Suzuki FA50 moped maintenence

[geoffm]

I have just got myself a $300 FA50 moped/ step though thing to go to work and save running costs on the Beemer.
The previous owner was a student, who left the poor thing in an open carport and wasn't a great believer in maintenance, so it is not much of a looker with rust patches and some repairs. There isn't much to do on them as they are basically a glorified lawnmower motor. In a tug-of-war with a rice pudding, my money would be on the pudding, but a bit more go would be nice. My wife used to have one years ago and it is faster than this one.
Anyone know what maintenance requirements there are for the transmission and belt? Any settings? I will do a compression check tomorrow - what sort of PSI should I get?
Anyone got a manual - I have 36GB of workshop manuals at last count, and this isn't one of them.
Geoff

[tri boy]

Crikey, the mighty FA50
What year? Anyhoo, some things to check:
Muffler can become gummed up by cheap two stroke oil residue. (a good long screwdriver belted up it's outlet can be a quick colonic, but sometimes they need a proper decoke).
Exhaust port suffered the same fate. (could close up to a tenth of it's original size, robbing power). Piston/Rings can be fitted by a blind man with two left thumbs>
Change the small amount of oil in the final drive, (can't remember alot about the k/start, belt drive).
If it's a points model, pay attention to set up, and a dial gauge/point timing system is the most accurate way to set up.
Pump up the tyres, there isn't alot of HP to waste on friction
Oooh, post some pics

[geoffm]

Crikey, the mighty FA50
What year? Anyhoo, some things to check:
Muffler can become gummed up by cheap two stroke oil residue. (a good long screwdriver belted up it's outlet can be a quick colonic, but sometimes they need a proper decoke).
Exhaust port suffered the same fate. (could close up to a tenth of it's original size, robbing power). Piston/Rings can be fitted by a blind man with two left thumbs>
Change the small amount of oil in the final drive, (can't remember alot about the k/start, belt drive).
If it's a points model, pay attention to set up, and a dial gauge/point timing system is the most accurate way to set up.
Pump up the tyres, there isn't alot of HP to waste on friction
Oooh, post some pics

Well, I burnt out the exhaust and smoked the neighborhood, cleaned out the carb (some crud in the bowl), the exhaust port looked ok.
Compression was 135psi - so not great, but I have seen worse.
The carb is flooding a bit and there must be some water or something in the tank as I took it into town and it stopped on the way back a couple of times. Leaving it for a few mins and it started right up and pulled ok. I put a cap of meths in the tank so we will see if that takes the water out.
It has no air filter element at present, so I will have to see if I can find a replacement cheap. It would also explain why it is a bit lean and runs better with teh choke slightly on. The plug could do with a replacement, as it looks a bit cruddy. Plug colour looks ok tho.
Tyres are Cheng Shin front and Inoue rear (ribbed for someone's pleasure), that look like OEM. Neither are very confidence inspiring in the wet... The sidewall cracks don't inspire much confidence either - obviously been sitting on flat tyres for a while, although they seem reasonably airtight.
We shall see how it goes for the work commute Tuesday. It is no ball of fire, about 35kph on the flat, and it dies on the hills. in fact I would say it is so slow it is dangerous in the traffic - I have never been carved up by cars so much, and the acceleration of an arthritic snail doesn't help.

Photos are sitting on the camera, so when I can find out where someone left it...
G

[tri boy]

Your a brave man to commute on one in this day n age.
Fastest FA I can recall riding on the flat, would of been in the 60kph bracket. Std piston etc.
Great to know there are still eccentric humans out there taking the the world on
(don't forget the pics)

[L.B]

I've just bought one of these too... and it sounds like mine runs about as well as yours.
I've done many of the same things as you have and did stuff like remove and clean the fuel and oil tanks as well.
I found some useful tuning info here http://www.geocities.com/artemiswarrior/index.html ......none of which has helped...
Also schematics of carbs etc are here; http://www.powersportspro.com/pages/.../1/Suzuki.aspx

If you manage to get yours going well I'd love to know the secret - I'm nearly ready to toss my toys over the whole idea and buy a bicycle....

[Motu]

I used to look after a fleet of 24 or more rental FA50's,and even had one myself....mine would do 50kph no worries.I did make my own muffler (used a Seagull exhaust as a base) which could be part of it.

I didn't bother with the burnout - loose flakes of carbon would still block the pipes.I used to just cut them in half....burn out each half and weld them back together.The exhaust port also blocks as mentioned.Mason bees love that little stinger - check that anytime it won't start in summer.Biggest problem with the rental bikes was spokes loosening up and breaking in the rear wheel (there is a rider weight limit on these things,but you can't tell a customer they are too damn fat,they might get upset).I used to just deflate the tyre to replace spokes.Those silly footpegs break a lot too,welded heaps of them up.I never had to touch a trans,so they must be pretty tough....just change the drive oil is about it.But lots of kickstarter springs broke...easy to do.Never lost a motor either.

I'd kinda like another one for my 3km commute.

[geoffm]

Here it is - notice all th efeatures usually found on high performance motorcycles - the upside down front forks, the moneshock, single sided swingarm, the "monoposto" single seat, and of course the high performance 2 stroke engine, with roots to Suzuki's racing heritage.

[L.B]

...and there's a few pages from the manual here; http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h3/Rustybikes/FA50/

.....they could be twins....

