Sunday, September 28, 2008

3 2 1 Contact!

My problem here is that my coil is ugly, and busy and awkward. I decided to hook myself up with a new internal ignition coil. Here I have a new condenser and points, so I decided to set myself up with a nice fresh ignition for this bad boy. When you install new points, make sure to grease both sides of the pivot pin and also the cam. The internal coil is slick. I've removed my tail lighting coils, since I've been running a battery tail light. I may put the running light coil back in eventually if I decide to run some kind of a moped taillight on here, but for now, simple is good. The Yellow is headlight, and the blue wire screws onto my condenser so I can ground it out as a kill switch. After a little shaving of the spark plug wire to get it to thread into the coil, I put the flywheel back on, set the timing, hooked up my subtle kill switch and now look at the finished product. Nice hot spark and no unsightly mess!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Alukit

I can't help myself. I purchased a 70cc Alukit for Tomos, and plan on building a budget E50 motor in an apartment. I'm excited about the project, and I should have most everything I need. I'm going to try and hook it all up with my stock Polini intake and a 14bing, but I might end up getting a Dialem intake and sticking a SHA onto it. I'm not sure what exhaust I'm going to use, but I might end up hacking my Estoril again, and finding a higher RPM pipe for the 50cc Parma. Needless to say, I still might have to bum access to a welder from one of my Seattle friends, and this seems more like a project for my down time in school, so not any time soon, but I've ordered the kit and have the largest joy in my life at the moment, the anticipation of a package.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Sticky Situation!

The first Puch I ever loved was a JCPenny Swinger2. Something about the lines just makes me love them. When I got my hands on a Swinger1, it was like meeting a younger, hotter sister of the Swinger2. Part of the appeal of these mopeds to me are the awesomely 70's name and boldly proclaimed so largely on the side of the tank. When I had the Swinger1 powder coated, that meant I had to say good bye to the decals. Well, I got a hold of a reproduction set and I'm stoked. They look awesome, and I took some pictures of the installation process, since I neglect my moped blog being in School again and also not doing that much moped stuff other than ride.

I had Polini decals on the tank because they match the colors nicely, and to hide a small dent. ;)
I removed them with a razor blade, and this was the sticky mess that was left. To prep the tank for the new decals, one should clean with denatured alcohol. I didn't have any, so I used brake part cleaner, which works just as well on a powder coat finish. It evaporates completely and leaves no residue. It took the goo off the side, and I let it dry while I prepped the decals, by trimming them down to minimum sticky backing, and then lightly applying Windex to the sticky side. That way, you can adjust the decal if it doesn't lay perfect on the first try. I got them lined up, and when satisfied, ran over them with a squeegee. Then all I had to do was wait about an hour for the windex to completely dry, and then I was able to pull the backing off gently. No problems, although one P in Penny did come off on the backing, but I was able to place it directly on the tank without it looking bad.

The finished product.
I may or may not throw another set of Polini decals on under the inger1 part of the decals, but feel free to voice an opinion on if I should or not.