Modern Vespa

That's EXACTLY where I'm at now. I hit 79 on the GPS in 3rd and I could probably get a clean 80 if I really wanted to.

I have fairly top quality tires, rims, and shocks, but I'm limited at least in part by the fact that Nashville's motto ought to be, "Come for the party. Stay because your car's in the shop from all the potholes and generally crappy roads."

And don't even get me started on Nashville drivers...

I'm actually okay not knowing. According to my gearing spreadsheet, I'd be going just over 100 MPH if it could get there in 4th. That's something that not even I aspire to unless it was on a drag strip or somewhere else designed for it and with an ambulance on standby.

So what you're saying is you aspire to have an ambulance on standby?

Can you blame me?

CM you must have the record for most disastrous disasters without major bodily injury. Really glad you're ok. I'd say slow down and check those nuts (pun intended), but it's crystal you have no intention of slowing down Keep up the fun builds and keep those wheels on the ground, atleast the rear.

Hah! Thanks, GL! I think there are those who might disagree with the "without major bodily injury" statement. That chill you just felt was the War Dept looking at me any time the topic of scooters and accidents, injury, or danger comes up.

LOL. Yeah true. You still have all your limbs, digits, and face. So I'd call that a win given the dire circumstances you seem to find yourself in

Hahahahahaha. why I only run Nikasil. You can GET power with an iron cylinder - but even stock + a little is a risk for unfriendly seizing.

Cast iron expands at about 50% the rate aluminum alloys.
So when you heat 'em up, that piston traps itself.

CM - take care! At least until March.

Is this a politically correct way of saying Darwinism is slowly making its way into the scenario?

Darwin Awards notwithstanding Darwinism is really about "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger (and able to have more kids)," so in that respect, it most definitely is!

That was what I intended. It appears to be survival of the fittest. The scooter seems to be doing everything in its power to survive.

It's like a spirited horse, trying to throw its rider on a regular basis so neither of us get complacent!

Dodging bullet award.

3 times major components fail and rider/owner leaves with only a pair or brown pants.

And a purple heart thrown in as well....just sayin...

Brown Pants Award.

Lolz!

*makes note*

you have the power........

Thought CM might appreciate this…

Quatrinni golfballing…

Probably totally unnecessary, but hey… some folks have a lot of time on their hands.

Would be interesting to see a before and after dyno. With as much turbulence is already there I wonder?

Agreed would love to see some numbers.

But doubt it'll happen, some folks have done the test, port flowing vs non port flowed (slightly different scenario). Zero difference. Granted it was on sub 30HP Vespa and lambretta engines.

But I doubt anyone will take too much notice. Just undermines everything people have been doing for years.

I saw an article with dyno runs before and after plug and play VS porting and almost zero difference. So small it could have been test error 0.25 hp. With a two stroke under pressure it acts like a turbo. A turbo can easily overcome mediocre port design and porting at low levels.

Last edited by Christopher_55934 on Mon, 06 Feb 2023 01:16:16 +0000; edited 1 time

I'm waiting for someone to do nitrous.

https://www.amazon.com/Engine-Nitrous-250-500-Stroke-Bottles/dp/B01L4E2PDU

OMG Chandler...
Well, another pic to send my son!

I rode off a month ago with the rear nuts FINGER TIGHTENED. I thought there was something wrong with the front end. The wobble only manifested at slow speeds, before the gyroscopic effect took over I guess.
May I suggest riding a bit.. slower?

Btw fair warning these critical mistakes seem to start piling up almost exactly on one's 60th birthday

And hat's off to you for taking on a SF project.
Those smallies are inverted, backwards, upside-down hocus pocus vs the LF.
My new friend has two. Thought I'd help him sort some things, until saw a pic of the gear selector:

We did nitrous on a fully Malossi built Runner 172 years ago. Problem with 2T motors is that after every use you would need new seals (if they didn't blow out during use) and whatever else broke…

That looks like a lot of work, but also not really relevant to me since my top end is direct intake, no transfers involved.

You can suggest anything! Of course, the beauty of suggestions is that I don't have to take them, too!

I'd have snapped a picture as I landed, but considering I was on a busy on-ramp with a median strip that was about 18" wide, I just focused on getting it the heck out of there, which meant turned around and pushed/dragged back off the ramp. Who says I don't know how to live?

Honestly, if I'd had a box exhaust, that wheel would have come flying off and I'd have gone down hard. As it was, the pipe & silencer kept it from coming off the rim, which is the only reason I was calling my wife and not an ambulance. Now that I've got my head wrapped around the design a little, I really like the smallie motor. Sure, it's a bit more complicated than the largeframe, but it's also a complete blast to ride.

That's not to say there's not still a P200 project lurking in the back of my head, but that'll come after a couple other projects, namely paint & bodywork of Smallstate, plus a refresh of my mint green Stella, which I'll then probably sell off. So...late 2024...?

