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Post by 2TDave on Dec 30, 2014 0:59:28 GMT -5
If you pull it you have to paint it!  |
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Post by tiny on Dec 30, 2014 11:33:02 GMT -5
If you are planning to paint it do it Hemi Orange  |
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Post by niz76 on Dec 30, 2014 12:09:08 GMT -5
I had a '81 Cutlass Supreme with a Chevy Orange engine when I was 17. The good ol' days... i'm going back and forth between selling and keeping. Whenever I rebuild an engine from the ground up I get attached but It'd be nice to replenish the scoot $$ envelope since I spent it all on Christmas.. we'll see.. An interesting side effect of selling these scoots on CL is I'm getting requests to do scoot upgrades. I usually put in the ad that the scoot is nicely tuned since I'm a scooter tuning hobbyist etc. and there seems to be a lack of places that will work on these scoots- correctly. One of the guys that was practically begging for the 2000 pre-bug has a Bugeye Zuma and he wants to give me $400 to make it fast(er). Interesting... I roughly ran the numbers and it seems three things are critical- BBK, pipe, and upgears. I have a Technigas exhaust I could sell to hime for $100 (no out-of-pocket expense to me) and gears are @$100 plus time pressing on and off... and a decent used Athena BBK is $70... The $400 is kinda tight for this job but if I consider the Technigas was basically free to me I guess I'd be looking at around $200 profit for maybe 2-3 days of work. Better than what I make on flips really. I haven't set the job in stone yet but I may just take it. Any thoughts? |
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Post by 90GTVert on Dec 30, 2014 12:47:25 GMT -5
I saw the reciept from a local shop doing an iron sport BBK, generic pipe, Hoca variator, and tuning the carb and CVT and he paid nearly $700 for it and all of his friends still went there. This was 5 years ago or more. When I did a 2T BBK with carb and CVT tuning I charged $100 + parts because I didn't just throw the kit on like most shops without chamfers and checking gaps etc... and it takes a while to get the tune where I feel it's safe to ride like hell. My BBK and tune scoot beat the guy's friend's scoot with the ~$700 worth BTW and both were the exact same make/model/year and from the same dealer so I think time to get the CVT and carb right pays off for advertising purposes aside from just not having it blow up. I know you'll make the $100 from the pipe, but I'd want more than $100 labor charge for all that and gears if doing this on a regular basis. Look around at BBK installs. I see lots of shops in the $300-400 range for a BBK on a 139QMB installed, and they're likely using $50 bore kits. Props to you if you wish to be as cheap as you can for the customer. Based on what I experienced dealing with repair/performance work for a bit though, it's a different stress and expectation level when you have a customer waiting on and ordering a specific task. I'm not saying the flips aren't a lot or work, but the fact that you can put them out when and how you'd like to some degree makes the thoughts of labor profit on them a bit different.  |
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Post by Fox on Dec 30, 2014 13:39:36 GMT -5
$500 w/pipe sounds more like a fair deal to me. You gotta have something to show for your time.
I did repair work for quite a while and when a potential customer tried to low-ball me on the phone I would turn down the work rather than give my labor away for free. One other thing: Make a written, signed agreement prior to starting the job and NEVER, EVER give the scoot back until you are paid in full and don't take checks either! I learned those lessons the hard way. No matter how honest they look and sound, you can't trust anyone. It's a sucky way to think/operate I know but you have to assume everyone has a hidden agenda.
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Post by moofus02 on Dec 30, 2014 15:36:35 GMT -5
I agree with fox. Do it to cheep and people think you don't know what you are doing because the shop that can't tune a scooter charges twice or more plus then everyone wants it done for nothing. Undercut the shops but make a profit on your parts and labor and get it in writing before you do anything take a deposit before you buy parts and paid in full before it leaves
Sent from my SPH-L720 using proboards
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Post by 90GTVert on Dec 30, 2014 15:45:25 GMT -5
When doing things like a BBK or anything questionable in the eyes of the law I made sure that the customer was aware of legality issues before appointments were scheduled or parts were ordered etc... I also noted on the receipt that the customer and I both got copies of something like "for off-road or racing use only". If you're doing a written agreement beforehand like Fox suggested, I'd suggest putting something similar in there. Hopefully it will CYA so no one can deny awareness of any sort of legal issues for above 50cc or whatever the case may be.
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Post by tiny on Dec 30, 2014 17:33:23 GMT -5
Like the other guys said just make sure you cover yer arse. And always make a paper trail so if any issues arise your end is covered.
