2006 Roketa Cayman 150 (MC-27-150)

[90GTVert]

I replaced the modified muffler with the stocker. I also took the screws out and put rivets in the modded muffler. Looks better and whenever I swap it back on I won't have to totally remove the clamps (didn't fit over the screws). I didn't think I modded this muffler that much, but I can see the opposite end when looking through it.




As I mentioned earlier, the front brake lever seemed to do nothing. I got the master cylinder cap off with an impact screwdriver, otherwise it wanted to strip, and found jelly in the reservoir.



I cleaned it out, then opened the bleeder screw and let it drain and pumped whatever fluid out that I could. Then I filled the master cylinder and began trying to bleed the system. It took a lot of working the lever before it finally started to get fluid going and build up pressure. Once it did, the brake felt good, but I kept bleeding and filling until the fluid that came out of the bleeder looked like what I was putting into the reservoir.

I checked the thickness of the front brake disc at 4mm, with 3mm minimum stamped into it. The pads look pretty much new. I adjusted the rear brake because it was tight in one spot.


Then I wanted to get the front fender on, but I needed to borrow the reflectors from the Venus first. I moved T1 to reach the Venus, and then moved the Venus over where I could work on it. I looked at the garage bay and thought, "I think I have a problem". Na, you can't really have too many scooters, can you?




The Roketa with front fender after drilling and mounted reflectors. Uglier than it even was stock.




Next, I wanted to work on the rear mudguard, but I thought I should at least make sure the lights work before I do anything. I hooked a charger up to the scoot to supply power and all signals and the brake light worked. It's not running ATM, so I couldn't test all lights. The starter tried to click over (the charger on 10A doesn't supply enough juice) so it should be alright once I get a good battery. The only issues I found were the horn and the turn signal flasher. The horn beeped once somewhat normal. Then it fizzled out on the next beep. Then it never worked again. The flasher clicked constantly. I have a spare, but it's the same as what's in there now. I think it will quit if the scoot ever dries out from it's bath the other day.




I cleaned the mudguard and installed it.




I didn't install the turn signals because I'd like to replace them. Both are a bit wobbly at the ends, but one is worse than the other. I'm not really sure if that's an issue or not for inspection.

I looked at stock replacements from Parts For Scooters, but they were about $30/pair shipped. I thought I could get something better for less money. I would like LEDs, but I remembered when my friend bought his CBR600RR used, they had to swap stock signals on to pass MD inspection. I tried to look up more info, after thinking about how bikes in recent years have LEDs stock, so maybe I could get them. I did find more inspection and legal info, and nothing mentioned LEDs being an issue. Still, my friend's bike did have to have the LEDs replaced to pass. I thought I better get something that's not LED, and THESE were cheap enough.

Here are links to some info I dug up if anyone in MD happens to be looking for such a thing :

This one has some MD inspection guidelines for lighting. Also, if you change the "08" to different numbers, you can access other sections about MD motorcycle inspection.
www.dsd.state.md.us/comar/comarhtml/11/11.14.03.08.htm

MD Transportation Lighting Info

After ordering the lights, I started second guessing my decision. Maybe it had nothing to do with LEDs and was about DOT approval. I did some googling and found a many complaints on motorcycle forums of being failed for signals that are not DOT approved. It seems that if you don't have lights that are marked in raised letters that they're DOT approved, you may fail. Some people said their shop didn't care, but lots failed because of it.

I looked up the stock replacements again, and they have no DOT markings. If the lenses are interchangeable, they should work with my old lenses swapped on. I haven't ordered yet. My other option would be to find signals off of a big brand bike or scoot that would mount easily, since they should be DOT marked.




Since the horn didn't work, I pulled the front fairing off to check it out. I tried adjusting the screws, but it wouldn't make a sound. It had power getting to it. I tried hooking it directly to a battery to be certain and still nothing. I could have taken the horn off of the Venus, but since the horn is something I plan to keep, I ordered a beefier one. Didn't wanna go with the WOLO air horn style, even though I like the one I have. It needs a relay and it's pretty large. I ordered a Freeway Blaster instead that claims 130dB @ 3A (stock is 105dB @ 1.5A).

While I had the front off, I made sure the steering was tight. The wiring looked alright, but I do have a 9 pin connecter (with 8 wires) and a single wire that have nowhere to go. Looks like provisions for an alarm. I taped them off.




I finished swapping out hoses for the most part. I used Tygon for the fuel and mostly silicone for vacuum. I made sure everything had a clamp. When I ran out of stock clamps, I used worm gear hose clamps. I cut off most excess and ground and filed the ends so they weren't sharp. I also installed a larger piece of silicone hose over the fuel hose where it curves around the seat latch mount. I don't think it would be an issue, just making an effort to make it look extra safe. I'll still need to replace the hose from the valve cover to the airbox later.




I changed the oil. The gear oil was done recently when I made magnetic drain plugs for every scoot. I was going to swap the spark plug boot for an NGK, but I didn't have the right one.


EDIT : Just for more fun, I read that reflectors may also need to be DOT marked.