I got a splutter with a 210 main. It'll still rev out to 11,600, but staggers if you you go WOT when it's not up into the power curve, so under 6,000 RPM's.

Now I get to start walking it down and see where it revs cleanly. I was riding it and starting to wonder if there was a limit on the internal passages or something. I was going to go to the 220 next, but that was the biggest jet I could get.

At least it's nice weather for riding today.

I've been out walking the jetting down now that I can reproduce the splutter consistently now that I know what I'm looking for. Got all the way back down to 190 (where I started) and it still has a little bit, but ran out of time and interest. I'll probably do a couple more steps tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Once it gets past the stumble, it goes like a bat out of hell, but stays amazingly cool while doing it. Idles like a top at 1,000 RPM's, too. It's so smooth and quiet I keep looking to see if the motor died when I come off the throttle to coast into a light or stop sign.

so loud pipes do save lives

Yup. Because even if I'd survived the accident, the War Dept would have killed me.

Down to 188 for a run to the liquor store. Stumble is almost gone, which is good because I'm getting really freakin' tired of swapping out jets.

Feel you, way more painful on a smallie…

The tank and throttle cable each time.

I get off pretty easy with the big PWK, but that was also a little bit by design.

The carb sits in the manifold with a thumb screw hose clamp.

The throttle cable and slide/needle just unscrew as a single unit. The fuel line has a quick disconnect, plus I can pull and replace the tank in a matter of seconds at this point.

But after the tenth time in an afternoon...it still gets pretty old...

Oh and forgot about the hooking the choke… not hard, but something to undo each time.

Brought a quick disconnect. Don't trust the fuel flow, so didn't install it.

The vhsh is screw top throttle too, but the tank has to come out for me to get to intake clamps and to swivel the carb out.

You can undo the intake clamp like yourself, but I couldn't get a decent angle with the screwdriver, even with a stubby.

I so rarely need the choke that it's just the stock pull-up button.

I actually did a flow test of the quick disconnect one time and it flowed just as much as the fuel tap, so I trust it.

And for the manifold, I'm using these hose clamps. Make a huge difference versus a screwdriver.

Quite some drop from 210. I drop in 10s to save time and boredom. Going under also helps but need to recognise the right noise quickly for a lean main at WOT, as waiting until it gets over hot has already done some damage.

If 188 has definate rich splutter at WOT and is really light and just comes on as the rpm gets to the top, then the correct jet could be 182.

All the rest of the carb that was near correct before will now be off in some way. Especially needle clip and maybe mid taper. While messing with needles, at some point put a 192 mj back in and confirm WOT has gone really rich, just to be positive. Seems pointless but easier than a highway incident (again) and rebuild (again).

I decided I'd just suffer the stepping down. I didn't actually expect to wind up back under 190, though.

I did all my testing in 3rd gear, so basically from 30-35 up to 70 MPH. Up and down the warehouse track.

With the 210 main, when I went to WOT at 5,000 or 5,500 RPM's, it stumbled and staggered, but if I got it solidly up in the power band, it would still rev out past 10,000 RPM's.

As I stepped down, both the severity of the stutter as well as how quickly into the power band it would clear up and start to rev properly came down, too.

The 188 was just a tiny bit of stumble, which cleared up by 6,500 or 7,000 RPM's. I'll get out again tomorrow afternoon/evening and see how 185 and 182, do.

Then, it'll be Fun With Needles time.

Opening wide at low rpm should pull hard like it's ass is on fire. When opening to wot at speed while already at 3/4 it should pull hard too. Just making more noise is not pulling hard. If these two points are not correct, then neither is the main jet.

Must be feeling quicker already though. Needles are fun to get perfect. Definitely work on the diameter/slide first. Every time the diameter is changed the pilot jet will need a trim.
If you get to the end and anything is wrong in the Bermuda triangle area (1/4 throttle), jetting starts again at near zero.
Keep in mind with needles, when you really can't decide if any point is rich or lean, it's almost always lean.

This makes sense and is what I was seeing when it was leaner (along with a 13k RPM redline).

I definitely lost a bunch of time, both waiting for jets and then swapping them one at a time to figure out how I should be properly looking for the stumble. This thing behaves differently from my largeframes (or their carbs, at least) in that regard. I'm taking the Orienteering approach...start far enough off that you know which side you're on, then work your way back in from there.

Down to a 182 and and it's allllllmost there. Just a tiny bit of splutter now. But I'm also still running 4% premix, so I'm going to drop to a 180 and I'm also now through break-in, so I'll go down to 2% at the same time, which may be an even trade.

I'm getting REALLY quick on the jetting changes, at least.

OMG...I happened to see this in 108's Egig 170 thread... Talk about famous last words! / /