Olympic Rings (aka clutch plates)

Well maybe not, there are only 4 (not 5) and they aren't organised correctly, but just imagine, if there was one more (it would be a 5 plate clutch) it would be the same number as the Olympic rings and if it was organised differently, it would look just like them. If you want to know more about the Olympic rings, click here, if you want to know about Izzy's clutch, stay here and keep reading.

I soaked the new cork plates overnight (as you do and I'm sure you know why) in oil, prior to assembly, funnily enough, in a tub in the lounge much to DB's dismay, but it made it easier for me to turn them to make sure they were well soaked (not said in a cockney accent) just thoroughly soaked.

I then fitted the strengthened clutch springs, held in place with a dab of grease (supplied with the Gori kit, the springs, not the grease) as you can see below.

Then the clutch basket, followed by new cork (and steel) plates went in, one after the other, repeat until done.

Pic above is basket with no plates, pic below is basket with all cork and metal plates fitted (and clutch compressor still in place). Well, even I couldn't be bothered to take a pic of each one in turn being fitted, that would be far to dull for you to look at dear viewer.

What I will do though, in the way of bonus of Sunday night pics, is put another 2 from different angles, with the clutch compressor still in place...................

No idea why, so dont ask........

Followed by a further 3 pics with the compressor gone, and the clutch all happy and as it should be (including its retaining circlip) from different angles for your delight and delectation :-)

Don't say I never give you anything to look at, goodbye for now..................

Mag Housing

Not to be confused with a magazine rack, which is something entirely different and serves a very different purpose. AKA "magneto housing" or "flywheel housing", take your pick, personally I will stick with "mag housing" but call it what you want, it wont answer you, its a cold metal inanimate object.

Whatever you choose to call it, that's one up there, with its new oil seals (2), spacer washer, circlip and bearing fitted.

Same thing, different angle (bit closer up) you can see the smearing of high melting point grease on the bearing to aid lubrication and reduce friction........... ooh err missus (nearly went all Frankie Howerd then)

There it is again, from the other side this tie (the side that sits in the engine casing), looking dirtier from this angle too (no more Frankie Howerd comments I promise) its not dirty, well it is, but clean dirty (if that makes sense) given everything is new its clean, its just dirty because I covered it in grease, new, clean grease though, keeping up? No? I will move on then.

Like other parts of the assembly, a heat gun and bearing that have been in the freezer for a while made assembly a lot easier. I am sure DB wonders why there are random metal objects in the freezer at times but hey, it could be worse, I could be planning on using the tumble drier to...... actually, I wont say.

You will be glad to know this is a short post, the next one will be along soon and feature, for your delectation and delight, the crank, in its rightful place, the engine (as opposed to the plastic tub its been in for ages), I know you cant wait can you, I can tell................

Gori Elaborazioni

No, I am not speaking gobbledygook (I didn't realise that word is actually in the OED until I checked) gobbledygook I mean. I have titled this post as such as I wanted to do a quick post about some of the bits that are going on/in the engine.

Before you ask (although to be fair its not likely anyone will) yes, that is the ceiling in our lounge at the top of the picture! The reason, well, the garage isn't the best for not getting damp and I didn't want to leave it (the exhaust, yes, that's what is) out there where it may get wet. Everything else is in plastic boxes with lids, to keep any potential leaks/water out, but the exhaust wouldn't fit, so it had to stay in the house (much to DB's dismay). The garage isn't actually too bad, only when we get a lot of heavy rain in a couple of places (already patched up a lot of it) but it gives me an excuse to have an exhaust in the lounge, on top of the unit, which I can see whenever I look up a few feet from the telly, which is nice :-)

So tuning wise, Izzy is having a few tweaks, to become less of a standard 175cc, fifty (plus) year old engined scooter and something more modern, and also hopefully more reliable and nippy.

I will add pics and more detail in further posts of some of the individual components etc (this was only supposed to be quick post but my rambling has yet again got the better of me) so for now I will just list a few bits instead of adding more pics and details.

Electrics wise I have upgraded everything to a full BGM electronic ignition set up, including, coil. stator, regulator and a beautifully crafted one piece lightened flywheel from Twisted Rods, all of which need to be fitted but are sitting there waiting to go.

As previously mentioned, all bearings, oils seal, o rings, circlips and gaskets are new and/or uprated along with brakes clutch and suspension. In addition to all of the above, we have the following:

New crank (uprated GP Mazzucchelli)
New barrel, piston etc (Gori 200cc "Sport" kit)
New exhaust (matching Gori "Sport" exhaust)

I went for the sport combination as opposed to the racing one to keep things more sensible (a novelty for me, must be my age) and allow for a more original look (carb/airbox wise) also, an important factor (DB may be looking), it was the cheaper option :-)

I bought the Gori stuff directly from Italy (as opposed to paying more to get it all from a UK supplier) and dealt (through email) with a guy called Andy, who was absolutely brilliant and very helpful, I would highly recommend doing the same if you are after anything Gori related.

