Modern Vespa

I can see that coming in quite handy if I need to hire him to pick my broke down ass up in Baja somewhere. Of course we'd have coolers of yellowtail after fishing and it's much easier to dump the whole load including whatever I was riding than to unload by hand. Greasy ain't no dummy.

Congratulations on getting the dump truck up and going! It's an absolute game changer to have a truck with a dump bed for all those exact reasons you just mentioned above. You do realize when you show up at the dump, all the other other people who are there jaws will drop with jealousy when the hoist bed begins to goes up!

On a similar note, i finally made some HUGE progress on my 71 ford highboy 12 valve cummins conversion...i figured out how to fit an intercooler, WITH a large radiator, AND still have plenty of room for an AC condenser out in front, all the while still having 1.5" of clearance between the mechanical engine fan and the radiator! This project has been on hold for the past couple years because i couldn't find a solution until last week. There are LOTS of online documented cummins swap builds with the old ford highboys, but i haven't ever read or seen pics of one that had been able to fit an Ac condenser and a mechanical fan at the same time. The next tricky step is to figure out how to fit and route the lower radiator hose.

I'd like to have the truck up and going by summer, but i have a feeling it might be another year...

Finished the plumbing projects at my sister's house for now. Going to order a couple of anode rods this week so things stay in order for a little while. Southern Arizona water will destroy your stuff.

Pruned back her new backyard tree and un-jammed her pool robot, compliments of said tree.

Went to my buddy's place next to look into the CT from Hell. It apparently died out on a ride yesterday and he had to push it home. Went through the top end mechanicals and found the intake tappet was about .02 mm out of spec. Borescope and plug suggested it was a bit lean. Raised the needle a clip and dialed back the timing a bit. I'll need to find bigger jets.

Greasy, forget Aprilias, this thing was the cheapest CT around for reasons! It runs fine until it wasn't and has a cabal of gremlins camping in the few remaining original parts.

Wrapped up the day by digging back into the ZX now that it's finally papered. Need to clean the fuel and autolube systems, fix some switchgear and reupholster the seat. Scary thought, this fricken Kymco is eligible for a Arizona "vintage vehicle" copper plate next year!

Haven't forgotten the V9A, just looking at the stocks of various Stateside parts vendors before I send the order to SIP.

half adventure, half rescue mission! I like it!

I was joking with brother of kajiit about rolling to the car swap meet to sell parts and just popping the gates off and dumping all the stuff and saying: have at it you heathens!

I'll still have to load it all up tho... *back starts aching already*

low key, equipping the big do-jay with a dump was partly for the subtle flex. like check this shit out suckers. the dump trailer was kick ass and did everything I could ever ask but man... everything was just becoming more of a hassle: storing it, hooking it up, navigating parking lots. so this is the compromise. hell yeah! sounds like you're close enough to not need a fan shroud (maybe)! that is a gargantuan intercooler! love it!

on plumbing up the rad, if you don't wanna spend a ton of dough on aeroquip stuff and adapters, I've had really good luck with mix n' match molded hose cut to fit and steel pipe connectors from summit like these

that thing is gonna be so billy bad ass when it's done!

Will mail "bring out your dead" sticker ASAP.

Truck is rad man… Rad!

Oh my! Love this g. Next time you're in San Diego with that beast, swing by Casa SoCal. I've got a garage full of assorted crappola that would fill it nicely. Plenty of beer and burrito fixin's, and the dump's just a couple miles down the hill.

Those contractors would be high on my list for a little clean up and adjustment - more pics!

+1


The Michigan primavera is street legal in Texas. So we went for barbacoa. Natch.

Went over to my buddy's with the truck. Followed him around on a test ride for over ten miles with no issues.

Four blocks from home, it backfired and lost power. Rolling the kicker over netted no compression. Trucked it to his place, pulled the plug and stuck the borescope in.

Crown was coloring up decently, plug was getting the coffee tint. Nothing obvious, until I tried rolling the engine over.

Valves did their thing. No scrapey sounds. But the piston didn't appear to move. I poked the crown with the borescope and it cocked about 5 degrees off center.

