Bashan 150cc Modifications By Bashan (Read 45,595 times)

[oldchopperguy]

Rich,

Oooh, oooh! I think you REALLY have something with those Walbro carbs! They are right in-between the smaller kart carbs of my day, and the huge ones from the big McCullochs. They appear about PERFECT for our 150's. The one thing I really remember about the kart carbs was their nearly infinite adjustment for both idle and high-speed jets! VERY handy!!! They were used on various size engines, and, in multi-carb setups so total adjustment without removing jets was absolutely necessary...

The seller must have info available on how to make them run on a 4-stroke... (hopefully)... unless it's intended only for 2-strokes. Modern racing karts, I believe use 4-strokes exclusively.

That's OK, but I'd miss that pair or trio of big Mac's howling at 20K+ rpm!

You'd have to machine a simple adapter to "bolt" it to the rubber intake, but that shouldn't be too hard. If it's not super-expensive, I'd surely give it a try!

The "Dial-a-Jet" setup has been around for some time. I don't know much about it, but, if that remote float-bowl is available without all the extra plumbing, it also could be well-worth a try! Best wishes on this experiment for sure!!!

Please keep us posted...

Leo

[bige]

I have tried them and could not get it to work good enough to keep it

[Bashan]

Hey Bige, I put you a image link to your business in your signature, I hope you don't mind; you've got some really good prices for online buying! Anyway, do you mean the carbs or the remote bowl? If it's the carbs that didn't work for you, a guy in the business, then I'm going to let it go. It's turning into a real PITA to get somebody to respond to my online queries and I think I'm in over my head tech wise. Has anybody heard of using real hard wood like teak for a manifold to head spacer? I ran into the idea when researching the carbs. Rich

[oldchopperguy]

Rich,

Interesting you mention hardwood for the manifold spacer. No reason it wouldn't work (it's GOT to be better than the Chinese plastic intakes...) so long as it's REALLY fuel-proofed.

I've been building model aircraft for a half-century and until recently, they were mostly wood, especially the high-stress engine areas, BUT... the wood MUST be completely fuel-proofed. That would hold doubly true for a gasoline intake. Gas attacks porous things worse than the nitro-methane fuel used in model engines. If your exhaust suddenly starts smelling "pine-fresh" it's time to check inside that woody intake!

Once the part was fabricated from wood, I'd suggest several coats of slow-dry epoxy sealing every surface, especially inside and on the gasket surface where it meets the head. If ANY wood is left exposed to the gas, it may turn to "mush" in time. I've heard the same thing about rubber radiator hose extensions. Eventually the rubber will be attacked by the gas. If the natural wood appearance just totally turns you off, paint it black or silver... or "Rich's Racing Red"!

Hardwood might be a little easier to machine than aluminum, but maybe not much... LOL! I've made gun-grips from "king-wood" or "purple-heart" and it tears up machine tools faster than hard aluminum or brass!

With the "Dial-a-Jet" I believe the carbs themselves are not part of the kit, but rather only the pair of "jets" seen protruding into the carb throats. If I recall, you drill into the existing carbs and insert those pieces. This picture simply shows a 2-carb setup. I could be wrong, it's been a long time.

For many mods, I would not be adversed to trying wood, so long as it's protected against gasoline. Heck, wood, leather and other non-metallic parts were used in vehicles with great success for many decades. My buddy rebuilt a 1962 Buick Rivera, and he found several plywood parts in the floor and firewall, as well as leather seals and grommets. Replacement parts (HARD to find...) were identical, with GM part numbers printed on the wood!

In this day of billet and polymer, we tend to forget there ARE other substances that work...

This project is getting INTERESTING!

Leo in Texas

[Bashan]

Slight update on the metamorphosis of my Rat scooter, I'm not even sure why that's capitalized. Anyway, I got my 1.5 gallon aluminum tank from Coyote Gear. Bill Hower is the owner and does just beautiful work. Steven from MonsterGY6 turned me on to this guy. I have a feeling that each tank is hand made when you order it because I got the 1/4" brass barb in about three days but it took ten days to get the tank. I'm not complaining, I don't mind waiting for craftmanship like this. Here's a picture of the tank with the two brackets on that come with it:

And here's a picture of the naked tank where you can see the brass fuel line nipple:

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm thinking I might dismantle the entire scooter. Then I think I'll pressure wash all the components and do some painting. I thought I'd get some high temperature paint and do the engine. The frame gets black of course, and I gotta do something with that red cowling. The battery gets repositioned and a new light for the front. I know the seat looks goofy but it is REALLY comfortable, so it stays.

I set the tank up approximately where it will be to get an idea of what it will look like, it will set lower that that when I'm done after I get rid of the seat posts. Rich

[Alleyoop]

Very Nice tank, one thing I noticed is that the tank should be built with a dip where the Outlet niplle is so when the tank is low on gas it would settle in the dip in the middle. I can just see you swerving back and forth when you get low on gas to get it to move by the outlet, like you see the race car drivers when they are running out of gas
Alleyoop

[Bashan]

Very observant Alley, he actually offers two sumps for just that purpose. I'm kinda kicking myself right now for not getting them. We'll see how it works out. I got the internal baffle put in so that may keep it from sloshing enough so that it won't matter. Rich

[Alleyoop]

Rich,
I just went to the site and clicked on tank options and noticed that they do have those options(but man what they want for those two options)
Alleyoop

[Bashan]

Maybe that's why I skipped them . I think I was worried that the sump would push the fuel line barb too far down into a cross member between the shocks. Hell, I don't know, that was two weeks ago! . He might seem a little steep but you really should see this thing, it's a work of art. Rich

[oldchopperguy]

VERY slick tank! It would probably be a natural for a 3-wheeler, too!

