My new Tao Tao, from the begining... By bikernuc (Read 4,033 times)

[bikernuc]

Day -1

The scooter ( TaoTao BWS 150, Black, sort of a Zuma clone) was purchased from an E-Bay vender and the price included residential delivery with lift gate service.

Delivery went very well. The driver called ahead to clarify just where we were located. Due to the rural dirt roads we live on, my wife recommended to the driver that he back down our road (~0.1 mile) and he did this without a hitch. (My wife mentioned how our female truck driver neighbor does this all the time, so I think it became a matter of pride with him). The 40’ tractor trailer would not reasonably fit in my drive way, so the bike was going to be dropped at the end of my drive way, and it was starting to rain.

I was not sure how I was going to get the 300#+ “scooter in a box” to my shop in the back yard so I asked the driver if he would mind if we unloaded the box directly in the back of my beater van. He agreed. This went very well using the trailer lift gate to lower the box to the height of the van tail gate. We pushed, pulled and wiggled the box into the van. Now I had the box under cover just as the rain picked up. I did an exterior inspection and then ripped open the box to check things out before signing off on the delivery. No significant damage was noted. As a note, the shipping company was Old Dominion Freight Lines. The driver was very friendly and helpful. This all went much better than when I had my old Max-Fine TM200 delivered back in 2005 ( that shipper tried to charge my wife for shipping that had been paid for already). Well now I have it safe and sound. I’ll post more later…unloading in to the shop, the PDI and what I find.

[JR]

Awesome Bikernuc! I have had dealings with Old Dominion myself on all my scooters and such, they have a hub at Little Rock and they have very good people. They have never delivered anything to me torn up or even scratched. Also they can't get in my drive either but helped me load it in the back of my truck and then helped me unload it at my house, good people.

OK now we love pictures!

JR

[bikernuc]

I agree!

[bikernuc]

Day 1-1/2

After getting the scooter in the shop I sorted and inventoried the hardware. I read the manual and watched the assembly guide DVD (both for a scooter not quite like mine). So after being reminded that I had purchased essentially a “scooter kit” I got to work. I partially de-crated the bike and mounted the rear shock. It took me awhile to get the front tire on, mostly because it took a few times for me to be reasonably sure that I had the speedometer gear lined up right. I also put some additional grease on the axle shaft and in the speedometer gear housing. The bike would now stand on its own center stand and I could move on. This seemed like a good time to stop for dinner, so I cleaned up and went out with my wife for a nice dinner.(Trying not to be obvious about thinking about the new scooter in the shop, waiting for me.)

I wasn’t going to do anything with the new scooter last night but I just could not stay away from it. So after having a nice dinner out with my wife I got to it.

I set the handle bars in place for now. I almost convinced myself that I did not need to remove “all” the body work as recommended, but I thought about some horror stories that I had read and buckled down and got to it. I slowly removed the body work working mostly aft to forward. After that was all off I went to work on the electrical connectors. Here is a place I deviate from “the Big guys” awesome PDI guide. I prefer to open up the various connectors and put some dielectric (silicon) grease in the connectors to help prevent moisture intrusion rather than silicon RTV or similar.

With the electrical connectors done, I moved on the engine bay. Here is where the payoff for removing all the body work came. I traced out all the fuel and vacuum lines (there are allot aren’t there), and found one tee that had a connection with no hose on it. Since this led directly to an connection on the intake manifold I knew it was not right. (BIG vacuum leak) After some searching I found an unconnected hose with a clamp on it, and introduced the two to each other. I do not think I would have seen the disconnected hose without taking the body work off like I did so, that alone made it all worth it. I would have likely ended up tearing the bike apart later, looking for a reason for the bike not running well (if at all). The rubber hoses look pretty good, but I may replace them anyway.

I pulled the spark plug and it is a no name (Torch?) with “TT 0906 A7RTC” printed on it. So I going to take a trip to the auto parts store Saturday to get a NGK plug and maybe some rubber hose as well.

Went to bed.

[bikernuc]

Day 2,

I started off checking out the carburetor for adjustability. The mixture screw was capped so I carefully drilled the cap out. I checked its factory setting; it is 2-1/2 turns from full in. I wanted to check what the factory jets where but the bowl, rather than being held on by screws, like usual (to me anyway) was riveted it place. I guess if I wish to re-jet it, or remove the bowl for cleaning, I can always drill out the rivets and replace them with some self-tapping screws. For now I’ll just put the carburetor back in place, lubricating the intake hose and manifold connections with a little silicone grease.

