The Project Pad

20VAvant wrote:

AngryTaco wrote:I seriously spent an hour on CL last night looking for a cheap scooter............

I'm thinking of using a 440cc snowmobile engine

We might as well stop being little girls and go ahead and pick up a 600cc motorcycle engine.

Unfortunately I investigated both options already- neither would fit under the motor cover and a 4 cylinder bike engine is about 2" wider than the frame. I even measured up the twin from my Ducati and it was way too big.

AngryTaco wrote:and slap a k24 on there?

Hmmmm.....

i think your choice of engine is excellent. It would be VERY hard to beat the lightweight, power output and compact drive line that a motocross engine affords you. A streetbike engine is too wide and heavy, snowmobile clutches take up tons of space (snowmobile engine is perfect for a golf cart).

Got a few more items in the mail this week: a $5 clutch cable, a $12 digital tachometer, and $14 worth of bicycle brake and shifter cable. For $12, I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the tach. It actually logs hours, and has a service alarm you can set at whatever interval you want. Nifty.

Here is the updated cost tracker:

Scooter..........................................$100
Engine, bike parts.............................$100
4 new front wheel bearing.......................$8
keyed, weldable drive hub......................$12
expansion pipe, muffler, spark plug..........$90
Cutting & sanding disks........................$20
carburetor........................................$74
new ignition coil.................................$11
12T sprocket.....................................$13
22T sprocket.....................................$15
520 chain.........................................$17
pod air filter.......................................$5
top-end gasket kit...............................$15
Pier 1 wall basket................................$10 (you will see why later...)
ATV throttle........................................$8
SOLD Electric motor and controller..........-$112
Bike cable.........................................$14
Clutch cable........................................$5
Digital tachometer...............................$12


Total.............................................$436

Here is the tach:



And here is where it will be installed. Fits perfectly in the old battery meter window.



Next up was controls and finishing up exhaust. Welded a bend on the pipe, and the slip joint on the muffler; still need to make a mount for the muffler. Also shortened up the kicker pedal I made before so it will fit under the body work, and got the clutch and throttle cables in and hooked up. Throttle works great, but the clutch does not. Bicycle brake cable and lever don't even begin to engage the clutch mechanism- waaaay too much stretch & deflection. Going to re-do with real motorcycle parts.





Finally, did some trimming and forming of the rear cover. The two "tumors" on top are for the spark plug and throttle cable.



Exhaust ended up a bit low for the body work. I haven't yet decided if I'm okay with this or not.





All for now!

VIDEOS!!!!!

AngryTaco wrote:VIDEOS!!!!!

patience grasshopper, patience.

What happened to this project, where are the videos?????

still going, it's just been so nice out here that I've been playing outside instead of working on it

got some more parts in the mail last week, and did some work on it today.

To start off, I welded up a bolt-on frame for the seat post to mount to so that the motor is still removable. This worked out really nicely- it fits right between the cylinder head and the carburetor.

Second, I fabricated mounts for the Banshee 350 radiator as well as some hard-lines to plumb it. Here is how she now sits with the radiator and seat frame:






Third, I installed a real clutch lever and cable, but the effort is still extremely high and the feel sucks. Also, the clutch is locked up from sitting for so long, so there I'm going to have to drive the thing around with no clutch at first until it unlocks it's self... that may be rather terrifying. More work to do on improving feel.

Finally, I filled the system with coolant and started her up to test for leaks and make sure there was flow to the radiator. The only fuel I had mixed was 5-year-old chainsaw gas, so it's REALLLLLY smokey. A video for your viewing and listening pleasure:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phiQy4_VVG8[/youtube]

Here is the punch-list of remaining items to have it running and drive-able (in no particular order):
- Buy fuel tank, mount, plumb
- Return spring on brakes
- Fabricate quick-release mount for muffler
- O-ring for expansion pipe
- Wheelie bars
- Mounting provisions for rear body work
- Mount and wire tach
- Fabricate mount for ignition wiring, tie-up
- Wire kill switch
- Sort out a functional clutch control
- Battery powered headlight
- All the little things I'm inevitably forgetting right now...

Getting close!!

dude I'm going to take a trip over there just to see this thing

AngryTaco wrote:dude I'm going to take a trip over there just to see this thing

Bring the 4k

awww I was going to bring the dodge

Finally had the time to look over this project. Awesome! Can't wait for the final result.

A have been wanting to do a small engine project for a while. I'll probably do a turbo 4 stroke single cylinder 450 on VEMS or something similar. Great inspiration here for sure

Hank wrote:Finally had the time to look over this project. Awesome! Can't wait for the final result.

A have been wanting to do a small engine project for a while. I'll probably do a turbo 4 stroke single cylinder 450 on VEMS or something similar. Great inspiration here for sure

Ha! that would be pretty awesome. Thanks Hank!

Have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/embed/7KdGLMzrc2Q?feature=oembed


Old and grumpy.

Hahaha awesome

You guys are nuts !

thats awesome! watched more of their videos of it- here is one of it doing the 1/4 mile at a drag strip:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKVeQT0Vuow[/youtube]

There is also a 'shakedown' video of it without that giant engine cover they made- it's a 600cc 4 cylinder sport bike motor, and a full kart rear axle and tires. Crazy bastards. Definitely the way to go for outright speed, but I want mine more "stealth"

If I wasnt constantly rebuilding a 20v, I'd have built one by now. Get more videos!

It's been way too nice out lately, so I've been spending me free time playing outside rather than in the garage working on this thing. That said, I do have a short update.

Headlight:
The original was a 12v incandescent lamp powered off the scooter battery. This bike motor doesn't have a power leg coming from the CDI box, so I needed a way to power this. I decided to bust open two cheap-o Harbor Freight LED flashlights and use the light arrays from those as my new bulb element. I took the two battery packs and soldered them in parallel to give me a 6 AAA battery pack, which is mounted in the console behind the headlight. This is all wired to the original headlight switch, so everything works as it should (and it's a LOT brighter than the original lamp).





Tachometer/Hour Meter:

Mounting this where the battery gauge used to live on the handlebar console. Made some appropriately sized chunks of ABS by gluing some thinner pieces together (it's what I had laying around...) then trimmed it to fit, glued it in place, and drilled some mounting holes in it. I cut the window in the face of the console a bit larger so you can actually use the function buttons on the gauge too.

awesome!

This has gone slower than originally planned, but hey- life happens. Took an awesome opportunity for a new job, and got back from three weeks of skiing and drinking wine in Chile and Argentina. So now, on to more progress: made the shift linkage, got it installed, ghetto-rigged the gas tank on, and finally took it out for a first drive! The clutch is still stuck engaged and there are no wheelie bars installed yet so taking it very easy.

Issues from first drive:
-steering is dodgy and definitely toed out. Needs an alignment.
-brake are not balanced, making steering even more dodgy at moderate speed
-SO. MUCH. F***ING POWER! wheelie bars are an absolute necessity. ~1/16 throttle induces a wheelie.

The Video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHVarJDXd0Y[/youtube]

Looks sketchy, but fun once it's dialed in it should be a blast.

LOL win

was that just 1st?

im scared for your life and jealous as well. Imaging getting into the powerband in 3rd? yipes

lmao dude, yer dunna die.

Its going to be super fun dying though.