2003 Aprilia Scarabeo Back to Life

[pinkscoot]

Last weekend while cruising the Aprilia forum looking for info On my Beverly 250 I came across a guy in Charlottesville, VA. giving away a 150 Scarabeo. I dismissed it at first as a scam. But the guy posted more information so I decided to bite. Charlottesville is only 4 hours away and worst case I got a scoot to part out to ebay. He sent me pictures and the scoot looked to be in good shape. I did some research and found that these were built pre Piaggio's Aprilia buyout. The scoot has no limiters on it so you do need to watch the heat and not over rev them. They have a Rotax engine in them. They are said to be bullet proof. Parts are another thing., currently there is a 2001 parting out on ebay. They had all of the parts I need at the moment.

It has 5900 miles on it and the plastics looked good. I figured he would tell me if the left side was all missing or had road rash. He said that it had sat and he wanted it running again so he took it to the shop he bought it from to get it running. They did a complete fluid change and adjusted the valves (more on that later). He got it back and it wasn't as fast as it had been. He wanted them to fix that and they said they did all they could. meanwhile he had gotten a Burgman 400 and was happy with the power. So he gave up on the Scarabeo and just wanted it gone. It had a clean title and a new rear Dunlop K630 rear tire, new Gel battery and all new fluids and a few spider webs. I was so happy there were no bees because I hauled it home in my van.

I picked it up Thursday and got a beautiful preview of fall. I got it home and charged the battery. Its shoved up into the front and needs to be pulled out to get a cable on it:

I let the battery charge for a bit while I pulled some plastics from around the engine to get a look. The carb is shoved up under the air box and someone with a small hand can reach the idle screw. The A/F mixture is accessible but no treat. The gas smelled good and I figured the service would include a carb cleaning and if not it would be obvious. The battery had enough charge so I tried starting and nothing. The key is on, kill switch off, brake on, brake light on and starter button pressed and silence. Being the attentive person I am I then followed the steps and jumped the terminals on the relay and got sound. It was late and I was tired so I let the battery charge.

Last night I got the meter out and tested the starter switch, it was good. I then jumped the connector on the relay and nothing. I pulled the relay out and headed to Autozone. The guy there looked at it and pulled one from the back for a riding mower. It had all of the terminals and a relay is a relay off I go to put it in. I got it in and it started right up. The valves were making I slight clicking noise so they went on my list of things to check.

Today I pulled the plastics off of the back to clean it up a bit. I then pulled the under seat cover and the air box. two things these scoots are known for us damaged diaphragm's and carb slides that break off and head into the cylinders. I checked and both were good. Though you have access to the valve cover from a access port in the front you cant pull the cover without the air box being out of the way. The screws on the right side come in from the back of the scoot and the left side from the front. and none are easy to reach. I got the cover off and the valves were very tight. I didn't check to see what they were but set them to spec, .007 intake and .012 exhaust. With my limited 4 poke knowledge .007 and.012 seem big but its dead in the middle of Aprilias range. I think the shop didn't look at a manual but just did what you would do on any 150cc scoot. To get the scoot to TDC I pulled the CVT. It looked clean. Looking in the variator I did find it filled with grease:

This is the way they ship. The rollers are just starting to go flat so I'll replace them with sliders and clean the grease out. The variator is made by TGB and looks to be solid. The belt was in good shape but could be original so I'll replace that as well.

I got it back together enough to take a short trip up and down my street. This scoot handles nice but its acceleration is less than stellar. Tomorrow I'll get the rest together and ready for inspection on Monday.

I have worked on a few scooters from lots of manufactures and I will say this scoot is a big PITA. The starter relay is mounted behind the coolant bottle in the glove box. You have to take a lot off to get to the carb, no quick jet tuning there. Maybe as I work on it more I'll figure out short cuts but this is not a scooter for the newbie.

Here is a shot of the cleaned up back:

[190mech]

COOL!Glad you rescued another one!!

[pinkscoot]

So I got tags today and was able to take out. Hmmmm it is slower than it most of my 50cc 2 strokes. I was riding the curb to stay out of peoples way. I thought this is what a 4 poke is like. I suspect CVT issues. I do have sliders and a new belt coming. On the stand I can rev it to 8000rpm but on the road it gets to about 6000rmp and stays there. I suspect that its a torque driver issue. When I start on level ground I have to push off. This is a scoot with claims of 0-40 in 5 seconds, maybe going off a cliff.

