tear down, overhaul, rebuild. Ningbo GTX chinarelli.

[repherence2]

so the original GTX when i finally gave it a name, it was Sareena.

the second GTX has been dubbed Slowped because until i swapped the exhaust from the stock one to an old V8, it was running strong at 25 miles per hour wide open throttle, all the way home for miles and miles. swapped in the V8 and it will run a strong 35 miles per hour now wide open throttle, all day long.

Sareena still sits on the side in pieces since the tree trimmers dropped branches on it and broke some stuff. but it is time to resurrect the bike. so being that the side skirts/panels got broken, gonna go with a semi naked set up. pulled off the stock handle bars and going to go with a naked handle bar set up.




the quick throttle was from Mr Lee. he sold it to me for $20 because it was "wrong size for ATV". the handle bars was $15 at McCully Bicycle.

the stem outer diameter on the GTX is about 1". the handle bar is 7/8" at the grips and 1" at the center. most clamp style bicycle necks are made for a 1-1/8" stem. so the idea is to get and adjustable angle neck that is 1-1/8" for the neck and 1-1/8" for the bars. then order 2 sets of shims to shim up from 1" to 1-1/8" for the stem and bars.  could not source shims locally so i am going to have my GF order those items from Amazon.





so the end result somewhat like this.





so as a partially naked bike, the rear half would be "skelton". the front half would have fairings (front panel and front wheel fender). however, the stock handlebars and head set removed and replaced with a lower set up. i think i will ditch the seat bucket too in favor of a fat butt bicycle seat.


just brainstorming gas tank solutions for this partial skeleton build.

[repherence2]

a few days ago i rode the Slowped to the store to buy beer. on the way home, a young man pulls up behind me at the stoplight and starts revving his throttle to get my attention. yellow modified Honda. don't know why they always gotta try flex and test, some punk action. so that was the defining moment where i decided to swap in the 94cc engine so that i can go and toy with these Hondas when they call me out.

i polished up the exhaust port and opened it up to match up with the V8 inlet. used some blue loctite and installed the studs. ran the studs all they way down and backed them out 1 complete turn before allowing it to set. mocked up the bore on the block. i ported this bore years ago. i used the info from bigbnrg and did some algebra to figure out how much to raise the exhaust roof with out it being too much for the V8. i used my full circle protractor as a degree wheel. exhaust 184* transfers 120/118* boost 108*.

i set the cvt up with the hawaii cheap special, KELI variator and KELI ramp plate. Motoforce rollers totaling 26 grams. i used the shortest drive boss that i could find in my collection, which is 1.475". installed the new Mitsuboshi belt.

since i was in the mood of doing a maintenance check, i opened up the gear case. old bad oil. the drain hole was clogged with as well, cleaned that out and rinsed it all out with brake cleaner. counted the gears before i reassembled because the original gearing was always a mystery because i never counted it.

Malossi gear set. 41 x 15 which i get 2.73
stock gear set. 31 x 11 which i get 2.81
total i came out with 7.7

anyways, while inspecting the cover before reinstalling it, i noticed it was stamped AXIS90 on the inside. so i filled the gear case with Mobil1 10-w30 (75cc) and some Lucas gear goo (25cc). tried to do some more research on this engine but did not find much. it is stamped FT1E46FM.

i kept the same CT intake manifold and reeds. took the genuine OKO 28mm carb from my SYM engine build. i removed the existing jets from the new OKO as well as the emulsion tube. i installed a 125 main, a 48 pilot (same as stock OKO), and i used the emulsion tube from my previous carb. slight differences in this carb set up. venturi dividers horizontal and vertical as well as post slide dividers. i also installed new tea strainer mesh on the mouth of the carb that is held in place by the velocity stack. i also installed a second mesh between the carb and the CT intake manifold and it is held in place by the rubber coupler.




and on a side note, i was playing with the idea of hackin' up the whiz-bang exhaust and trying it out on this engine. was just trying to see how i could come up with a solution with the least amount of cuts/welds. then i can go pick on Hondas again. be the only guy on the streets of Honolulu with a JAD scorpion-style pipe on a minerelli.






fun times in the irie lab. brain is stormin'.

[190mech]

If you cut it at the joint right above the broken lower exhaust mount on the case and clocked it back 180 degrees,I think it would work!!

