A few mods/projects for my TaoTao Atm-50 A1 By glavey (Read 25,083 times)

[glavey]

I took the variator off and took pictures of all of the components. There was one washer, but it was between the nut holding the variator on and the metal piece that holds the fan/connects with the kick starter. I'm pretty sure that needs to be there because without it, when I try to tighten the variator nut, the threads on the crankshaft end before the nut is fully tightened.




^^There, second from the right is the washer I was talking about.







I did take the variator assembly, push the two drive plates together, and put the belt in between to see how far it would ride if the weights pushed the variator out enough and the clutch and contra spring would let it get that far.




I managed to get the engine started with the cvt cover off by putting a drill with a socket on the variator nut. Here's a video of the variator pushing the belt as high as it can.

It's such a nice day to spend inside fiddling with electronics; I'm going to go for a ride... to nowhere in particular.

[Bashan]

This is what I was talking about:

[glavey]

I knew what you were talking about. I just wanted to show that there was indeed no limiting washer on my variator.

[Bashan]

Well I knew what YOU were talking about and just wanted to show YOU what I was talking about.

[Guitarman]

On the video....

Remove the big nut.


Oh the pain... When you really want to say it but just can't bring yourself to do it....

[glavey]

Well, I... but you... then that means... ouch. Why is there smoke coming out of my ears? I need some cheese.

Can I use the sharpie mark test on the clutch to see if the belt is getting pulled down all the way? If I do need to remove the clutch for whatever reason, I don't have a clutch/flywheel holder; will one of those rubber-strap-oil-filter-wrenches work?

Maybe I'm just chasing a red herring with this belt-travel issue.

I'm not going speed crazy here, I'm just trying to get the most out of what I have. I'm also trying to decide if I should buy cvt related stuff or arduino related stuff on my next unstoppable impulse spending spree.

[glavey]

New problem!

As I was doing a once-over on my scooter before heading out this morning, I saw that the filter I put on the end of a long hose from the valve cover breather looked... well, just look at it:



Furthermore, when I started the engine I felt little to no air coming out of the filter. I removed the filter and there was still almost to air coming out. I removed the hose at the valve cover and there was lots of air coming out of the metal nipple (tehehe). I blew through the hose that was connected to the valve cover and there was a lot of restriction, and then this stuff came out:



Kinda looks like tiny pieces of scrambled eggs doesn't it?

What could be causing this?

On a different subject, but still scooter related; I want to increase the ventilation into/through/out of my cvt cover. Here is all that I have done to it so far:



What I'm already planning on cutting out is in blue, what I might cut out, if no one foresees any problems, is in red. I want to know if the pieces in green are structural in any way; can I cut them down or remove them altogether without problems in the future?

[richardv]

I would definitely consider those webs structural. And would not remove anymore than you already have.

[cyborg]

That goo is water/oil mix

[Bashan]

Yes exactly. Where is the water coming from? It is not water cooled. There is some condensation from the pressure in the crankcase, but that much!!?? How about this? The lower temps from his oil cooler are allowing more water to condense under the crankcase pressure differentials. Possible? Rich

[richardv]

Bashan's idea holds water with me.

[glavey]

It has been quite cold lately; around 75 during the day and 45 at night. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

Also, the scoot was doing this before the oil cooler, just not nearly as much.

So now the question becomes can I do anything about this? I'm starting to think a shorter run of a larger diameter hose and a bigger filter might prevent or at least slow the eventual blockage of the hose and filter. As it is now, I'm running 3/16" ID hose from the valve cover up the frame all the way to the tail lights (about 2 1/2 ft) and using a thumb-size fuel filter. I could get some 1/4" ID hose and a d-cell battery-sized fuel filter and just run it up the nearest seat frame support piece, that would be less than 1 foot.

On the subject of the AIO display and the tach, I realized last night that the method I was going to use to count the revolutions would probably not work. I'm going to have to buy (at least) some logic IC's and maybe and arduino mega. Looks like my next ebay-spree will be arduino-related.

Edit:

One more thought; is/will that crap clog up the internals of the engine or will the oil filter take care of it?

[glavey]

I re-kajiggered the valve cover vent. Now I have a <1ft length of 1/4" ID hose going straight up to a point under the seat with a much larger filter on the end. Pictures tomorrow.

I know this won't fix the problem, but it will hopefully prevent the clogging of the vent hose and filter.

I'm still researching the best way to go about counting the pulses for the tachometer and the speedometer.

The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

[Bashan]

I think the temperatures inside the engine are too hot for that substance to coalesce inside the case. It is almost a paraffin type substance and cannot exist as it does inside the engine as it does in the external filter. I would like you to pull the filter basket though just out of curiousity.

[glavey]

Will do.

On a completely different note, last night my logitech dfgt wheel died. I hooked it up as usual, plugged in the usb cable and the ffb motor turned to the right for a split second and then stopped. Now the motor won't spin in either direction and when you try to turn it to the right, it acts as if the wires from the motor are shorted.

I'm thinking it's one of the two motor controller ICs or a protection diode.