Finally have the LiS 185cc running ok

Anything related to Lambrettas... ask tech questions, post helpful info, or just read and learn.
johnny650
registered user
Posts: 395
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:18 pm
Main scooter: lambretta 64 li 150 Special
Contact:

No doubt you will remember the 8 page tale of woe at the beginning of the year about my non start non running LiS 185cc :roll:


Well last month I finally got her running and starting really well so i thought that I would share a video of my last test run to show you what a cheap Indian 185cc Cylinder kit is capable of when set up correctly with a 22mm Jetex carb 42mm AF Clubman , Indian electronic ignition with a mid weight AF flywheel .

On the test run the scoot hadn't been tuned and the idle was so low it kept cutting out . Plus there was the dreadful din of the vibrating stand but I was pleased with how well it pulled .


I saw 60 on the clock and it felt quite quick even on mid throttle so there is more to come if I pushed it.
https://youtu.be/wAvRfYK_HrI
rosscla
registered user
Posts: 4823
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:50 pm
Main scooter: Lambretta
Location: Lanarkshire
Contact:

Looks and sounds like it's not far away.

Where is you camera mounted?
"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better."
Minority
registered user
Posts: 673
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:00 pm
Main scooter: Li230 S3
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Glad you are out and about now and I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I've jut stripped down a 225 version after about 450 miles and it had a ring gap of 1.3mm! It looks to be a combination of ring and bore wear so you may have to keep a check on yours.
johnny650
registered user
Posts: 395
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:18 pm
Main scooter: lambretta 64 li 150 Special
Contact:

rosscla wrote: Fri May 24, 2019 1:42 am Looks and sounds like it's not far away.

Where is you camera mounted?
Hi thanks for looking . I'm still not receiving notifications for some reason so i'll have to look into that.

I tried mounting my Mobius cam on my helmet but I'm one of those riders that has to look at everything along my ride including kup alleyways and at houses so the videos made you feel sick to watch lol

I now screw my action cam to a small hand grip and stick it into my top jacket pocket. it keeps the video looking forward and eliminates a lot of the vibration too. search ebay for 'Black 1/4'' Metal Handle Hand Grip For Camera SLR DSLR ' they are about £4 and screw directly into the bottom of most action cams and small point and shoot cameras
johnny650
registered user
Posts: 395
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:18 pm
Main scooter: lambretta 64 li 150 Special
Contact:

Minority wrote: Fri May 24, 2019 5:20 am Glad you are out and about now and I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I've jut stripped down a 225 version after about 450 miles and it had a ring gap of 1.3mm! It looks to be a combination of ring and bore wear so you may have to keep a check on yours.
damn ! you must be gutted .

Something that I found on my 200cc small block piston was that the rings had a very poor profile where the ends of the ring met the pin in the piston groove.

This resulted in the rings sitting slightly proud above the top of the piston groove resulting in the ring snapping and gouging the cylinder.
This stuff really is rubbish with no precision in manufacture and finishing.
I have never read of this issue before in connection with piston rings breaking. Its usually put down to the ring gaps being to small on assembly.
hendy
registered user
Posts: 859
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:34 am
Main scooter: lambretta li 125
Location: Tyne and Wear
Contact:

Sounds like it goes better than my ts1 225! Good work.

My next build is an Indian alloy 175 which I bored to 185 for Suzuki ts piston. I've heard they wear like cheese but it's fun to experiment.
johnny650
registered user
Posts: 395
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:18 pm
Main scooter: lambretta 64 li 150 Special
Contact:

hendy wrote: Sat May 25, 2019 8:57 pm Sounds like it goes better than my ts1 225! Good work.

My next build is an Indian alloy 175 which I bored to 185 for Suzuki ts piston. I've heard they wear like cheese but it's fun to experiment.
Ha ...I cannot say my experiment was fun but It sure was a steep learning curve.
I cannot tell you the number of times I left the sccoter for weeks at a time determined to just give up before the stress got too bad.

First think I found was that both the 2x Indian cyclinders I have a 185cc and a 200cc have had all their ports excessively over-ported.
The porting work was appallingly poor and resulted in the gasket mating surface of the cylinder base being less than 1/8" of an inch wide around the transfer ports ..
The result of this was that it was impossible to get the cylinder to seal . I had to do a leakdown test to spot this problem.

The way that I solved this was to fit a 2mm thick aluminium packing base gasket which increased the gasket mating area .

The second issue was the inlet ports which bore no resemblance to the inlet manifold gasket face shape at all .
in fact I had to slot the inlet manifold bolt holes in order to get the cylinder ports covered by the manifold gasket .

Good move going for the Suzuki piston hopefully with quality matched rings ?

At the end of the day I cannot put my finger on a single source that resulted in the engine starting and running so well. it was a combination of many many little things and meticulous attention to detail like the pickup to rotor magnet gap ete

good luck I'm looking forward to seeing your build thread ;)
Martin20
registered user
Posts: 311
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 9:25 pm
Main scooter: Lambretta LI 150 Special
Contact:

Nice vid Johnny, and glad you are now really up and running after so many setbacks!

Just got back today after a couple of weeks away, but will get that video done of mine in next couple of weeks!
hendy
registered user
Posts: 859
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:34 am
Main scooter: lambretta li 125
Location: Tyne and Wear
Contact:

johnny650 wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 2:15 pm

Ha ...I cannot say my experiment was fun but It sure was a steep learning curve.
I cannot tell you the number of times I left the sccoter for weeks at a time determined to just give up before the stress got too bad.

First think I found was that both the 2x Indian cyclinders I have a 185cc and a 200cc have had all their ports excessively over-ported.
The porting work was appallingly poor and resulted in the gasket mating surface of the cylinder base being less than 1/8" of an inch wide around the transfer ports ..
The result of this was that it was impossible to get the cylinder to seal . I had to do a leakdown test to spot this problem.

The way that I solved this was to fit a 2mm thick aluminium packing base gasket which increased the gasket mating area .

The second issue was the inlet ports which bore no resemblance to the inlet manifold gasket face shape at all .
in fact I had to slot the inlet manifold bolt holes in order to get the cylinder ports covered by the manifold gasket .

Good move going for the Suzuki piston hopefully with quality matched rings ?

At the end of the day I cannot put my finger on a single source that resulted in the engine starting and running so well. it was a combination of many many little things and meticulous attention to detail like the pickup to rotor magnet gap ete

good luck I'm looking forward to seeing your build thread ;)
The barrel is utter crap. I have had to go for a 60 stroke crank as the bottom of the exhaust port is cut too low. The transfers in the liner are far bigger than the feeds. Etc etc.

I enjoy a challenge.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 21 guests