LINK - TORSION BAR LEAVER

This is the link I traumatised over when I removed the engine.  The manuals warned of dire consequences if the pin was removed without unloading the pressure created by the torsion bar and protecting the needle roller bearings during dis-assembly.  After a lot of effort and worry I discovered that my link had a plain bearing at the engine end.

Prior to reassembly I wanted to service the link and the grease ways.  Based on my previous experience with the link I removed the circlip and pushed the pin out.  I was lucky.  To my surprise this bearing was fitted with needle roller bearings.  Fortunately there was sufficient grease to retain them so I wasn't having to get on my hands and knees to look for the missing rollers.





Inspection of the pin for torsion bar arm end showed that there were ware marks where the needle rollers had been in contact.  I suspect that maintenance had been neglected allowing the needle rollers to remain stationary.  The design is a bit strange really because there is so little movement there is bound to be point contact between the needles and the pin.  In my opinion a lubricated plain bearing would have been a better solution.

After re greasing and checking that it was actually possible to get grease through the assembly the pin and circlip were refitted.

Now it's time for the engine.

THE TORSION BAR

When I removed the engine I was aware that the Torsion Bar leaver had some end float but left it to be sorted another day.  I tried to buy a spacer washer from Scooter Surgery but they had none in stock so I would just have to make one. 

The washer ( item 21) fits between the torsion bar arm and the casting for the torsion bar mounting in the frame and is covered by a dust cover (item 22).  The lips of the dust cover fit into groves in the end of the torsion bar arm and the torsion bar mounting.

My first attempt turned out to be too thick, I had measured the float but not taken account of the  space between the lips of the seal and the washers fitted at the ends of the torsion bar (item24).  This meant that the seal kept trying to pop off the groves in the castings.  The second attempt was better using thinner material.

The dimensions of my spacing washer :-

Internal diameter :        42.0mm

External diameter:        54.0mm

Thickness:                    1.5mm

Material :                      mild steel







I had avoided the potential problem of refitting the torsion bar by not actually removing it from the frame casting.  There is a cunning plan built into the splines on the ends of the torsion bar itself.  The number of splines on each end of the bar are different.  This enables the position of the torsion bar arm to finely adjusted which in turn alters the ride height.  I guess there are instructions on how to do this but really didn't want to tackle this at the moment.  With the frame end of the bar in its original position there wasn't a sensible option as to where the arm had to be fitted, it would have been either too far forward or too far back.

The washer sits on a flange turned onto the end of the torsion bar frame casting.  Mine was covered in paint and it was necessarily to carefully this paint away to expose the flange.  After having cleaned and inspected the bearing surfaces and checked that grease was actually getting into the bearing it was time for reassembly. 

The dust cover is a tight fit on the castings and had to be pushed up onto the frame casting to enable the spacing washer to be fitted and the torsion bar arm pushed fully home.  Once the circlips are in place the dust cover could be eased back so the lips fitted into the groves in the castings.

I think it's now time to refit the engine.

A SURPRISE PUDDLE

When I collected my engine from Scooter Surgery I didn't have time to work with it.  I placed it in the garage and forgot about it until the other day when Tim and I were going to look at the kick start problem.




I had stood the engine on a piece of hard foam packing in the upright position where it had remained undisturbed.  To my surprise when I moved the engine there was a pool of oil in the indentation made by the engine.

At first I thought it must have come from the drain plug which may not have been tightened fully.  Further investigation showed it to be coming from around the kick start shaft and running down the casing.  This is not good news!  Having just spent a great deal of money on the rebuild I had expected the engine to be leak free at least when cold and not running.
I phoned Patrick to explain the situation.  He said that they all leak this way even his does.  I cant believe it as a leak of this magnitude would soon empty the gearbox with disastrous results.  According to Patrick the seal between the gearbox and the kick start housing is a simple "O"seal and it's not up to the job.  Patrick has considered having the casting machined to accept a proper lip seal but has never got round to it.  He suggests that things might be improved by fitting a new "O" ring and applying silicon gasket seal to the outside of the assembly.  Really?
I have to say I'm very disappointed and feel let down having never been warned that such a significant leak was a possibility.  I can't remember my original scooter having this problem.