49ccs that need no inspection are so much easier to deal with.

[spaz12]

If you have a place to keep then, then you can't have too many scooters

[90GTVert]

I discovered cracking on both valve stems. Luckily I bought a pack of 4 metal replacements when T2 needed them so I had spares. Used the short cut method for both.

[cwazywazy]

Dec 29, 2015 18:43:33 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

While I had the front off, I made sure the steering was tight. The wiring looked alright, but I do have a 9 pin connecter (with 8 wires) and a single wire that have nowhere to go. Looks like provisions for an alarm. I taped them off.

My scoot has that 9 pin connector with 8 wires. Been wondering what it was since it's not plugged into anything except for a plug that just connects one wire right back to another one in the connector.

[90GTVert]

The looped plug connects kill components. Without it you may find that the scooter won't shut off with the kill switch or key.

[cwazywazy]

Dec 29, 2015 22:39:07 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

The looped plug connects kill components. Without it you may find that the scooter won't shut off with the kill switch or key.

Already doesn't shut off with the switch, but I see. (I attribute this to the fact that at some point some of the wiring was slashed. I soldered it back together and it all works, apart from the kill switch not killing the engine.)

[90GTVert]

I was going to leave the CVT alone till after inspection and testing, but I had to at least take a look under there since the cover has never been off on this scoot. It didn't look too bad. I mainly wanted to collect a little bit of info about it.

First, it's got a Gates Powerlink 835 20 30 stock. Right now it's 19.2mm wide, so it should be fine for a bit. It's no secret that I like Bando belts, so that's probably what the next one will be.



The rollers are 12.9g and showing very mild signs of flat spots starting. The variator shows the same markings as replacements I've used for the TaoTao, and the same cheap steel center bushing. This one doesn't look too bad though after 2,600 miles.




I put the CVT cover back on and then wanted to get a compression test figure so I'll have it for future reference and to get an idea of how the engine is doing. I'd say it should be pretty healthy with a reading of 203-204psi. I knew it was running well, but I wasn't expecting that kind of reading. I'm gonna have to figure out what the static compression ratio is of this thing eventually.



The spark plug looked good, not that it matters a lot since I've switched jets and will be switching to an airbox from the pod. The spark plug boot is not as secure as I'd like, so I ordered an NGK VD05F boot to replace it. I would have checked the valves, but I set them last time it ran and it can't have more than 20 miles on it since.




I was looking over the inspection test procedure info online and there's some stuff that worries me a bit in addition to the DOT markings I mentioned earlier. One is a test to turn the ignition switch on and headlight switch on and fail the vehicle if any bulb or sealed beam unit fails to light. If that's taken literally, any AC powered setup would fail inspection. Hopefully the wording just leaves out that the engine may be running or the inspector at least doesn't care.

The horn shall not produce an unreasonably harsh or loud sound. Maybe the Freeway Blaster wasn't the best choice, but I would be a bit surprised if I actually failed for that.

It says to fail the vehicle if a passenger can be transported and hand holds are not present. Well, it's got little spots on the floorboard to act as footrests and the seat is long enough for a passenger. No dedicated hand holds unless they count the wing.

It must be stopped from 20MPH and should fail if there is any obvious sign of an out or round drum. Not sure that it will be obvious at 20MPH, but you can tell there's a high spot that binds when the wheel is turned on the stand. This is very common, or at least in my scoots it is.

I'll worry myself to death till it's done.

[niz76]

Wow what a PITA! I have never lived in a state that required inspection on anything (MI and FL) so this all seems really foreign to me. You're doing such a nice thorough job, she seems like she'll be a very nice stock scoot!
Good Luck!

[jkeney]

He can pretend its going to be stock, but we all know the truth....

[90GTVert]

The new airbox came in today. I didn't want to mount it because it would be in the way when the fender shows up, but I wanted to see that it would fit. This one is designed a little different and I couldn't get it into position. It has some seemingly pointless piece protruding out of a corner that was running into the CVT cover, so I cut it off with a utility knife.



That got it closer, but it still wouldn't fit. It seemed to be running into the shock, or if it cleared the shock then the holes wouldn't align with the cover, and even if I got the mounting holes to line up, the hose wouldn't reach the carb.



I wasn't sure if I was just being dense and missing something or if the airbox really wouldn't fit, so I grabbed the old one and tried it. That one would line fine. I stuck the two boxes side by side and then I could see that they are different. Listings that I looked at only mentioned the mount hole distance. Mine matched, so I figured a GY6 airbox is a GY6 airbox, as long as it's the kind that mounts above the CVT cover. Not quite. I'm not sure if one is a long case and one is short or what, but you can see that the mount holes match up while the shock cutouts don't. You can also see that the hose is longer on one. I guess I wasted $30 on it, but I've learned something about the GY6 150 anyway.



At that point I either needed to order another or try and work with what I had. Funds are low after ordering parts already, so I wanted to see if I could do anything about the busted off barb on the stock airbox.



I had a 90 degree plastic fitting around, so I cut off the straight hose barb section of it.