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Post by niz76 on Dec 30, 2014 18:54:17 GMT -5
All good points. Probably why I haven't taken any "mechanic" jobs to date haha. I should just follow the advice of one of my heroes Timothy Feriss and stick with product sales instead of the service industry. It's really not much of a problem to write up a CYA contract and receipt and I actually already have a FL business sales tax license and EIN. If an attractive opportunity presents itself in the future I may consider it, meanwhile I'll do a little investigating and see how repair shops price this stuff and what kind of warranty/gaurantee they offer if any..
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Post by oldgeek on Dec 30, 2014 19:34:10 GMT -5
FYI: The Malossi stuff I picked up from feebay, consisting of a pipe, an OR, and a variator had a RETAIL value of about $750. It came from a shop, and I noticed the box had written on it sell for $1250 as an installed kit including 4 hours labor. Just like in our line of work (HVAC) everyone seems to think they can "fix" them because they have an EPA card, but a fair amount of my work comes from those same people! I am sure you know what I am talking about. Don't sell your quality scoot work short. IMO |
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Post by niz76 on Dec 30, 2014 19:53:08 GMT -5
FYI: The Malossi stuff I picked up from feebay, consisting of a pipe, an OR, and a variator had a RETAIL value of about $750. It came from a shop, and I noticed the box had written on it sell for $1250 as an installed kit including 4 hours labor. Just like in our line of work (HVAC) everyone seems to think they can "fix" them because they have an EPA card, but a fair amount of my work comes from those same people! I am sure you know what I am talking about. Don't sell your quality scoot work short. IMO Boy do I! I've cleaned up so many messes from EPA "cardholders" it's insane. All the way from crappy braze job leaks to condensor fans running backwards! Oy Vey. Thanks for the input all. One of the reasons I enjoy doing the flips is because it is all on my own time frame as Brent mentioned. I'm not sure I'm ready to dive into hours of work just to find a bad crank and they can't afford the repair etc. and all those other fun situations that come with that territory... |
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Post by niz76 on Jan 5, 2015 19:42:44 GMT -5
Hi fellas I haven't been updating much as my best friend since 5th grade and his family came down to visit! They came down for the whole week and I always do my duty as official Tampa tour guide to my Michigander visitors haha. We had a blast doing all the fun stuff there is to do around here like going to the beach and this was his 12 year old son's first time playing in the ocean. My friend has been a gearhead since I can remember and him and his son race pitbikes and his son also races BMX competitively too. He says he needs to take his son through a 12 step program since he's thoroughly addicted to scooters now haha. I got the Bugeye Zuma back from the buyer as it was starting to act up. After riding it a ways it would seemingly overheat and just refuse to go over 10 mph. I scratched my head for two days with it as me and my buddy worked on it over and over again and changed the head gasket and cylinder head out multiple times as I thought that's what the problem was. Turns out the exhaust was bad! I guess it was getting plugged up because I finally switched my extra Technigas exhaust onto it and it ran great after that. It lost a significant amount of low end torque from the stock exhaust so I tuned the CVT for better take-off and sold the Technigas to the Bugeye owner. He was quite happy when I delivered it back and even gave me a little more $$ than we agreed on  We stayed up late every night scooter tuning and did so many things I can't even remember them all! My 90cc scoot is running great and cooling good with some extra cooling holes we cut in the front fairings and we got the Athena crank installed in the '01 Prebug and all put back together. Even though we went through every 70cc ring I have I still couldn't find one that's in the acceptable range and since the prebug Athena cylinder isn't in the best shape combined with a single ring race piston and not-so-great ring- it won't start. Compression is only at @100psi. I plan to order a dual ring piston and rings from Partsforscooters and that should get her up and running. It's been a great start to the new Year! (except the Lions losing to Dallas  Hope everyone has been having a great new year also! |
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Post by nelson on Jan 5, 2015 22:38:50 GMT -5
Great thread man, I have read a few of your flip threads and this one was great. If I was you I would definitely hold on to that bug. As the years go buy that thing is a yamaha and one of the last of the 2 strokes. I would love to flip scooters but not a big market here in Dallas (home of the Cowboys I would assume there are a lot of 2 wheelers on the road around there. Just save some money and hold on to it otherwise you will regret it. I haven't got to the point where my scoot wheelies where I feel comfortable but I have been successful on an atv. With saying that there is a fine spot and I would definitely not be trying on a nice scoot! It will take some crashes to know what is too far. As for the back brake, dont hit too hard or you will eat handle bars. Just a gentle tap. Here is a video of my wife riding wheelies on here 2 stroke yamaha blaster a few years ago! |
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Post by nelson on Jan 5, 2015 22:39:49 GMT -5
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Post by niz76 on Jan 6, 2015 10:06:00 GMT -5
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Hope everyone has been having a great new year also!