[repherence2]

Oct 15, 2021 19:10:04 GMT -5 190mech said:

If you cut it at the joint right above the broken lower exhaust mount on the case and clocked it back 180 degrees,I think it would work!!

i concur.  it is so much easier to see it in the picture rather than real life 3D.  the location you pointed out is one of the joints that i was thinking of cutting.

[repherence2]

so in some haste, i did the engine swap over the weekend.

tried to fire it up the first day, no success. kicked, kicked, kicked. tried using the drill in reverse to drive the variator nut. broke the screw that holds the chuck on to the drill, chuck unthreaded off the drill. broke dick. gave up after about an hour to avoid insanity.

the next morning, i was driving in the morning and realized that the engine was not grounded because i do not have the starter motor installed. went to O'Really and bought some wire and crimps. wired up the ground and it fired up.

attempt #1. 48 Pilot. 125 Main. 4.2 x 6 grams. could only get it running with the choke pulled. no matter how i set the air mix screw, it did not make a difference. it only ran with choke pulled. i pulled the second screen and the post-slide venturi divider while trying to get the engine to run. it ran and i was able to ride it. full throttle sucked. it lost power at WOT. low throttle intake noise is loud.

attempt #2. 48 Pilot. 122 Main. 4.2 x 6 grams. pretty much same as attempt #1. but WOT ran a little better. only ran with choke pulled. WOT power was decent but not spectacular. low throttle intake noise is loud.

attempt #3. 45 Pilot. 128 Main. 5.0 x 6 grams. swapped belt from 792 to 788. ran without choke pulled. WOT performance lagged. seemed like a main jet issue. just seemed like it could not get there. power was shitty.

attempt #4. 45 Pilot. 128 Main. 3.7 x 6 grams. swapped belt back to 792. ran without choke pulled. can start first kick with out pulling the choke. WOT performance is animal. 60km of rippin' it and it runs out of gas now. intake noise is quieter now. there is section around 1/4 throttle (and just past it) where it goes quiet and pulls a lot harder than 0-1/4.

it is amazing how much roller weights can make a difference in the way the whole machine responds. during attempt #3, when i realized it would run without the choke pulled, i did a quick and dirty tuning of the air screw. during attempt #4, i did not touch the air screw or idle at all.

as it stands right now:

128 Main Jet
45 Pilot Jet
16.6 x 792 belt
3.7g x 6 rollers.

no temp or tach gauges installed right now. took it on a shakedown run from Kailua to Kualoa Ranch (Jurassic Park). no soft seizes. gas gauge is faulty. was having too much fun rippin' in at WOT and forgot to visually check the gas tank. i ran out of gas. had to walk 2 miles to get gas in a 32oz Vitamin Water XXX Acai bottle. fun times.

[repherence2]

forgot.

[ghostaroni]

Oct 18, 2021 22:54:01 GMT -5 repherence2 said:

so in some haste, i did the engine swap over the weekend.

tried to fire it up the first day, no success. kicked, kicked, kicked. tried using the drill in reverse to drive the variator nut. broke the screw that holds the chuck on to the drill, chuck unthreaded off the drill. broke dick. gave up after about an hour to avoid insanity.

the next morning, i was driving in the morning and realized that the engine was not grounded because i do not have the starter motor installed. went to O'Really and bought some wire and crimps. wired up the ground and it fired up.

attempt #1. 48 Pilot. 125 Main. 4.2 x 6 grams. could only get it running with the choke pulled. no matter how i set the air mix screw, it did not make a difference. it only ran with choke pulled. i pulled the second screen and the post-slide venturi divider while trying to get the engine to run. it ran and i was able to ride it. full throttle sucked. it lost power at WOT. low throttle intake noise is loud.

attempt #2. 48 Pilot. 122 Main. 4.2 x 6 grams. pretty much same as attempt #1. but WOT ran a little better. only ran with choke pulled. WOT power was decent but not spectacular. low throttle intake noise is loud.

attempt #3. 45 Pilot. 128 Main. 5.0 x 6 grams. swapped belt from 792 to 788. ran without choke pulled. WOT performance lagged. seemed like a main jet issue. just seemed like it could not get there. power was shitty.