I have been thinking what I should do.  I've discounted having a punch up with Patrick as he's been paid and he can walk away from the problem.  I think I will continue to fit the engine so that I can ensure that I have all the bits I need whilst researching the problem with other owners.  It may mean that I have to replace the oil seal but that can wait for now and  I'll just keep a tin under the engine to catch the drips.

I've just had a look at the exploded drawing for the gearbox/kick start mechanism and I can't find anything that looks like an oil seal.  There must be one but I can't see it so I don't know what I would replace even if I was prepared to venture into the unit.  Strange.

A RESTART - Front Suspension

1st June 2011






When I took the front wheel out I noticed that the wheel mounting arms were of different stiffness and there was slack in their operation.  I had previously discussed this with Patrick who had recommended stiffer springs as these will greatly improve the performance of the suspension.  He sold me a pair of front springs that he had taken from one of his scooters and the necessary bushes, bump stops washers and gaskets ready for the refurbishment.

The first thing to do was to remove the outside front cover.  Not knowing the construction I was cautious.  Having removed the three bolts retaining the cover I found that using a punch on the cover at the end with the single bolt hole the cover would rotate about the grease nipple.  I eventually managed to remove the cover without too much damage to the paint work.  (Before starting I had agreed with myself that I was prepared to repaint the scooter once I had got it running and any rework completed).  With the cover removed I was able to see workings covered in grease.  I don't understand the lubrication system, there is grease everywhere except where it's needed, on the bearing surfaces.

Having cleaned the parts I found that the bearings were in fact worn.  I decided tackled the bearing in the outer cover first as I could work on the bench.  The bush is fitted into a blind hole in the cover and there is no way of getting to the back of it to push it out.  There appeared to be a little space between the end of the bush and the bottom of the hole in the cover but I had no extractor that would fit.  Patrick had indicated that he used a small grinder to cut through the bush but didn't show it to me so I was going to have to come up with a method of my own.  I don't have a grinder small enough and I was concerned about damaging the cover casting.   I resigned myself to cutting through the wall of the bush in the hope that it would relieve the pressure so that I could pull the bush out.  




Using a broken hacksaw blade and a 10mm stroke I set about cutting into the bush.  It took forever but it had the advantage of allowing me to control how close I came to the cover casting.  Having made the first cut there was no obvious signs of the pressure being relieved.  My solution was to make another cut alongside the first and then remove the bit between the cuts.  More aching muscles later and the second cut was complete.  Because of my caution about not cutting into the cover the bit didn't fall out.  


I could see that I was close and so I used a punch to push the thin sliver towards the centre of the bush.  This tore the final  attachment to the bush and I could remove the sliver.  A quick tap to the edge of the split bush and I saw it move.  Using a nail head in the small gap at the bottom of the hole I was able to pull the bush out of the cover.  Success and no damage to the casting.


 


 With the bush removed I could see the shoulder in the bottom of the hole on which the end of the bush sits.  With the bush in place there would be no space to use an extractor so grinding or cutting is the only solution.

Removal of the bush in the fork casting required a different approach.  I wanted to use controlled force so that ruled out just driving the bush out from the inside using a hammer and drift.  I made up an extractor which enabled me to use a bolt to apply a steady force to push the bush from the inside.  This worked fine and I quickly had the bush out.  The bush looked fine but when the leaver arm was fitted there was a lot of slack so I hoped the replacement would be an improvement.


To replace the bushes I first put them into the freezer for a couple of hours.  I hoped that this would reduce their outer diameter.  When I came to fit them I carried them to the garage in a wine bottle cooler sleeve in order to slow the warming process.  (nice idea but they have so little thermal mass I expect they quickly took up the temperature of the casting into which I was fitting them and so lost any gain I had achieved).  
The outer cover was simple, line up the bush and squeeze it in using the vice until it hits the flange in the bottom of the hole.  All went well despite my concern that the bush might not go in square.  Had this been the case I would have had to destroy my new bush to remove it.

