Engine upgrade & early X-mas

No, I haven't fixed the exhaust bolt yet... procrastinating a bit.

I have however moved one step further in getting parts for a full engine makeover. Nothing wrong with Yosephine except for a slipping clutch and the need for an upgear, and Christmas came early this year: I just recently acquired a lot of unused V50 scooter tuning parts from Oslo!

112cc Malossi kit, 24mm Dellorto PHBL, 4 plate clutch, 28-69 upgear, and lots of other parts, all brand new.

I've been working on collecting parts for a uprated V50 engine, but not as extreme and costly as the long stroke 140cc being built for Ferdinand. This engine might find its way into Yosephine, or maybe into The Underdog.

Notice difference in dimension: 136cc vs 112cc.

No wonder they recommend painting the 112cc black (improving heat dissipation) and also recommend electronic ignition, heat dissipation is hugely improved on the 136cc...

The Dellorto 24 PHBL in its glory. Perhaps a tad too big for a mildly tuned 112cc?

Solution to problem

I've been trying to find best way to approach the broken exhaust bolt on the engine, and I think I have found the simplest way to do it:

In Norwegian these are called "Skrueuttrekker" or "Grisepikk" (Loosely translatable to:"Screw-undriver" or "Pigs dick", don't ask. I believe its titulated as a screw extractor. )

Idea is that you drill out center of the stubborn bolt, then screw on of these fellas into the hole and twist out the bolt.

Good thing about it: It can be done with the engine in the scooter. Bad thing: Drilling freehand in the centre of a bolt will be demanding. The extractor can also get stuck.

I think I'll give it a go. Soon.

Puncture and season retirement

Friday morning did not start good for me. Going in to Stavanger centrum for an appointment, I had a puncture with Yosephine just beside the local theater.

I had to run for my appointment, and afterwards, I got hold of the missus and our car. Going back home, I fetched some tools and a fresh, spare wheel.

Back at the theater, I started dissassembly of the rear wheel, only to find the bolt that the exhaust hangs in to be totally impossible to loosen. The Polini exhaust needs to be taken off for getting the wheel off. After a lot of swearing, only option I had was to transport the scoot home in the car. Got some celebrity help loading the scoot, Morten Abel just passing by more than willingly gave me a hand getting it into the car without a scratch. Thanks Morten!

Back home the lawn made it easier to work with the rear tire. Got the Polini pipe off by wiggling it off.

Stubborn nut holding the exhaust.

The engine and surroundings look very good considering that its been over 10 years since her restoration!

Underbody looks whole.

Front as well.

With pipe off wheel change is easy.

The stubborn bolt eventually broke off. This probably means that Yosephine is retired for the season. This might be a good time to start thinking about an engine rebuild, with among others a new clutch and an upgear. To be continued...

Some recent pictures...

Regine and Yosephine...

Yosephine in front...

Ferdinand in the foreground...

Front hub...

Headlight...

Horn...

Speedo...

Way back...

The story of Yosephine goes back to my student days, studying at NTNU in Trondheim. The scooter, a 1973 V5SA1T was bought in parts from Oslo in 1994. I spent a whole lot of time putting the scooter together again, and spent serious amounts of time trying to get it to start. But no.

The earlier owner had forgot to install a sim-ring...

After reinstalling the engine WITH the sim-ring, it finally worked!

The 10. March 1995 I finally got Yosephine registered, and she became my reliable companion during those first student years.

 

By 1996 the engine had been upgraded with a 75cc kit and a Polini pipe, nearly killing me with frostbite trying to break in the kit in winters time in Trondheim.

In 1997 the restauration of Yosephine started. By that time I had bought an old BMW for my transportation needs. Yosephine was dismanteled.

It was not until 1998 that Yosephine was put together again. Now, I am very sorry that I do not have much digital photos of the rebuild of the scooter, but the finished result looked like this:

Picture taken 2004...

Picture taken 2004...

And the great thing about Yosephine? Even now, 11 years later, she STILL looks amazing!

Yosephine

Welcome to this blog especially dedicated to Yosephine, my 1973 Vespa smallframe, V5SA1T.