EXHAUST

I have had the exhaust silencer and tail pipe for some time.  I bought it in the early days from Scooter Surgery  thinking that it would only a few weeks before I would want to start the engine.  How wrong can you be?  Having planned so far ahead I was very disappointing to when a realised that I had not included a gasket with my order (pity no one thought to suggest I might need one).  Another call to Scootopia and I had my gasket.
I had to modify my working center stand so that I could move the silencer into position.  At first I thought I would check the alignment of the rear tail pipe without fitting the gasket.  It proved impossible to make any assessment because even a small movement between the cylinder barrel and the silencer flange moved the end of the exhaust pipe so much.  I would have to fit the gasket and tighten it up fully in its final position.

This set the next challenge.  The silencer flange nut was tight when screwed onto the barrel and it was impossible to rotate it more than a couple of turns.  The thread is very fine and I was concerned that there was a danger of crossing the thread on the brass nut and making it almost impossible to recover.  Patrick had said that in order to prevent leaks he used a hammer and a drift to fully tighten the nut.  That might be OK for the last quarter turn but not from the start.  It needed a controlled approach for the first couple of turns at least. 

My solution was to make a "C" spanner.  The flange nut is "castleated" and by making a spanner that would engage fully with each castlation  in turn I hoped to prevent damage. 

Exhaust manifold "C" spanner

Exhaust manifold castleated nut

 
I welded a piece of tube to the top of the spanner so that I could insert a bar from either end.  this allowed the spanner to be reversed when removing the flange nut.  The access is very limited from one side.






With the the gasket in place and the flange nut fully tightened I could now assess where the rear tail pipe ended up.  Before I could do that I discovered that the fixing bracket that secures the silencer box to the underside of the frame did not align with its stud.  

 I'm sure that the things are carefully assembled on jigs it's just that the jig didn't fit my frame.  Or was it I was being paranoid?  I guess I could have just forced it line up but that would have meant there was a possibility of the gasket not fitting or the silencer being damaged. 

First Cut

It took two attempts to make the fixing bracket to align with the frame stud before I was happy that there was no significant stress.  

The first cut allowed me to align the hole with the stud.  Now the stud would pass through the center of the hole in the bracket but it left a gap between the frame and the bracket.  I guess I could have fitted a spacer but the stud was too short.

Second cut (nearer the silencer)

The second cut was made nearer the silencer and the gap opened to about 2mm.  This enabled the bracket to be bent up towards the frame (down in the picture).  This seemed to do the trick.  Having made this second adjustment I discovered that the stud was damaged and had to be replaced so I could have fitted the spacer after all.  

This was quite time consuming as each check required the full assembly of the silencer.  I have to say without the "C" spanner I think all this reassembly would almost certainly have damaged the manifold nut. 

 

Now for the exhaust tail pipe.

The tail pipe is a very tight fit into the silencer.  So tight in fact that it would not push in  further than the end of the slots.  I managed to get it in far enough such that I hoped it would provide a gas tight fit.  In this position the tail pipe mounting bracket did not line up with any fixing.  I could have reduced the diameter of the tail pipe and its length but that would have meant the outlet of the tail pipe aligning with the rear break leaver.

This is where the tail pipe fixing naturally ends up.

The nearest attachment was the foot brake outer sleeve adjusting mount where the threaded adjuster is attached.
 Having no idea what was the normal procedure I searched the the various pictures I had and also the parts list.  Not unsurprisingly it's not a subject that is widely photographed.  Some of the early models appear to have no tail pipe the exhaust system ending at the silencer outlet.




I did however find a reference to a bracket in the parts list under exhaust.   Here it clearly shows   "item 31 - Plate fixing exhaust pipe".  Whilst this is the wrong tail pipe the parts list also includes one for my configuration and this also shows the plate ghosted in the background.

Item 31 - fixing plate

my configuration

This encouraged me to make my own version of the bracket.

                                               

With the bracket fitted the tail pipe outlet was below the rear brake grease nipple and so hopefully avoiding covering it with a black deposit.

