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Post by rapidrob on Oct 18, 2017 14:36:52 GMT -6
The images are not working like I though they would. All out of sequence. Here are some more.
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 18, 2017 14:32:03 GMT -6
I did the conversion yesterday. I did not take photo's as there are just hundreds of them on the web and Youtube being done. What I did notice is that no one ever talks about is engine break in. I'm not a 2-stroke expert by any means but I have rebuilt many 4-stroke engines. So what I found was: The new cylinder head and piston ( DR Racing) came with no markings what-so-ever as to how the piston was to be placed in the cylinder. No instructions other than a flier in Italian! Not much help. You had a 50/50 chance of putting the piston in upside down! Not good. I had to email TreatlandTV and ask how to install the piston. The answer was cryptic to say the least. Not much help. I did my best guess and must have done it right. All the gaskets and seals were replaced. I did have to separate the engine half's to replace the seals that were dry rot.( There is a well done Youtube Vid of a NU50 being converted that is over an hour long. Lots off good ideas to try.) The cylinder does not fit in between the Honda Express foot peg brackets. You have to cut off 1/4" on both side of the top two cooling fins of the cylinder. You also have to cut 75% of one cooling fin off in order to get to the Oil Fill Plug for the transmission. One of the online service manuals show you can fill the transmission with the bike on its right side and the left transmission cover off. Good luck with that. The vent and rear bearing ( no pressure on the drive shaft from the left transmission cover while off) will leak oil like a sieve.I wont try that again. To brake in the new rings and cylinder I purposely ran a rich pre-mix fuel/oil mix. Lots of smoke but it did not foul the plug at all. I followed the instructions from a dirt bike site on how to break in the new parts. I asked around and found that on my 1978 NC50 the oil pump is set to a ratio of 25/1. Far richer than needed for the conversion kit larger bore. I ran the engine today for a few miles varying the RPMs and staying off max throttle. The jet I used was a #69 in my Delorto SHA 15.15 and it was way too rich for my 7,000 ASL altitude. The engine bogged down badly. I put in a #61 and the engine really came to life. Very smooth idle and good throttle response from the stand still. I re-torques the head bolts when thee engine was cool again and double checked the spark plug. All are A-O.K I took the bike out again and did a quick burst of speed with my stock muffle still on the engine. The bike did 35 MPH. I did not hold this speed.I want to break in the engine a little at a time to increase life of the parts. I was given two 2-stroke muffles and may try to make one of them work on my bike. I would need to make the front pipe connecting to the cylinder block which is going to take some doing.There is a flange plate that pushes the pipe up against the copper doughnut that is recessed in the head rather than bolt up to a flat flange as there is on the CHI-COM bikes. I'd love to find a used Honda NC50 muffler and do the "guts conversion" but even the used mufflers are expensive. The tuned pipes you see are nice and the sellers charge a lot for them. Yet you can get a really nice "tuned exhaust" from China for 50 bucks for newer bikes and scooters. Oh well. LED brake light ( running light on) [img src=" s1.postimg.org/5h9hmmkaun/BB8.jpg" src=" " alt=" "]
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 15, 2017 18:14:13 GMT -6
I used a two jar gear puller and a small plastic hammer. There is enough flashing on the cast engine half to grab the jaws of the puller. As soon as I felt tension on the puller I started tapping the housing with the hammer.You could hear popping as the housing was slipping off of the bearing. After 3/4" of movement,the housing was free. The seal fell off of the shaft bu itself and was well worn out. The crank shaft is VERY soft. I do not recommend trying to pick the seal out of the housing. Same goes for the aluminum housing. Too soft for any tools to be digging around. I tried to use postimage but it will not show the selected image,sorry.
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 14, 2017 18:21:31 GMT -6
I stripped the engine down and removed the right half. The engine is in better shape than I thought it may be. Waiting on parts next week.
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 12, 2017 20:50:11 GMT -6
I ordered a big bore kit,gaskets,seals and new reed valves for my '78 NC50 Express. A good thing too. While I wait for the parts to show up, I pulled down the engine ( off bike). First thing I noticed was the piston skirt and rings were gouged and scuffed at the exhaust port side ( 6 o'clock). I'm the third owner of the bike. The original owner drove it for 500 miles and wrecked it bending the forks a little and breaking the throttle and brake lever. They gave the bike to my neighbor who parked it under a tree 25 years ago. He gave it to me telling me he tried to start it when it was given to him and it would not run but for a second or so. Dry cylinder. not good. Sitting for all those years, I pulled the spark plug and lubed the cylinder. After 24 hour soak,the engine turned freely with no plug. I got it running within a couple days. Card was shot. Insides were corroded. I put on a new Delerto SHA 15.15 carb. Bike ran very well, four stroked a little at first,gutless 25 MPH max out. Compression was only 80 PSI. I could not remove the bad right seal that was causing the 4-stroking. I had to split the engine crankcase in half. No a big deal if you know how to do it. The seal had shed shards into the crankcase. Bearing are great. Crank has very little play in it. Neddle bearing s are like new. Bike only had 533 miles on the clock when I first got it. Jump forward to this week. The parts should be here soon. A little more compression, torque perhaps and a couple of MPH faster, I hope. I'll keep you posted on the work.
