This happened.

Been a while since I've posted last. Here's where the case inducted e50 sits. Cylinder intake delete plate made. Case halves gooped up and put together with stainless Allen heads. Hpi installed. Treats race crank with new seals and bearings. I cut new gaskets for the reed block since the og ones were shit. Bottom end all assembled and ready for the top end. Still undecided if I want to ad a locator pin to bottom of the case and cylinder to keep things aligned. Currently I have small cut pieces of knitting needles in the cylinder (Walmart purple needles (6mm id! Whahhhh)) but the studs I'm using aren't a true 6mm on the unthreaded section and there is still a tiny bit of wiggle when it's on the studs. Most people and factorys put cylinders on and skip this part but I'm pretty attentive to this kinda thing. We'll see when it comes to it soon here.

Case matching.

The previous owner matched the cases I'm using to some kit pretty deep back so I tried to slope the hero kits transfers to match without going too crazy. I cut the gasket from .8mm rubbery/fibery gasket material. MLM base spacers make making base gaskets so easy peasy. Just trace the skirt hole and stud holes and cut the transfers with an exacto blade when the gasket is on the cylinder. It's worth buying one just to cut your own gaskets since the pre made ones are usualy shit tons off or paper thin junk. Also, I bought crocheting needles at Walmart for a few bucks that were labeled in millimeters. So sick for making cylinders line up perfecto on the studs. Just needed to drill down a little in the cylinders stud holes and press them in. Now it's nice and snug. I also matched the exhaust port to a 26mm gasket since the casting was wayyyyyyy off from the factory. The intake plate was covered with jb weld all around too so there's no chance of leaks. 

Case welding.

Welding aluminium sucks. Puch cases are the thinnest around the crank on top. Thinner than everywhere else at least. I had to do hot tacks around the hole I cut and die grind them flat just to get it built up. Air leaks are my enemy here but that was the best I could do. Straight beads would have just caved in and running my machine at a heat setting low enough not to cave in wouldn't penetrate the metal. After getting it built up I was able to do a few beads with the hot setting. Then die grind it flat and later hit it with a small sanding disk on my drill press. I don't have access to fancy tools... Now I'm ready to weld my plate on from the inside. Not really worried about making the port smaller as it will still flow a huge carb. A vm24 is what I have now from an old Yamaha dt175. I'm pretty nervous, but it's 1/2" thick so at least I won't burn through. I'll seal the deal with epoxy when it's all said and done. I got the transfers welded up too so I can cut massive ports later. 

Cases.

I got a set of cheep e50 cases for the maxi. The lip around the flywheel cover was ground off and they were all crusty and white with some weird crap corroded on them. I gave them a quick sandblasting to take it off and cleaned up  around where the lip used to be since it was uneven. Then drilled and tapped a new hole for the hpi. Not sure if I even needed to, but ohh well. Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it I guess. I will weld them up for larger transfers probably this weekend. 

Also started cutting the hole out of the plate for the case induction action. It's not all the way done of course. 

Well.

Aircraft paint stripper can't sit forever. It just make the paint become super paint. Like it took a ton of antibiotics and then became mersa on what ever you sprayed down a week ago. Anyways, I gave it another coat of stripper and sandblasted it 15 minutes after. Came off pretty easy peasy. Now most the paints off and it just needs more sandblasting. I might take it to where I work and blast in the parking lot because the compressor there is huge. Mine is 26 gallons, but it heats up and sprays a lot of water when it's used for long periods. Also I need to figure out a plug for the powdercoating oven, and find the breaker I tripped trying to wire it last weekend. Kinda would like all the outlets in the garage to work again... 

Ooooo, prettyyyyy. 

Case induced coma.

Started making a plate for the DIO reed manifold to bolt on to. It'll get welded onto the e50 cases coming in the next few days. Whoo! Not sure if I want to weld it myself, or have it done by a shop. Hmmmm. I don't want to ruin the cases, but I also don't want to pay shop prices. Decisions, decisions. The previous attempt left me with bunk cases and a better understanding on how I want to approach this. Thicker plate means less to build up with weld and more to bolt into so that's why the 1/2" plate. Also this will be forward facing instead of side facing. Makes for better clearance. 

Maxi time.

So I had big plans for this guy earlier this spring. Ordered a Parmakit 47.6 LC kit for Minarellis stroked to 43mm. That was at the beginning of June. Over 3.5 months later, nothing and I'm out $260... Hopefully PayPal comes through and I get refunded. Anyways, I pulled it out today, put new IRC 2.0" tires on the rims and cleaned it up a bit. Also the radiator mounts I welded under the tank were cut off. :( I'm still going to do the case induction with a DIO reed block though. It'll probably get the cases welded up, stuffy crank and a Hero kit + other junk.

New Jawa piston.

So I messed up my stock Jawa piston opening it up to except a 16.5mm needle bearing. Yeah, don't do that. The holes are slightly tapered inward from the side of the piston so it made the wristpin all sloppy. Kinda weird. Not sure if all Pistons are like this or just Jawa ones. I ordered the correct bearing on eBay since it was the only one I could find online in that size and it ships from Hong Kong... Oh well. It's mopeds. 

Anyways, I ordered a cheep aftermarket standard piston on eBay from Hungary and I'm incredibly impressed with it! Seem like really nice quality although it needs a little beveling on the skirt since it's pretty sharp. Easy though. It came with the piston, rings, and clips! Super cheap, larger ring gap then stock, (wider exhaust portttttt!!!!) and grooves to retain oil. Buy buy buy!

(Ring gaps are labeled on pistons)

...And what's the deal with Vespa paint?!

Vespa must have used the greatest paint ever applied to any object ever in the 80's because I can't take it off. Sandblasting it hardly breaks the surface. I've tried aerosol paint stripper and brush on stripper for water and oil based paints with zeeeero results. I've just about got it all down to bare metal now, but only after taking an air sander to it and hitting it with 3 coats of aircraft paint remover for what I couldn't reach. Sandblasting will have to get the nooks and crannies. Why do I need it totally bare you ask? Because this bike was being built for my girlfriend who wanted it soft pink and white. I built a powdercoating oven from an old gutted fridge and an oven I picked up on Craigslist. I had already started tearing into stripping it when we broke up. Hmm... Welp! I'm still building it this way since I already have the pink and white powdercoat and a Malossi reed case/Malossi crank/Malossi 43 already built that's just waiting in a box.

Big things poppin.

Not really. Just some moped stuff. The current project is a Moby 50V with the bottom half chopped off and the bottom of a Jawa Transistor 40 welded in its place. It'll have a Jawa 207 engine with a reed inducted cylinder with 210 sleeve, Pug/Tomos reed, Puch head, vm18, and other odds and ends. The swingarm was extended 2" to accommodate for  17" wheels and I welded up a nice little handbar intake. Should be Fun. I really like Jawas so there will probably be a lot of that going on here. They're unappreciated bikes fosho. Here's a few pictures of the current progress. (The 210 cylinder was more or less practice, and the final result will be the 207 cylinder.) I will try to keep this blog up to date with any big updates.