Post by Bashan on Sept 15, 2010 15:02:40 GMT -6
My Motorino Amore 150cc was getting harder to start and losing power. Loosening the gas cap would help so I knew it was, at least in part, the vapor recovery system. I'm embarrassed to admit I never did a PDI on it. It ran perfect out of the crate and I had too many irons in the fire at the time. So I thought now was a good time to strip it down and take a look. This is the scoot before:
And this is after what seemed like a two hour wrestling match with an alligator. If you've never stripped a retro you don't know what exasperating is:
The vapor recovery system is on the left side of this scooter. It's hard to discern anything due to lack of contrast but here is a photo:
So I used the paint program to highlight the salient features:
The Motorino is a nicely built scoot so I was surprised at the shoddy engineering for this system. The concept is that when you start the engine it opens a vac valve on the charcoal canister. This allows the negative pressure in the airhose to pull gas vapors off the tank via the vapor dump hose (my term). A check valve prevents raw gas from getting into the canister. Here was the problem:
I could have fooled around with repositioning the check valve but the filler neck is so ridiculously long it would have been very problematic. So I removed the system which wasn't a big deal, snip a few hoses and lift it out. Now before you flame me, I'm aware of the arguments for leaving your pollution systems intact. It's my opinion that they are retro engineered to get the scooters in the country. They are ineffectual at best or, as in this case, detrimental. Here is the beached monster:
Here is a photo of the gas tank and filler tube post operative. You can see how the tank slopes forward and the vent hose attaches at the very bottom on the filler tube, go figure:
Now I had to plug the fuel dump to airhose connection, and the vac nipple on the right side of the intake manifold. Good 'ol blue RTV does the job:
I think the vapor dump connection was a big part of the problem because the hose from the canister had pushed it backwards causing it to distort into an oval. A leak on this side of the carb certainly isn't like an intake manifold leak, but it can cause fuel/air mixture issues.
As long as I was ripping things off of the scooter I wanted to get the P.A.I.R. system off. That stands for Pulsed Air Injection Reburn or some crap like that. It pulses fresh air into the exhaust system to provide oxygen to help burn uncombusted fuel. A lot of these systems have the odd "S" tube on the front of the valve cover. This one, in a bizarre example of hideous afterthought design, snakes down the right side of the scooter and attaches to the head on the exhaust side:
Again, the removal was simple with the unhooking of the vac line and unbolting the P.A.I.R. tube from the head. Here is the beast removed:
The only slightly complicated thing involved is closing off the opening left in the head. This is accomplished by the use of a blocking plate. You could easily make your own but I bought one from Dave at Absolutely Scooters. They are erroneously called EGR plates for Exhaust Gas Recycling which is a different system. Here is one installed on my Motorino, I use a thin layer of copper Permatex when I bolt it down on the existing gasket. If the old gasket comes off you can make a new one from gasketing material from the auto parts store.
Since I had the valve cover exposed I thought it best to check the valve gap. Hard starting is a symptom of maladjusted valves after all. To my amazement, there was no gap at all! I'm sure this wasn't helping things. I set both valves to .004":
Well I had to take it out for a test ride but I sure didn't feel like putting all that plastic back on so:
Another naked scooter! Actually it ran great, we went out for about 25 miles like this; I even passed a cop who just stared at me. It was perfectly legal, I had all of the lights on. I'll see if I can get the plastic back on in a couple days. I'm going to try to rig some easier attachments for the body in case I have to get back in there again. Rich
And this is after what seemed like a two hour wrestling match with an alligator. If you've never stripped a retro you don't know what exasperating is:
The vapor recovery system is on the left side of this scooter. It's hard to discern anything due to lack of contrast but here is a photo:
So I used the paint program to highlight the salient features:
The Motorino is a nicely built scoot so I was surprised at the shoddy engineering for this system. The concept is that when you start the engine it opens a vac valve on the charcoal canister. This allows the negative pressure in the airhose to pull gas vapors off the tank via the vapor dump hose (my term). A check valve prevents raw gas from getting into the canister. Here was the problem:
I could have fooled around with repositioning the check valve but the filler neck is so ridiculously long it would have been very problematic. So I removed the system which wasn't a big deal, snip a few hoses and lift it out. Now before you flame me, I'm aware of the arguments for leaving your pollution systems intact. It's my opinion that they are retro engineered to get the scooters in the country. They are ineffectual at best or, as in this case, detrimental. Here is the beached monster:
Here is a photo of the gas tank and filler tube post operative. You can see how the tank slopes forward and the vent hose attaches at the very bottom on the filler tube, go figure:
Now I had to plug the fuel dump to airhose connection, and the vac nipple on the right side of the intake manifold. Good 'ol blue RTV does the job:
I think the vapor dump connection was a big part of the problem because the hose from the canister had pushed it backwards causing it to distort into an oval. A leak on this side of the carb certainly isn't like an intake manifold leak, but it can cause fuel/air mixture issues.
As long as I was ripping things off of the scooter I wanted to get the P.A.I.R. system off. That stands for Pulsed Air Injection Reburn or some crap like that. It pulses fresh air into the exhaust system to provide oxygen to help burn uncombusted fuel. A lot of these systems have the odd "S" tube on the front of the valve cover. This one, in a bizarre example of hideous afterthought design, snakes down the right side of the scooter and attaches to the head on the exhaust side:
Again, the removal was simple with the unhooking of the vac line and unbolting the P.A.I.R. tube from the head. Here is the beast removed:
The only slightly complicated thing involved is closing off the opening left in the head. This is accomplished by the use of a blocking plate. You could easily make your own but I bought one from Dave at Absolutely Scooters. They are erroneously called EGR plates for Exhaust Gas Recycling which is a different system. Here is one installed on my Motorino, I use a thin layer of copper Permatex when I bolt it down on the existing gasket. If the old gasket comes off you can make a new one from gasketing material from the auto parts store.
Since I had the valve cover exposed I thought it best to check the valve gap. Hard starting is a symptom of maladjusted valves after all. To my amazement, there was no gap at all! I'm sure this wasn't helping things. I set both valves to .004":
Well I had to take it out for a test ride but I sure didn't feel like putting all that plastic back on so:
Another naked scooter! Actually it ran great, we went out for about 25 miles like this; I even passed a cop who just stared at me. It was perfectly legal, I had all of the lights on. I'll see if I can get the plastic back on in a couple days. I'm going to try to rig some easier attachments for the body in case I have to get back in there again. Rich
