ENGINE
It came with a 50cc Minarelli V1 engine. I’ve learned that this is a pretty popular engine in moped culture. Since it was seized I bought the Polini 80cc upgrade kit. I started cleaning the original carb before I got the kit but then I just bought the bigger Dellorto carb to feed the engine.
When everything was installed it still wouldn’t start. I had to get a few new internals for the motor like a starting plate. They have a ball bearing in the middle that was warn completely flat.
It still wouldn’t turn over for some reason. I took the plug out and it would turn over but when I put it back in it was hard to kick. This made me thing the exhaust was clogged so I took it off. It started right up with no exhaust pipe. I put some compressed air on the exhaust and nothing came out the end. It was literally rusted shut so I ordered the MLM Sidebleed Exhaust and everything is running fine now.
When I drove it up the street I noticed it was leaking oil but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. When I finally disassembled the moped and took the chain off I noticed a big hole in the case. It was caused by the chain being loose or something. This hole ended up not being very important. The stator is on the other side of it so there was no oil leaking from it. The only reason to patch the hole is because I don’t want dirt and grime getting on the stator and electronics.
I ended up finding a new case at Treatland for $40. I bought it to replace the original case with the big hole in it. I started the disassembly of the engine and I started to notice some differences between the cases. The first is that the serial number is in a different spot. Then I saw the clutch cable bolt mounts different. On the old case it is cast but on the new one it is screwed in. Then the big difference/problem: the stator on the old engine is small and held on by 2 bolts, the stator mounts on the new case are spread out further and there are 3 of them. Some of the new parts going in the engine include a new stuffy full-circle crank shaft, new clutch shoes/springs, a new clutch bell bushing and a new output shaft. The old one was stripped and it looks like the shaft was turning and something stoped the chain so the sprocket rounded off the end of the shaft where it is supposed to be square.
I dropped the original engine case off at a welder’s shop and he basically just filled the hole in the case with aluminum from the welder. He didn’t weld on a small piece of aluminum like I thought he was going to. I had to mill down some of the weld to get the stator to sit flat and also to get one of the case bolts to fit.
The next step was the wiring. The harness was pretty basic and there was a lot of damage and exposed wires so I decided to remake the whole thing. I have a friend that is good with electronics so he helped me with the whole wiring harness. The toughest part was getting everything inside that gauge housing that I made. After it was all wired it still wouldn’t start...
We got everything wired but the spark was weak and inconsistent. I decided to swap the old 6V light coil to a 12V and put in a new capacitor and a voltage regulator. I was trying to start it with a drill and I ended up welding the starter plate bearing to the start plate because I was turning it manually too long. I replaced the starter plate (for the second time) and it still wouldn’t get good spark.
I had already replaced the ignition coil with a new one so I didn’t think that was the problem. I decided maybe the new one was bad or incorrect because it was universal so I got another new one, this time a different brand. When I put in the new ignition coil the spark looked strong and it started right up!