attempt #4. 45 Pilot. 128 Main. 3.7 x 6 grams. swapped belt back to 792. ran without choke pulled. can start first kick with out pulling the choke. WOT performance is animal. 60km of rippin' it and it runs out of gas now. intake noise is quieter now. there is section around 1/4 throttle (and just past it) where it goes quiet and pulls a lot harder than 0-1/4.

it is amazing how much roller weights can make a difference in the way the whole machine responds. during attempt #3, when i realized it would run without the choke pulled, i did a quick and dirty tuning of the air screw. during attempt #4, i did not touch the air screw or idle at all.

as it stands right now:

128 Main Jet
45 Pilot Jet
16.6 x 792 belt
3.7g x 6 rollers.

no temp or tach gauges installed right now. took it on a shakedown run from Kailua to Kualoa Ranch (Jurassic Park). no soft seizes. gas gauge is faulty. was having too much fun rippin' in at WOT and forgot to visually check the gas tank. i ran out of gas. had to walk 2 miles to get gas in a 32oz Vitamin Water XXX Acai bottle. fun times.

I enjoy the walk of shame with my scooty scoot.
always gets a lot of interesting questions.

at least it isnt stator failure dude!
and on that note, if you aint runnin OEM yamaha stator and ignition coil, along with an NGK cap head;
you are gunna be in for a couple bad times.
Unless you rewind your own, of course.

I use stator and coil from a YW50, as the cost difference is literally $200 less while still being an OEM part.

[repherence2]

Oct 19, 2021 20:13:33 GMT -5 ghostaroni said:

I enjoy the walk of shame with my scooty scoot.
always gets a lot of interesting questions.

at least it isnt stator failure dude!
and on that note, if you aint runnin OEM yamaha stator and ignition coil, along with an NGK cap head;
you are gunna be in for a couple bad times.
Unless you rewind your own, of course.

I use stator and coil from a YW50, as the cost difference is literally $200 less while still being an OEM part.

it was a pretty neat walk along the coastal road.  on one side of me the mountains and the valley from Jurassic Park and on the other side of the road, the ocean and the sea breeze.

it was a good Zen moment for me to slow-da-phuk-down in life and experience more of this island.  i was actually a great walk.  first time ever i decided to park the bike along the coastal road and walk.  normally i will push the bike but i knew the gas station was pretty far away. 

funny thing though.  on the walk back to the bike, a Hawaiian in an old lifted Toyota truck yelled at me, "Brah, das your bike ah.  I turn around give you one ride."  i told him i was all good because he was headed in the opposite direction.  2 minutes later he pulled up and told me to jump in.  he took me back to where i parked the bike.  i asked him how he knew it was my moped.  he said he saw me when i was riding and later on he was at a job site doing work and he saw me walking.  then after work, he saw the bike parked on the side of the road.

he dropped me off, i poured all 32 ounces of gas from the Vitamin Water bottle.  fired it up and headed back to the gas station that i walked to so that i could fill up.  when i get there, Ku, the guy in blue toyota truck was filling up gas.  when i pulled in he said, "Ho, dat ting sound nice".  i filled up gas and thanked him again.  he asked me, "what brah, you work on mopeds?"  i told him, "nah, this only fun kine".

walk of shame...No.  got to meet a cool Hawaiian from the country side.  what he did, is the essence of Aloha.  that's what true old school hawaii is about.  they are great peoples.

[ghostaroni]

Oct 19, 2021 21:11:32 GMT -5 repherence2 said:

Oct 19, 2021 20:13:33 GMT -5 ghostaroni said:

I enjoy the walk of shame with my scooty scoot.
always gets a lot of interesting questions.

at least it isnt stator failure dude!
and on that note, if you aint runnin OEM yamaha stator and ignition coil, along with an NGK cap head;
you are gunna be in for a couple bad times.
Unless you rewind your own, of course.