Rant done. I'm going to go ahead and clean the carb tomorrow, I assumed with the service of a sitting scooter they would have done that but I could be wrong. My research says that some of these have a throttle limiter on them and when revved full the slider doesn't fully lift but I do get 8000rpm so I think that's not it.. Tomorrow I'll check that also as well as a new plug and plug cap. I have suspicions about the torque driver as well but let me get this accelerating better before I go there.

The good news is this thing handles great, granted at 35mph. It is also comfortable and I can stand flatfooted at lights, no tippy toe balancing. I'll get pictures up soon, I keep forgetting. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[pinkscoot]

I had a little time this morning and pulled the plastics to get to the carb and check the valves. The valves were good and before I pulled the carb I checked to see if the slide was working in the carb. I pulled the air box off and started the engine. I let it warm up and then opened the throttle, nothing it didn't rise at all. So I pulled the cap off of the diaphragm and it looked good, I got some sealant and put some tabs and stretched it into the groove and closed it up. Another start and the slide came up about halfway, I was getting some place. I pulled it again and inspected the diaphragm and put it back taking more care to get it to fit in its groove. It all looked good:

One more time and I had success, it roared to life. Viola the slide has full movement. The difference in the sound was amazing. Unfortunatly I had to head to work and couldn't test ride it. Hopefully tomorrow. No more 4 poke jokes for me.

[pinkscoot]

I was able to get it back together to take it on the road. My belly pan, mirror, plug, plug cap and instrument cluster surround came in so I put them on. Its looking pretty good. It's starts with a quick push of the button and warms up nicely. The manual says to let it warm up a bit before riding. as soon as I pulled out of my drive I knew it was good, it felt like the 250 Vespa. It handles like a dream, a new front tire will improve on that. I took it on a loop of 35-45mph roads with hills, no problem hills flat it doesn't care. The speedos like most scoots is of by 12% so I was doing an indicated 55 and it still had plenty more. When I get the new tire on I'll put my phone mount on and get a true speed. Tomorrow I'll also get some before after pics up. This is a great scoot that will be perfect for me to use around town. Now the decision to keep or flip.

[pinkscoot]

Well I got pictures today. I went to get paint to fix up the top box and while I was out I got a few shots.

I oiled the Footboards and leg shield with Boiled Linseed Oil more on that here. I haven't put the windscreen on and the top box is still a mess. I took the seat rest off, I never ride 2 up, and the pieces I wanted to paint crumbled I'll revisit making it look good. The windscreen is a full one and great if I'm touring for a few hundred miles but without it I get some wind on my chest and with the heat and humidity we have here now it feels great. This is really going to be an around town scoot so I think I'll leave it off for now. As for the top box I need something because all you can carry under the seat is the registration.

One problem with these scooters is the fuel pump. Even though they put the gas tank under the seat, the reason no under seat room it isn't truly a gravity feed and they put a vacuum pump on it. But they also have a petcock on it because it will siphon if the pump fails. Needless to say with all of the emissions lines the vacuum on this is expected to do a lot. I'm taking the advice of the guys on the Aprilia forum and replacing the pump with an electric one and pulling all of the other stuff out so the vacuum isn't stressed.

My new tire came in and I got the old one off and then had to go to work. Tomorrow is tire day and I hope it goes better than my last.

[pinkscoot]

Yesterday I got a new Michelin City Grip on the front and it handles way better. My new sliders and belt came in and I went into the CVT. getting grease out of a variator is not a fun job. I got it cleaned and back on. The new Malossi belt was a tad smaller but fit better. It sits at the top of the clutch instead of an 1/8" proud and right on the drive boss. This should mean a better high end as far as speed goes. The variator got 10Gram sliders. I took it for a short ride and it feels better but the sliders might be too light. I'll put a tach on tomorrow and see what my launch rpm are. Its a process. Like everything with this scoot it meant pulling 2 plastics to pull the CVT. I think I want to open a shop that only works on these so I can bill hours to do simple jobs.

[lordverminaard]

That's a pretty sweet ride, even if it is a pain to work on. Those larger wheels must feel night and day different compared to little 10" wheels on smaller scoots.

Brendan

[pinkscoot]

They are a world of difference. living in the South you still get pot holes and road patches so the 16" wheels and the long wheelbase help smooth them out.

[pinkscoot]

I think I went to light on the sliders. I'm still in 2 stroke mode. I have to Rev the engine up to get the scoot moving. This engine has low end ltorque so it doesn't take much to get it moving. Let me ride it some more and see how it goes before I make any changes. I did find a thread on the Aprilia forum where the guy that is the 150 guru suggested 7 gram and they guy who did it said it was great.

