Scooter News The Wedgie of Fate After a solid run of ups, Project Serveta was just about due for another down...
Words and photography by PETE CALLAGHAN Ever had that feeling that things are just going too smoothly?
I have. The fickle hand of Fate snuck up and gave me a grade-A wedgie the other day, and I honestly can’t say it was completely unexpected. Allow me to set the scene.
Following the arrival of three parcels of parts from the UK – one from MB Developments and two from the ever-helpful Perry and Jennifer at Totally Scooters – I’d spent much of the previous weekend reinstalling the Serveta’s seat, fuel tank, airbox/toolbox and various bodywork panels. And it was all going brilliantly, despite the fact I’d forgotten to order a couple of important items, such as a new lock for the toolbox door and the right screws to secure the top of the legshield.
Even Raylee got in on the act, installing rubber beading on the legshield and helping me at crucial times when a second pair of hands were needed. She also provided moral support by making lots of constructive comments, like “It looks a lot better now than when you fi rst got it” and “Can’t wait to see it going”.
By late Sunday afternoon, the Jet was a different animal. With the seat, tank and toolbox in place, the running boards screwed down, the legshield half bolted in (memo to self: order those extra bloody screws!), and the sidepanels carefully slipped on, it looked like a proper scooter for the fi rst time in more than a year.The bridgepiece, front guard, horn casting, and headset top were still to be fitted, but I was stoked with the Jet’s appearance in its almost-fi nished state. I was also quietly smug about my choice of black body rubbers, which suited the lime-green paintwork way better than grey rubbers ever could. Fast forward to this weekend.
With my heart set on hearing the Jet zinging, I put the rest of the panel fi tting on hold and concentrated on fi ring up the engine. First hurdle was the brown wire that had come loose from the headlight junction box. I took a punt and slipped it into one of the available holes.
Next job was to fi nd a way to turn the ignition switch on and off. With no proper key, I rummaged around and found that one of the spare keys from the padlock that secures our garden shed was an almost perfect fi t. So far so good.
There was some premix still in the tank from when the Jet was at Sandy’s shop in Sydney, so I left it there and pulled out the sparkplug to check all was well. Laying the plug against the engine case and putting the boot into the kickstarter produced a healthy blue spark, so I screwed it back in and turned the fuel tap to reserve.
Ignition on, fuel on, choke out ... all the boxes were ticked. I kicked once, twice, three times. Nothing. I kicked a bunch more times. Still nothing. Except there was now a small puddle of premix under the scooter, where it had leaked out of the joint between the exhaust header and the muffler.
I tightened up the joint, pulled out the sparkplug again and, with the fuel off, kicked the bugger a few more times to clear the fuel out of the cylinder. The plug was wet, so I gave it a wipe and stuck it back it. Fuel back on, I kicked the scoot over several more times, but there was still no joy.
Time to get serious. I unplugged the fuel line to the carb and dumped the contents of the tank. A large helping of crap came out with the old fuel, so I added a fi lter to the fuel line, made up a fresh batch of premix – using Motul 510 2T oil at four per cent – and bunged it in.
Fearing the crap from the tank had made its way into the carburettor, I took off the fl oat bowl for a look. It wasn’t too bad in there, and the fuel supply shut off when I lifted the fl oat, so at least the valve wasn’t blocked. As the Jet’s Dell’Orto isn’t the easiest thing to remove, I put off any further investigation and tried again to get the beast firing.
More kicks, more nothing. Fuel was defi nitely getting through because the plug was wet again, but the bloody thing seemed to be constantly flooding – and that was without me laying a fi nger on the throttle. I even tried to fi re it up with some starting fl uid, but the best I got was a tiny little splutter and then more nothing. The next option was distress call to Sandy [SS Scooter Engineering 02 9516 0077]. I recounted my adventures, he pondered for a while and then advised that I remove the carb, give it a thorough flush out, including the little filter behind the banjo cover, and try again.
With a couple of priority jobs lined up for the twowheels long-term Suzuki DL650, I’ve had to put the Serveta at the back of the workshop queue, which means I probably won’t get another crack at it for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’ve grabbed a new, smaller fuel fi lter and a couple of extra sparkplugs – just in case.
Other jobs still to do include relocating the blue ignition box so I can re-fi t the rear mudguard, and removing the rear shock and bump rubber to give enough clearance to get the engine cowl back on. Or maybe I should just get those parts repainted fi rst... I defi nitely have to
do something with that fuel tank, to stop it rusting any further and sending more crap into the fuel system... Probably be worth doing it all together.
Anyway, check back again next time. I might be able to keep Fate’s hand at bay long enough to rediscover the Serveta’s sizzle.
As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 5/07/2007
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