Bolt on Blue Glove

Not a glove that you bolt on, that would be weird and rather unnecessary, nor is it a work of art or musical composition,  it really is just a bolt, on a blue glove.

This is a very short (yes it really will be) post because I forget to mention it in my last post, no, the one before, Shout and Shimmy, the one about my gearbox shim hassles frustrations success. I only remembered when I was going through pictures, saw it and thought, I meant to say something about that.

It's a bolt, an M6 bolt, a 50mm M6 bolt, and its my friend (well it and its identical twin are) for without them, removing the gearbox end plate (for shimming purposes) the several times I had to would have been a real pain.

For that reason I wanted to acknowledge their help and input with a post just for them, I would also recommend having a couple to hand if you need to do similar. These are stainless steel Allen headed ones, but other bolts/variations are of course available :-)

P.S. I know there is only one in the picture but trust me, the other one really is identical, monozygotic you could say, in the identical sense, not the "genetics" and "same egg" sense...... I will go now......

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 :-)

Shout Shimmy

I will make no excuses for the title of this post enabling me to make a shameless link to a song, its a catchy little number (as they say)...(who says?)...(no idea). I have to say I prefer the Who's "rockier" 70's stuff as opposed to the earlier stuff, but its all good and very enjoyable (in my opinion).

So, the post title, why "shout shimmy" (and yes I know the song is shout AND shimmy) well, its because "shimming" the gearbox did, at times, almost (I didn't but it was close) cause to me shout at times, hence, shout shimming shimmy.

I thought I would be clever (never learn re that one) and put the gearbox end plate on without the bearing fitted first (as I had already removed the old one), to make popping it on and off easier, which it did, so that I could check the clearance and make sure the right size shim was fitted.

Once I had figured out which size to use, I fitted the new bearing to the end plate and then tightened everything down as per the suggested torque settings. For some reason (probably incompetence) it took me several times to get it right still. I think (actually I know) a lot of the problem is that I try to be too thorough and precise. I also figured, if I was going to "tinker" with it and make sure the right size shim was in place, it was better to do it now, than once everything in the engine case was back together and the engine was in the frame.

So that is it, that's all I have to say, the gearbox is in and the end plate is on (finally) so that this post done.

Well, there will be a few more words and some more pictures but please don't read on unless you feel really compelled.

Above you can see the layshaft, gear selector, sliding dog (you gotta love the names) and Christmas tree, see, great names, a better scooter related Christmas tree would be this, but its neither a Lambretta, or a Christmas tree, in a gearbox sense. As with everything else in the engine, new bearings, o rings, oil seals etc have been used throughout, just because there is no picture doesn't mean they aren't there and aren't shiny new :-)

Then we have a fourth gear (above picture) guess what's in the picture below? Go on, guess.......

That's right, you guessed correct, third gear, do you fancy theorizing what might be next?

Second gear of course, definitely a pattern emerging here (though they aren't pattern gears, they are original)  but you know what I mean.

Last but not least, you can see above, first gear, hurray, we made it. I have kept the original TV 175 gearbox as these are apparently quite good for "torquey" engines, which I think mine will be given the kit, exhaust etc. If need be, it can always be changed, or elements of it (the drive sprocket, crownwheel or individual gears) but I am thinking I may as well try it as it is before tinkering further as it could well work just fine. Also, I could try a different combination (or complete gearbox) that doesn't work great and end up changing it anyway, so stick with what's there is my choice for the gearbox :-)

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 :-)