2005 Yamaha BWS (#2): Strip Down & Rear Lighting

Nadia's scooter (pictured above), just doesn't have the pep it once had. It's a 2005 Yamaha Zuma (YM50, same as mine) with the stock 50cc engine still in it. While it's been a great learner scooter, the 50cc engine just isn't giving the same power it once was (Nadia's words, not mine). With those words in mind, I felt it was time to give this scooter a little power increase and slight beauty makeover. 

Since I've already detailed much of the transformations I'm planning on doing with this scooter on my scooter, I'll dispense with the extensive write up, and proceed straight to the pictures.

(minor cracks to the fairing, and scratches will be addressed)

(passenger foot rest damaged)

(not visible, but rack bolts sheered)

(Turn signals to be integrated with tail light, license plate area to be shaved down)


Disassembly

(Sheered screw holder on the inside of fairing) 

(used JB Plastic Weld to re-secure the fastener area, worked quite well)

  Rear Lights

(Marked out where the LEDS would mount)

(same as above picture, but other side)

(Hole drilled out)

(LED's mounted)

(Rear lights completed)

2005 Yamaha BWS: Update. Finished

Finally, my 2005 Yamaha BWS is running insured, and on the road!

I would have loved to document more of the engine overhaul, however this website wasn't co-operating during the rebuild, and I didn't document anything. 

Cosmetically you can see the difference from a stock 2005 BWS (Blue), to my mine. The rear fender has been hacked, front fender removed, wheels pasti-dipped, and all the fairings painted and polished to match original color, and the addition of front LED side markers.

Engine upgrades included a 70cc big block kit (Airsal), 17mm Arreche carburetor (upjetted), Doppler intake, Malossi reeds & cage, aftermarket air filter. Everything went together rather smoothly, with the exception of the Doppler intake which seemed to push the carburetor out of position. With the Doppler intake I could no longer use the stock air box as it would not line up properly. I had no choice but to replace the stock air box with an aftermarket air filter.

On the exhaust side the Doppler pipe I ordered, specifically for this build, didn't fit. I had to substitute a Leo Vince.

In the transmission I replaced the rollers with the Doppler ones that were packaged with the aftermarket pipe. I installed a Malossi delta clutch and Malossi torque spring.

While it's not my fastest build, it easily keeps up to city traffic, and is much smoother.

My take away from doing this build, is DO NOT BUY DOPPLER PARTS!!!!

Stick with brands like Stage6, Malossi, and Athena when possible.

2005 Yamaha BWS: Taillight & Turn Signals

Following up on the documenting of my front fairing mods, this entry brings you my modifications to the rear taillight and turn signal indicators. I was hoping to replicate something similar to the photo below, which sell at scootertuning.ca for $79.99 (CAD).

After removing the plastic license plate light housing, and the plastic mud flap I was left with something that was starting to look more like my end goal.

The North American YW50 (BWS 50/Zuma 50) does not come with integrated turn signals in the taillight, like it's siblings sold in Europe and Japan. Dismantling the taillight assembly revealed that while it was possible to recreate the European/Japanese integrated turning signals, there was no factory installed wiring. 

As you can clearly see in the above image, the previous owner of my scooter had already integrated lights into the taillight assembly, however they were merely white LED that worked in unison with the brake light.

Seeing as I had unused amber .75" LED turn signal indicators left over from my fairing build, I decided to use them here in replacing the existing white LED lights. This was a simple process of drilling out a .75" hole and pushing the LED through its grommet, which held it in place.

I ordered third party amber turn signal lens from EBay, that would replace the stock red lenses. 

The stock taillight assembly came with a reflector located just below the taillight, which I replaced with a red LED reflector which was also sourced from EBay. The LED reflector was wired into the existing harness to provide a constant low intensity light when riding (for visibility), and a high intensity light when the brakes were applied.

Before I assembled everything, I gave all the exposed lens a good cleaning and sprayed them all with VHT nightshade, to give them all a smoked look. Here is what my finished taillight assembly looks like.