Recessed end of the bush is under the washer

For the fork casting bush I could reverse my extractor and squeeze it in.  It's important to fit the bush round the correct way - the recessed end is fitted facing the outside of the casting.  There is a shoulder in the casting which defines the final position of the bush so I hope that the distance between the bushes corresponds to that required by the leaver arm.  It's all a bit academic because the gasket thickness has a impact on this dimension.  The original gasket was very thin and the replacement is thick (and badly made, it needed adjusting to fit) so we shall see.  Again I'm not sure if the chilling of the bush made any difference but the bush went in with no problem.

 




I did a trial fit of the leaver arm in the bushes and found that the cover bush was too tight and so I had to scrape it to make it fit.  I hadn't done this for ages and using Engineer's Blue and a scraper was really rather satisfying.  I guess the leaver arm shaft was worn because I had to accept fitting the arm relative to the cover and accept it was tight in other positions.  I didn't consider this a problem as the angular movement is very restricted.

Lower spring - original

Now for the suspension springs.  The original springs were 197mm long and the replacement ones 219mm long, 22mm longer.  This presented a problem in that with spring and the ball cup in position there was insufficient room to get the leaver arm ball end into position.  Patrick had indicated that it was a simple matter of compressing the spring and then holding it in this position through the grease nipple hole in the fork below the mud guard. 



 
I had made a tool which enabled me to compress the spring and used an 8mm bolt tightened down onto the spring inside the fork tube.  Unfortunately this doesn't work as there is too much spring below the clamp point and as I removed the compression from the end of the spring it returned almost to its initial position and didn't leave enough space to insert the ball end of the leaver arm.

I finally had to lift the spring to the required height and retain it there with a spacer.  Spacer 27.0mm long x 4.0mm diameter.  My compression tool reacted directly on the surface of the ball socket in the end of the spring.  I didn't like this but couldn't think of any other way at the time, at least the socket was hardened and the end of the bolt was softer.

With the end of the spring and ball socket held in position I could now insert the leaver arm.  I now only remained to remove the retainer, in a controlled manner.  It was tempting to use something to just force it out but I was concerned that with the forces involved this could prove disastrous.

The only solution was to use my compression tool directly on the underside of the ball.  I accepted this crude approach on the grounds that the ball was hardened and this surface only contacts the bump stop.  A couple of turns and the spacer was removed and I still had my fingers and eyesight.

















 Once the spring compressing nut is removed the leaver arm is forced down to rest on the fork casting.  Fitting the fork plug bolt  complete with the new bump stop requires a certain amount of force.  Since I was not keen to try to leaver the arm up I just had to insert the plug and screw it up into position.  Best not to look at the distortion of the bump stop during this operation.  Once in position everything looks fine.


Having put grease where it was needed I didn't think it was necessary to cover everything in grease.  Over time grease would fill the box from overspill when greasing the bearings of the leaver arm.

With the cover back in place I was ready to refit the wheel mounting arms.  There is a small fiber washer that fits into a recess in the bush and is covered by a thin steel washer.  The wheel mounting arm is fitted tight up against this steel washer.  There is only one position that the arm can be fitted restricted by a cutout in the splined shaft of the leaver arm  Once in position the clamp nut is tightened.

TOOLS  

Spanner to remove the  plug bolt at the bottom of the front fork.  A bolt simply welded into a length of steel bar.  Reduces the risk of damaging the socket in the aluminium bolt.

Fork bush removal and insertion tool

Spring compressor.  Used during the fitting of the replacement spring.  A modified  fork end plug bolt.  A thread is tapped into the centre of the bolt.  Screwed into the end of the fork to compress the spring by adjusting the centre bolt.

TIME TO MOVE ON

31st May 2011

Time to move on again.  The past month has been very difficult, my mind has been numbed and I haven't been able to think straight since June died.  Even now I not sure that I can concentrate, there are so many things that have to be done and sorted that the scooter seems an intrusion.  The family say I should have something to hold my attention and that will eventually bring me satisfaction.  For this reason I'm going to resume work on the scooter and this blog.  I just hope I can keep going without June's support.  So here I go.

COLLECTION DAY

7th April 2011

I had intended to collect the engine last Thursday but June wasn't well enough to go to the Hospice so I had to abandon the trip.  This week June was feeling up to the Hospice and so that enabled me to call Patrick and arrange collection of my engine.