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 12, 2017 19:30:12 GMT -6
I got it apart.
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Post by rapidrob on Oct 12, 2017 15:32:32 GMT -6
I ordered a 70cc kit and new crankshaft seals /gasket kit. A good thing too. The piston skirt and one compression ring was scuffed pretty good, the cylinder was not damaged.
1.I started to take off the ignition/charging coils and need to know how to get the wiring harness out of the engine half? The rubber plug does not want to go backwards into the right housing. 2. Do I need to separate the engine half in order to remove the wires and the crankshaft seal ? If so,how hard is it to get the right side casing off of the right crankshaft bearing? Please help.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 22, 2017 12:08:29 GMT -6
There are three kits for sale that will fit my '78 Honda NC50 Express. Reviews have steered me away from the Athena kit due to too many listed cracked skirts. I'm not sure if it is poor metal or improper instillation by the owners? I'm down to the DR kit or the 70cc Polini cast iron kit. Either seem to work well with pros and cons for both. I plan on smoothing out the ports as needed. I will be using the original head as well. What have you used and have been happy with or would never use again if it was given to you? I do not plan to ride the bike for daily transportation,just to retrieve my mail at the bottom of my mountain. I need a little more get-up-and-go to climb my steep roads. I've got the Dellorto SHA 15.15 on the engine now and it runs like a champ. Thanks for your inputs.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 16, 2017 17:02:49 GMT -6
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 15, 2017 21:22:32 GMT -6
Here is an update as of today. Thinking about what has been said about the muffler being too restrictive got me thinking. If I ran the engine lean,keeping the oil rich enough to prevent seizing,could I clean out the deposits that are in the muffler? I did just that today. Using the #58 jet and restricting the fuel to the carb I was able to run the engine leaner than normal. I checked the head temperature under full load using a pyrometer and made sure the cylinder never went hotter than 360F,and it didn't. I drove the bike for several miles and sure enough all sorts of crap blew out all over the rear tire rim. The harder I drove the bike,the better the engine started to run. No more 4-stroking,not even a hint. I returned home and set the fuel back to normal flow,checked the spark plug and topped off the gas tank and oil. I drove the bike for about hour at full throttle which was just over 25 mph. The bike pulled as well as the engine could for its size and my weight and my location elevation. The new carb really makes a difference and If I do the larger bore conversion I'm sure the bike will run well.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 13, 2017 14:37:56 GMT -6
I ran the bike today to get the mail. Using the 58 jet I was able to go 25 mph with no 4-stroking. A lot of goo blew out of the muffler and onto the rear tire. The muffler has not been cut and modified. The bike is at its max mph now due to my body weight and the engine still at 49 cc's. I may have to do the 60 or 70 cc upgrade to climb hills here.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 12, 2017 14:19:27 GMT -6
I installed the new Dellerto SHA 15.15 today. I have three jets. a 58,61 and the 68 it came with. I made a cork gasket for the carb adapter plate and also used an "O" ring to make sure I have no vacuum leaks at the carb throat.
I test drove the bike and found I have a reoccurring problem.
The engine 4-strokes at high RPM.
The 58 jet allowed me to go 25 mph and then 4-stroked until I went uphill a little. Very slow acceleration.
The 61 jet allowed me to go 20 MPH and then 4-stroked. Pretty good acceleration.
The 68 jet 4-stroked at 18 MPH and stayed that way until I went below 15 MPH for a good distance. Very good acceleration.
I'm told 4-stroking is too much fuel? Or is it too much air? I'm at 7,000 feet.
Could the crank shaft seals be causing this?
The new carb idles very well and adjust as you'd expect it to.
My bike has:
530 original miles on it. It sat for 25 years. Fuel system was flushed out and is like new inside of the tank. New external fuel filter and it flows very well.
Original muffler
Original piston and rings
New spark plug
Timing is a little advanced by using a timing light at the "T"
Oilier is working as it should
Gas is regular and fresh,no alcohol.
Any ideas?
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 10, 2017 17:17:12 GMT -6
I'm told the carb comes with a 68 jet. A guy on Youtube did a vid on his Express and he had put in a 62 which was still too rich at 5,000 feet ASL. I ordered a 58 jet for my 7,500 feet ASL home. I'm not sure if running too lean is a major problem or not. My automatic oil injector is not adjustable but my pyrometer and spark plug can tell me if the engine is running too hot. If it turns out that the engine is not getting enough oil I can always augment with a pre-mix as well.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 6, 2017 17:27:17 GMT -6
I was looking at this carb Dellorto SHA 15.15 carburetor. It comes with a lever choke or a cable choke. Have you tried this carb and what choke did you use and why? Thanks.
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Post by rapidrob on Sept 5, 2017 16:22:44 GMT -6
There are many options posted on the web. With the Troll replies it is a challenge to find the truth about them and which ones work well. I'd like to keep the original throttle and choke cables if possible. I know some sort of intake adapter will be needed as well. I live at 7,000 feet ASL and would need the correct jet size. Any helpful info would be appreciated. Thanks.
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