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Strangeangel's Shite-tastic Shenanigans 12/12 NEW MOTOR - ACHIEVED.


strangeangel

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IIRC there were standard and close ratio sets on BE gearboxes, each of which had other variances depending on engine and car it was fitted to, certainly the case with BE1 boxes. Some later XU(D) and DW8 applications may have the BE4 'box so I'm not sure if you can whack one of these in. I think the Berlingo has a lower final drive because van.

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So, the Caren left last week, the Aixam will be leaving on Wednesday... this can only mean one thing - NEW ARRIVAL!

 

tgb.thumb.jpeg.0695b3cb42e509019ee409c35243948b.jpeg

 

It's a non-running Taiwan Golden Bee 125 Express. These are factory produced variants, complete with heated pizza box. The best things to be said for it are that's it's complete, and it was free! Let's see if I can get it running again and punt it on to some fast* food merchant or other.

 

Meanwhile, the hunt for a BX gearbox continues...

 

 

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I've got a DTR Turbo estate that I'm breaking at the moment. It's leggy, and I never drove it on the road, but the gears seem to select fine. I'll try and hunt down the ratio table and see what the difference would be. Like I said in the PM, you're welcome to it, but you'd probably have to remove it yourself if you need it quickly, as I'm absolutely stacked at the moment. I should have cut the thing up months ago!

You could also fit a BE3, but you'd need all the linkages etc as that's all a different layout. (reverse is below 5th)

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53 minutes ago, richykitchy said:

I'll try and hunt down the ratio table and see what the difference would be.

 

 

That would be really useful, thanks. There's a chap on the BXclub forum who's got a BE3 box (with "gear selector rods c/w gearstick but not sure I've got the linkage") from a turbo model, but he claims its "just slightly different ratio on 5th-about 100rpm lower"

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On 5/23/2020 at 3:34 PM, Tamworthbay said:

That is awesome!

 

It is a funny little thing. It's got a sidestand on each side, presumably for ease of parking when you're slinging your pizzas, and a pair of folding pegs sticking out from the side of the legshields, so that you can carry even MOAR takeaway on the footboards when the box is full!

 

Let's see if it'll run, shall we? The plug was absolutely brand new, spun the motor over with it touching the head resulted in mucho sparkage. Good start. Fuel wasn't quite so easy... the Keihin CV carb has, like all others of its type, rubber tubes coming and going all over the place, and someone has clearly fucked about with this one before I got here.

 

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I took it off and cleaned it, although there was no need - it was spotless - and then ran a length of fuel hose straight to the carb from the tank. Nothing. Like most plastic bodies scooters, it's a ballache trying to get at anything on this. I haven't dismantled one of these for a good few years now, but it soon comes back to you!

 

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It then occurred to me to check the compression, which came back as 60psi - or, in other words, bolloxed. I fired a syringe of SAE30 down the plughole and did the test again - 100psi this time, which would indicate piston/bore/rings problems.

 

While I was tidying away the bits I'd removed into the pizza box, I was struck by the cretinous design effort that is this twin-style headlight...

 

shitheadlight.thumb.jpeg.1ac1e4b84cf26f080f2d972ea8231ea5.jpeg

 

I bet that 35W bulb burns the surface off the tarmac with that big bit of silver plastic right in front of it ? On the plus side, there was an Optimate 4 in the boot!

 

optimate.thumb.jpeg.d5178ab859090cc21903b7cb74c0cf53.jpeg

 

If somebody makes a cheap piston & barrel kit for these then I'll fix it. Adnams Ghost Ship, tea and then time to hit eBay...

 

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1 hour ago, strangeangel said:

 

That would be really useful, thanks. There's a chap on the BXclub forum who's got a BE3 box (with "gear selector rods c/w gearstick but not sure I've got the linkage") from a turbo model, but he claims its "just slightly different ratio on 5th-about 100rpm lower"

I put out a wanted ad on the BX Club FB page, and there's a fella in N. Wales who sounds like he has a spare BE1 box from a 309. 

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17 minutes ago, richykitchy said:

I put out a wanted ad on the BX Club FB page, and there's a fella in N. Wales who sounds like he has a spare BE1 box from a 309. 

 

Thanks - I was just over there and saw it a couple of minutes ago :) Have messaged him.

 

I did actually join up and posted to that effect a couple of days ago, but I guess it must have been missed - your efforts are much appreciated!

 

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It's what lockdown Sundays were made for...

 

engine.thumb.jpeg.2367a02d49a25323266e1adb1d7f7685.jpeg

 

It was at this point that I realised what had caused the loss of compression:

 

 

PIZZA RIDERS... Y U NO CHECK THE FUCKIN OIL?

 

Hey ho. Onwards... I suppose I can at least be pleased that I called it correctly in my initial diagnosis!