As luck would have it, Tim (eldest son) was staying overnight prior to riding his Vespa to Italy
( 2 Vespas 2 Italy ) and so was able to join me.  We arrived at Scooter Surgery around 1130 hrs.  I had decided that it would be better to face reversing up the narrow road leading to Patrick's arch as it makes it easier to leave.  The problem with this is that the access is on a blind bend under a railway arch.  I needn't have worried because when I got there there was no traffic about so I was able to shunt back and forth and not hold anyone up.  I don't know why I was concerned it must happen all the time when deliveries are made to other arches.

After managing to avoid knocking over any of Patrick's scooters parked outside his workshop we finally parked.  Patrick was sitting outside his shop/stores entrance drinking a cup of coffee.  He apologised for not getting up saying he had pulled a tendon in his leg whilst practicing a ballet dance routine.  He asked Maude to bring the engine out so we could look at it.  Maude didn't bat an eye lid and quickly appeared from behind some racks carrying my engine.  We all stood round looking at it.  I have to say it didn't look much different to the last time I had seen it.  That's not strictly true, it does now have have a barrel and head.  I had hope it might have looked a bit more polished for all that money.  This had never been the agreement so I shouldn't have been surprised.  There's just so much casting on view and the surface is so dull.  The good news was that the engine had run and was almost ready to fit into the frame.  Patrick had not reassembled the back hub on the assumption that I would be painting it.  Patrick and I hobbled down to his workshop whilst Tim talked with Maude about his pending ride to Italy.  We chatted for a while over one of the units he is rebuilding before finding my box of hub parts.  Fortunately before departing I realised that it was missing the centre retaining nut and Patrick had to go and find one.

Maude produced my "wish list" and I agreed to up date it.  I was disappointed that thy hadn't kept one of the exhaust silencers for me when they had them, it was on my list.  They are now waiting for a new supply to arrive.  I bought some of the bits I thought I needed from my list, choke assembly and various brake bits for the foot brake, not a lot for £56.28 but then this is the cost of scootering.


I now had to pay for the engine work.  I already knew the cost but when Maude showed Tim she expressed surprise at the final cost.  I have to say that it is very much higher than the figure we had originally discussed.  There would be no way that I can ever recover this cost when I come to see the scooter.  I might just be possible if I produced a concourse bike but that was never within my capability or my intention.  So I have a loss leader.  Would I have not embarked on the engine rebuild if I had know the true cost of the exercise?  Possibly not but with the other engine having a broken mounting lug I had little alternative and I had become obsessed with getting the numbers to tie up.  So it's back to the garage to plan my next move.  

Oh, and the cost of the engine rebuild, just £2872.28 (including VAT).  I have the receipt to prove it.

HOW MUCH?

26th March 2011

I discovered a message on our answer phone on Friday afternoon.  I was surprised to hear Patrick's voice telling me that he had got my engine running.  As it was late on in the afternoon I decided it was too late to call back and it could wait until next week.  

We were just finishing our tea when the phone rang and it was Patrick, this was unprecedented, twice in one day!  I said I was surprised that he was still working as it was by now after 1800hrs.  He said he had had a good week and had gone to visit friends when he decided to give me a call again.  Apparently he had finished three engines during the week, one of which was mine.

From what he said he has changed the stator plate and coils for another set he found, I'm not sure if he also changed the flywheel.  So with the electrics working he was able to start the engine.  He sounded pleased that it started easily after a couple of kicks and would tick over comfortably.  Another thing that pleased Patrick was the fact that there were no apparent oil leaks after the engine had run.  He said that after some previous rebuilds he just couldn't stop the leaks despite having changed gaskets and used silicon sealant.  Unfortunately I shall not see the engine running in its test rig but at least I have the comfort of knowing it all works.  I will try to treat the engine as a working unit and not get involved other than connect the electrics and controls.  It should then just be a question of kicking it over for it to burst into live (or not as the case may be).  This happy day is some way into the future as there is still plenty to do on the rest of the scooter.

We next got round to talking of payment.  Patrick summarised the work that he had done on the engine including fitting Heli-coils in a couple of threads and ended by saying he had left the rear hub and brakes unassembled so I could get them painted.  I think he said he had spent 35 hours working on the engine.  I failed to tell him that I have decided to assemble all the bike to MOT standard before stripping it again and having it all painted again.  I must remember to tell him before I pick the engine up, possibly Thursday.  I think Patrick's run through of the the work he has done and the parts he has fitted was to prepare me for the final bill.  


