Post by lilpinny on Dec 27, 2017 11:05:14 GMT -5
Edit 07-24-2019:
Here is what it looks like today:
HI,
I thought I’d write a abbreviated build thread and put it in here. This thread was over the span of a couple of years and it was on TR… so for now the day to day details are lost. I’ll skip through to the interesting parts and catch up to present day where I still tinker with it.
When I started doing this I didn’t know much about it and I learned along the way. Now I’m actually pretty good with making scoots go!
Here is the day I first brought her home, a 2015 Honda Ruckus. This is right off the showroom floor.
Notice how clean the garage is. Also, the lack of tools. This will all change as I move along.
I rode this scoot for a month before I decided it need some upgrades. First I got rid of the rear fender, cut the rear light mount off the frame and added LED’s under the seat. (not bad for a first cut… not great, but not bad)
Later I added the fender back but cut off the duck bill. The lowered the seat.
Lowering the seat and dropping the bars does a bunch for your aerodynamics.
Mounted a digital ignition under the seat to change the timing
Pulled the airbox, jetted and added a new exhaust. Put in a 9’’ engine mount.
I’m skipping over the varillator stuff I did. This bike is still at 50ccs
Dropped the bars and kept it like this for a while.
Then I decided it was time to swap the engine for a 150cc GY6. I decided to put a front end kit with a front disc brake at the same time so the wheels would match. This was a 7’’ rear wheel.
Box of parts for the swap. All those 50cc parts gotta go.
At this point I have invested in a lift and a tool bench for all the tools I was acquiring. Garage is still pretty clean.
I put an ATR mount on, which requires moving the engine frame bushings a little bit. My improvised tool.
Moved the bushing like it was butter.
Moving through the installation… new 11 pole strator, short axle, tires, carb and wheels. The pic is of the old 8 pole strator. That’s no good for the 150cc
So now it’s a roller.
installing the harness.
Version 1 of the ankle biter
Version 2
Version 3 (racing clutch—1500rpm springs and a 1500 compression spring
I later took that off and put the stock back clutch back in for a while.
Version 1 of the floor board
Rode that for a while, then decided to big bore to a 170. Notice the front frame is still raw metal.
Garage is getting messy… I’ll clean that later. I still haven’t cleaned and my wife is going to kill me.
Lot’s of fun with timing
I had to attach the piston and detach it… then I reattached it again, but I didn’t know you are supposed to use new clips. This is what happens to your cynlinder when the clip flies off, back into the engine, and your wrist pin bangs on the cylinder. Not only did it mess up the cylinder but the engine got all the shavings in it.
If you zoom in and look at about 3 o’clock you’ll see a grove. Made a bunch of noise. Surprised I was able to limp it home.
Anyway… had to fix all that.
Found an air leak because the clocking flange bumps up against the engine and creates a little gap. Had for file that down. You can see it here.
Then me and fatkid went to the 2017 Smokey Mountain crawl.
My bike was solid. With the race ported 170cc parts it was pulling away from bigger bikes. It was fast. It was not, however, flashy. It didn’t “pop” like a lot of the other bikes did. So I was thinking a rebuild was in order. You see a lot of cool shit at the crawl and it gives you a bunch of ideas.
The first few were practical. My bike started really well but it sounded like it was barely making it. Of course when you are surrounded by scooter freaks you get a lot of advice. High torque starter and lith ion battery
Version 2 of the floorboard… added some pegs with more distance (I’m 6’1’’) and fuel gauge using a Metro fuel sending unit. Both were put on after riding for hours at the Crawl. The pegs weren’t out long enough and I never knew how much gas I had.
Then, July 4th 2017, completely sober… no booze no drugs… I ride off to score some BBQ and cut through a construction site. The dirt was like a fine powder from the heavy machines crushing it… and it got over my wheels. Long story short I come around a corner, the rear wheel slips out, I try to catch it make the mistake of putting my foot down… I knew it wasn’t going to be good but I wasn’t going that fast. Foot pegs make great frame sliders.
I was in shorts and a t-shirt, which was never an issue at 50cc’s, but I 170cc’s never again. I knew I’d have road rash for a month or two and I bent some stuff on the bike so I decided on another rebuild.
