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Post by rdhood on May 14, 2015 19:34:01 GMT -5
Rode the scoot on my regular evening ride. Now, I live out in the boonies. I see lots of motorcycles on the weekend because those guys like to come up here and ride our twisty turny roads. Anyway, I'm almost home when, in the opposite direction, comes ANOTHER SCOOTER! I quickly turn around and catch up with him at our corner gas station. Turns out that he is new to the area and lives 4/10ths of a mile from my door. We swapped numbers and I hope to do a few scooter rides in the near future.
As for scooter #2, the m8x1.25 helicoil repair kit came in today so I am likely to find myself downstairs in the next hour or two fixing the cv transmission drain plug.
BTW, the motorcycles guys (literally hundreds of them on the weekends) nearly always signal to me . If not a two wheeled brother, they at least acknowledge me as a distant cousin.
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Post by rdhood on May 12, 2015 17:56:23 GMT -5
I still generally ride the 1200 to work two or three days a week, depending on what I'm doing after work. Still, keeping 50 or 60 miles a week off of a 25yo road bike is useful. That is really not such a bad thing. It is my humble opinion that internal combustion engines seem to work best when they are run often. This applies to lawn mowers, cars, scooters, chainsaws... you name it. Now... to go mow the lawn so that I can get in a quick 30 minute scooter ride before daylight is gone.... |
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Post by rdhood on May 11, 2015 18:20:08 GMT -5
It's good to have two vehicles. Sometimes you have to do a little "parts running". A few months ago, I needed to replace a valve stem on my FJ1200. Removed the rear wheel setup, strapped it on the back of my mc-79-250, and took it to the motorcycle shop for the change out. Way better than rolling the wheel down the road.. I did not think of this much before getting a scooter (6 months ago, BTW). But , living alone, it certainly takes a lot of the weight off my shoulders knowing that I have alternate transportation to anywhere I need to get to. I live out in the boonies, yet I have a Home Depot, a Kroger, an O'Reillys auto parts and an Autozone within 8 miles, with a lot more shopping within 12 miles. That, and I have the ability and permission to work from home. When my car is down for repairs, I am no longer concerned about "what will happen". Come what may, I'll be able to fetch auto parts, groceries, beer or have waffle. |
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Post by rdhood on May 11, 2015 16:53:19 GMT -5
Latest scooter find: the transmission drain bolt hole is stripped. There were only a few tablespoons of oil in there. I'm going to tap it out to the next size up SAE to avoid having to drill it out to the next size metric. Someone... at some point... really did a number on this scoot. Tba , if your use to working on cars , then start working on one of these scoots, its really easy to strip just about every thread on these cases. The metals is very soft . I've learned to use loctite on just about every nut and bolt . this way you don't really have to crank it down to be sure its not going to vibrate loose. I believe it. I ended up purchasing an m8x1.25 Helicoil kit. It will be here in a week. In the meantime, I'm getting together all the nut bolts and screws to reassemble the body.I'm not going to run the engine again till I can give it a real half-to-hour long run. Since I can do the helicoil with the bike assembled, I'm assembling it now.in a couple weeks, I'll be able to give it a real test run and assess what I have. |
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Post by rdhood on May 10, 2015 11:58:23 GMT -5
Passed 740 miles on the odo just a few minutes ago. What's special about 740 miles, you ask? I purchased the scoot at 370 miles. It means that I have now put more miles on the scoot than the original owner.
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Post by rdhood on May 10, 2015 9:07:07 GMT -5
If you were to try this, I think you will have to be methodical about your maintenance. Things like a weekly bike check for things coming loose, engine oil changes every three weeks, maybe a new belt every two months, clean air filter on a regular basis, and a new set of tires every four or five. To forget to do something would be to get yourself stranded somewhere.
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Post by rdhood on May 9, 2015 13:38:09 GMT -5
Latest scooter find: the transmission drain bolt hole is stripped. There were only a few tablespoons of oil in there. I'm going to tap it out to the next size up SAE to avoid having to drill it out to the next size metric.
Someone... at some point... really did a number on this scoot.
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Post by rdhood on May 9, 2015 8:10:49 GMT -5
I'm working on it.
Bought one cheap scooter project and it worked out well enough that I bought another. I am everyday riding my first one and the second one is getting close to being done. I only have about $500-$600 in BOTH scooters.