I also added a LED license plate light, which I don't really like, but it will have to do until I find something I like better. You can see how much shorter the newly modified taillight assembly is as the gas drain hose ran the whole distance of the stock taillight assembly.

Hope you enjoyed this update, if you have any questions make comments or send me an email.

2005 Yamaha BWS: Front Fairing

It's been over a year since I've posted an update about my 2005 Yamaha BWS rebuild. 

(image stolen from www, might have been my scooter)

My build is nothing like reality TV, where customized rebuilds are completed in weeks. There are many factors that have resulted in my build posts to taking so long, the most serious issue has been my inability to post to BLOGGER (which has been documented before). Other factors, like the cold weather, a cold workshop, postal shipping delays, and the whole trial and error process have added to this lengthy build. Finally there are all the problems I've been plagued with during this build. It's also a bit surprising that, parts for this model of scooter are harder to find, considering that it's a newer model.

Now on to the actual build...

(not my fairing, image stolen from Ebay)

One of the ugliest things about the North American YW50, is the hideous reflector on the front fairing. My goal from day one was to remove this reflector and add either LED  side markers or LED turn signals (haven't decided yet). In my opinion, while reflectors do an average job of making the scooter visible to other drivers, lights are better, and LED lights are even better than that, plus they're really inexpensive, and draw less electrical load. 

Problem #1: My original goal was to remove the reflector and merely substitute in .75" LED penny lights. However, removing the reflector revealed multiple mounting holes in the fairing. To avoid seeing these holes in the fairing, they would need to be filled prior to securing the LED lights. I used a technique called plastic welding, where the surrounding area of the fairing is melted, with a solder iron, and new plastic is melted in and added to fill the holes. Seeing as I was already committed to this process, I also decided to fill some fairing cracks graciously provided, free of charge, from the previous owner. After building up the area with plastic, it was sanded down to its original shape. ** When possible use tape on the finish side to achieve a smoother surface, with rough work on the other side of the fairing (hope that makes sense).

Problem#2: Some of the original plastic parts on my YW50 had a textured surface, the fairing being one of them. After the plastic welding process, and the subsequent sanding, the original textured surface had been lost. Sanding down the whole fairing just wasn't an option, so I attempted to recreate the textured surface using RUST-OLEUM's Hammered textured spray paint.

(Here is a picture of the fairing after it had been plastic welded, sanded, and finally painted.)

Problem #3: While the RUST-OLEUM Hammed texture paint did a great job of recreating the texture surface on the fairing, it wasn't the right color.

As you can clearly see from the above photo, the paint can color indicator lid is black, yet my painted fairing is grey/charcoal. As you can image I was pretty upset, which was only made worse by RUST-OLEUM's refusal to admit fault. Instead, after ongoing correspondence they eventually awarded me a refund. Fortunately for me, I was able to correct this, by painting over the fairing with a standard black rattle can paint. ** Note: In the past I've experience issues trying to use different paints on top of each other, with sanding being the only final option, something the refund wouldn't cover. I really liked that I could paint over the hammered textured paint, I might use this process in the future. **

Oh RUST-OLEUM, its a complicated relationships between us.

Problem #4: After waiting weeks for my .75" LED amber lights to arrive, I painted them using VHT nightshade paint to give them a smoked look. I drilled new holes in my fairing and inserted the LED lights, only to realize that the curvature of the fairing caused the LED lights to not sit properly. While I could probably get away with using some silicone to fill the uneven gaps, I just know I would never be satisfied with this look. My solution was to order 1.25" LED amber lights, and hope that they will fit the fairings curvature better.

After several more weeks the new LED lights arrived, and once again I used VHT nightshade to give the lights a smoked look. I used a Dremel tool to widen the .75" hole until it snuggley fit the 1.25" lights. 

While I really liked the size and shape of the .75" lights, the 1.25" lights fit so much better. Overall I'm pleased how the front fairing turned out, and I'm leaning on making these lights side markers that are only on at night.