It's coming along nicely Alter.

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Dar ~ I was born to ride!

my blog: Princess Scooterpie http://scootermayhem.blogspot.com/

GREAT job!

My parts FINALLY came in at the dealer so I got back to work on the scoot. The parts guy couldn’t believe I was going to attempt to install everything myself. He asked three times about doing the work. Makes me even more determined to do it myself!
The front fender had three good cracks in it and a good bit of rash. I glued the underside and put on a skim of Bondo. I admit my prep skills are horrible, I have no patience. So I painted before it was smooth enough. Haven’t decided if I will work on it some more later. I may just put on a decal since it will distract from the poor body work. Either way it looks way better than it did.


Pulled off the front handle cover that I had patched back together. It had held up fine to regular use but I re-cracked one of the seams taking it off. Not sure if this means the glue is become brittle, time will tell. It was on a very thin area of plastic to begin with. Pulling this piece is the hardest job I’ve done on this scooter!
Installed the new brake levers. It is going to be nice being able to get more than two fingers over the levers! It was a quick easy job, just a couple of screws.
I bought a new rear cover. I’d briefly considered trying to lay up some fiberglass to fill in the missing areas on the old cover but there was no way I could have made it look presentable. Also, I didn’t want water flowing in over my wires when it rains. A few screws to undo, unplug the sockets for the various switches and the old one was off. The switches have simple plastic levers holding them in place. A gentle push with a flat blade screw driver and they slid off and were ready to re-installed on the new panel.

Then I looked at the front cowl. Almost every mounting post was broken off. Kind of amazing it had stayed on the bike. A scooter dealer in my area happened to have two of these listed on EBay. I picked one up for $20. It was listed as used with scratches. Obviously scratches are the least of my problems and since I could pick it up and save the shipping it was to good a deal to pass on. When I picked it up I found it was actually a new part, the screw posts had never been tapped and the scratches were minuet. The plan was to flat black it to match the other pieces I’ve painted but I decided to use it silver for awhile. Going back to paint it is an easy enough job.
Before I could put this all back together I had to take inventory of what screws and mounting points I had and which I didn’t. Since so many of the mounting points had been broken in the crash, the screws were gone. I am extremely lucky to have an old fashioned hardware store nearby with a huge selection (including metric) and a guy that matches up just what you need. To compensate for posts that were shortened due to breakage I was able to get screws with the same thread but slightly longer. Others I just need to find matches for what I already had.
My last addition was some cheap LED signals on the sides of the front cowl. The wiring already existed from the signals I had removed and there were holes pre- drilled where there had been side reflectors. I just had to wire in some jumpers and plug them in. When I take this apart again I will probably put a silicone sealant behind them. The lights don’t exactly conform to the cowl and the sealant would give them a better look and hold without being noticeable.
So here is it’s current look. I expect the silver will go eventually?

It looks like some sort of alien bug.

Great job on the plastic repair! I'm not sure how long the Gorilla glue will last, but so far it looks pretty good! I would have used fiberglass, as it's extremely strong & flexible, but your repair looks damn fine!

As far as painting plastic goes, you pretty much have to use Krylon Fusion, as paints made for metal won't stick well to plastic. However, the Fusion paint doesn't have much of a gloss to it, so here's the fix for that minor annoyance:

Go ahead and put down a base-coat of white Krylon Fusion, then put a color coat of Rust Oleum over the white Fusion while it's still slightly tacky. Fusion dries very quickly, so have the Rust Oleum "at hand", shaken and ready to use. The Rust Oleum will adhere to the Krylon Fusion, and will retain it's shine indefinitely if you wax it once in a while. Also, it doesn't matter what color Fusion paint you use, since you're gonna paint over it anyway. However, the color coat will cover best if applied over a light color, and ya' can't get lighter than white. After the initial coat of Rust Oleum is almost dry (about 15 minutes) spray it with a few gloss coats to achieve a high-gloss finish. Wait about 5 to 7 minutes between coats. If you practice on something first (your husband's beer fridge?) you should be able to get the hang of putting on a heavy enough layer of paint, but without getting runs. If you're new at this, buy 2 cans of paint... one for practice and one for the actual paint job.

After the Rust Oleum is completely dry (3 days minimum, 1 week is best), give it a good wax / buff job with ordinary automobile wax. I prefer Turtle Wax, but pretty much anything works well.

One more thing - those odd-ball light bulbs you mentioned can be found on eBay (is there anything that can NOT be found on eBay?). Just type in the number that's stamped on the base of the bulb into the eBay "search" area - for example - "1157 bulb".

Alter, I just re-read your amazing message of fixing up the Sym. Since reading your message the first time I have put a scratch on my scooter. It was fixed perfectly but I have a new appreciation for those who can do the work themselves.

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Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

SweetPea, I sure couldn't fix mine perfectly, but it is passable. I admit I am surprised at the compliments I get in parking lots. I guess I am less forgiving of it's flaws than your average passer-by.