[pinkscoot]

I have been doing some work on the Scarabeo. I pulled all of the CARB junk off and installed a manual valve at the tank and an electric fuel pump, with a regulator. I put a 40 PJ in the carb as well. It didn't help the starting or cold engine revving. But I developed a new problem, the RPM's would hang. I looked everywhere for an air leak on the carb and nothing. The throttle snapped back on the idle screw. I looked at the intake sleeve. and it looked solid. I was really stymied. As I was hooking the air box back on I saw the carb rolled a little. I checked the clamps and one was loose. As I tightened it I saw a small crack under it. I pulled it off and on the bottom I found this:


That with the cracking around the clamp was doing it. Its what I always tell newbies, check your intake and any cracking is a bad thing. I then went to the NAPA store, those guys laugh at me when I go looking for things but always find something. They came up with the fuel filler neck off of a Ford Focus. $20 a foot. I now have enough to do several intakes. Here is a picture of it going in:


Like it was made for it. I got it together and problem gone.

One thing about these is they like to be used every day, just 3 days of sitting and they are hard to start. Even if you use them everyday it takes about 10 minutes to warm up enough to ride it. I was reading a thread here that some one was saying raise the needle and thinking on the problem when it hit me. My old Znen 150 had the same problem and I put a shim under the needle and it went away. I tried it when I was working on everything else and the engine was cold and it started right up and revved fine. Sometimes its hard o remember everything. These also tend to run lean so that will help there as well.

I then looked at the fuel line run and decided that where it went into the fuel pump was a little crimped and might be a problem. I made a loop with the hose and no problems. Put it together and took it for a ride. I got about 3 miles and it died. I went to start it and the battery was low. These need nice charged batteries to run and this one had been running down quick. A friend came and got me and I loaded it in my van and did the drive of shame. Hey these are pretty heavy scoots and there were a few big hills between me and the garage. I had a new battery for the Vespa that I hadn't put in yet. Putting a battery in this was a bitch. Its in the front behind leg shield. It was not something I want to do soon. I got it in and started it right up. I took it for a 20 minute ride near home and it ran great. I checked the voltage regulator and it was giving me 14 volts at 4000rpm so I think its good.

Now all of my scoots that have tags, as well as a few that don't are runners. Time to get them running better, or move on to another project.

[pinkscoot]

I decided to get to the bottom of why this scooters battery would drain so on the lift it went. I used Brents guide to finding a battery drain and nothing, It read between .00 and .01ah. I then started looking for a problem. I suspected the Briggs and Stratton starter relay so I taped it up better and checked for a grounding issue and nothing. I decided that the electric fuel pump was the issue and eliminated it and went to the old vacuum one without the petcock in like. It worked getting the fuel to the carb so I tried starting it. David heard a crackling then it was dead. No lights nothing. I opened the front and found the relay welded to the frame and the new battery dead, I mean 0 volts. I blew a coil or something. It won't do anything on a charger. Time to get a new relay snd start over again. Partsforscooters has one that looks like what I need. I just need to check and be sure it is 150amp like the OEM one.

[pinkscoot]

I put the new starter relay on and the old gel battery it came with in. I put it on the Battery Tender and let it charge. I noticed some oil on the front disk and found the fork was leaking. I guess the 13 year old seals have given up the ghost.

On another note, before I killed the battery I put 12 gram sliders in and the acceleration was much nicer. I didn't have to rev it so high to get it moving. When I get the forks fixed and get it on the road again I'll see what 11 grams feels like.

[collinsd84]

Is that the one that came with the Champion spark plug on it?
Only kidding. Good luck with the forks. I know scooterpartsco sells the oil.
Don't know about the seals.

[pinkscoot]

I got my seals and some time off and got the seals in, it was really pretty easy, and they really had leaked a lot. I followed Brents video and adapted to the differences. I even put the spring back in how I found it. On the nylon plunger one had a ring and one didn't. I looked everywhere thinking I lost it then looked at the existing one and it would have been very hard to loose. I put an orange on and the both operated the same so I used that on one. After I had them installed I came in to take a break from the heat and looked at the manual and discovered that I put the springs in backwards and didn't put enough fluid in. Either someone had been in before me or they were done wrong at the factory. I pulled them off and turned the spring around and added fluid. I increased the fluid to 15w and they feel nice and firm.

Today I installed the new battery and it was still slow cranking. I pulled the starter motor and hooked it to the battery and it spun but got hot fast. The battery dropped to 7.4 volts. I opened the starter up and found a cracked magnet and scarring on the armature:


That would do it. Fortunately these Rotax engines were used by Bombardier so parts aren't hard to find. I got one off Ebay brand new perfect match $51. maybe next week I can actually ride it.