I plucked up courage to ask how much I owed him and he gave me a figure which was a lot higher than his original estimate.  This was to be expected considering all the additional work that had been necessary so I swallowed hard and got used to it.  Having become accustomed to the new cost Patrick then said that there was VAT to add!  Now we were really talking big figures (big to me you understand, not to Patrick).  So how much did it cost?  I'm not going to say how much it all comes to yet, I'm going to wait until I have some photos to help justify the expense


Over the past days I have become accustomed to the cost and have accepted that it costs what it costs.  I have to remind myself that it was me who started the journey so it's no point in complaining.  I think that most of us would like to think that there is some way of recovering our investment even if it's only the cash spent and the labour has to be given free.  I have already reached the point where this is no longer possible and there is still a long way to go.  I will just have to console myself in the knowledge that I'm bringing an otherwise scrap machine back to life.  That can't be bad.

OUT OF THE BLUE

16th March 2011

I had been thinking that it was about time I gave Patrick at Scooter Surgery a call.  It occurred to me that he might have won the lottery and runaway to a tropical island.  So it was pure coincidence that he phoned me yesterday.

We talked for about forty minutes during which he brought me up to speed with his progress on my engine.  He now has the rear casting attached to the gearbox casting and the bevel gears set up.  This had proved to be no easy matter because every time he tried to tighten the two parts together the cover at the end popped off ( I assume this is at the rear end of the casting and is fitted into the cover plate.).  After numerous attempts to find the reason he discovered that the transmission shaft was from a French built machine and not an Italian machine.  Apparently the french version is longer with extensions at each end thus even with the shaft fully driven into the gear box it is still too long.  This is the reason that the cover pops off as you try to assemble the two castings.  Patrick had a spare Italian shaft which he fitted without any problems.


When Patrick came to assemble the flywheel he found that the coil on the stator fouled the centre cam on the flywheel.  When I bought the scooter the flywheel was loosely in place and the centre retaining nut was hand tight only so I didn't notice any problem.  I guess that I may not have even tried to turn the engine over as it was out of the frame and there was no piston or barrel fitted.  It was only later that I decided to have this "spare" engine rebuilt when I found it was the original unit for the scooter. Patrick is looking into the best solution to this problem, change the stator or the flywheel.  Apparently there is a further problem  with a missing stop which restricts the advance and retard mechanism.  I'm not sure if this is on the flywheel or the stator.  Patrick talks about drilling out a rivet and replacing the missing stop with an Alan screw to provide a stop and restrict movement.


It all sounds as though it's getting rather expensive.  I asked Patrick if he had any idea of what he had spent so far.  He said he had the hours but didn't keep a running total.  I have no alternative but to carry on, I need an engine and this one will at least tie up with the paper work.  In any case the one that was fitted in the scooter when I bought it need a lot of repair work on the crank case mounting lugs.  We talked about the problems of buying a scooter which was not complete or had suffered extensive amateur work.  I always knew that it's not a good idea buying a "basket case" where you don't know what you are missing or what it should look like.  Knowing this I still went ahead and bought the scooter caught up in the general excitement of the chase (make cautionary note for next time).  I still think the one on the Isle of White would have been a better bet even if the engine was seized, at least it had all the bits there.  Never mind, that's water under the bridge and I'm committed to this path.  It's obvious that the person to make the gain will be the guy that I sell the scooter to.  He will get a complete scooter (assuming that I eventually do finish it) for fraction of what it cost me but he won't have had the challenge and fun that I will have had along the way.

Patrick hopes to have the engine running next week so that will prove interesting.   That is unless he finds more problems!

I'M STILL HERE

I haven't given up.  It's just that I haven't had the opportunity to do much on the scooter.  I have started to strip the front suspension and will post a blog when I have finished one side together with some pictures.  I have already discovered that it's not quite as simple as Patrick indicated.

I haven't chased my engine as even if I had it I couldn't use it yet.  The only disadvantage of not having it at home is that Patrick can continue doing things and totting up the cost.  I dare not think what it's up to now.  Watch this space.