nacnud

Slow day back at work so time for an update with some photos. Not a huge amount has changed on the scoot BUT it is finally legal! Bit of a process with border checks, lighting exceptions, vintage car club sign off and even the need to get a low volume cert (front disc etc). It is a good feeling not having to worry about the local fuzz and being able to properly insure it though!

Had another 1600km Motto TT event last year, scoot went well until some minor mishaps near the end. Exhaust decided to open up and on the final day my statorplate shat itself.

 

New tubeless rims before the event.

Route over 4 days, 1600kms. Lots of Castrol TTS was used! 

Teammate helped patch up the pipe at a local bike shop in Wellsford which lasted well for the rest of the event! The stator plate then gave up around Tutukaka Coast on the final day so it was trailer time back to Auckland. Bit of a stink way to finish the event but still loads of fun with great people. 

Poked exhaust was a good thing in the end, it meant I could finally get my self an expansion camber. A friend parted ways with his Darryn Tayor tuned Evo pipe and I gladly took it off his hands. 

Still some tuning to happen but damn I am loving it so far! Next up is to sort the tune, maybe a dyno and trim rear floor boards for clearance on the pipe.

Long time no update! Unfortunately the project is moving pretty slowing, same old story of life stuff getting in the way etc. Any how I am ok with it, I am spending a lot of time trying to get all the details 100%.

Since last update I have had the chassis, axles, suspension components and a bunch of other bits blasted and painted. A stack of new fasteners and I am now starting to slowly reassemble! What an awesome feeling it is putting fresh fasteners on newly painted bits! I have also had a bunch of bits re-passivated and managed to find some new old stock indicator lenses  

Does anyone else lay out refurbished bits on their lounge floor??

 

Best way to sort new fasteners I have found! Phil at Key West has been heaps of help.

New Old stock front lenses I found in Timaru! So stoked on these. 

New Old Stock rear lenses too

The start of the re-passivated bits coming in. Half of them you will never see but I can't help my self!

 

 

 

 

 

Some real progress! Photo heaving as I am fizzing. I stripped the body down some more. Everything apart from front window and steering column. Pretty light now and easy to push around! 

Some of the bagging and tagging, a bunch more boxes of bits to be powder coated, galvanised or painted.

Then picked up by the team at R3 Fabrication. They then lifted the body off the chassis, broke the frame down into the individual bits and got stuck in!

Bulkhead started then the rest will follow. So stoked on it so far. These guys are doing a great job! Chassis to be also stripped down, blasted and epoxy. 

    

Update time! I have been chipping away removing more bits from the Range Rover. Trying to build up courage to remove the dashboard.

Hoping to have the body off the chassis soon then the chassis and drive components can go in for blasting and the body off to the panel beaters. (keen on some recommendations on places for this if you have any)  

Also came across a really good set of side frames. One NOS never used and one near new. This will sort the sills, rear floor and pillars.

End goal...

Also, to make matters worse, I sold the white one I had, which was supposed to free up some cash to spend on Red. But then I went and got another one... NZ new 1973 Suffix B in Bahama Gold (reg on hold woohoo!).

Buddy and his bobtailed one helping me move it. It has some massive V8, I think LS1. It didn't even know it was towing another.

Break in time after a dyno. Came in at 21hp with a solid amount of toque. Pretty happy with that. 

Scooter rally in 2015 and first run on the new build. Left from Wellington with a loop around the central north island.

Day 1, 50kms from start line and team mate had a good seize. Team down to 3.

Came across this shop, and this old legend ( I think his name was Bill?) let us use a bunch of his tools and talked for hours. Some amazing bikes stashed in side, well worth a look if you are in Upper Hutt.

Open carbs and gravel roads... Great pub though.

Late night re builds.

Buddy crashed on the way into Waiouru, went on to fix his bike and continue. 

Gentle Annie road from Waiouru to Naiper was awesome, such a fun road. 

Finish line in Wellington. Very exhausted after the 1600km. Stoked on how well the untested bike went! 

 

Took a while to clean all the grim off it! Fresh coat of tyre paint too

More to come if you are still following...  

Now for the expensive part! All happening around 2 months before the next scooter rally. Nothing like a deadline to get stuff done...

Frame stripped, some extra support welded on known weak points and then off to HPC

This was the start of a lot of online shopping and spending money at HPCoatings...  Also sleepless nights trying to decided on colour ways for it. I went for a strange old Alfa Romeo GTV colour called Yellow Ochre or AR112. Still a bit unsure as to why I chose this colour after all, oh well it is certainly different. Pretty sure the paint shop also tinted it a bit differently... 