I use stator and coil from a YW50, as the cost difference is literally $200 less while still being an OEM part.

it was a pretty neat walk along the coastal road.  on one side of me the mountains and the valley from Jurassic Park and on the other side of the road, the ocean and the sea breeze.

it was a good Zen moment for me to slow-da-phuk-down in life and experience more of this island.  i was actually a great walk.  first time ever i decided to park the bike along the coastal road and walk.  normally i will push the bike but i knew the gas station was pretty far away. 

funny thing though.  on the walk back to the bike, a Hawaiian in an old lifted Toyota truck yelled at me, "Brah, das your bike ah.  I turn around give you one ride."  i told him i was all good because he was headed in the opposite direction.  2 minutes later he pulled up and told me to jump in.  he took me back to where i parked the bike.  i asked him how he knew it was my moped.  he said he saw me when i was riding and later on he was at a job site doing work and he saw me walking.  then after work, he saw the bike parked on the side of the road.

he dropped me off, i poured all 32 ounces of gas from the Vitamin Water bottle.  fired it up and headed back to the gas station that i walked to so that i could fill up.  when i get there, Ku, the guy in blue toyota truck was filling up gas.  when i pulled in he said, "Ho, dat ting sound nice".  i filled up gas and thanked him again.  he asked me, "what brah, you work on mopeds?"  i told him, "nah, this only fun kine".

walk of shame...No.  got to meet a cool Hawaiian from the country side.  what he did, is the essence of Aloha.  that's what true old school hawaii is about.  they are great peoples.

good people are good people.
that's a constant everywhere.

[808ministroke]

I love that story bro is very similar to many of my own experiences in Hawaii.
And true that with the stater thing I'm having a Zen meltdown After changing the stater the OOM coil back end back and new spark bark wire and cap. But basically I'm just gonna Chill smoke a bowl And keep working on my panels because they're almost finished in this time I want to take my sweet time with everything like the wiring I did today I spent the entire day rewiring 3 wires so that the connections are perfect and cherry.

[repherence2]

Oct 21, 2021 4:46:50 GMT -5 808ministroke said:

I love that story bro is very similar to many of my own experiences in Hawaii.
And true that with the stater thing I'm having a Zen meltdown After changing the stater the OOM coil back end back and new spark bark wire and cap. But basically I'm just gonna Chill smoke a bowl And keep working on my panels because they're almost finished in this time I want to take my sweet time with everything like the wiring I did today I spent the entire day rewiring 3 wires so that the connections are perfect and cherry.

Rajah that 808ministroke! Time to for real kine make it the "true sexy rexy" and make your bike cherry! Im happy for you.

**p.s. maybe one day we will go hunt down the Honda Stokers. Show them what the Minarelli/Piaggio engines can do

[808ministroke]

Oct 21, 2021 10:52:26 GMT -5 repherence2 said:

Oct 21, 2021 4:46:50 GMT -5 808ministroke said:

I love that story bro is very similar to many of my own experiences in Hawaii.
And true that with the stater thing I'm having a Zen meltdown After changing the stater the OOM coil back end back and new spark bark wire and cap. But basically I'm just gonna Chill smoke a bowl And keep working on my panels because they're almost finished in this time I want to take my sweet time with everything like the wiring I did today I spent the entire day rewiring 3 wires so that the connections are perfect and cherry.

Rajah that 808ministroke! Time to for real kine make it the "true sexy rexy" and make your bike cherry! Im happy for you.

**p.s. maybe one day we will go hunt down the Honda Stokers. Show them what the Minarelli/Piaggio engines can do

oh hello yeah brudda that sounds fun as hell to me would love to ride with anyone on this forum especially you. I lost your number but you got mines so hit me up shouldn't be to long till I get the gremlins gone and we can go Honda hunting. Really won't be too hard and I guarantee everybody we come across well Juana races and everyone will be confident that they'll smoke us until the race starts And they get a good whiff of the To stroke smoke and burning rubber.

[ghostaroni]

Oct 21, 2021 10:52:26 GMT -5 repherence2 said:

Oct 21, 2021 4:46:50 GMT -5 808ministroke said:

I love that story bro is very similar to many of my own experiences in Hawaii.
And true that with the stater thing I'm having a Zen meltdown After changing the stater the OOM coil back end back and new spark bark wire and cap. But basically I'm just gonna Chill smoke a bowl And keep working on my panels because they're almost finished in this time I want to take my sweet time with everything like the wiring I did today I spent the entire day rewiring 3 wires so that the connections are perfect and cherry.

Rajah that 808ministroke! Time to for real kine make it the "true sexy rexy" and make your bike cherry! Im happy for you.