[geoffm]

Well, I lashed out over 10% of the bikes value, filled the petrol tank, bought a new spark plug, air filter element (didn't have one at all) and a new 6v battery so the indicators flash. It is going better, with over 10% higher top speed - now sits on 39kph on the flat with my 95kg on it. About as good as it is going to get...
The petrol cap was off something else, and the vent hole was to small, so a vacuum formed in the tank, and the bike stopped. Leave it for a bit and it was ok. Took a while to trace that one. I drilled the vent hole bigger and it is all good.
Without the air filter it was lean, and ran a bit better with the choke a bit on. Definitely put an air filter element in if it is missing or fallen apart.
Air filter foam - $12.60
Battery - $18
Plug - $6
Petrol - $3
Been riding it to work this week - so far so good.
Geoff

[L.B]

Mine's going better, it's getting about OK although it's still a bit slow to start when cold.
The biggest problem I have now is that it starts to die when going down hill or if you throttle off a bit - the petrol cap looks original but doesn't have the little rubber insert thing and I'm wondering if I have a similar problem to yours? It stalled coming down a hill today but fired up straight away once I kicked strarted it, I topped up the fuel tank before heading back and it seemed better but still fading slightly.

I've got a new spark plug in it (NGK BP4HS), 98 Octane petrol, and Castrol TTS synthtic 2-stroke oil.
The exhaust and exhaust port have been cleaned, the air filter is in good condition and I've cleaned it (any advice on the sort of oil to use on the filter?)

I don't know how fast it goes as the speedo isn't working (yet).

[geoffm]

Mine's going better, it's getting about OK although it's still a bit slow to start when cold.
The biggest problem I have now is that it starts to die when going down hill or if you throttle off a bit - the petrol cap looks original but doesn't have the little rubber insert thing and I'm wondering if I have a similar problem to yours? It stalled coming down a hill today but fired up straight away once I kicked strarted it, I topped up the fuel tank before heading back and it seemed better but still fading slightly.

I've got a new spark plug in it (NGK BP4HS), 98 Octane petrol, and Castrol TTS synthetic 2-stroke oil.
The exhaust and exhaust port have been cleaned, the air filter is in good condition and I've cleaned it (any advice on the sort of oil to use on the filter?)

I don't know how fast it goes as the speedo isn't working (yet).

Hmm, with the fuel cap blockage it was that it went ok for 2-300m or so, then spluttered to a halt like it was out of gas. Up or downhill doesn't matter. Leave it for a minute or so, and it started ok. I drilled out the vent hole bit by bit until the problem stopped.
One way to check is don't screw the cap on hard and take it for a spin.

Use 91 octane - it is cheaper, and you don't need the 98 additives. It is hardly a high performance engine....
I used some K&N oil in the filter, because I had some. The manual also suggests 30wt engine oil.

Is the carb clean, and air screw and idle set right? Sounds like it is dying on idle when you back off and the carb slide closes?
Geoff

[L.B]

Hmm, with the fuel cap blockage it was that it went ok for 2-300m or so, then spluttered to a halt like it was out of gas. Up or downhill doesn't matter. Leave it for a minute or so, and it started ok. I drilled out the vent hole bit by bit until the problem stopped.
One way to check is don't screw the cap on hard and take it for a spin.

Use 91 octane - it is cheaper, and you don't need the 98 additives. It is hardly a high performance engine....
I used some K&N oil in the filter, because I had some. The manual also suggests 30wt engine oil.

Is the carb clean, and air screw and idle set right? Sounds like it is dying on idle when you back off and the carb slide closes?
Geoff

Thanks for the advice Geoff.
There's petrol coming out the around the cap - so I was thinking the problem has something to do with a vacuum?? I'll try loosening the cap and I'll also tweak the idle some more, I don't know what I'm doing but I'll pull the carb off and clean jets etc.
I've got some 30W oil so I'll put that on the filter, thanks. Do you have a manual? (would be very keen to get my hands on a copy - but not keen enough to buy one on Ebay)

Looking forward to the fuel saving with running 91 instead of 98 - $3.90 to fill with 98!

Took the bike to town this morning (stopped 3 times) but also had two offers to buy it! who would have thought it would be so desirable?

[geoffm]

I don't have a manual. The other links in this thread are all I have found. Haynes do a generic "twist and go" scooter manual, but they want money for it. Similarly, Suzuki will sell you a manual for lots of $$.
The motor looks like it is common to other models but I don't know which ones.

I have to keep a tin of petrol at home for it, as it uses 1/3 of a tank for each return trip to work. Of course with such a small tank, I don't think petrol pumps dispense that little...
The Beemer was pretty economical, but I think this thing will pay for itself in short order. So far so good, although the new battery I bought was faulty out of the box - wouldn't hold a charge.
Geoff

[L.B]

Looked up fuel economy - average seems to be 80MPG = 2.94L per 100km.
($6.23@$1.12)
Sweet!

[Cat101]

Dont forget to scrape out the exhaust port, whip off your exhaust, look up the hole and you will see your piston. Pull down the kick start until the piston dissapears to the bottom and scrape firmly the top (closest to the spark plug) and side walls of the port. Sometimes it looks fine but until you dig in hard with a screw driver you dont realise how restricted it has become. Blow out the crap, put the exhaust back on and brace yourself! Also, put a rubber band around your air cleaner to help it seal, the older ones always leak and surge.