Panels stripped ready for the paint to go down

 

Expensive bits coming in thick and fast, new big block engine casings, fancy front shocks, digital speedo with fuel sensor, rev counter and cylinder head temp sensor, 30mm Mikuni TMX carb.

Time for the engine build. I couldn't have done this with out the help of my mates.  A mate Ben spent many late nights helping me out with this build and has an amazing attention to detail when it comes to building anything, especially 2strokes! Great workshop too... I went a bit overboard on this but aim was to make a fast reliable scoot. I went with a kit AFrayspeed TS1 225 kit, mild porting, high comp cylinder head, larger crank, clubman exhaust, AF touring clutch with race springs etc.

Side casing going together 

New 52mm crank installed 

Parts coming back from the painter in my interesting new colour...

To top off my indecisive paint choice I went with this slate blue colour for the rest of the components... 

Front end going together, disc brake and the new shocks 

 

Engine closed up and in the frame 

Glove box, long range tank, carb and rear guard going on

All new cabling and electrics 

BGM clubman exhaust fitted

Rob's bike also getting a TS1 kit and a bunch of go fast bits at the same time. I think all four from the team had their bikes in pieces at this stage

First ride! Jetting not 100% but it went awesome! Off to get dyno'd shortly. Scooter rally was only a few days away. What better way to break in a new 2-stroke than 1600km at full throttle? 

To be continued...

Hey Team, dug out a heap of photos of my old Lambretta project. Warning - a lot of photos and wofting on from the last 4 years or so up to present day so I will split it up into a couple of posts. 

First off, much like my Range Rover project I blame my parents. Dad used to have a 180SS Vespa and travel all over the South Island on it. They then got me a brand spanking new Vespa PX200 for my 21st birthday which I still own. Any how, all their fault and then my mate Rob's -  who let me have a hoon on his Lambretta one lunch time. I was sold, I needed one! So much more fun to ride than the fat bottom Vespa. The hunt was one! It took me a while to find an Italian built Lambretta, most for sale are the Indian ones from the 80s. I got this 1963 Lambretta LI125 Special from a chap on the shore who built it many years ago and really liked matt black spray paint... It had a few trick bits on it and went pretty well. It had a pretty spicy Ralph Saxelby RS175 small block kit on it, ported barrel, suzi piston, snazzy AF crank, 30mm Delorto carb and a clubman exhaust. It was dyno'd around 15.5hp and a lot of fun around town but only really made power high in the rev range, not so good for long distance hoons. Any way, time for some photos. Chronological order up until present day.

As I got it, naff GT badge and a lot of mat black paint.

Nice Yamaha R1 shock on the rear and the old RS small block. It used a lot of gas but made a great sound. The small tank was soon swapped out for a larger long range tank in preparation for a 4 day 1600km scooter rally (race).

Looking back, kind of dug this look. Tyre paint helped! 

Scoot all prepped for rally. We road from Auckland up to Cape Reinga in back over 4 days. Around 20ish scoots in teams of four and averaged 400kms a day. A few road side repairs and tunes along the way.

Clutch cable change at the Cape Reinga

90mile beach run with open carbs... 

Side panels not wanting to stay on at 100clicks... Any way scoot went great over the four days. Used a heap of 2stroke oil at 4%...

My first DGR ride, good fun but a really heavy race clutch and slow a ride was hard work!

Next years scooter Rally on my mind. Time for face lift and the need to be faster! Time for a re build that ended up getting really out of hand and still in the process today...

To be continued tomorrow...

 

 

I finished of the caliper rebuild. First time I've ever rebuilt calipers so I am pretty chuffed with them!

Also front lights and grill are on. Makes the rest of it look pretty rough now.

A little more progress! I rebuilt the front hubs and swivel housings. Nice new brake rotors, wheel bearings and coat of high temp paint for some of the bits. 

New favourite tool - Gift from the wheel bearing gods (Mitre 10).

Front end light surrounds and grill powder coated - looks good but the old one had some small areas of filler which hide the small dents. Any recommendations on powder coating places? Hope to get the bumpers and steel wheels done shortly.

Front headlights also got a refresh and secondhand light surrounds came up well after an afternoon of polishing.

I've started to rebuild the callipers and I hope to have them ready to bolt on next weekend with new flexi and hard lines. The old callipers were seized solid and the pistons are pretty stuffed - luckily the bores are still in good condition!

A coat of high temp paint and they are starting to look good again.

Assembling bits in the living room. I'm still on the hunt for some bits - if any one has any, let me know!

I'll end on a full Barry moment. Factory tool kit that is 100% complete and what looks to be brand new. Half of the bits look like they have never been used! (which is strange if you own anything British).

Duncan out.