My Piaggio Zip 50 4T Snail to "80cc thumper" :)

Decided to come over onto this forum as the last scooter forum I was on didn't seem to get used much anyway this is copied over, will update in due course.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:15 pm

Well where do I start with this scooter, well Decided I needed a cheap run around while the car was/is a having a full bare shell rebuild, decided against getting my 2005 Cbr 125 back on the road due to wanting a super cheap run around, major factor was insurance on this is a 3rd of what it is for the CBR with more miles to boot and its a lot easier in town traffic too.... plus didnt want to ruin the cbr using it as a runaround as I've had it since new and its got a mere 500ish miles on the clock

Anyway I had a scooter when I was 16 a it was Yamaha Slider EW50 2 stroke, was a shocking mess of a thing by the time I had sold it, had it about 2 years and rode the wheels off it but was good fun but a bit unreliable.

Anyway remebering fond of my first set of wheels I decided I'd get a scooter decided on the Piaggio Zip 50 4t as I knew they where reliable aswell as slow :lol:

Heres a pic a few days after I got it

needed a new front tyre day after as some muppet decided to slash it open

That said its racked up a fair few miles since then and is on its second set of boots now.

Decided to give it a refresh and a clean the other week as the speedo cable snapped so gave the exhaust a clean up from this

Wire wheeled it off and added a new lick of VHT paint


Also removed the buggered speedo cable and fitted the new one looks like genral dirt and grime had got into it


now even though it was bought as a run around I'm seriously thinking of using it as the main commuter vehical as its perfect for city riding as opposed to the car which is more suited for motoryways or more precisely the track in all honesty.

As I don't particulary want to go down the easy route of just buying a bigger engined Zip or just buing a whole bigger engine to fit, even though I know it would be easier & cheaper blah blah blah its just not as much fun IMO.

I've set myself a target of keeping it under 90cc, Ive been looking at doing the 80cc kit with a high lift cam and a TK Exhaust, with some head work & with an uprated carb.

I'm still looking at drive train components at the moment but will compile a list soon


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:52 pm

Well not a lot has happened on the Zip to be honest as I'm still doing a lot of bodywork on the car.

Since the last update I've fitted a new alarm to the bike and also it's due for it's MOT very soon so I have been getting it in order so that it passes.

anyway I also went out up some single track lanes near me for some fun after I got back got to say its not the best at off road but then again its not designed for that but it soaked up most of the bumps quite well which was a suprise... pics-->



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:58 pm

Well glad to say it passed its MOT today

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thats it upto now, Cheers Todi

 

nice build todi good luck with the 80 kit

 

Thanks mate, hopefully will be getting more parts for it in the next few months wanted to do something diffrent to either wacking in a bigger engine or turning to the 2 strokes, got too many projects on the go at the moment so progress may be a bit slow

 

Dont think ive ever seen an 80 kitted 4t one Will definitely keep an eye on it

 

Cheers mate, I think the reason is most people stick with the easier to tune 2T's or with the 4T's they just buy a 100 or 125 engine or just trade in for a bigger engined scooter,

I was quite impressed with the 80 of my friends and his only had the kit on and an upjetted carb

 

Well what an intresting evening today turned into.... completley ruined my plan of an evening out

see if you can guess what happened..




Yep the belt decided to let go just after I had pulled onto a 2 lane main road the joy of having to make my way across another lane with no drive at all onto the curb with people in cars up my A*** (as normal)

Anyway going to ring up for replacement bits in the morning so shouldn't be long till I'm back up and running
had a good laugh at my reaction once I had walked the long way home, which I caught on my chest cam

 

And the video of the belt letting go as view from my chest cam

 

lool thats not that bad , i had mine snap on my gilera runner 172 while i was doing like 70mph on A40 road on the way to ace cafe and was i the third lane and there was no foot path like this almost got hit

 

Lol yea know its not bad just a bit annoying back to cycling at the mo on my specialized gonna get some other bits too but I'll wait to fit them till I pull the engine out for the bore kit

 

Well order the new belt today and a few other bits, also taxed it today too

Hopefully new bits should arrive in the next few days

 

Well got all my bits I ordered on Thursday afternoon on Friday morning... from AdrenelinePedstop



Fitted up the new belt...



Brilliant... or so I thought , rectifier has packed up did notice the flasher unit was occasionally acting up over the last few weeks and there intergrated into the rectifier checked it and its deffo caput, also sometimes it starts sometimes it won't so I've ordered a new one I know for sure its not the CDI unit thats causing problems this time but I have 2 spares just incase as there another problem causer on these zips

Also ordered a Zip SP Spoiler/grabrail/brakeline unit, as the old one has cracks on the mounting points also the SP looks better as its in black

Fingers crossed bits come in the next few days

 

on my vx, my belt snapped when i was doing 70 round a kinda filter lane off one dual carriageway onto another, my back wheel locked up and i skidded round the corner on full lock, when the belt snapped, it took out the variator and there is a cover behind the variator that covers the oil pump, it fractured that which i didnt notice untill after i changed the belt and vario and started it for the first time... are the reg/recs expensive to replace?

 

Nah not too bad second hand about £20 new there about £60 got one now luckly the part No's are same for the recs on the 100 and 50 4T engine zip and fly models also changed plugs from cr8e to cr9eb

 

My belt snapped other day coming up a bypass, had to wheel it half a mile to a garage

 

Yea I know how that feels mate had to push mine back up the hill to my house....... Where it got promptly dumped in my workshop while I went n had a brew n cig all fixed now

 

Well bit of an update of sorts, got a new rectifier fitted up not long after the last update after it arrived so it was back to working again.

Also ordered and fitted a Zip SP/RS wing/grabrail, looks better than the old one an also the old ones plastic was splitting near its screw points, pics>>


Also made a bracket for the front L plate so it gets rid of the naff stick on ones, the bracket has a clip on it so it can be removed if I want to.... for pics etc anyway heres a few pics of the clip>>


Aswell as that thought it was about time I gave it a good wash as it was covered in mud and road grime so washed it and gave it a polish


Today I gave the exhaust a good clean back with the beltfile these Zip exhausts rust like I cant beleive in such a short space of time, anyway ground it all off then gave it an extra thick coating of VHT paint >>


That gave me a good excuse to enjoy the good'ish weather and take the bike out for a ride to cure the paint


Thats it for the mo

 

nice, all scooter exhausts rust like crazy, it seems they are made of rust or something! mt runner had an new exhaust that lasted 4 months!!!!

 

Haha yea tell me about it when I got my first scooter a yamaha slider years ago was was told it needed a new exhaust due to rust...... It sure did the day I picked it up got to the end of the guys street and it fell off lol

Hopefully it will last till I get the time to change everything,

On the list of mods is a stainless exhaust

 

yeah mine did the same, rusted at the weld where the manifold joined the muffler, the one before that rusted a massive hole in the side nearest the wheel, stainless is the way to go

 

Well an update... of sorts,

Ordered the Polini 80cc kit today so that should be delivered in the next few days.

Also tomorrow off out to buy new riding gear as my old stuff is getting to the point of needing to be replaced, so going to get kitted out in new gear which should keep me warm over the winter when the snow decideds to show it's face.

To add to that also ordered a Tucano Urbano Termoscud and a pair of Tucano Urbano handlebar muffs, mainly as my commute to work has become longer now to a 50 mile round trip and with the weather only due to get colder keeping warm is a priority.

Pics will follow in the next few days but thats it for now