MECHANICAL
I’m going to lump all the Mechanical Equipment in one page. Pretty much everything on the moped was rusted out so I replaced it. This includes the headlight, rear shocks, pedals, forks, handlebars, grips, buttons and gauges.
I thought I could salvage the Front Forks so I tried to take them apart to repair them. I took the top brackets off and sand blasted them. I removed the bearings and races and replaced them. I couldn’t find new replacement cups so I bought a set that was 1 MM over in diameter and a machinist friend of mine ground them down.
The springs in the forks were completely rusted together. I made a tool that would hook onto the spring down in the tube and pull them out. All I had to do was crank down on a nut at the top of the tube. Surprisingly enough it worked. There were some extra springs in the forks that I think the previous owner added.
I posted a question in the MopedArmy forum to see were I could get replacement springs and somebody told me that I could just get complete forks for a Puch Maxi and they would fit. The EBR forks were only $100 so I bought them. They fit really good but the main shaft was longer than the stock ones so it sticks up where the handlebars mount. I decided to make a spacer instead of trying to cut the post down. I found a piece of brass/bronze that would work and made the spacer on the lathe.
The new Rear Shocks bolted on perfectly but the Swing Arm gave me some trouble. The old bolt was a little bent and completely rusted into the body. That bolt sits in some plastic bushings and I destroyed one when I was trying to take it out. I replaced the old bolt with a stainless steel bolt and a lock nut. I used the dimensions from the old bushing to make new ones on the lathe.
The Wheels have been the biggest pain so far. I wanted to refinish them so I took them apart. I cleaned the spokes on a bench top grinder that has a wire wheel on it. I sandblasted the rims and hubs and painted them gloss black. I replaced the brake shoes in the front and rear. These wheels are only going to be temporary for a few reasons. The first is that I am not sure if they are straight. The rear axle was bent so I have to assume the rim is probably bent too. I regret painting them because if I try to true them then the machine will scratch the paint off the sides. I got new axles and bearings but I still want to find a sealed axle set for these wheels.
I wanted to replace the spoke nipples but it is almost impossible to find replacements. These are Alpina spokes and replacement nipples would have to have the same thread pitch, be the same gauge (12) and the same length. I decided to just clean the old ones and reuse them. I soaked them in vinegar for a few days which really ate away the rust. Then I cleaned them with a wire wheel on a bench grinder one at a time. They shined up nicely but they are extremely pitted. I’m not going to paint them or coat them with anything so they will probably just rust away again.
After I got the front wheel together I tried to put a tire on it. I got some Heindeau K52’s which are pretty knobby tires made in Germany. While I was putting them on I chipped a bunch of paint of the wheel and I pinched the tube :/
I decided I was going to sand blast the rims and have them powder coated so it would be more durable. This meant that I would have to have the chrome chemically removed. I found a local chrome plating place that said they would remove it for $25. I took the rim back apart and started sand blasting the paint off the rear rim first. While it was in the sand blast cabinet I noticed it was dented/bent. So I gave up on the old wheels and decided to order some new rims. I am still using the old spokes and hubs though.
When I put the front rim together I had to true it to make sure it was straight. I made my own truing station. It was just two pieces of metal square tube screwed to my work bench. I made sure the axle was square to the metal tubing and it worked perfectly. I just clamped a paint mixing stick the metal to test the wheel. I got it straight (within 1/16”) but it was still a bit oblong.
I had trouble getting the tire on until I watched a youtube video. I noticed they had a special stand with a bolt going through the hub. I stuck a 1/2” bolt through my workbench and that gave me enough leverage to get the tire on pretty easily. I also got some tire irons/spoons from Amazon.
I took the bent rims back apart and laced the new ones when I received them. I used my DIY truing station and it got them pretty close to perfect. The new rims had an extra hole in them for a rim lock so I had to get special plugs for them. The plug goes on the inside of the rim and the tube holds it in place.
I also replaced both sets of brake pads, both axles and bearings. I was having trouble changing the pads because of the horseshoe spring until I found some crazy pliers in the garage. They spread the spring perfectly so putting on the new brakes only took a few seconds. I don’t even know what the pliers were actually intended for.
I also changed the gearing after I got the moped running. It started with an 11 tooth gear up front and 44 on the rear I think. I switched to a 12 up front and a 38 in the rear. With the first set-up I topped out at about 38 mph and with the current 12:38 I top out at about 43mph.
I’m not sure where to put this next part so this is good enough. I needed to transport my moped to a friends house to get it wired so I built this little hitch rack. It was all scrap that I found in my garage. It turned out pretty good except it was a little too far from the car so the square tube needs to be cut down about 4 inches. A few months after I made this I bought a Tacoma so now it’s just hanging in my garage Lol.
Exhaust bracket.