Keep us posted!

Ride safe,

Leo in Texas

[oldchopperguy]

Rich,

A whole BUNCH of folks are following your scooter build. It seems you are at the forefront of "adventurous" in-depth fun-builds! I've seen several questions on the other sites asking about the practicality of removing the cooling-fan shroud.

Since you did that on yours a while back, it would be interesting to know if you have experienced any hot-running without the shroud. I suspect there would not be a major problem unless the engine was idled at a stop for extended periods, but... "Enquiring minds want to know..." LOL!

It's dipping down into the thirties here lately, so no overheating problems expected any time soon around here... I don't ride much if the temp is below 50, but it's AMAZING how that cold air perks up the scoot! If it's plenty cold, that dense air is like a supercharger!

Any bike I've had over the last half-century liked cold air, but this little GY6 absolutely LOVES it! The dense air brings with it snappier acceleration, a couple mph higher speed and better gas mileage. All the tuning in the world still won't bring the extra shot of "giddyup" that a good dose of cold air will provide!

Ride safe!

Leo

[Bashan]

Well, it's nice to know there's some interest in my little project. I haven't been able to get as much done as I would have liked due to some mundane work on my house. But I'll bring you up to where I'm at right now.

In regards to the cooling issue, I've never felt like the engine was running hot even during the dog days this summer. I will say that the scooter is purely recreational and an experimental platform. Therefore, the rides I used it on with my wife were through the countryside around Chelsea Alabama and we were never stuck in traffic as one might be with a commuter scooter. As long as the scooter was moving I felt like it was getting adequate heat dissipation. We did get caught by a train once and I simply shut it down while we waited.

Since I'm installing a new tank, the old one had to come out. It was held in place by the bracket shown here and two bolts on the front of the tank. The sending unit simply plugs a "Y" on the tail light harness:

Out with the old:

Exciting huh? Remember, you asked for it! The next obstacle was the seat posts:

A hacksaw from Lowes made short work of them:

But did leave some nubs that needed to be ground off:

Rather than invest in a grinder that I really wouldn't use more than a couple times, I put a grinder disc on my electric drill with an arbor which made short work of the excess metal:

Next was sorting through the wiring mess:

Since I am going to use only a headlight and tail light (turn signals are not required in 'Bama) the electrical system is going to be ridiculously simple. You've got your stator to the CDI for the ignition part of the bike. Then the yellow wire will go to the rectifier and on to the front for the headlight. For the red wire I'm going to have a big, ugly toggle switch labled "power" which will run the tail lights and power the solenoid actuator wire for the huge starter button I've already bought.

You get the idea...garish, loud, and tacky. The worthless speedo is gone along with the rest of the dashboard. I'll use a Tom Tom for my speed and my eyeballs for the gas gauge. Anyway, here's the poor little guy stripped down to the frame and engine being mocked by the other two scooters:

This weekend I'm going to pull the engine and front wheel. Then the frame gets lightly sanded and squirted glossy black. Then I'm going to mega clean the engine and paint it with high temp silver paint. Same goes for the variator, clutch housing, and flywheel. I have a bucket headlight already that I really like so I think I'll paint it silver too. So pretty much silver and black for the whole thing. I'm also thinking about an oil cooler with a thermostatically controlled fan but that's kinda up in the air right now.

[oldchopperguy]

Hey, it's lookin' more and more like a great fifties' ride! I'm thinking "Cushman Eagle" and suddenly notice there's no engine between yer' feet... LOL! Hmmm... Now, a second engine in front of the factory engine would look SO cool!

I know, I'm just full of great ideas... LOL! I wonder just how hard it would be to chain two engines together... front one connected to the rear one with a one-to-one sprocket. The rear engine would have to have a steel boss of some kind fitted to the crank/variator so a sprocket could be attached, then a simple splined sprocket on the front engine. Then, a single intake made up with one larger carb feeding both engines. Leave the starters on both engines connected to that nice big button and a heavier battery... Should function as a 300 cc twin.

It would certainly give the old factory clutch and variator a good workout!

Getting back to reality, I think you're having too much fun... We all should be so blessed!

Have a GREAT holiday and enjoy the ride...

Leo in Texas

[Bashan]

I've pipe dreamed about that too. I also have envisioned mouting another jug onto the engine case Ducatti style. That would take some SERIOUS fabrication skills that I wll never attain at my age. I've made a good living as a chiropractor but sometimes I wish I had ventured into another type of hands on work. Rich

[Alleyoop]

"I've made a good living as a chiropractor but sometimes I wish I had ventured into another type of hands on work. Rich"

Now Now, Don't let your imagination go wild on that one troops
Alleyoop