UPDATE: Magnum Adventures By ellpee (Read 931 times)

[ellpee]

Combination of houseguests and rain cut into my scooting, but I got back on the road today. With new jets in carb, starts/runs much better. Went on a 100-mile tour, down from our house at 7500' to the "flatlands" at 4500' and then back up. Cruised very quietly and comfortably at 55 on downhills and reasonably flat highways; huffed and puffed some going uphill again, down to 30 on the steepest stretches, but made it. Did have concerns at one point on the way home; engine started balking almost like it was running out of gas, then picked up again, repeated that several times over a stretch of 10-15 miles, then cleared up for the last 15 miles or so. Lots of bumpy roads along the way, so who knows what may have vibrated loose; I plan to give everything a careful check tomorrow and will edit this post if I find anything to explain the odd behavior. Or if I don't, which will mean I need advice again.

Hmmm, could it be that with the high-altitude jets the engine isn't happy at 4500'? That would suck, can't be constantly changing jets or dinking around with the mixture.

[steve]

[replyingto=ellpee]ellpee[/replyingto]We are all so spoiled by EFI. I would sure like to se that as the "next big thing."

[alleyoop]

Yes with an EFI it would not have problems low or high altitudes
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

I'm down with that. Seems to me I saw some EFI scoots when I was shopping, but big bucks.

Checked everything this morning, nothing loose that I could see. Spark plug was brown, not black, although I cleaned it again anyway just to be safe. Vacuum and fuel lines all properly connected and secure. Not sure what caused the engine to balk yesterday. (Anyone have any thoughts in that regard?)

Next time I get ambitious I think I'll put a fuel filter in the fuel line somewhere, can't hurt and as far as I can see the Magnum EOM setup doesn't include a fuel filter. Will say, even with that little one-lunger engine busting its hump to get me back up the mountain, and temperatures well up in the 90's down in the flats, saw no tendency whatsoever to overheat.

[steve]

[replyingto=alleyoop]alleyoop[/replyingto]Think I saw an add on some where, but I bet it's a job to set up. Think the fuel pump draws a bunch of current.

[ellpee]

No juice at all going to my fuel pump; vacuum-operated as far as I can tell. Or are you talking about the fuel pump for an EFI system?

[steve]

EFI: Ecotrons.com has one for $500 bucks. Way to much money!

[ellpee]

Yup. Only scoot I found on line with EFI is a 260, more or less comparable to my Roketa but $1000 more. If I had a do-over knowing what I know now, I might have ponied up the extra thousand! On the other hand, getting somebody to work on a Chinese scoot is hard enough, with EFI it'd probably be even harder AND even harder to do it yourself.

[alleyoop]

Yep, it would be hard pressed trying to find someone that knows EFI's on a scoot. Heck most can't even diagnose a problem they just replace parts until they hit the culprit by luck(HAHA). Then they hand you the bill and tell you this and this was wrong and replaced when it was only one little part. I have a friend that is a Vespa Dealer and his mechanic does work on Chinese scoots.
But he is not cheap and he had like 20 scoots on the side and I asked all those are to be fixed?
He said no they are already fixed, but they won't pay the bill, the law is I have to keep them for 6 months taking up my space and if they do not pay and get them out of here I can then sell them.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

My Helix friend who finally talked me into my first scoot is a member of the Mechanically Clueless Class, wouldn't dream of even changing his oil, and he had to pony up major $$$ last fall for the prescribed 12000 mile check. My experiences have taught me that scoots in general, and Chinese scoots in particular, are are not for the faint of heart. You either need mechanical moxey or lots of money.