"Flip" #21- My stolen and recovered Baccio VX50
May 30, 2015 18:22:07 GMT -5
90GTVert, 190mech, and 2 more like this
Post by niz76 on May 30, 2015 18:22:07 GMT -5
Hi all! This may be the first time I've ever written a build thread after the scoot is already sold haha. After flying the whole family up to MI on short notice my funds were really depleted so I decided to do a flip of a scoot I already own- the Baccio VX50 (wearing TaoTao Evo 150 plastics) that was stolen and recovered! This scoot was stolen and it wasn't until like 7 months later that I got a call from the police that they had found it. They really didn't give me much details but apparantly they found it laying out in some woods. My guess is that the theives didn't drive it for very long and by the looks of it, it spent most of those 7 months laying in the woods.
Here's what the scoot looked like before it got stolen:
Here's what it looked like when I got it back:
As you can see, it could've been much worse! Pretty much everything was still there- just busted up and they did a real sloppy job spray painting it black. I do find it funny that they left the 'Niz' badges on the sides of the stolen scoot- I've had that nickname since high school and it comes from my last name- Niznik. The thieves literally had my name on the scoot! lol.
The real damage was found when I opened up the CVT cover. Ugh!
Here's the wire they used to "hotwire" the scoot- simply twist the ends together and start it up!
I pulled the engine and got it up on the operating table and one-by-one starting cleaning and re-greasing everything....
I thought I took a pic of after I got it all cleaned up and ready to go but I guess I didn't. Basically you'd never know it sat out in the woods for so long!
Boy o boy what a mess. I find it interesting that the center stand is on the frame of this scoot and not on the engine itself... Hm never seen that before.
This scoot had a blue 'performance' CDI in it when I bought it- I installed a stock one and kept the little blue guy for my toolbox
Once I got the engine cleaned up I dealt with the ignition and wiring up front where the thieves 'rearranged' things. They took a screwdriver or whatever and jacked up the ignition:
So, I re-wired the wires....
...and just unscrewed the keyed ignition part from the plastic base and just mounted that with screws so you can just turn the scoot on and off with a screwdriver now. Oh well- that's why I sold it cheap!
I still had the key when the scoot got stolen so at least it opens the other locks that they didn't destroy like the seat latch and the glove compartment...
Next I tried to address some cosmetic issues. They broke the front fender....
So I marked it out for some customization!
I tried to make it look halfway decent and re-sprayed it. Batman fender!
After this I pretty much did some touch-ups and just generally tried to get the scoot to look halfway decent so I could sell it. The battery was pretty much brand new when it got stolen and surprisingly it still works great even after laying in the woods for so long!
It didn't look too awful bad once I got it all together:
Some black duct tape on the cracked panels did wonders haha. I did have a small issue with the cheap China 70cc BBK (it's the one I put on it so long ago) as even though it looked pretty healthy, I was only getting 100 psi. Hmmm. I checked the squish and it was a wide 1.4mm and I didn't want to give up on this BBK running because it seems like it should be fine. I found a solution! I ended up installing a "high compression head"- the kind that doesn't have a lip at all in the combustion chamber- and with a copper head gasket ended up with .65mm squish and 150 psi! Sweet!
Once I replaced the fuel lines etc. and got it all ready for it's first startup it fired up on the very first kick!! Woohoo!
This scoot still ran great! I drove it all over and was surprised that it was still just as fast as it used to be- pretty much burying the speedo probably somewhere between 43-45 mph GPS. For such a large and heavy scoot it felt great!
I sold it for $350 within a few hours of putting it up on Craigslist. Got me a little seed money to get me back into the flipping game!!
Here's what the scoot looked like before it got stolen:
Here's what it looked like when I got it back:
As you can see, it could've been much worse! Pretty much everything was still there- just busted up and they did a real sloppy job spray painting it black. I do find it funny that they left the 'Niz' badges on the sides of the stolen scoot- I've had that nickname since high school and it comes from my last name- Niznik. The thieves literally had my name on the scoot! lol.
The real damage was found when I opened up the CVT cover. Ugh!
Here's the wire they used to "hotwire" the scoot- simply twist the ends together and start it up!
I pulled the engine and got it up on the operating table and one-by-one starting cleaning and re-greasing everything....
I thought I took a pic of after I got it all cleaned up and ready to go but I guess I didn't. Basically you'd never know it sat out in the woods for so long!
Boy o boy what a mess. I find it interesting that the center stand is on the frame of this scoot and not on the engine itself... Hm never seen that before.
This scoot had a blue 'performance' CDI in it when I bought it- I installed a stock one and kept the little blue guy for my toolbox
Once I got the engine cleaned up I dealt with the ignition and wiring up front where the thieves 'rearranged' things. They took a screwdriver or whatever and jacked up the ignition:
So, I re-wired the wires....
...and just unscrewed the keyed ignition part from the plastic base and just mounted that with screws so you can just turn the scoot on and off with a screwdriver now. Oh well- that's why I sold it cheap!
I still had the key when the scoot got stolen so at least it opens the other locks that they didn't destroy like the seat latch and the glove compartment...
Next I tried to address some cosmetic issues. They broke the front fender....
So I marked it out for some customization!
I tried to make it look halfway decent and re-sprayed it. Batman fender!
After this I pretty much did some touch-ups and just generally tried to get the scoot to look halfway decent so I could sell it. The battery was pretty much brand new when it got stolen and surprisingly it still works great even after laying in the woods for so long!
It didn't look too awful bad once I got it all together:
Some black duct tape on the cracked panels did wonders haha. I did have a small issue with the cheap China 70cc BBK (it's the one I put on it so long ago) as even though it looked pretty healthy, I was only getting 100 psi. Hmmm. I checked the squish and it was a wide 1.4mm and I didn't want to give up on this BBK running because it seems like it should be fine. I found a solution! I ended up installing a "high compression head"- the kind that doesn't have a lip at all in the combustion chamber- and with a copper head gasket ended up with .65mm squish and 150 psi! Sweet!
Once I replaced the fuel lines etc. and got it all ready for it's first startup it fired up on the very first kick!! Woohoo!
This scoot still ran great! I drove it all over and was surprised that it was still just as fast as it used to be- pretty much burying the speedo probably somewhere between 43-45 mph GPS. For such a large and heavy scoot it felt great!
I sold it for $350 within a few hours of putting it up on Craigslist. Got me a little seed money to get me back into the flipping game!!