Foamy, thanks for the tip on the paint. I was going for more of the mat black look but it is good to have a trick in case I change my mind or start another project.
So far the Gorilla Glue has been holding up just fine. I worked with fiberglass years ago and found it to be a real PITA so I decided to take a chance. I can't say anything very long term yet but the battle scoot has far from a pampered life so I am pleased at this stage.
I found the odd bulbs on EBay but the price was exorbitant (like $15 a piece plus shipping!) and nothing in amber. If I hadn't been able to retrofit the ones I did my next choice would have been to wire in a standard replacement socket. No way I was going to pay that sort of price for signal bulbs.

Alter - You Rock! I kind of like the silver piece. Good for you for fixing 'battle scooter'.

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Dar ~ I was born to ride!

my blog: Princess Scooterpie http://scootermayhem.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the opinion on the silver, ID. I'm still working up the nerve to open the CVT and start work.

Working up the nerve to open the CVT? Don't sweat it... the only thing in there is wide, V-shaped belt. It goes around a pulley attached to the rear wheel and a centrifugal clutch that functions in the same way as one on a go-kart, or the old Briggs & Stratton mini-bikes that we used to build (and often destroy) back in the '70's. The only difference is that along with the expanding shoes that are inside the clutch unit, the pulley also "pinches" the belt tighter & tighter as the engine speeds up. As it does this, the belt moves farther (or is it "further"?) out from the center of the clutch, thereby increasing the diameter of the pulley area that the belt rides upon. In doing so, the size ratio between the clutch pulley & rear wheel sprocket is reduced, which simply means that you go faster.

The only thing to do once you are inside the CVT cover is to replace the belt if it's showing signs of excessive wear, and clean everything. Be sure to remove any grease or belt dust. Yes, you're gonna get your hands dirty. Depending on how your scooter is set-up, you may have to remove the rear wheel to get the belt off. DO NOT take the clutch apart, as there are springs inside that will go "POING" all over the place (how's that for technical terminology?!?), and getting them back together is a real pain in the a$$, even for those of us who have been doing it for years. Also, do not spray WD-40 or any other type of lubricant anywhere near the clutch pulley or the belt.

Don't most people do rollers the same time as the belt?

If your scooter has rollers in the CVT assembly, (they're there to keep correct tension on the belt) it's best to replace them if they look worn, or if they have excessive side-to-side movement or wobble, as this is a sign of worn bearings. I forgot about this detail in my previous post. Thanks for mentioning it! It's a fairly straight-forward operation, but be sure to remove the belt before the rollers so you have adequate room to work with the rollers.

Not all scooters have these rollers, so if you open up the case and don't see any, don't panic.

I'm really jazzed to see that somebody else is venturing into the wonderful world of fabrication. If you are going to ride a scooter with a lot of fairing, it's a good skill to have because sooner or later you are going to be saying OOPS, followed by a string of expletive deleted words as you gaze down upon your now not so perfect plastic faring that is in several pieces.

I have always used two part epoxy along with either fiberglass or carbon fiber for reinforcement. I have never used gorilla glue for repairs. It might hold, but I would prefer to have the repair reinforced with fiberglass cloth or carbon fiber cloth in order to spread out the stress so that flexes will be less likely to re-fracture. I have also drilled small holes along the fracture and riveted splints to support offset fracture edges. The two part epoxy can be mixed with flox (powdered filler) and applied over the rivets on the outside of the fracture like bondo, only much stronger once it has cured. The patch, covered with rip stop nylon as a peel ply (to keep the patch surface as smooth as possible) and allowed to dry can then be sanded to shape and smoothness. The sanding is the most time consuming part of the repairs I have done. Using this system you can even rebuild broken mounting tabs.

You have really done a great job on your project bike. I'd say that not only does it pass the 20 foot test but it also passes the 5 foot test! Good work! I love seeing other riders techniques for fairing repairs!

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There are two types of people in this world, people who ride scooters and
people who wish they could ride scooters.

Thanks bexx. I agree using a reinforced system like fiberglass does seem a better way to go. I had worked with it a long time ago and found it sort of a pain, since this project was about experimenting and learning figured I'd try something else. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Gorilla Glue for simple hair line cracks. It swells as it drys and may actually make things worse. If you use it you need to find a way to clamp pieces into place. In a situation like this where there were open spaces and missing pieces the swelling worked well as filler.
After a year and a half nothing has re-cracked under normal conditions.
However, my youngest did take a fall on it and re-cracked the fender. Can't say how well another fix might have held up. The right brake lever was broken and her arm fractured.
I just re-glued and sprayed the fender, didn't spend much time on it. I haven't bothered with the lever. My other daughter's fiance wants to try riding it now so I figure there is no reason to rush.

If the fender doesn't hold you might want to try the splinting technique. It will make the area a lot stronger. Just get a piece of strapping, aluminum works well, about two inches in length, drill two holes on each end of it and on either side of the fracture and rivet it in place with the shim under the fender. It will approximate the edges of the fracture beautifully. You can then sand down the heads of the rivets on the outside with a dremel tool and just use bondo over the rivets and on the fracture to make them go away. You can also cover it with fiberglass and then bondo to finish the repair.

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There are two types of people in this world, people who ride scooters and
people who wish they could ride scooters.

Looks like the fixing is coming along great! If it's mechanically sound you got a great deal.

I don't get the old modality of 'women can't fix things' anymore.

Me: I'm mechanically retarded. If a 2 year old can do it, it will take me 2x as long and I'll install it backward. Slowly learning!

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