Dave's shonkers - bye bye S3 (sadface.jpg)

[320touring]

Haha! Sounds like you and this car will get on brilliantly!

[ruffgeezer]

If I can shift this laguna, I'll be in touch about the Berlingo, I need one to keep the Mrs motoring whilst fix hers.

[Dave_Q]

Haha! Sounds like you and this car will get on brilliantly!

 

It's large, built for comfort not speed, it's wired up a bit funny which leads to occasional erratic behaviour.

 

ATVNBE.

[Dave_Q]

Fleet reduction update: today the Berlingo and my 90% of a CBR600 sold, leaving me with just the C8 and the Gilera (non) runner.

 

#Eurovanlife update

 

Positives:

Not had any more FTPS since last post. Stereo is fitted, have just fixed reversing sensors by replacing the wiring loom (£12 second hand). Has been used for tip runs and fetching of partial moped with great success. Achieved 37mpg on cruise controlled run to Worksop and back. Neither I nor the children will ever tire of the electric doors.

 

Negatives:

Anti-pollution fault came back during said run. Fault code was for boost pressure too high, but my new friends on the Eurovan FB group directed me to the swirl valve actuator which it turns out is indeed broken. New one on the way for £23. Hopefully this will help improve my mpg on the run to work (4 miles stop/start traffic) which is reporting 21mpg on the OBC.

[The Moog]

I think you might be the only shiter who's fleet reduction didn't including buying many many cars

[Dave_Q]

I know, it pains me but this is a temporary measure to facilitate moving to a house with a garage of my very own next year, hopefully.

I have got mild to medium fear about only having one car, partly driven by that one car being electrically hilarious and with a known self-grenading engine that is well into the cambelt roulette zone.


Anyway, I have been struggling on with this Gilera moped as mentioned a few times in the bikeshite thread. The engine still isn't running, but I have made some progress with patching up some of the bodywork.

 

As I got it - typical rank moped, has been chucked up the road a few times by a previous owner so has holes, cable ties, smashed lights etc.

 

 

 

 

I scored a new headlight for 99p on ebay and decided to try and tidy up the panels a bit, seeing as I can do that inside in the warm.

 

First, I dug out the reassuringly retro "Stevens bridging compound",

 

 

Applied this to gaffa tape in the affected areas

 

 

 

Brutalise roughly to shape with a powerfile

 

 

Apply P38 easy-sand

 

 

Whizz over with palm sander 

 

 

Take to the spray booth

 

 

Apply £shop rattle cans

 

 

And I even invoked my inner Tony Hart to paint the Gilera lettering silver with a little brush.

 

 

Overall it still looks pretty shit close up due to my low effort prep and painting outside in 0c, but it's all the same colour now and has most of the holes filled in.

[Dave_Q]

Saturday is normally a busy day of child activities, but today I managed to squeeze in half an hours fixing, which lead to this.

 

 

I also picked up some spares the other night.

 

 

That gives me a total of 2 engine casings, 2 exhausts and 3 carbs, surely I can cobble together a running engine from that lot, he said optimistically.

[Dave_Q]

Big Saturday night for me, been leakdown testing in the cellar.

 

Here's my scientific* setup.

 

 

It's a bike inner tube with a knot tied in it clamped around the inlet. 

 

Actually this worked better than I expected and I was able to diagnose that the engine that was in the bike has a fairly major leak from the stator side crank seal, you can hear it hissing away.

 

The spares engine does not seem to have any leaks. 

 

You are meant to pump the cases up to 7psi and see if/how much it drops after 2 mins. 

 

There is a gauge on the bike pump, but it wasn't measuring anything as when you pump up the inner tube it just gets bigger, because physics.

 

Anyway, the spares engine has a damaged head stud so I will swap the top end off the leaker and hopefully I'll be sorted.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Great work!

[Dave_Q]

Thanks Jacky, as I said I'm surprised by how well it worked, just hope the new engine works when finished!

 

I will keep the other set of cases and maybe one day will replace the mains and start on a MONSTER 70cc build.

 

 

Today I have been doing some minor fettling on the C8.

 

My new swirl valve actuator arrived, OMGOEM parts M8.

 

 

Engine access on these is somewhat* challenging, the actual engine is conveniently located under the windscreen / dashboard.

