the crankcase when the engine is running, once in a while I get a drip of oil from the sponge, I check my oil level every week and it never seems to loose any oil... even after my longest single day ride 260 miles in 6.5 hours of riding time.

I wonder if valve clearance have anything to do with you loosing oil?

I'm not sure if it could have something to do with valve clearance. I think I have some feeler gauges kicking around somewhere. I might just wait until my Dad is back from his business trip so he can oversee my valve clearance adjustment. I've never done it before and he has a lot of mechanical experience...

[fufu2wheel]

Fotunate of you to have your dad to turn to for mechanical advice.. I wish I have a dad to turn to when I need advice for things.

[kink]

I am very thankful for that and remember each day to appreciate all of my loved ones. My dad has been involved in the Airline industry as a mechanic and a maintenance instructor since before I was born. I often ask him about stuff to do with the scooter and he loves answering my questions. He has also recently passed on most of his tools to me as they have recently downsized from a house to a condo.

As for the oil leak being related to the valve clearance, after doing some research I'd say that's pretty doubtful. I'm thinking it's probably the valve cover gasket after all. I just picked up some red permatex high temp liquid gasket stuff, so I'm going to try re-sealing it with that after doing the valve adjustments this weekend.

With any luck I'll get that sorted out on Saturday morning and do all the carb adjustment and re-jetting on Sunday or Monday! It's a long weekend here in Canada, is it a long weekend in the states too?

[kink]

Well, I adjusted the valve gaps and re-sealed the valve cover yesterday. Took it for a spin today and it seems to run a lot better. I can tell that there was a lot of compression loss before the adjustment. For one thing there was pretty much zero gap between the rocker and the valve stem. I've got both intake and exhaust valves set to about 0.06mm at the moment and the bike is responding well.

Unfortunately my alarm drained my battery while I was at work on Saturday so I've been kick starting it all day. I really need a battery tender...