I beveled the end of the barb and then opened the hole in the airbox up just enough that the barb would start a bit. I roughed up the barb a little and put Plastic Welder on the box and barb. It took a good bit of pressure and finally tapping with a rubber mallet to seat the barb all the way in. It seemed secure enough for what it is even with the epoxy not setup. I applied more Plastic Welder to the inside anyway. I'll have to drill through it once it cures.



I mixed up way more Plastic Welder than I needed. The scoot has multiple broken tabs on it's plastics, so I figured I might as well try to fix one quickly before the epoxy cured. I had an empty peanut butter jar in the recycling bin so I cut a chunk out of it's top. I cut it down so it would fit where I wanted it and glued it on. I'm not sure how well it'll work, but if it fails I'm no worse off than before I tried it. The last pic is what the original tab looks like.

[niz76]

Gettin' 'er Done!

[90GTVert]

I only knew the airbox arrived because it was on the porch, but it seems the mail lady had stuffed the fender and breather tube from Parts For Scooters in the mailbox so I went out later and fiddled around till I heard my neighbor's shotgun at midnight.



Put the breather tube on to fill the hole in the fan shroud, and installed the new fender.



I cleaned up the airbox and installed it as well, then replaced the crankcase vent hose. I had to use a heat gun on the tube to the carb because it was so stiff. It's a bit of a pain in general. I was planning on just leaving it, but I can see it would drive me nuts if I'm tuning the CVT. It may be worth using an open filter or some alternative airbox just for that reason.



The Plastic Weldered tab seems to work somewhat. The peanut butter lid is a bit too flexible, but it's better than nothing and should at least let me not have an empty screw hole there.

[90GTVert]

I fixed up a couple more moutning tabs with Plastic Welder and the peanut butter lid.



A few more things came in yesterday.



I installed the new battery and then the Freeway Blaster horn. The horn fit easily and works fine with the stock switch. It's not really much louder when I compared it to the TaoTao's stock horn, but it's got a much deeper tone that doesn't sound like a scooter horn.



I can't do much with the reflectors yet because I think I'm going to mount them on the posts for the rear turn signals. I got the NGK plug boot on and it feels much more secure now.

I picked up some gas and put a little in the tank. I didn't put much in, just in case the petcock didn't work. I worked the kick lever by hand and didn't see much fuel moving. I could see a pulse faintly, but with lots of working the lever and then cranking with the e-start, it wouldn't fill the line. I stuck an unlit propane torch in the airbox inlet and got the engine to start and run while being supplied with propane. Even with the engine started, I saw just a faint pulse and it wasn't filling the line. I added more fuel, thinking maybe I didn't get as much as I thought in there, but it made no difference.

I took a vacuum hose off and connected a syringe and then pumped it. Eventually I got a bit of fuel in the line and put the vac hose back on the carb. I never could get it to really fill the line though. It started and idled, but didn't want to rev.



I thought I should replace the petcock and I had a new one that fit here that I used to keep as a spare. I put it on, after spilling about a quart of gas on the bench and floor when I used too small of a container to catch the fuel. The new petcock made no difference.

I took a more direct route and removed the fuel hose from the petcock. Then I filled that with gas using the syringe. This time I got the scooter to start up and run and rev. After a while it ran all of the fuel out of the line and died.

I had the fuel hose on the side and vacuum on the bottom of the petcock, like any other one I've seen. Still, I switched lines to make sure it was OK. It's got strong compression and should have good vacuum, though I didn't check.

I've always hated these vacuum petcocks, so why should it be any different in this case? I took a look at the inspection info I have and I don't see anything about automatic shutoff or original equipment. It basically says fail it for leaks and to check the operation of the fuel switch. Nice. That being the case, I measured the ID of the nut at about 14.5mm and the OD of the tank threads at about 15.5mm. I assume this must be M16. As best I could tell trying to peep through openings, the tank threads match up to 1.5 thread pitch. I looked around a bit and then ordered THIS manual shutoff. I didn't necessarily want one with a reserve function, but the ones without it were around double the price.

[niz76]

Nice. Unless they inspect a lot of scoots, I would expect the inspector to expect that type of switch... say that 3 times fast! lol

[90GTVert]

I realized that the MVA site requires the exact zip code when looking for inspection places, rather than doing a search within X amount of miles like any other site. Entering some other towns in, I found 3 shops within a reasonable distance that are not dealerships. There's a fairly large auto body shop 10 miles away that I never knew even messed with motorcycles that is listed. 20 miles away is a small auto shop. About 25 miles away that is a two car garage behind someone's house. I'm thinking any of those would be less likely to be ballbusters, for lack of a better term, than motorcycle dealerships. It'll still be a bit before I schedule anything, just continuing some research.

I talked to my friend that owned the scoot before, yesterday. He said when he bought his Marauder he took it with a friend of his that knows a lot of bikers around here. They went to a dealer in a different town and basically once they saw the old biker the inspection was "It's good, get it out of here." Unfortunately since then, that dealership went out of business and the friend of a friend retired and moved away. Would have been nice.