 

 

Nonetheless this bit came out fairly easily, exhibiting failure mode 1: the ball joint where it clips onto the flap flapping flap has broken off.

 

 

Putting the new one on was fairly easy, and I do now seem to have a flap that flaps in the suggested fashion.

 

I also had a look inside the old one to check the state of the diaphragm, as it was suggested that a vacuum leak here could be the cause of my overboost fault code. 

 

 

It's small, but there is a tear there. 

 

I also managed to find a small cambelt inspection window. 

 

 

This doesn't look great so I have ordered the bits, hopefully they will turn up this week and I can get it done before I go back to work on Monday.

[Fabergé Greggs]

I had a highly enjoyable time making a MONSTER build for a Puch maxi- something so fun and ultimately ridiculous about tuning 50cc 2 strokes!

[Dave_Q]

I have been getting a bit carried away with some of the blogs on pedparts, a stage 6 street race 70 kit with a decent crank and a gear up kit should see 10-11hp, that would be about 300 quids worth of bits though.

[Dave_Q]

That gives me a total of 2 engine casings, 2 exhausts and 3 carbs, surely I can cobble together a running engine from that lot, he said optimistically.

 

Time to prove myself wrong.

 

 

I've had a partial strip of my 2 engines tonight, remember the plan was to swap the top end from one to the other. 

 

This is the one I was planning to use. 

 

 

 

Both the barrel and piston are heavily scored. 

 

The other piston doesn't look great either, although the cylinder on this one is damaged at the exhaust stud so can't be used anyway. 

 

 

Looking at the cylinder heads the one on the left is the one that was on the bike originally.

 

 

This shows rust inside from running for a long time without coolant. It is also missing a thermostat and has had the bleed nipple replaced with a random bolt. The other one can be reused though.

 

 

So I need a cylinder kit. 

 

Options are:

 

Standard 50 kit, 3rd party but hopefully reasonable quality, £32.95

 

Polish 70cc kit, bit of a gamble but probably no worse than the above? £44

 

Naraku 70cc kit, this is kinda branded, but probably no different to the ebay £44 one. £70.25

 

Stage 6 streetrace 70cc kit. This is the daddy and performs well in dyno tests etc. Should be easily double the power of the standard 50cc. £124.95

 

 

The cheapo 70 kit for not much more than a standard 50 is sounding most likely at the moment, but I will ruminate on this for a while before ordering anything. I may also see if I can find a better quality cylinder second hand, annoyingly I failed to purchase a Polini sport kit that was on ebay for £25 the other day. 

[strangeangel]

If it was me I would hit eBay for the £33 option and some Monster energy drink stickers, and sell while running for PROFIT.

[DodgeRover]

I'd bang it together with a new set of gaskets and piston rings, draining out the existing 2T oil and putting in some QUALITY synthetic stuff and flog it quick, thats been run on poo oil and ragged silly while still cold, given the fact its not grenaded it'll go again long enough for them to be well out of warranty* range.

 

*2 minutes after handing over the cash or the end of the driveway whichever comes sooner

[Dave_Q]

I'm not planning to sell though, so I want to make something vaguely reliable out of the bits I have as I will be riding this thing to work.

 

The worse of the 2 engines I will keep as a spare set of cases, hopefully the slightly better looking set will be OK with a new cylinder kit.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Stage 6 Kit obvs. It will only make power way up the rev range rendering your current clutch springs and variator weights completely innapropriate.

 

You'd kick yourself for missing out on all that fun.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Stage 6 Kit obvs. It will only make power way up the rev range rendering your current clutch springs and variator weights completely innapropriate.

 

You'd kick yourself for missing out on all that fun.

[Dave_Q]

Stage 6 Kit obvs. It will only make power way up the rev range rendering your current clutch springs and variator weights completely innapropriate.

 

You'd kick yourself for missing out on all that fun.

 

That's the problem isn't it, you can't just bang a kit on.

 

Variator weights isn't too much bother, but you'd need a gear up kit to make the most of it, and it's probably pushing the limits of the standard crank, and really an aftermarket variator would be better, etc, etc, and soon you've spent way more than the bike would ever be worth.

 

Would be good though. 

