The Puch Magnum

Update - 9/27/2011: Disassembly Part III / Workspace

Another day, another bit of progress. I spent most of my time this evening working on making my part of the garage more… cozy. Although, I was able to get a bit done on the ped. I removed the rest of the ‘stuff’ in the forks / handlebar area, such as the headlight and speedo, as well as the reflectors and all of the wiring up front. 

Currently, the whole bike looks as follows.

As I said, I spent most of the evening organizing my workspace. I put in an old carpet, a fold-out desk, my old computer, and a beach chair. It feels complete.

I guess that’s all for now.

Update - 9/26/2011: Engine Trade / Disassembly Part II

I am happy to announce that my moped is back in my possession! I missed ‘er so much and I couldn’t wait to start working on her again! 

First of all, I said goodbye to my not-so-friendly ZA50 today. He will not be missed very much. I took the engine over to UPS to be shipped all the way to Cali. 

Goodbye, mister ZA50, I wish you the best of luck and I hope someone has a use for you.

Anyways, I was able to disassemble a bit more of the bike tonight. I didn’t get too much done, but I made some progress.

I was able to get both shocks, part of the luggage rack, and the seat off. I was also able to strip everything off of the handlebars. The rest of the luggage rack that is still attached is rusted to all hell around the bolts that hold it to the frame, so that may take some work to get it off. As I said, I wasn’t able to get too much done, but I’m happy with my progress.  

Update - 9/22/2011: Engine Trade

Despite not having the moped in my possession, I am still managing to progress with the project.

For the last few weeks, I have been trying to sell my current two-speed ZA50 engine and purchase a single-speed E50 engine.

The reason being, my ZA50 will cost way too much to fix up and will really challenge me skill-wise. I don’t wanna risk destroying my budget and possibly messing up the engine anymore than it already is.

So, after talking to Jake Perkio and Robby Leuer via Moped Army for a bit, we worked out a deal in which I will be sending them my ZA50 in return for Robby’s 2HP E50. We will most likely be shipping eachother the engines within the week.

I’m happy that I saved some money from my budget and managed to get a running engine. I’m really stoked to get working on my ped again! 

Update - 9/17/2011: A Snag In Progress

I have not worked on my moped in over a month. The reason being, it has not been in my possession for the last month or so. It’s a long story, but basically, my ‘rents thought a good form of punishment was to take my ped, in the middle of the disassembly process, and store it in a ‘friend’s’ garage. Ah, the joys of being a ‘child’. I do hope I get it returned to me soon; Not having my beautiful ped to work on makes me all sad and stuff inside. More to come… hopefully.

Update - 7/29/2011: Disassembly

Today, I started the dis-assembly process on the moped. I’ll keep this short and sweet and tell you guys what I basically did to ‘er today.

Here’s a picture of a day’s worth of work:

As you can see, I got the wheels off, got the wiring detatched, took off the exhaust pipe, and dropped the engine.

Draining the gas:

 Engine dropped:

Also, I took the carb off, just to empty the gas and junk from the float bowl:

As I opened up the float bowl, I expect gas to pour out. Unfortunately, the bowl was bone dry and had this white, flaky substance inside of it:

I asked the MopedArmy forums about the issue and it seems my carb jet is gunked up.

I am making sure it is impossible for me to lose or mix up parts:

 The moped still needs a lot of dis-assembly; the whole handlebar / forks area needs taken apart, the pedals and cranks need taken off, and the rear suspension and rack needs taken off. Dis-assembly sucks at times when you can’t get something to come off right, but it is interesting to find out exactly how this beast works. I just can’t wait to start the cleaning process; It’s my favorite part of any project. I ran into some trouble while dropping the engine; I couldn’t figure out how the bolts that held the engine to the frame came off. I kept unscrewing and unscrewing, but it wouldn’t come off. Eventually, I tried to pull on one of the bolts; It came out with a bit of effort. Turns out, it was just stuck a little. I’m definitely learning to step back if I run into trouble or can’t figure something out, and this project is really testing my patience.

I hope the neighbors don’t hear me swearing like a sailor at the engine bolts…

My 1978 Puch Maxi Sport MKII (In It’s Purchased Condition)

Here is the bike when I first purchased it in July of 2011:

More pictures can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/ANBWv/all

I purchased the bike off of Rob K. of Moped Central in Palmyra, Pennsylvania for $200. Rob is always selling peds; His website can be found here: http://www.mopedcentral.com/ 

When I purchased the bike, it ran but had a lot of engine ‘noise’ and only hit about 25 MPH. I bought the ped, knowing that it was a project and I didn’t need anything running great.

The bike was pretty much stock when I purchased it, running on a ZA50 two-speed automatic 1.5HP engine and a stock 14mm Bing carburetor

The main things wrong with it’s current ZA50 engine is the engine noise, due to piston and bearings, as well as the clutch slipping.

I would tell you guys everything I will be doing to the bike, but it varies from time to time. Basically, I will be tearing apart the bike and absolutely everything on the bike, cleaning every single part on it, as well as replacing a lot of parts and rebuilding everything.

Introduction

Hello, readers and fellow moped-ers alike! My name is Jonah Stahl and during our time together, I will be taking you through the process of restoring / building my 1978 Puch Maxi Sport MKII. My deadline for the project is September of 2012, when I am able get my driver’s license. My budget for the project is somewhere between $500 and $800, but it will change from time to time. I will be updating very often with pictures and descriptions of what in the world I am doing with this beautiful machine. I hope you enjoy following my progress to make this crusty bike a lovely, ripping machine. Also, as you read, I will be referring to my moped as ‘she’, ‘bike’, ‘ped’, and sometimes, ‘Charlene’. Thank you.