My "Project: Pal" progress (Losta pix inside!)
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:55 pm
I've had a scooter fetish since I was about 15, but never really got around to buying one. I told myself a few years ago that when gas got over $1.00/L, that I was gonna pick one up. That's the case now, so I've been building mine up to get it ready for the road.
Here's how it was the day I brought it home back in March. I picked it up for $500 cause I was told it had a bad "rod bearing". Faded red with grey and white wheels, but it actually still ran!
Loud as * though!
Started stripping it to clean it out, replace broken parts and get to the engine.
As you can see, nothing looked taken care of since '88...
Got the engine out too see if I could rebuild it myself.
As I started taking the engine apart, pretty much everything was wrong with it. The starter didn't work, the alternator didn't work, the kickstart was jammed, cylinder was worn, rings were worn, the top of the piston and the inside of the combustion chamber looked like someone had been hitting at it with a square-head hammer, crank was bent (yes, BENT!
), rear brake was seized and the rear diff. wouldn't stop leaking.
Found the root of the noise, which was actually the (if you sat on the bike) right hand main bearing. As I took the right main seal out, behind it was flakes of what used to the be cover that held the ball bearings in to the bearing itself. When I took everything apart, half the balls had remained in the bearing, the rest had crushed to a powder. The flakes of the plate that held the balls in place had also scored up the inside of the block. And I think the bike was high centered on something, cause there was this spider-web crack on its underside, though nothing leaked out of it.
Since there was just so much wrong with the engine, I was more cost effective just buying another engine. Picked up a rebuilt engine from a local scooter shop.
Painted a few parts and the wheels silver and put those parts back together.
Taught myself how to plastic-weld and fixed up the body to get it ready for paint. Body shops wanted WAAAAYYYY too much to paint it, so I bought ready made paint and paint-matched it to my car.
Since then, I've mounted a pair of fog lights and got everything else that was broken or not working all fixed.
All that's left before I can put it back together, is for some reason, my turn signals don't work. They light up but don't flash... short of that, it's ready to hit the road! I've also found a black floor panel that I just picked up this past week-end!
Here's how it was the day I brought it home back in March. I picked it up for $500 cause I was told it had a bad "rod bearing". Faded red with grey and white wheels, but it actually still ran!
Loud as * though! Started stripping it to clean it out, replace broken parts and get to the engine.
As you can see, nothing looked taken care of since '88...
Got the engine out too see if I could rebuild it myself.
As I started taking the engine apart, pretty much everything was wrong with it. The starter didn't work, the alternator didn't work, the kickstart was jammed, cylinder was worn, rings were worn, the top of the piston and the inside of the combustion chamber looked like someone had been hitting at it with a square-head hammer, crank was bent (yes, BENT!
), rear brake was seized and the rear diff. wouldn't stop leaking.Found the root of the noise, which was actually the (if you sat on the bike) right hand main bearing. As I took the right main seal out, behind it was flakes of what used to the be cover that held the ball bearings in to the bearing itself. When I took everything apart, half the balls had remained in the bearing, the rest had crushed to a powder. The flakes of the plate that held the balls in place had also scored up the inside of the block. And I think the bike was high centered on something, cause there was this spider-web crack on its underside, though nothing leaked out of it.
Since there was just so much wrong with the engine, I was more cost effective just buying another engine. Picked up a rebuilt engine from a local scooter shop.
Painted a few parts and the wheels silver and put those parts back together.
Taught myself how to plastic-weld and fixed up the body to get it ready for paint. Body shops wanted WAAAAYYYY too much to paint it, so I bought ready made paint and paint-matched it to my car.
Since then, I've mounted a pair of fog lights and got everything else that was broken or not working all fixed.
All that's left before I can put it back together, is for some reason, my turn signals don't work. They light up but don't flash... short of that, it's ready to hit the road! I've also found a black floor panel that I just picked up this past week-end!
.when u get her totally done id love to see some more pics. 
...steller...ps. "if" u ever decide to sell her let me have first dibs on er. 
