The photos that are in this thread are a large amount, so i have decided to protect what little sanity i have left and share you the gallery link
I wanted to post the photos one by one but this forums software makes that a huge task, ill share a link below i do hope you check it outwww.dropbox.com/gallery/35382354/1/lotstodo?h=d3d6c5OK FIRST OFF I don’t even know what day we are on but here is a huge update, I will try to break this down in days as I remember and catch up!
Friday October 7th after the rain finally cleared I got up and started the work that would need to be done. I first went to the local oil change place and had a friend help me remove the old stems and replace it with the new ones. This process took about a half hour and I did not have to remove the wheels from the scoot. The rear wheel was fairly simple but the front one gave some stubborn resistance. Once the stems were installed and tires back on a quick shot of air set the beads.
This day had just begun and multiple projects were taking place
I finally went to work removing ALL the (PAIR) system components , I took out BOTH canisters, made it so only ONE line went to the carb from the tank, the vent line was hung over the back of the cvt, I also took the large canister out and pulled a large hose off as well, I took the hose coming from the air cleaner area and rerouted it back in as a loop, not sure if that was supposed to happen but it did work and no ill effects as of yet
I then installed a push light under my seat (this later came loose and if I reattach it I might have to glue it on, I used a screw at first)
Later in the day and into the night I started the process of cutting vent holes in the cvt, I worked into the night and quickly realized I would need some better tools to finish
Saturday October 8thFirst order of this day was time to take the colorful plastic off the luggage rack and install the trunk for travel, it took some modification but we were able to get it installed. then it was time for a weight test, I happened to have a volunteer cinder block weighing 25 pounds so I packed two in there.
A quick cruise told me the trunk was good to go!
The next order of business was the finishing of the cutting of the cvt cover for venting, after several tries I was able to get the cvt all setup, photos of that below. In the process I think I killed a jigsaw (you can see smoke coming from it in one of the photos) next I stripped it down and repainted it solid chrome. It looks sharp!
Also on the list today was the arrival of the meat thermometer (thanks dean for this awesome idea!) and the conversion and installation into the oil tunnel. The goal of this thermometer was to take the dipstick out and modify it to accept the probe.
After that it was time to insert the probe into the case,
once this was done it was next to position the transmitter in a place that would be safe (the pic shows a place where it is no longer at, a oversight on my part forgot the seat well would block this from access on a routine basis) one secured it was time to add Velcro to the front handlebar for readout of the receiver, after some work this was done as well.
As you can see the system looks cool and will be ready for the road test tomorrow,
As it got darker there was still much to do and I knew tonight I would be under the shop lights with "big red" finishing her up. We were due to leave for a road trip of over 200 miles early the next morning!
Next up was the wiring and testing of a custom power system, I used a tremendous amount of plastic welding during this process (my head started to hurt from the fumes at one point) so you understand the adapter would not fit in the glove box so I cut a hole in the top allowing it to fit flush with the plug going under the hood so to speak. Now I had a gaping hole in there so I used a cd jewel case and formed a cover around the adapter box to seal the glove box, it’s not pretty I know but it works.
After this was finally installed it was time to make sure everything was wired up right, at this point I also installed a cigarette adapter on the left side bottom of the dash, and (this will be handy for changing tires or pumping air into them with the portable compressor or using the impact wrench.)
After all had been wired I carefully took certain parts of the scoot apart so I could run the wire and fuse it to the battery, after a quick test I was more than satisfied with the results, I used rubber sealant on the outer plug hole to avoid water getting into the electrical area.
Last thing to do tonight was make a hole in the glove box so I could run wires out while it was closed, a quick solder melt later with a rubber grommet in place and I was finally done, it had been a long 13 hours but I got a lot crossed off the list.
Sunday October 8th (Shakedown cruise)I learned a lot about my new scooter today, we started off at 9 am and headed off into the west, I had modified my helmet speakers that finally came in the night before, I won’t go into detail but they are nice and loud now and its actually worth listening to, I can still hear what’s going on around me.
We travelled to Naples with my dad and I taking turns leading (he was on a Harley 1200 cc) I found that while riding that I can pass cars however the scoot has no power to jump ahead so the timing has to be just right, a fact that was put into stark reality when I came up on a car doing 40 in a 55, I waited until it was safe to pass and swung out ahead of the car, as I started to overtake the vehicle I noticed it was filled with young guys, they started laughing at me and soon started to accelerate and match me as I tried to go faster, not allowing me to get by, cars started coming and they were laughing at me, I realized I couldn’t pass and swung back in the lane behind them, it was as they slowed right down again that I realized why, mass plates on the car said it all these rich boy jerk offs were from good old mASS, it was ok though, when they got to a double line I passed them in the breakdown lane (yeah I know it’s illegal but these guys pissed me off) on the way by I managed to share my orange juice with their windshield, NOW THAT WAS HILARIOUS,
Once I passed them I immediately slowed down as we entered a no passing high traffic area, boy were they pissed, teach them to mess with big red!