Also, my red Harbor Freight lift broke in the “up” position. I had to get a ramp to get my bike down. I upgraded to a discount lifts black widow pneumatic lift. The airlift is much better. I spend way to much time cranking that thing up and down.
Decided to finally powder coat the whole frame, headlight bracket, ankle biter, seat frame. Garage is getting to look like more of it’s current condition.
Frame took a month… I added rear sets to move the lower pegs back. Those pegs are just in the way in the normal spot. In fact when I first put the GY6 on one of those pegs (that look like little blades) cut my calf up real good. I got a picture of that if you ever want to see it.
At some point I dropped the headlights.
New triple three… the original was pretty much the only stock part aside from the frame and seat that was stock.
I swapped the ATR mount, which didn’t have much of a stretch to a Composimo. With the ATR if I wanted to adjust the valves I had to pop the engine off. The Composimo is far enough back that if I need to take the head cover off I can without removing the engine.
I also added a engine brace. Prevents the engine case from cracking and covers up a lot of the ugly parts of the GY6 with that flap that hangs over the top. This is Version 4 of the ankle biter.
I also recovered the seat. I liked the Honda logo on the back, but it needed something else.
Added a lot more polished aluminum to give it more pop.
Around this time we started the Little Kings Scooter Club
Now I ran into a problem. My 7’’ rear wheel was .5 inches off center with the new mount. I could have had someone make me a spacer to move it over, or I could go to an 8’’ wheel. Since I was so far into it already I went to an 8’’ wheel, which fixed the spacing (1 inch wider moves the center over .5 inch). Ordered it to match my front and took about a month to get.
And now everyone is all caught up.
Next projects, perhaps, are a rear disc brake… the drum really sucks. And maybe go to the Taida 232 engine. The downsides to those is that the aren’t cheap mods. I also don’t know what the 232 will get me when I look at the trade off of stopping at the gas station more often and shorter rides. Right now the 170 does 60-65mph pretty reliably and accelerates like crazy, which is enough for me (and I’m 260 pounds).
Maybe it’s time to build another scooter. ☺
If you read this, thanks for reading all the way to the end. As I mentioned in the beginning, I left out the little day to day problems that I had to overcome. I had a lot of help from everyone on TR.
Whatever it is I do, I'll make sure to post!
Here is what it looks like today:
HI,
I thought I’d write a abbreviated build thread and put it in here. This thread was over the span of a couple of years and it was on TR… so for now the day to day details are lost. I’ll skip through to the interesting parts and catch up to present day where I still tinker with it.
When I started doing this I didn’t know much about it and I learned along the way. Now I’m actually pretty good with making scoots go!
Here is the day I first brought her home, a 2015 Honda Ruckus. This is right off the showroom floor.
Notice how clean the garage is. Also, the lack of tools. This will all change as I move along.
I rode this scoot for a month before I decided it need some upgrades. First I got rid of the rear fender, cut the rear light mount off the frame and added LED’s under the seat. (not bad for a first cut… not great, but not bad)
Later I added the fender back but cut off the duck bill. The lowered the seat.
Lowering the seat and dropping the bars does a bunch for your aerodynamics.
Mounted a digital ignition under the seat to change the timing
Pulled the airbox, jetted and added a new exhaust. Put in a 9’’ engine mount.
I’m skipping over the varillator stuff I did. This bike is still at 50ccs
Dropped the bars and kept it like this for a while.
Then I decided it was time to swap the engine for a 150cc GY6. I decided to put a front end kit with a front disc brake at the same time so the wheels would match. This was a 7’’ rear wheel.
Box of parts for the swap. All those 50cc parts gotta go.
At this point I have invested in a lift and a tool bench for all the tools I was acquiring. Garage is still pretty clean.
I put an ATR mount on, which requires moving the engine frame bushings a little bit. My improvised tool.
Moved the bushing like it was butter.
Moving through the installation… new 11 pole strator, short axle, tires, carb and wheels. The pic is of the old 8 pole strator. That’s no good for the 150cc
So now it’s a roller.
installing the harness.
Version 1 of the ankle biter
Version 2
Version 3 (racing clutch—1500rpm springs and a 1500 compression spring
I later took that off and put the stock back clutch back in for a while.
Version 1 of the floor board
Rode that for a while, then decided to big bore to a 170. Notice the front frame is still raw metal.