Crap, the crown probably came off the piston. Teardown autopsy this coming weekend. It's a DrATV 53.50mm "big bore" that the prior owner had done. I only pulled the piston back far enough to remove the clips and slide the pin out. Didn't want to bugger up the rings. Reinstalled the pin with assembly lube and new clips, clocked to not compress during reciprocation. Serves me right for not inspecting it.

Other "fixed" assembly that I'd left alone were the forks. Guess what's started leaking?

FML.

at least you were there in the truck? and it wasn't august? and you can get parts that you aren't going to tear your hair out searching for?

focus on the positive!

Points if you recognize this little bit 'o shittiness.

Is that the oil pump housing on a Honda engine? I recognize the pickup filter on the bottom.

Def Japanese. JIS screw heads.

Bingo! The broken bit is where the bolt with the oil restrictor goes. I suspect the restrictor loosened up and backed out into the clutch, jamming it over into the pump housing, which cracked and dropped the restrictor. Top end lost oil pressure. Still got oil via the cam chain, so the cam and rockers survived.

Conrod needs replacement. Piston gave the head smooches and cracked the ring lands, now it's a convertible.

Addendum: After researching for a new oil restrictor, I'm beginning to suspect it was a homemade jobbie. NOS part ordered, will compare upon arrival. At any rate, this was about a $500 oopsie worth of parts and machining.

Dayum.... I thought you could not kill those scoots even if you set out to do it. To be fair, a lot of those aftermarket parts are not exactly up to Mr. Honda standards.

To be fair, this CT was beaten like a rented mule before my buddy got it. It has a 105cc "big bore" on it and a Dr. ATV "performance" cam. When he first got it, the block was full of snot and we had to strip it down fully to have the case section re-welded by the neutral switch because the PO snapped the drive chain and it wadded up in the case. I did the rebuild per Honda specs but some stuff gets weird with aftermarket parts.

I have a '64 Benly 90 that I'll be rebuilding later this year and you can bet your bottom dollar it will be rebuilt to spec.

There you go! I have always had a a soft spot in my heart for the little Honda singles. I installed a ATC 125 engine in a CT90 years ago. I was tempted to put a big bore kit on it, but I had spent so much time on it already and it was running so sweet that I did not want to mess with it. I sold it off, but I still see it around.

Bit of a tough weekend. Lots of grindy, shit-dont-fit/shit-dont-work on then ET3 build. And on Saturday I almost laid the Spanish down. Was pretty messy for a few seconds.

Short story long.....

Houston city planners basically paved over a swamp. So we don't just get pot holes, we get kettle holes, and vat holes, and cookie sheet hole-seams 3 inches wide and 10 feet long. It was the latter that almost took me out.

Riding on a 4-lane with NSM member Kaptcha and we were sharing a lane together. As we came to a red light the pavement slab in our lane had sunk about 3 inches and that seam was about a 2 feet into our lane. We also had potholes on the right side so I tried cheat in towards Kyle w/o pushing him into the pot holes. I didn't make it. One of my tires caught the seam/gap between the slabs and the bike went ape ship.

Lucky we were only going 15 or 20mph at that point or I would have laid it down. (And very likely, I would have laid it it into the lane next to me that had moving traffic.) I shook my ass like Shakira on a 7 day coke jag and kept the bike upright. Really fucky experience. Godd'mn swamps.

Be safe. Be well. Be kind.

^^^ Good Lord, sounds like the making of a heart attack. I also had one reading this. Glad you're ok. stay safe brother.

Good job keeping upright! Deep breaths. I'm glad The Spanish Dancer is safe, and you as well...

Yikes, glad you kept things upright!

We have a center down near the intersection of the Sam Hughes and Westpark Tollways. Driving around the area, I remember seeing some of that hinky pavement, especially around the Buffalo Bayou area.

Pavement crumbles here, but we just get a great dirty hole that'll swallow a P-series without the preceding rollercoaster ride!

I'm glad to hear The Spanish survived unscathed. Other than maybe the seat, but that will wash out.