**p.s. maybe one day we will go hunt down the Honda Stokers. Show them what the Minarelli/Piaggio engines can do

just leave a spare frame for me,
I'll fly out with my minarelli in my carry on. LOL

[repherence2]

two weeks ago, i stopped by 808 Cycle Center and seen that they received some Stage6 clutches. so went back this past friday to pick one up for $110. the owner threw in a set of Stage6 heavy springs. and i also picked up 2 Michelin S1 90/90-10 tires for $90.

the very next day while racing a tourist in a convertible Mustang, i broke my existing Stage6 clutch. he thought it would be fun to pick on a moped on a 3 lane 35 Mph "highway". speedo was rippin' off-scale past the 50 mark. when i got to a stop light, i noticed the clutch was dragging and not disengaging properly. pulled over to a waterfront park and opened up the CVT. took the rear pulley off and found that i broke the spring loop on one of the clutch shoes. the disconnected spring was causing the shoe to bind open. so i removed the spring. Limped it home with a Stage6 clutch with only 2 out of 3 springs, one clutch shoe "loose". no problems while running it at speed. when coming to a stop, had to throttle and brake at the same time to prevent it from stalling out. made it home.

pulled the rear pulley after it cooled off. set up my brand new clutch, that i bought the day before, with the heavy springs and preloaded them. i also installed 2 weights in each shoe. i put the weights closer to the pivot this time. i was looking at the existing clutch and i noticed that i had it set up with the 1 weight on each shoe at the position furthest away from the pivot. i guess my train of thought when i set that clutch a few years ago was to get it to "hit".



this clutch is labeled as "minarelli" but i bought it from a DIO shop . this time around it has a centering ring for the contra spring. when i bought my first Stage6 clutch from a Minarelli shop, i was labeled "DIO" and it did not come with the contra spring centering ring.

when i installed the new clutch, i also changed the rollers. i went from 3.7 grams to 4.0. there is a noticeable difference in top end speed. with the 3.7 it would accelerate hard and you could hear the RPM jump once you crack the throttle. it could go off-scale past 50 on speedo, but it would max out just shortly after. if i full tuck, yeah it can go faster but for consistency sake, it do speed runs full up or maybe more like 3/4. currently i do not do speed runs tucked because i am relearning how to tune without the use of a Tach and CHT gauge this time. ...because im too lazy to swap in my other speedo that has the TTO tach and temp gauges, as well as too lazy to wire it up right now. it is an exercise in tuning by feel right now.

i bought a Polini slow jet kit from 808 Cycle Center for $20 and the smallest jet was a 42. i swapped out my 45 and installed the 42. low end feels better. but not fully crisp. my main concern is heat spikes due to off throttle right after WOT. but yea, no gauges right now...

so the next few steps will be to try 4.2 rollers. i noticed that with the 3.7, the rollers were not reaching the ramp stops on the rim of the KELI pulley. i will have to see what the 4.0 looks like as well as the sharpie mark on the face. the 4.2 might not be such an animal as far as acceleration but it probably allow the rollers to reach the stops and get full travel on the KELI variator.

then after that, install gauges and do some fine tuning.

[repherence2]

a few weeks ago, i swapped out the 3.7 gram rollers for 4 gram rollers. went on a speed run, but my speedo died. after some troubleshooting, and removing both ends, i found that the cable was broken.

the next week, i went to see Mr. Lee at his shop, found the type of speedo cable that i needed, "Square and Slot", speedo side square, drive side slot. Mr. Lee quoted $15 but all i had was $14 in ones and he accepted it. the new speedo cable ended up being about 6" longer so i wrapped it around the neck/tree once to take up the slack.

did a shake down run to Jurassic Park valley on the 4 gram rollers. speed was nice. acceleration was nice.

today i switched out to a newer KELI variator and a KELI ramp plate. this set up has 4.2 gram rollers. so far, the 4.2 has the highest top speed and it will do 50+ on the speedo full up at WOT. the 4 gram rollers were not reaching the end stops of the KELI roller ramps.

my findings, 4.2 grams give the highest speed. however, the acceleration performance is not like the 3.7 gram rollers. with the 3.7, you crack the throttle at cruising speed and you hear it Rev Up and take off but it maxes out at around 50 on the speedo. with the 4.2 rollers, top speed is well beyond the 50 on the speedo but the acceleration is not as Animal as it is with the 3.7 gram rollers.

so far, this is tuning with no temp or tach gauges.


after further review and inspection of the Stage6 clutch failure, i was running it with only 2 out of 3 shoes with weights installed. the shoe that did not have the weight in it was the one that the spring loop broke.