So we got to Naples and let the bikes sit for a few minutes, tourists were everywhere (they don’t have common sense to get the hell out of our state now that summer is over)
My dad wanted to go go go since he was dressed in full leather (funny thing is he shed most of that into my trunk as the day went on)
we finally reached Fryeburg and surprise more stupid tourists, as we got closer to the fair itself we saw people selling parking on their lawns, it started at 3 and went to ten bucks with 1.50 bottled water "for your tired ride home" how lame is that) we saw a sign that said 15 bucks CLOSEST TO THE FAIR we squeezed in between two trucks, cost 0.00 lol we were right across from the main gate lol
We didn’t go in there were way too many people and this was a road test not a fair excursion to watch stupid yahoos drool over one of maines fairs.
We headed to Brownfield by this time big red had warmed up nicely with oil temps around 190 or so
After Brownfield we headed into New Hampshire (just after passing the state line my dad ran out of gas and had to switch to reserve (no fuel gauges because it isn’t "cool" on a Harley) so we filled up.
Each fill up during the trip I was only able to get 0.7 gallons since my gas gauge is funky and I don’t have a reserve so when it says empty it really has a little less than half a tank, but I didn’t want to run out so I filled up.
we headed into north Conway and soon decided we would go up to cathedral ledge (this is an 800 foot ledge you can drive up to) while in north Conway I learned that you can avoid miles of backed up stupid tourist traffic by using the breakdown lane (be cautious while doing this and don’t have music running since you cannot see the cars turning across traffic into the lane on your side, a few trucks (mass plates who knew) saw us avoiding the line and decided to edge into the lane to block us, one such truck threw a beer can at my dads Harley, for times like these I used a can of coke I had sitting in my lap to douse the out of state hick that did that and also we found sidewalks got us around them just as easily.
We did finally make it to cathedral ledge and as we climbed the auto road big red started to get hot, she made it to the top with an oil temp of around 270 or so, we parked and took in the sites and it was gorgeous up there.
Soon it was time to leave and big red had come a long way and we still had much to do, we made it down the road and stopped at a subway in Conway, this place was also filled with tourists so we opted to leave (its all that inbreeding in mASS its got to stop!)
We stopped at a scenic view of mt Washington then decided to cross the mountain range back to Maine
as we got higher and the roads got steeper it soon became apparent that big red had his limits, the oil peaked at about 295 degrees and even without a temp gauge her behavior changed dramatically, she started to struggle and wouldn’t go over 25-30 and I swear I could smell her burning , I can’t be more specific but I think with the roads being so steep, the higher elevations she was at her point, we stopped at glen ellis falls and she was at 296 when we came back to the scoots 45 minutes later she was at 160 degrees, and she ran fine the rest of the trip. For 150 cc I am proud of big red it’s not expected to be superbike but he did very well.
We made it to Gorham and ate at subway a decent place with no pathetic tourists hanging around, after I went to fuel up and found out that if you fill it to the "top" it pisses out onto the ground through that hose and you guessed it right down on the newly chromed cvt lol, now that will have to be redone, also some pumps have a all or nothing trigger and it squirted out into the seat storage a little (speedy has since helped me with a neat suggestion thanks man)
the ride back into Maine was uneventful I visited my aunt and me and my dad split up, I stayed at her house awhile then headed home in the dark
After I arrived I waited about an hour for him to cool before putting on the nice cover I got for him (see photo below)
Monday October 10thToday was a day to reassess, I had driven over 200 miles with big red yesterday and the only casualties were as follows
Seat lock came loose and made it hard to turn to unlock without whole cylinder moving, a quick whack with a hammer set the clip nicely
For some odd reason the brake light no longer works, after careful inspection to make sure none of my recent wiring made this happen I discovered the bulb worked for the running light element but not for the brake light element, I decided to leave it as is for now and ill explain why soon
Not really related to the scoot but the trunk lost a pin in the hinge, got to love Chinese stuff, so I replaced it today with a curved linch pin, I bought another as im sure the other pin will fall out on the trip at one time or another
Overall I was very impressed with big red for a 200 mile trip, the order of the day today was getting a reserve installed, I found a lawn and garden store and he had some graveyard parts for 5.00 I managed to get a cool quart (about 25 miles or so) tank and installed it, photos below
NOW I come to the final thing to say, if any of you have been to my website for the trip in the past couple days you may have noticed a logo for partsforscooters.com in the top right. I am proud to announce that although the trip was funded entirely by me up until now I have received a sponsorship from them for my trip. They will be providing me with spare parts and modifications to the scooter and I will also be displaying their logos on my trunks on the trip. Even if you only need a fuel filter go over to partsforscooters.com and I am sure matt and the friendly folks will get you set up, they have a large and extensive collection of everything you need to get your scoot modified, running again, or tweaked just the way you like it. They have a friendly staff that is knowledgeable and they also use USPS priority which is one of the fastest shipping services I have ever used. Check them out you won’t be sorry.
As of this writing a sponsorship with scrappydogscooters.com is in the works as well, I will update if we come to an agreement.
Thanks everyone for reading and looking at the photos, it is my hope that with the extensive visual aids I give it might help someone in the future who finds this thread and needs answers or ideas.
OH BTW I have seen the subject of oil temps on scoots in a lot of places on the web, when things settle down I plan on doing a write-up on the detailed experience I had with this modification.
5 days left or is it 4, I’m off!!!!!