A BIG plus is that my insurance (per scoot) is only about $100 a year.
I do not depend on them for everyday transportation to and from work (2013 Altima). How far are you actually commuting, op?
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Post by rdhood on May 8, 2015 17:00:13 GMT -5
Okay, I have installed and clocked the rings. I never took the piston off of the engine. Am I going to have trouble sliding the cylinder head over the piston/rings? Am I going to need a piston ring compressor? Should I simply go ahead and remove the piston , put in cylinder, and then slide the whole thing on and reattach the piston? What is the best way to go about this?
Edit: nevermind. It's on! Kept hanging on the last oil ring for most of the last hour. I tried a dozen ways to compress that ring. Finally, I took the cylinder off, re-seated and clocked the oil rings. The thing is: the sandwich WILL fit in the piston with almost nothing sticking out and should slide pretty much right into the edge taper of the cylinder. If it is hanging for any reason on those rings, something is wrong and the sandwich needs to be reseated. The top rings are easy enough to compress and wiggle on by hand.
2nd Edit: Holy crap! I didn't realize that some rings have markings on them that should be turned up. I took off the cylinder, checked the top two rings. No marks. put it all back together. I am getting good at it now... only took me about a minute to get it on!
3rd Edit: 7:52-10:30 - about 2 and a half hours to put it all back together. I've changed clutches, CV joints, dropped an engine. But I have never taken the head off something or re-ringed it. I felt like the guys in the car shows or OCC... wondering what was going to happen when I turned the key. It cranked ride up and idles! I let it run for no more than about 10 seconds.
Barring the adventures in rings, it took a total of about three and a half hours. Doing it a second time, I think I could do it in about two.
Now the question: how do I break this in? If I have done everything correctly, how do I get the rings to seat properly and seal for long life?
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Post by rdhood on May 8, 2015 15:00:53 GMT -5
There are two different sizes rocker arm assemblies. Are you sure you got the right size? Putting the larger one on a head that uses the smaller one makes it almost impossible to adjust well. Putting the smaller one on a head that uses the larger one, even turning the tappets all the way won't make them reach the top of the valves. What jerryscript said. Looks like they size them by hole spacing and valve stem length. And, make sure that you put it on correctly (ex on the exhaust side). And remember that a new cylinder head is only about $30. Don't get bogged down in minutia if you really just want to get it on the road. |
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Post by rdhood on May 8, 2015 14:41:56 GMT -5
Its not, but it is still not all that hard. I have done some incredibly complex things going off of nothing more than you tube videos like this. If they can make a 10 minute video on how to do it, you can do it. And it will cost you next to nothing. In fact, it could save you a heck of a lot of time. Your 10 minutes vs. taking it to a shop, waiting while it is done, and getting on your way.
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Post by rdhood on May 8, 2015 10:10:26 GMT -5
i didn't know rings could reposition over time. do you think that is what happened or perhaps they were installed that way from the factory? anyhow, i haven't checked the compression but it is noticeably better. starts easy and the erratic idle is mostly gone. I have been doing the rings/cylinder thing too. Evidently, rings can move. From my research: honing the cylinder properly will limit ring movement, and ring movement will cease/stop once properly seated and broken in. So, it's important to hone the cylinder when you have it apart, clock the rings correctly, and get a proper break in. |
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Post by rdhood on May 7, 2015 20:06:04 GMT -5
I have the rings, I have a loaner cylinder hone from O'Reilly auto parts, and I will rebuild this weekend!
update: I couldn't wait. Cylinder is honed. I spent about 60 seconds with a low speed hand drill. It erased the vertical marks that you can see in the pic. I washed it down good with soap and water afterwords. Now I get to install the new rings and reassemble.
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Post by rdhood on May 7, 2015 14:49:16 GMT -5
Bro, Said all was well-PRE; Bike roasted the back & got new tires Bro, you haven't written a single intelligible sentence. Nobody is sure what you have said. |
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Post by rdhood on May 6, 2015 10:49:11 GMT -5
I rode last night for 20 miles, and it seems to be running good. It seems more responsive at all speeds/rpm. At the very least, I don't seem to have harmed anything! I set the gaps at.005, and reading here I wondered if that might be a little loose, but I don't hear any tapping and I am not sure I would know it if I heard it.
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