Garage is getting messy… I’ll clean that later. I still haven’t cleaned and my wife is going to kill me.
Lot’s of fun with timing
I had to attach the piston and detach it… then I reattached it again, but I didn’t know you are supposed to use new clips. This is what happens to your cynlinder when the clip flies off, back into the engine, and your wrist pin bangs on the cylinder. Not only did it mess up the cylinder but the engine got all the shavings in it.
If you zoom in and look at about 3 o’clock you’ll see a grove. Made a bunch of noise. Surprised I was able to limp it home.
Anyway… had to fix all that.
Found an air leak because the clocking flange bumps up against the engine and creates a little gap. Had for file that down. You can see it here.
Then me and fatkid went to the 2017 Smokey Mountain crawl.
My bike was solid. With the race ported 170cc parts it was pulling away from bigger bikes. It was fast. It was not, however, flashy. It didn’t “pop” like a lot of the other bikes did. So I was thinking a rebuild was in order. You see a lot of cool shit at the crawl and it gives you a bunch of ideas.
The first few were practical. My bike started really well but it sounded like it was barely making it. Of course when you are surrounded by scooter freaks you get a lot of advice. High torque starter and lith ion battery
Version 2 of the floorboard… added some pegs with more distance (I’m 6’1’’) and fuel gauge using a Metro fuel sending unit. Both were put on after riding for hours at the Crawl. The pegs weren’t out long enough and I never knew how much gas I had.
Then, July 4th 2017, completely sober… no booze no drugs… I ride off to score some BBQ and cut through a construction site. The dirt was like a fine powder from the heavy machines crushing it… and it got over my wheels. Long story short I come around a corner, the rear wheel slips out, I try to catch it make the mistake of putting my foot down… I knew it wasn’t going to be good but I wasn’t going that fast. Foot pegs make great frame sliders.
I was in shorts and a t-shirt, which was never an issue at 50cc’s, but I 170cc’s never again. I knew I’d have road rash for a month or two and I bent some stuff on the bike so I decided on another rebuild.
Also, my red Harbor Freight lift broke in the “up” position. I had to get a ramp to get my bike down. I upgraded to a discount lifts black widow pneumatic lift. The airlift is much better. I spend way to much time cranking that thing up and down.
Decided to finally powder coat the whole frame, headlight bracket, ankle biter, seat frame. Garage is getting to look like more of it’s current condition.
Frame took a month… I added rear sets to move the lower pegs back. Those pegs are just in the way in the normal spot. In fact when I first put the GY6 on one of those pegs (that look like little blades) cut my calf up real good. I got a picture of that if you ever want to see it.
At some point I dropped the headlights.
New triple three… the original was pretty much the only stock part aside from the frame and seat that was stock.
I swapped the ATR mount, which didn’t have much of a stretch to a Composimo. With the ATR if I wanted to adjust the valves I had to pop the engine off. The Composimo is far enough back that if I need to take the head cover off I can without removing the engine.
I also added a engine brace. Prevents the engine case from cracking and covers up a lot of the ugly parts of the GY6 with that flap that hangs over the top. This is Version 4 of the ankle biter.
I also recovered the seat. I liked the Honda logo on the back, but it needed something else.
Added a lot more polished aluminum to give it more pop.
Around this time we started the Little Kings Scooter Club
Now I ran into a problem. My 7’’ rear wheel was .5 inches off center with the new mount. I could have had someone make me a spacer to move it over, or I could go to an 8’’ wheel. Since I was so far into it already I went to an 8’’ wheel, which fixed the spacing (1 inch wider moves the center over .5 inch). Ordered it to match my front and took about a month to get.
And now everyone is all caught up.
Next projects, perhaps, are a rear disc brake… the drum really sucks. And maybe go to the Taida 232 engine. The downsides to those is that the aren’t cheap mods. I also don’t know what the 232 will get me when I look at the trade off of stopping at the gas station more often and shorter rides. Right now the 170 does 60-65mph pretty reliably and accelerates like crazy, which is enough for me (and I’m 260 pounds).
Maybe it’s time to build another scooter. ☺
If you read this, thanks for reading all the way to the end. As I mentioned in the beginning, I left out the little day to day problems that I had to overcome. I had a lot of help from everyone on TR.
Whatever it is I do, I'll make sure to post!