[DodgeRover]

If you are keeping it yourself, then as long as you let it warm up and don't go stupid with the revs and its got a sensible set of rollers then that will last for a good long while yet just with new rings. I'm assuming it has got a proper air filter fitted not a cheap cone job?

The Polish 70cc kit isn't a lot more money than buying a decent piston and having one of the existing barrels bored to suit.

.

I'm assuming it has been derestricted etcthen 50cc is enough to keep up with traffic to about 35 - 40 mph without silly revs

[strangeangel]

Stage 6 Kit

 

[Dave_Q]

boom.jpg

Surely it must be possible to set up one of the sportier 70 kits so it doesn't go kaboom, provided you have a better understanding of engines and jetting than the average pedboi?

 

 

If you are keeping it yourself, then as long as you let it warm up and don't go stupid with the revs and its got a sensible set of rollers then that will last for a good long while yet just with new rings. I'm assuming it has got a proper air filter fitted not a cheap cone job?

The Polish 70cc kit isn't a lot more money than buying a decent piston and having one of the existing barrels bored to suit.

.

I'm assuming it has been derestricted etcthen 50cc is enough to keep up with traffic to about 35 - 40 mph without silly revs

It had a wanky cone filter fitted but also came with a standard airbox which is what will be going on once it's sorted, with a new filter. Yes it is derestricted but as I'm about 18 stone I need all the help I can get to get up hills, hence wanting a 70 kit.

[strangeangel]

Surely it must be possible to set up one of the sportier 70 kits so it doesn't go kaboom, provided you have a better understanding of engines and jetting than the average pedboi?

 

 

In theory, yes, but getting things even a bit wrong while setting up kitted two-strokes usually results in melted pistons and the like. Then you also have to take into account the quality* of the engineering employed in the bottom end of the engine. That said, you appear to have a spare motor, so if it does give up the unequal struggle against the extra compression it's not the end of the world!

 

If the desired end result is a reliable commuter with a few more horses, I'd be thinking along the lines of getting that running and legal, flogging it and getting a 4T 125 of some description with the proceeds. That little Aprilia I sold to Chris 6-cyl was brilliant, and didn't break the bank.

[DodgeRover]

Chuck it together with the best of the bits you have and the standard airbox and try it. You might be reasonably surprised about performance. Once it's running build the other bottom end with new mains and seals and the cheap 70cc kit, smooth the port edges so it doesn't ring the rings to shreds and let it warm up, run a decent air filter and set the carb jetting to what the kit manufacturers recommend.

[Dave_Q]

Gilera update: I purchased a better second hand barrel for £14, some rings and a seal kit and will put it back together later in the week. 

 

 

C8 update: today it wouldn't go. 

 

 

It took a couple of goes first thing yesterday morning but this morning it just wasn't having it. 

 

I initially thought glow plugs, but some research indicated:

 

They aren't really needed until it's well below zero

They are incredibly difficult to access to change, being situated somewhere just above the turbo and requiring a double elbowed child with a selection of mirrors to get to them

When you do try and remove them, they normally break

 

So I'm probably not gonna try and change the glowplugs. 

 

The most likely culprits are a tired battery or starter, or maybe lift pump or air in the fuel lines somewhere. 

 

I got it going this afternoon with a charged battery and a lot of cranking, will see what happens tomorrow.

[Dave_Q]

Another nope this morning.

 

Got the laptop on it while trying to start, the rpm and fuel pressure briefly hit 8-900 and 260bar but then die immediately, I think it's battery as the volts drop super low at the same time, like 9-10v.

 

I have got it on charge again and will buy a new one today, expecting it to be a few $$$ due to all of the electricity needed by the car.

[320touring]

1x gallon of Optimal

 

1x match

 

=

 

No further issues

[Dave_Q]

It's parked a bit close to the house for that. 

 

I'm going to try a new battery at £75. 

 

Will be keeping the receipt and installing it carefully just in case. 

[320touring]

Spoilsport

[Dave_Q]

Battery fitted and successfully driven to work + some other places. £70.

 

I had an hour in the cellar building up my Gilera engine from the best of the bits. 

 

Got it to this stage:

 

 

Then noticed that the crank on this one is quite bent in the variator area.

 

Balls.