So, that's a relatively brief (for me) synopsis of what's going inside (or attached to) the engine cases and I am going to finish the post with one final link.

When deciding on what kit and exhaust to go for I did a lot of reading and deliberating around various options, views, performance specs etc. While doing that I stumbled across this video (ignore the music and scroll to around the 40 second mark) and the sound of the exhaust is something I am hoping Izzy will have when finished :-)

Words and Pictures

While thinking of a title for the post, the chosen one seemed most apt, it does what it says. Trouble is, as soon as I thought of it, I couldn't get the opening titles of the 70s (it also went into the 80s and 90s) children's tv program out of my head. I can still hear it now as I am typing and as I am suffering you can too "Words and Pictures" assuming you are reading and click on the link, if not, well I will just sit here with it going around my head and ponder if I need help.

Anyway, back to the post, (I can still hear it) last time I mentioned the long delay and this time I will explain (partly) why and also bring things up to date.

Initially, I had put an old (spare non working) engine (as mentioned in a previous post) in to the frame to line up cables etc due to the cost of (and yet decided details) associated with putting the actual engine in that was staying. In theory, harmless enough plan, enabled me to do bits, in reality, completely pointless. Pointless due to the fact that I didn't want to re assemble too much more of Izzy until I could check the electrics (this not being my strongest area).....(like many others linked to this project lol) so I figured I was left with a few choices. Gamble (that everything was fine electrics/cable wise) and just carry on with the build. Blag (a running engine) that I could "pop" (yes I know its not as simple as that hence part of the reason for not doing it) in the frame and check everything. Or finally, do it properly, something of an alien concept where Izzy is concerned as I probably haven't been doing much of that in places, still, I'm happy and having fun :-)

So, the picture above is my answer, actually it's not, it doesn't tell you anything does it, except that no engine is present, not even the old non working one which I took out (pointless exercise that was lol). What it does show is that I didn't take the gamble option, I can also tell you I didn't take the blag option either.

Another pic that tells you nothing, well it shows that the front wheel looks out of line but there is no air in the tyre yet, thankfully I didn't inflate it when I fitted it, it was that long ago it would have needed re inflating anyway...........

The decision was, do it properly, as in, put the engine in that's staying in. This is mostly (though not wholly) why there has been such a delay, pennies, or lack of. I knew the engine would be the dearest part (given the paint had already been done and paid for many years before) and I also knew to do it the way I wanted to (more on that in the next post or few) would need money. Given as us nurses don't earn a lot anyway, coupled with my dearly beloved (DB) being a student (nurse) for the past 3 years and us being reliant on 1 (my) wage, money has not been flowing freely.

I should say at this point that I have not spent much at all (DB may read this) probably about £20.00 maybe £30.00, either way I am sure it was less than fifty pounds altogether to get everything I needed for the engine (as stated, more on this in a later post) so not much money at all, "nudge nudge wink wink" ..... cue another link...... a nods as good as a wink to a blind bat........... a bit like words and pictures, as soon as I thought nudge nudge (etc) that sketch immediately came into my head.

Moving on, the first step (after getting the pennies) was to get the cases vapour/aqua blasted, after all, if I was spending all that money (fifty odd pound.....remember, DB may be looking) I didn't want to put all those goodies into dirty old cases. No, that's not something I can make a link to, thankfully. I did actually just google it (dirty old cases) as I thought, there must be a band called that, nothing immediately obvious (band wise) and some things I (wisely) chose not to look at, focus man, stick to the task at hand and finish this post.

I found a guy relatively locally to do the vapour blasting, very good price, very good job, very nice man, would recommend him. I am really pleased at how well it came out, obviously there are a few marks, scrapes and scratches (and gouges as seen above where the kick-start has rubbed) but given its over half a century old, its not bad, in fact its bloomin marvellous really.

As you can see, the cases are ready to go and totally bare except for new (shiny) engine mounts. I took the case to somewhere else relatively local (at least not too far) to have the mounts fitted and like the vapour blasting was pleased with the outcome. I went for the longer engine mounts (as opposed to the short ones originally fitted) to provide reduced vibration and a smoother ride....... I'm saying nothing and certainly not putting in a link.

I didn't want to attempt fitting these myself (therein lies a possible broken casing if I did) as its best left to those properly equipped to do it (which I am not) hence me getting them done. I will be doing pretty much everything else myself (engine rebuild wise, well all of Izzy) although may get some assistance if needed, to risk damaging anything (as with the engine mounts) or if I get really stuck.

So that's it, I have reached the end of the post (hooray I hear) didn't it go on, sorry about that, I rarely use 2 words when 23 will do :-)