Matt`s Battle Scooter

[Oddball Matt]

Right, as I mentioned in the purchase thread this scooter kinda got dropped in my lap by my neighbor. It`s been sitting for a long time as it wasn`t working properly nor did it have enough power to carry my neighbor around fast enough (he`s a big burly guy). I`ve been trying to get it to run properly for the past couple days and found the airbox-to-carb boot was completely shredded so I removed that and replaced it with an oval power filter which the scooter did NOT like one bit. To make sure I tore the carb down and washed everything in an ultrasonic bath and taped more than half of the power filter shut. I eventually got it running but it`s still leaning out at WOT+ high revs even though the AFR air mixture screw is open literally "just a crack". There`s a hose coming from the exhaust and going to the original airbox so I unscrewed the hose nipple from the airbox, drilled a hole to the power filter and 2k epoxied the nipple to the pod with a backing nut on the inside, see if that does it once the glue has cured tomorrow. Probly gonna throw in a bigger main too as it seems to be wanting one.

Now to the name of the thread. I have a confession; I hate scooters. BUT one does not simply walk away from a free vehicle. I tried to look what these things would possibly sell for and the answer pretty much is they don`t, nobody wants them. I`ve also been hankering for a dirt road ripper actually eyeballing 125cc ADV type bikes so figured why not put two and two together. The current plan is to ride it as is for this summer or until I grow bored of it, then when the time comes rip ALL plastics off and make this a "theme build" with knobbly tires, possibly a jerrycan tank on the left side, an ammo box electrics container on the right and whatever takes my fancy to make this a post-apocalyptic paramilitary zombie hunter Likely gonna add a faux spine tube with a fake tank to make it look less like a scooter etc, that is to be determined once I see it naked.

Anyone up for following such a build? I`m probly gonna do it anyway but not much point bothering to document the process if no one wants to see it LOL.

OH, forgot. The scooter in question was sold here by the name Rally USA Grido 50, but it is originally a Longjia Grido HB2.

[Sport Rider]

sounds like a fun thing to do. I'd follow the build.

[Boatguy]

Please DEFINITELY document the process! This will be a very cool ride when you get done.

[TominMO]

Any self-respecting battle scooter needs a machine gun mount.

[Oddball Matt]

If there's folks here that know anything about carburetors pray please share at least one of your two cents as I'm at wit's end with what to do...

The scooter starts up fine (well, fine-ish, weak battery) and idles fine. I can pin the throttle from standstill with zero problems, it pulls fine til almost up to speed, but when I'm approaching the top speed of ~55km/h it starts to spit and sputter like crazy only accepting about 1/3 throttle, any more than that and it starts to jerk and pop, WOT kills it on the spot.

What I've done so far:

-Thoroughly cleaned the outside of the carb
-Taken it apart and washed the parts in ultrasonic washer
-original airbox is replaced with a metal mesh power filter which is taped half shut to restrict airflow
-EGR hose has been connected to the filter pod
-slide needle has been lifted to the highest setting
-AFR air screw is opened "just a crack", any more makes it worse

In case I haven't mentioned it before this is a two stroke scooter. No latter what I do it's leaning out something bad and I cannot figure out if it's getting too much air or not enough fuel. It has not been tuned with any performance enchancing parts, all stock apart from the filter. I'm going to open the carb again tonight and poke the jets through with copper wire but somehow I don't think it's that...

[TominMO]

I don't think there is any such thing as "too much air". A gasoline motor, 2 or 4 stroke, is essentially an air pump. Maximizing air flow (with the proper air/fuel mix) is maximizing HP. Sounds to me like you need to go up one size in the main jet.

[Oddball Matt]

That's my thinking as well, the thing is WHY since the only mod is the airbox delete and the problem was there even before that (although with a caveat that the box-to-carb boot had a tear and completely separated upon disassembly)

[Oddball Matt]

Poked the jets through with some copper wire strands, might be imagining it but it might have had a tiny beneficial effect. Nowhere near cured the problem though so gonna be needing to order some jets. Current one is a 69, how much bigger do you reckon I should go?

[TominMO]

Just go up one jet at a time until it's running well. When you go up one size too many, go back to the previous one.

[Oddball Matt]

Just rechecked the carb and there aren`t ANY markings on in whatsoever, but the main jet has an M6 thread so is it safe to assume Dell`Orto jets should fit? They`re visually the same and this is something I`m going to have to order online as I cannot get to anywhere that sells them due to work.

[Oddball Matt]

The more I dig into this thing the weirder it gets. Just noticed this is actually the first road legal vehicle I`ve ever owned that has no high beams! I thought they`re mandatory by law.

[Oddball Matt]

Well this happened... I never got the scooter to run right so I mothballed it for the time being, got tired to kick it around so I took it to winter storage to my mom`s almost unused five car garage and half jokingly made a sales ad for it to see if someone would be interested. Couple months pass and I forget the whole ad til one day a local youth contacts me about it saying he has lots of Chinese scooter parts and asked if he could keep it for a couple days to test out some CDI:s if he`d get it to run right, I had no objections to that since no one else had shown interest on it so I went and fetched it back here. A bit over a week passes and the day came when we were supposed to finalize the trade and I can`t get a hold of the guy so I left him a message saying contact me at your first convenience. A couple hours pass and my phone rings. "Hello this is constable John Doe, you appear to be the owner of a black scooter yes?"
"Yest that`s right"
"Where is it now?"
"Far as I know it should be here in my town with this youngster, why?"
"Well the thing is we found the scooter laying against the wall of the town hall three towns over badly vandalized, what do you know of this youngster?"

Ah hell... Didn`t take me too long to get on his trail as I know half of the town being a mailman, I have filed criminal charges against him and since he`s 17 he will be treated as an adult. Possible charges as it stands are:

Operating a motor vehicle without license (lied to me)
Grand Theft Auto
Aggravated damage to property
Fraud

I gave him one opportunity to attend a phone conference call this monday with the feds and the social workers about how he`s going to reimburse me and would have settled for the 140eur we agreed upon, he ghosted me. Fine have it your way, here comes the law and the final sum I`ll be demanding will include ALL my travel costs fetching the moped from two places, two trailer rent fees plus a hefty FU fee on top, see how you`re gonna squirm out of that.

[JerryHawk250]

Well that sucks.

[TominMO]

Matt, tell his lawyer that you will settle for a whole new bike, of your choosing. (He has to pay cash so he can't just skip out on payments and it gets repossessed from you.) His parents will end up buying it for you. Then you will ask the police to drop all charges, except operating without a license. You can sell the battle scooter for parts.

This idiot is one of those clever sociopaths who is just clever enough to get himself into prison.

[Oddball Matt]

I`m afraid the Finnish justice system doesn`t work quite like that... I`m lucky to break even TBH