economical scooter run around project
Turbo Mini Forums

so this mini in said picture (below) is coming off the road at the end of this month as the tax runs out. Its been my daily for 5 months now clocking probably in the region of 5.5k-6k miles and to be fair its not missed a beat.



However although turboing my last mini didn't go to plan (long story) this one is going to see one so thats also another reason why it is coming off. Spec i'm unsure of but once the engines out and i can measure the compression etc see whats in there i'll make some plans for it then.

But this thread isn't about my mini. Its about my new mode of transport.

Supermottolee on the forum and good friend knew a friend who for the sum of 130 great british pounds found me this beautiful beast of a machine. Obviously no project would be complete without it being a non runner.....but we like a challenge



So the strip down started to try and work out why the machine would not start. Also a dam good clean as it was filthy as hell....



After discovering that first it wouldn't turn over a quick battery and solenoid change fixed this; we thought we were in luck hoorraaa...but no! Now we had no spark. We then discovered what looked like to be a CDI with an immobiliser and some very bad connections and a floating wire that seemed to be lived (not good). We tried to save the connector on the loom but that was far from saving so we binned than and got a donor loom to nick one off and then attempted to clean up the connections on the cdi. Its at this point that it went a bit pear shaped as the pins on the cdi were in a bad way and one fell off leaving it only good for the bin.

The only way around this is to get a bypass cdi which cost as much as the bike (shocking i know). Once this turned up we fitted this and to our joy we had a spark, but still no engine running in front of us. Its at this point i tell myself that this is what projects are all about we moved onto trying to solve this puzzle.

While Lee cleaned the carb not once or twice but three times a lady i got myself busy with prepping the wheels for some colour with good friends Mr Nitromors and the couple Mr Angle Grinder and Miss Wire Brush.

After a reed change it still wasn't playing ball so lee checked the cylinder and piston and found what can only be bad news....

So after a few discussions and me being poor Lee subbed me some money to this point Lee gave me his philosophy on all things that break which is "if something breaks you may as well improve it". With that in mind i left it to him to do the buying and while he did that i did more work to the wheels which now look like this



It was also during this time that an exhaust was also purchased and with last night being rather wet we took refuge in the garage and set about making this beast (well it is now) come to life.

Old-New Exhaust. I can't tell you now much lighter the new one is, serious weight saving.





Old-New Cylinder Head, again shockingly lighter and 20cc more



So let the rebuild begin. i'll let the pictures do most of the talking from here.







the exhaust fitted however the supporting bracket didn't so some fabrication was in order and the welder came out for lee to get more practice :)



Bit more work was done on the bike and its components, mainly the brakes as the pads were worn to the pistons (scary) we hooked up a battery and by the mother off all things it ran and actually wasn't that loud with the new can on it.

so we packed up and left it looking like this in the corner ready for the panels which i am spraying atm.



big thanks to lee for his help and his van full of scooter parts :) i owe him a lot of beers.

hope u enjoyed the read :)

Edited by t@z on 16th Sep, 2009.

Awesome ! Great thread.

I wouldnt mind restoring a old bike to cruise with on the weekends.

"So wat we gonna do tonight Brain?"
"Same thing we do evernight Pinky!"
"Try to take over the world!"

lee told me my writings a bit rushed but its just how i think and do

Its all really just for fun but is purposeful in that i can get my mini of the road to do the necessary over xmas :)

good project i can see my sexy gloved mitts in the background of a few pics!

Speeding is like masturbating, everyone does it, but not all of us film it and put it on the internet

[quote=fab,8th Oct, 2010]fuck off

not been an update in a while mainly becuase i thought i had finished the updating but obviously not

so been a while but generally got the bike together and the first week i used it the new exhaust fowled on the body and as i went over a speed bump the thing snapped. so we trimmed the body work and welded it back up however over the next month i think the bracket broke about 2 more times so moral of the story is dont buy a cheap ass exhaust off ebay!

this this is basically how it looks now although we've braced the sides also to make it stronger as i think this snapped as well lol


i then went about spraying the panels as i didnt like the weird glittery blue it was before so matt black ahoy....and a bit of matt white


so after having a laugh at making it a bit pikey we though ahh what the hell we'll throw in some stickers to so this is what it looks like now



this thing has been amazing!! i've riden it all winter even down the A30 on the night it took me 3hrs to do 15 miles becuase it was so icey and snowy. does about 150 miles a week and costs 10-12 pounds to said miles :)

other than having to grow some big hairy bollocks becuase the freezing temps its been fun

think thats all for now.....until next time!

t

big hairy bollocks ha ha ha

Speeding is like masturbating, everyone does it, but not all of us film it and put it on the internet

[quote=fab,8th Oct, 2010]fuck off

is it a little 50cc? How fast have you had it?

Looks cool btw. :)

na ric it was a 100cc now 120cc; not really sure on speeds tbh but i managed to get from staines to frimley in 22 ish mins the other day so goes well enough :)

needs a gear kit though i think

dont be fooled guys its held together with sticky tape and zip ties!!!

Speeding is like masturbating, everyone does it, but not all of us film it and put it on the internet

[quote=fab,8th Oct, 2010]fuck off

haha all the bolts are torqued to ft

well i got a bit bored last night when i got home so decided to hit the garage........and the result is this >_<





the pink isnt that bright its just highlighted by the insanly bright led strip light i have. but least i'll be seen now by cars behind me lol

the bike needs a dam good clean and i want to get some stencils next and more stickers..watch this space!

t