Finally the clamp could be tightened at the tail pipe/silencer junction. Only when I start the engine will I know if it was all worth it.





A bit long winded but I hope it will be worth it in the end.  Perhaps I should just been braver and use the heavy hammer more often, but that's not my way. 

THE GEAR CHANGE CABLES

I'm writing this in retrospect so it may not follow the exact sequence of events.  

Firstly, I had to buy a pair of trunnions that secure the ends of the gear change cables in the gear selection leaver.

Having  decided on my cable route I was able to enter the gear change inner cable into the housing and through the retaining trunnions.  The cable ends are retained in the trunnions by grub screws, eventually tightened with an Allen key.  

I didn't find adjusting the gear change mechanism that easy. 

The selector leaver is first moved to the neutral position as show above.  By rotating the rear wheel and moving the selection leaver through its four detente positions.  It's possible to identify the one where there is no connection to the crank shaft,  i.e. neutral. 

Later on I realised that it was important to note where the selector leaver was for each of the three gears.  I found the importance of this when I had to make a choice as to which of the two gear change cables attached to which end of the gear change leaver. Obviously if you twist the handlebar control to select first gear it must pull the selector leaver to the first gear position.  To avoid mistakes I identified the lower cable with tap at both ends. Trust me, you may think you will remember which cable is which but with only a slight distraction you will be back checking the cable run to identify the cable you want.






 


Having positioned the  the selector leaver in the neutral position, I checked that the handlebar control was also in the neutral position.  






Now I was able to select the correct cable to attach to the end of the selector leaver via the trunnions.  Any spare cable had to be positioned inside the selector box.  With both cables in position I nipped up the allen screw to secure the cables and checked that the three gears plus neutral could be selected.  If the allen screws are not tightened sufficiently they may slip and you have to start all over again.

I had difficulty in deciding just how much slack there should be.  Any slack can be taken up using the two adjusting screws that secure the outer cable at the entry to the selector mechanism.  My memory, way back when I had my LD, says there always slack and the gear change mechanism was not a thing of beauty.  There always appeared to be far too much slack (or was it stretch?). 







I finally checked the tightness of the two allen screws before fitting the cover  I think the selector adjustment is now good enough for a test but  fully expect to have to adjust it further as time progresses.

LETS GET THIS KICK START KICKED INTO TOUCH

Its been such a long time since I have sat down to record any progress I have lost track of where I have got to.  I have been doing little bits on and off over the last seven months.

I have now finished the kick start epic.  I did take the unit apart after I received it back from Patrick.
 

 
The original shaft compared with the shaft first supplied.
The lengths are the same but the pin hole and the circlip groove are nearer the outer end











This is the new shaft as received back from Patrick.  Everything lines up but the arm will still not fit.

With the new shaft fitted into the casting and the arm pushed as far as possible onto the shaft the arm clamp bolt would still not line up with the groove in the shaft.

The fact that Patrick had said he had fitted an arm in his workshop without any problem gave me cause for concern. Why didn't my arm fit?  My scooter had arrived with an arm fitted so the original set up worked fine.  I was now fitting a like for like shaft so the arm should fit.  My conclusion is that this arm is not my original arm (I have to say I don't remember it being in such good condition).







The only option was to reduce the width of the arm on the inside face.
I measured both the arm and the shaft and conclude that I needed to remove approximately 2.0 mm from the inside face of the arm.

 

Using the old shaft for support and my trusty file I set to work.











 That left just the "O" ring problem.  Scootopia at Weston-Super-Mear were able to supply a suitable "O" ring, it took two attempts but their service was by return.

At first the replacement "O" ring looked too large and was quite loose in the slot in the casting. When I came to fit the kick start unit into the engine it appeared to be OK.  I actually removed the unit to check the "O" rings had not been damaged.

The original ring is the one on the right complete with the damaged section which had been overlooked previously. Time will tell if all is well.








To make the reassembly of the return spring to the shaft a little simpler I made a tool.

This allowed the tension to be applied whilst inserting the retaining pin without loosing a finger.

                  The End

                          ( I hope )