Kimjon's 50cc (then later ... 150cc and 400cc...then 1000cc) of awesomeness! Oh and a 2+1 wheeled machine...

Kimjon · August 18, 2021

Dent be gone(ish)...

Bit of love from a hammer and dolly.

Electrics all tested and working. It cranks over (no gas). So a few things to do like replacing fuel lines etc and it should fire up fingers crossed?

Kimjon · December 20, 2021

Picked this up. Its actually better than it looks, although several items including the headlight have fallen off it in my short period of ownership.

It was rattling and shaking like a bastatd!! So I went through it tightening up the obvious stuff. It's now 90% better...though I think there's a small bag of marbles loose inside the frame.

Now - why would I purchase this, other than for its good looks, you may ask? Well, it sports a pretty wild engine. It started life as a 1977 PX125 Vespa, but now has a 177cc polini kit and port work - making this a very impressive little motor. Pulls hard and is noticeably faster than my other vespas. I think stock the little px125 is about 6hp? These polini kits are getting North of 15hp and it feels it too.

So suffice to say, I'm in love with this little beastie.

Kimjon · February 7, 2022

More vespas

Needs a little of work, but bones are good.

Kimjon · February 7, 2022

And then this thing of beauty - 1962 classic

I'm in love with this one. So awesome and if it could talk, I'm sure it has some stories to tell...

Kimjon · February 10, 2022

Soooo...my motor blew up.

Crankshaft big end took a shit. So this motor is getting a rebuild with go-fast parts.

Kimjon · February 10, 2022

In the meantime I made this:

Pulled together from various parts I managed to collect.

Kimjon · February 10, 2022

Motor going in. Fingers crossed at this stage.

Then I set it down...gave it one kick and it fired up straight away into life on the first kick...fuck yeah!!

I've put about 100km on it so far. It's got a lot more power than beforehand. I port matched the top end/intakes. Put Boyesen reeds in it and that's about it. Possibly tighter squish, though I never bothered measuring it? But whatever I did, it's working well.

Kimjon · February 24, 2022

Bit of progress made. Small steps, but parts seem to be finding their way to me...

Kimjon · March 3, 2022

Got shitloads done lately. Home for 10 days...yay covid!!

Kimjon · March 5, 2022

Ready for sandblasting now.

All rust removed, excess holes for 63 years of add on and fuckery all filled with metal. A fair amount of pannel beating done, front end was bent out of shape from previous "friendly nudges" its endured over the years.

I re-upholstered the seat, and strengthened some know weak areas in the frame.

Can't wait to get this to a sandblasted.

Kimjon · April 24, 2022

I managed to find the period correct guards, so pretty stoked about that.

It's now with my sandblaster...so hopefully I'll get it back in a few weeks time, blasted back to bare metal and primed.

The body is really good on this one and I've been over it with a hammer and dolly, so will only require a minimal amount of body work once I get it back.

flyingbrick · April 25, 2022

Wow the correct guards suit it a whole lot better!!

Kimjon · May 13, 2022

Pictures say it all. Blasted and epoxy primed...fuck yeah!!

Super happy, such a mint body on this for 63 years old.

Kimjon · June 4, 2022

Only the train spotters will notice, but the PX series has a plastic foot mat on the tunnel. I've always had a hard-on for the early wide frames, which have a couple (aluminum with rubber) channels like the floor board has, but on the tunnel as well (no ugly mat). So I've kinda copied the early models, where I reckon they got it right all those years ago.

Kimjon · August 4, 2022

Milled cylinder down to get squish from an unreasonable amount (couldn't even measure it, as it was so large).

Finished product.

Ported the cylinder too...be rude not to while it was apart.

All done with motor left on bike

Bit smaller than I was hoping for (1.2mm was the goal)...but full send.

Took it for a 70km trip. Performed flawlessly. Fuck yes!! Power is awesome thanks to new sito exhaust, porting, carb jets etc

cubastreet · August 5, 2022

1mm is good I thrashed the shit out of my 150 (180) at 0.8mm squish for years.

Kimjon · August 6, 2022

And this one too:

Skipped a bunch of steps...heaps of shit done to it. But long story short, it's a hybrid of old and new parts machined to fit and work together.

Pretty stoked with outcome.

Kimjon · August 14, 2022

V2.0

3mm base spacer, 3.5mm milled off top of cylinder.

Exhaust raised by about 3mm (6mm total if you add spacer height). Gives something like 130/180/30 timings. The blowdown of 30 was bigger than intended.

Revs hard, like I'm scared of it turning into a grenade!! Pulls hard in 1st, 2nd, 3rd...but 4th gear sucks with 23T clutch sprocket as its a big jump and lands right in a flat spot in the power range.

So after all that, yip...I put the other more mildly ported cylinder back on. Torque wins. The v2.0 probably made more power, but it had to rev high to get it and it just felt like I was thrashing it every gear. The v1.0 with more torque doesn't work as hard and goes faster being able to actually pull 4th gear.