Next, I went to the local auto parts store for some hose and a NGK spark plug. They did not have either NGK option so I got a bought the standard autolite that they had (~2$) to use until I can get the NGK iridium plug. They had no vacuum hose of the size needed, and only a few feet of 3/16” fuel line. I bought all they had of the fuel line.

Back in the shop, I set about replacing the fuel and vacuum lines. Due to the limited amount of replacement fuel line on hand, I gave priority to the fuel lines that actually carry liquid fuel and then moved out from there (to the tank vent, emission control hoses etc) until I had used up the fuel line that I had purchased. Now I had a pile of the stock fuel line and the need for something to replace the stock vacuum hoses. “12 Volt light bulb moment”: I figured, while the stock fuel hose may not be the best for fuel it would surely be an upgrade for the stock vacuum lines. It seemed thicker than the installed vacuum line and certainly stiff enough not to collapse under engine vacuum. I set about replacing the vacuum hoses with the old fuel line. At connections that I expect to undo for servicing, I used silicon grease on the connection for sealing and a little silicon adhesive on the outside to hold them in place (should easier to remove that way). For those that I expect to be pretty much permanent, I just used the silicon adhesive on the connection for a more secure attachment. I used small cable ties as clamps (I have done this before and, like “The Big Guy” says in his PDI guide: they work great).

I have decided to paint the gloss black body panels a different color, so I removed the ones not already removed. This revealed some more electrical connections to seal and fasteners to lock-tite.

To round out the day, I made some various minor adjustments and temporarily installed the seat and mirrors for testing. I started draining the rear end lube and will refill tomorrow. I topped off the engine oil. (I will change the oil completely after initial testing). Now I will let it set over night and give the lock-tite and silicone adhesive/sealant time to cure.

If it seems like this is taking longer than it could, it is because I work at it for a couple of hours and then take a break or work on something else. I found this keeps me from rushing though the job. (Also keeps it from changing from “fun” to “work”).

[bikernuc]

Day Three (so far)

I started off with finishing the gear oil change that I started last night. I refilled it with good quality non-synthetic 80W-90 gear oil. Like in the engine I like to start off with non-synthetic oil in the rear to allow the moving parts to bed in during the first few miles. Plus I like to change it a few times during the first thousand miles or so, and the non-synthetic is a little less expensive.

Next its onto (finally) running the bike, Well almost. I hooked up the fully charged battery and checked the various lights, no problem there. I then cranked the engine with no fuel in the tank for a few seconds just to make sure oil was on all the moving parts. Then I added fuel to the tank. The gas gage didn’t work when I added 1 gallon of fuel to the tank so I had to fiddle with the connector for the tank level sender. I may have to do more to that later.

I then went through a little check list: oil level, air in tires, made sure there was an air filter in place, and hook up my tachometer. I gave it a little squirt of starting fluid into the air box and pushed the button. It caught and the stopped as it burned off the fluid. I gave it another spray and tried again. This time it started and smoothed out as it started taking fuel from the tank. I let it warm up for a few minutes while checking for any issues, leaks, loose parts etc. I had reinstalled the seat earlier so I proceeded to take it for a little ride. It seemed to being doing fine. I went rather slow, never exceeding 30 mph. Braking and turning seemed good, and the engine performed reasonably well.

With the engine all warmed up, idle had settled down to ~1800 rpm. Then using “the Big Guy’s” PDI guide as, well, uh, a guide, I adjusted the mixture screw. Once I settled on a mixture screw setting, (about 1 full turn further open (CCW) than as found) I set the idle to the spec on the label (1700+/- 100 rpm) ending up around 1750 rpm. This is very close to where I would have ended up using the technique in the PDI guide. The bike runs well, and has good throttle response, additional testing may reveal the need for further adjustment but I am pretty happy with it right now.

Next will be to decide on a color scheme and paint it up. After that, will be final assembly and breaking it in. For now I have to leave the scooter and take care of some much needed maintenance on one of the enclosed, four wheeled vehicles. Tomorrow, I have to go to my real job.

[scootermadness]

This is an awesome walk-through. I wish all our customers had done their research to this point before purchasing! We try to give them the information...

[hitshane]

He did everything listed on the PDI manual. Not doing this is why these scooters get a bad rap. Imagine buying a car that was never tuned or tested and just driving it that way!

-Shane

[boomslang]

i recently purchased a bws 150 and unfortunately it was pre-assembled so i didnt get to learn the location of all the parts, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me the location of the CDI box so i dont have to tear half the thing apart looking for it, any input would be great and i realize this is an old thread

[alleyoop]

You will normally find the CDI box close to the stator since either the POWER wire and the Trigger Wire come off . So look for it up by the frame on that side.
Alleyoop