Dropped The Car & Joined The Scooter Life. Question...  By  andremckayatx (Read 1,214 times)

Andre,

You sound like you were "born to scoot"... LOL!

Since my original 150 was virtually the same scoot as yours, I can tell you what worked for me. Some of these 150's run fine with the original air-filter configuration, but mine would not. I replaced it with a UNI "sock" filter. That finally worked well, and required a mild up-jet of the main carb jet. The idle jet was OK. I also had to tweak the "needle" that raises the carb slide up and down, to eliminate bogging on acceleration.

The original CDI (the electronic ignition module) went bad the first year, and I replaced it with a no-rev-limit performance CDI off eBay for about $20. THAT made a big difference in overall performance. (Please note: these parts are NOT waterproof, so avoid hitting ANY electrics with a spray-wash).

Same year, the coil went bad and I replaced it with a Bando coil off eBay (again, about $20). That ended my coil problems and worked well with the new CDI. I also added an iridium plug which worked well with the CDI and coil.

These engine mods are the easy "plug n' play" variety requiring little work and few tools.

Now for the TWO mods that made the MOST difference after getting the engine running as good as possible:

1. A full- 1-inch inside-diameter EXHAUST HEADER. I made one from a John Deere generator header, but you can buy them, along with a good muffler. The header makes more difference than the muffler in my opinion. The stock headers are usually SMALLER than the exhaust-port in the head... That causes serious restriction right where it does the most harm. Even the stock small headers can be "chamfered" or beveled at the port, to ease the exhaust gases into the header. The larger header greatly improved overall running and ease-of-tuning, without requiring re-jetting of the carb.

2. A performance variator, with carefully selected roller-weights. Stock, my Xingyue had fair acceleration, an all out top-speed of about 54 mph and a realistic "cruise" of 45 mph. After the variator/weight work, it had better acceleration, a top-speed of 62 mph and a realistic cruise of 50 mph. For rollers, I first tried 11-gram, but they were too light, giving FAST acceleration but a top-speed of only 45 mph at over 9K rpm. Then, I tried 12-gram but they were too heavy, giving a top-speed of 65 mph, but NO acceleration or hill-climbing ability.

So... I mixed 3 ea. 11-gram, and 3 ea. 12-gram rollers, and THAT was perfect. Good acceleration, good cruise, and a top end of 62 mph.

If you experiment with roller weights, I'd go with SLIDERS instead. They offer some advantages over rollers.

One last item I added was a cooling-fan-scoop. Around here, it often gets over 100 degrees, and the scoop, with an extension I made to get it out past the plastic lowered my oil-temp by more than 20 degrees! If your area stays below degrees or so, the scoop won't make too much difference, but they don't hurt!

Here are a few pix showing the exhaust I used, and the fan scoop...

Below, you can see the exhaust, Bando coil, UNI filter AND the fan-scoop/extension.  I used a 2-stroke "chamber" exhaust, but any good muffler is fine.  It's the HEADER diameter that makes the difference.

Each of these mods added just a little more performance, but all together they really made the scooter much more reliable, quicker, faster and more suitable for the road.

Hope these ideas may help you out.

Leo in Texas

PS:  These little 150's are approx. 10 cubic-inches.  They put out around 9-11 hp, which averages about 1 hp per cubic-inch.  To me, THAT is plenty of horsepower.  So ESPECIALLY with a daily-driver like yours, I would stay away from any major internal engine mods.  You need the scooter to start and run RELIABLY day after day...

After seven years riding mine, I truly believe in keeping engine mods only to those that improve running and reliability.  You can REALLY get the MOST out of a 150 daily-transportation scoot with the simple upgrades to ignition, carburetion, exhaust and ESPECIALLY, the CVT.  Particularly the roller or slider weights.

All the mods I did were to  provide MORE RIDING and LESS WRENCHING... LOL!