Me and my father started building an arch pergola for our cars. Top will be done with a sunshade net. Thankfully no permits required for these types of constructions...

Can anyone tell me if a rear wheel hub with a 27mm boss/seal surface (in this case a smallframe) should measure exactly 27mm? The seal is a 27-37-7, new, Corteco, and it's leaking.

Wondering if the seal and boss ought to be exactly the same? When I fit to the seal out of the motor it doesn't seem that firm a fit. If I push it gently sideways a gap opens up.

The hub boss doesn't look worn. Anyone have a new or known good hub on the shelf they could please measure? Probably doesn't matter if it's 27 or 30.

I seem to recall that a "27mm" hub was exactly 27mm (same for the 30mm and 31.5mm hubs). I've had a troublesome 27mm in the past. No matter what i did it kept oozing oil. I ended up smearing RTV between the seal and the case, polished up the sealing surface on the brake drum with some 320 grit sand paper (you don't want it too polished), and then installed a new PX style sealed axle bearing (with the transmission side rubber bearing shield removed). Doing all of that finally kept the oil off my brake drum.

If the sealing surface in the hub is compromised, then you could probably install a Speedy Sleeve?

I looked up the specs on a Speedy Sleeve, and they have 26 and 28mm. Sigh.

A friend suggested the "sealed" type bearing, this bearing came without the seals (I usually leave the outer bit on as you suggest). If I can avoid splitting the cases to replace the bearing, that would be my preference by far!

I was thinking maybe I could go to a 26.5-37-7 seal, I see they do exist. Any thoughts about that?

Don't know if this would work for you but we use a trick for a leaking crankshaft seal that won't stop even by installing a new one. We take some crokus cloth and scratch straight lines on the crankshaft at about 30 to 40 degrees towards the direction of rotation all around the shaft. Visualize the scratches directing the oil back into the engine as the crankshaft rotates. The scratches don't need to be deep just uniform. New seal installed, leak gone. I've seen the seal lasting until overhaul time without leaking. Our engine builder shared that tidbit with me many years ago🤷🏼‍♂️

Sounds amazing. Might save that one for later, thanks!

A 26.5mm seal might just be the hot ticket? Usually the only reason there's a leak is either the seal is bad or the sealing surface is bad. Maybe install the seal at a different depth? So instead of pressing it in all the way to the bearing, just press it in far enough to be flush with the outer portion of the case? Also quadruple check to see if there's any sort of nicks or irregularities on the hub's surface.

I don't think there's as much wiggle room in the smallie seal mounting area, but I'll check to see what's possible. And re-check the state of the boss with a magnifying glass.
Appreciate your advice!!

Great info, Rob!

Hopefully I won't need this for later, having just replaced a leaky (user error--installed backwards ) seal on my smallie while the motor was out.

The rear brake currently locks the wheel without even trying hard, so it's definitely working now, though.

Er, oops?

Fitty CC's for fitty bucks. Some Assembly Required. Do note, these don't run long on shifter kart racing fuel. Top end is smoked.

Seems I have a new strategy for that small pile of HiPER-2 parts that I'd squirreled away. They were destined for Torpedo #2, but I suspect this might be a better candidate.

Nice! I used to have for a while, a last gen 125 with the upgraded CVT and cases / bigger rear drum from the Runner family. Was running a Malossi 172, Malossi crank, a 28 PHBH and the Malossi exhaust. I was terrorizing the neighborhoods as every normal grownup person does…

Then I moved to a Runner following the same path of righteousness…

I like your style, sir.

I figured I'll never find a Dragster 180 that I can afford, so this would be a fun machine to tune up and maybe hunt down a 125 2T to take it up a notch.

For now, I just figured it would be fun to build a decent HiPER-2 and give some of the local Minarelli/Dio fanboys a hard time.

Whatever doesn't kill ya (Read - your will to wrench) makes ya stronger?

Have you seen what these DIY kits go for these days?

Now there's a project I can finish by my own, overly generous, deadlines!

Took the Rally for its first post-seize ride. Weather was starting to turn, so as a bonus, I got to try out my new kick-ass rain jacket.