First build, Huffy Classic Beach Edition

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il_10

New Member
May 6, 2013
10
0
1
VA
So I saw an original whizzer sometime earlier this year, decided to build a bike, and stumbled on this forum. I've been lurking up until now, but you guys have been invaluable in this build. Thank you for all the good information and I hope I can help others as you've helped me in the future!
That aside, the build:
Around the beginning of the summer I picked up a Huffy classic beach at a vintage bike show for $35, a schwinn springer repop front end for another $30, a couple seats, a couple handlebars, all a bargain, and was getting excited about the cost-effectiveness of my new project. I had a 48cc HT ready to bolt on, and considered myself off to the races. She got a husky FWL 12g rear wheel, some kenda tires bought purely for aesthetic reasons, but have turned out to be pretty good, and I got the cns carb all dialed in.





 

il_10

New Member
May 6, 2013
10
0
1
VA
Good deal, right? Well, I'm in Southwest Virginia, and the hills were just too much for the stock 48cc, and I needed lights.
So, I slapped on a puch 50 head, a mikuni VM off a yamaha chappy a friend gave me, and a pocket bike expansion chamber. I got her wired for lights with signal markers, an LED headlight from amazon, and used an SLED battery stuck in the frame. Layback seatpost, and a coat of paint, and I'm off to the races again.



Well, here's where I started having troubles. The hills proved to be too much for the little 48, due in no small part to my discontent to keep her at 15-20, and I was ringing the neck off of the thing constantly to get around. I picked up a bigger expansion chamber from treatland and fabbed up the exhaust from 1" copper pipe, which helped quite a bit, but I was still running this bike ragged. I ended up snagging a ring and destroying my top end. The ancient mikuni broke when I overtightened the clamp bolt, the seatpost and struts I built weren't strong enough and broke, the SLED battery lost its charge from being mounted sideways due to vibrations, it rooster tailed way too bad in the rain, the rear bracket for my taillights snapped off, and I needed new/better brakes and FAST.

So, weighing a new top end verses a 66 engine, I went with a 66 kit in pieces. I built that up with mild porting, new hardware, and got it mounted with a short intake and a mikuni VM18 from treatland.
The front wheel got upgraded to a husky 11g SA drum wheel, which I love.
Battery power for the lights is now LiPo. I made a new layback seat setup out of two pieces of 1095 steel bar stock I use to make knife blades. She got thick, heavy cruiser fenders that are very solidly mounted, and i cut the rear fender to only go as far forward as the rear brake bracket.
A good 4" mirror from treatland, a Crow kickstand, more paint, custom aluminum brackets, plenty of hose clamps, and a cable tie here and there and this thing is ALMOST done!



there's very little left to do. I've got an idler sprocket on order to try and shore up the tensioner issue (I don't have enough clearance to go without, but don't like the plastic).

It needs the piston skirt trimmed and a better bearing or bushing, a new puch head, maybe a titanium wrist pin, and if I can swing it I'd love to try a shift kit, but she'll wring on out to 40 as she sits and is more than enough match for all the hills in the area.

Again, thanks to you guys for all your great information throughout this build. It turned out to be plenty more expensive and plenty more of a challenge than I initially thought, and without your experience that would all be doubly true.
Regards,
Riggs

.trk

edit:pics should be up now, had the album set to private for no good reason.
 
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Danschutz

New Member
Aug 19, 2013
392
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Wyoming
It turned out to be plenty more expensive and plenty more of a challenge than I initially thought, and without your experience that would all be doubly true.
Regards,
Riggs

.trk
Ain't that the truth lol.

Actually my first build, like yours was inexpensive, but then the upgrades started to happen lol.

Dan.
 

runnermike

Member
Nov 18, 2012
936
0
16
Sanford, FL
Glad to hear you got things worked out. I think after a couple more posts you should be able to post pics. Would be nice to see all of your hard work! Happy riding....
 

il_10

New Member
May 6, 2013
10
0
1
VA
Here's another couple of photos.
Taillight bracket showing brake, running, and turns; ammo can for tools, gloves, oil, etc.



The plug wire's been upgraded to automotive, it's got a K&N crank filter mounted on the mikuni with a 90* pvc elbow, horn, lipo position, inline filter, and a good look at the kenda tire and rear fender's cutoff point. I can see from this photo the seat struts have a little rust on 'em I hadn't noticed :p Guess they'll need a coat of paint

 

Sidewinder Jerry

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2011
1,996
928
113
61
Rockwood, TN
Yeah I've read the Virginia laws for mopeds. Their very motor bicycle friendly. Great build, shiftkit in the future? Those Kendra 838 are great I use them also.
 

il_10

New Member
May 6, 2013
10
0
1
VA
Well, I've blown up another top end. One of the E clips holding the wrist pin in came unstuck and stuck itself into the wall of the jug. I hit the kill switch at the first sign of trouble, but it had enough time to destroy my piston and jug.



You'll note the missing transfer port wall; I'm thinking that was mostly done by me having to beat the piston out of the jug, but the clip must've weakened it plenty. Grooves on both sides of the transfer walls and on the intake side, which I can't quite figure.

I pulled the engine off the mounts, turned it upside down, and shook. A couple clip pieces dropped out:



But that's not enough material for a full clip! Dang... looks like I'm gonna have to split the case. I haven't ventured that far into one of these engines before, so wish me luck!

I'm a little disheartened, this being the second engine that's gone kaput in just a couple of months. I was going to rebuild the top end with some better parts anyway, but I didn't mean to have to buy a new jug or piston! And I certainly didn't mean to get into the crank case either. May be a good opportunity to try my hand at balancing one of these things.

:-||
 
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il_10

New Member
May 6, 2013
10
0
1
VA
Got her back up and running, with a better bearing. Polished the piston to a near mirror shine, dropped a puch Hi Hi head on it, and scalloped the piston skirt to match the intake port. This is the strongest engine setup I've built so far. I'm still breaking it in, but I'm confident it'll top out in the 40s somewhere once everything smooths out.