 

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RIP 4 EVA LIL PISTON, FLYING WIV TEH ANGLES NOW.

 

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Fixing this should leave me with change out of £40. Yay!

 

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I've posted a load of waffle about relevant gearboxes over in the wanted thread for this BX:

Some of which is hopefully relevant.

However, if an ex-309 BE1/5 gearbox has been found, that sounds ideal and avoids any issues with trying to make something fit that doesn't really belong there.

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46 minutes ago, Talbot said:

However, if an ex-309 BE1/5 gearbox has been found, that sounds ideal and avoids any issues with trying to make something fit that doesn't really belong there.

 

Thanks for that. A BE1-5 from a 309 has indeed been found (over on Facebook), but it's in locked-down Anglesey. I've agreed to have it anyway, but if another one turns up that I can get quicker then so much the better - the car's in bits at the garage, and I'm sure they won't want it there for an indefinite length of time.

 

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1 hour ago, Tamworthbay said:

That is properly nasty! Such mechanical abuse should be a criminal offence.

 

It's just wasteful, isn't it? I really think we as a society have to get away from thinking of resources (tools, bikes, cars etc.) as disposable. The rest of the engine's internals are in excellent nick; 20 seconds spent unscrewing the dipstick would have avoided putting a 7 year old scooter out of the game. Still, a cheap top end kit should have it back on the road soon.

 

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16 minutes ago, strangeangel said:

 

It's just wasteful, isn't it? I really think we as a society have to get away from thinking of resources (tools, bikes, cars etc.) as disposable. The rest of the engine's internals are in excellent nick; 20 seconds spent unscrewing the dipstick would have avoided putting a 7 year old scooter out of the game. Still, a cheap top end kit should have it back on the road soon.

 

Sadly cars and bikes are seen as disposable by so many today. Forty years ago the technology wasn’t there to make cars survive that long without significant input, but I see no reason other than fashion why it would not be possible to make a vehicle that could pretty much last for ever (crashes excepted). I love it when you see something bound for the crusher being saved.

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3 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

I love it when you see something bound for the crusher being saved.

 

Yeah, I must admit I do, even when it's something I can't imagine I'll use, like a pizza delivery scooter ? Anyway, I found a top end kit on eBay, delivered for a shade less than £38. Not bad really.

 

s-l400.jpg

 

Ordered!

 

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On 5/23/2020 at 7:10 PM, strangeangel said:

... cretinous design effort that is this twin-style headlight...

shitheadlight.thumb.jpeg.1ac1e4b84cf26f080f2d972ea8231ea5.jpeg

I bet that 35W bulb burns the surface off the tarmac with that big bit of silver plastic right in front of it ? ...

Here's some trivia:

In the late 1970s, Bell produced a motor racing helmet with a twin aperture, marketed as the XFLS-TW here, and as the XF-GP in the US. It was meant for drag racers (who only really need to see straight ahead anyway) and open-wheel race car drivers (where catch-fencing debris could cause damage). In F2, Eddie Cheever and Rad Dougall are amongst the drivers known to have worn one, and in F1 John Watson and Jacky Ickx - Ickx in particular always said that the vertical bar never gave him any sighting problems.

Only on the market for about two years, it was very expensive at about £150. Bell didn't make many, and further safety rule changes by 1981 made the design unnecessary anyway.

The twin aperture didn't find much favour in drag racing either, the one area where it might have been most effective. 

Collector values for the XF now seem to hover around the £4000 mark, and a fair few of them have been snapped up by the Japanese. I had the chance of one at £400 about 15 years ago; I  missed it.

helmet704 (2).jpg

helmet612a_1a.JPG

helmet612g_1c.JPG

helmet630b (2).JPG

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10 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Here's some trivia:

In the late 1970s, Bell produced a motor racing helmet with a twin aperture, marketed as the XFLS-TW here, and as the XF-GP in the US. It was meant for drag racers (who only really need to see straight ahead anyway) and open-wheel race car drivers (where catch-fencing debris could cause damage). In F2, Eddie Cheever and Rad Dougall are amongst the drivers known to have worn one, and in F1 John Watson and Jacky Ickx - Ickx in particular always said that the vertical bar never gave him any sighting problems.

Only on the market for about two years, it was very expensive at about £150. Bell didn't make many, and further safety rule changes by 1981 made the design unnecessary anyway.

The twin aperture didn't find much favour in drag racing either, the one area where it might have been most effective. 

Collector values for the XF now seem to hover around the £4000 mark, and a fair few of them have been snapped up by the Japanese. I had the chance of one at £400 about 15 years ago; I  missed it.

helmet704 (2).jpg

helmet612a_1a.JPG

helmet612g_1c.JPG

helmet630b (2).JPG

Surprised they didn't sell out in Belfast.

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