Sandblast Cabinet

A need for my sandblast cabinet resurfaced while I was working on my Puch No. 5 bike.   I wanted to paint a set of star rims I purchase a while back.  I didn't what to spend the effort to paint strip and sand these rims.  I made a blast cabinet using an old electrical utility cabinet that I got for free.  It worked when I used it to blast the frame of my Autisa Puch Maxi.  The cabinet has been in storage for the past five years.  I figured its a good time to unpack it and make some improvements.

Puch No. 5 Update

Started to work on Puch No. 5 power plant.  It's the ZA50 setup that I was blasting all of Japan with.  Check out some of my Japan adventures here.  Did the initial tear down to assess the damages:

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for:

Powerdynamo Woes

I destroyed my Powerdynamo magneto a couple of months ago while riding. Not sure what happened. Three magnets came off and got crumbled. I suspect either my magneto go so hot that it melted the magnet's adhesion (unlikely) or for some reason my crack tolerances were off that caused the magneto to spin off centered and clip the magnets onto the ignition (more likely). In either case, it got f#cked!!


3 magnets missing

Formally 3 magnets

Feeding The Addiction

More, more, more!!!  More parts to feed my addiction. Lots of maxi swing arms. If you need some, I got some.

Speed Run 3 74/74 club 77.6 mph

Re-posting this from Moped Army cause I like it!!

Autisa Puch Near Complete

Switched out the white walls with stars. Installed pedals. Just the front turn signals left to do:

Japan Street Fighter Update

Decided to go the rat rod route with my Japan Street Fighter:

Honda Elite Japan Parts Update

A few fit up pictures of the parts I brought back from Japan for my Elite.

Puch No. 5

Finally got to my final bike. My FIFTH Puch out of seven total mopeds!! It's a Pinto I scored of Moped Army Buy & Sell forums while I was in Japan. I didn't have my garage back then so I wrapped it up until I returned home to Hawaii. Now its time to unwrapped it!!...

Finally It's Autisa Time

70cc Autisa Kit

After 20+ years in the Puch game, I can finally build a Puch 70cc Autisa set up to call my own. Back in the early 90s when I got into this Puch business, kits were very hard to come by in Hawaii. Either they were all gone, too expensive for a high school kid to afford, or people who had them were reluctant to give them up. Even today, the people who have them still don't want to part ways with their beloved kits. I remember it was one of two kits (the other being the 65cc Zeta kit) that I knew of. I rode several Puchs with this kit on. And I remember them as being super fast and fun.

For the sake of nostalgia, I set out to build my first Puch Autisa kitted bike...

A Homage To The Old School

This is a homage to the old school. An introduction to the newbies on how to tune the old school way. Proof that you don't need big bore kits or fancy pipes to go fast. All you need is some 50cc stock parts and a whole lot of two-stroke know how.

ZA50 Big Port Metra Kit Redux

Before I left for Japan, I was in the middle of building my black Magnum. I built a ZA50 big port MetraKit for it. But in the rush of moving, I just slapped this motor together in order to mount it on the bike for storage. I never ran it. It sat at my wife's grandmother's house for the past 5 years. Now I can correct some of the mistakes I made. This is the Redux of my ZA50 Big Port MetraKit for my Magnum...

Giant!! But it wants more!!

Puch Green Machine Maxi

Short video of my cousins Green Machine Maxi prior to installing his new 1977 clutch:

Here is the sound of the new clutch:

Soma Rides Again

Our resident Japan rider Soma-san is back at it again. He and his MB5 counter culture continues there meet  this past weekend.  Their last meet was cut short due to a typhoon. He set out for his 100+ mile journey to their meeting spot. Let's join the adventure...

Shelved

Here Lies My Gila ZA50...

SHELVED!!!  The Gila ZA50 set up I used to blast around Japan is currently on the shelf in way of more exciting projects for my bikes. I can't believe THIS motor is my least interesting project right now. I will eventually put it on my FIFTH bike. Probably strip it down and rebuild it first. For now, it will remain in slumber...

Specs:
Puch ZA50

Gilardoni 75cc cylinder

MetraKit head
V Force 8 petal reeds

Tecno Estoril exhaust

Mikuni TM24 Carburetor

Moped Junkyard

Pics of my cousin's place. There are tons of good parts and bikes that his brother-in-law them left. Those stuff are deteriorating fast. What a shame. They used to have some of the best bikes out in Hawaii. Hopefully they will let me buy them out in the near future so I can save what's left. Currently they are reluctant to sell. S.O.P....SAVE OUR PUCHS!!

Puchshop.de

I recently shot an email to the guys at Puchshop.de inquiring about the price of shipping to the United States, in particular Hawaii. To my suprise, they responded really quick. Chris, at Puchshop said they do but the cost is rather expensive. If you visited their site, you probably saw a build on the blog section of that track bike with a custom body kit. Really awesome build! So I asked if they were going to update their blog anytime soon. He said no because they prefer using facebook. But he sent me links of three bikes they built. It's on puchforums.nl site. You gonna need a login and password to view it. Get an account beacause these builds are worth seeing:

Build 1

Build 2

Build 3

So I asked what set ups are they running. He responded with:

We are running all 50cc; mostly the Athena AJH and non reed Athena 50cc tuned to the max.

For example:
50cc AJH cilinder, 19mm Polini CP carb., Rito crank, PVL ignition, PSR Homoet P6 exhaust, PSR cilinder head with O-Ring, HK clutch, all tuned and matched to the max.
Speed 72kmh with 13-48 sprockets at 14.000 rpm:-)

50cc @ 14,000 RPM!!! Damn!!!

Just Another Puch E50 Dio Polini (Part 4: Finishing Up)

In Part 3, I showed my transmission mods. In Part 4, I'll be putting it all together. I won't get into the how to's of putting an E50 back together because there are tons of tutorials on this subject. Check out this one from the Moped Army Wiki site. Here's a cool one I tumbled upon.

Just Another Puch E50 Dio Polini (Part 3: Transmission Work)

In Part 1 and Part 2 I did the port work on the top and bottom ends. In Part 3, I will be showing work on the transmission:

Just Another Puch E50 Dio Polini (Part 2: Intake And Exhaust Matching)

In Part 1, I matched the Polini cylinder to the case.  In Part 2, I will show how I matched the cylinder's intake and exhaust ports with the intake manifold and exhaust header.


PART 2:  INTAKE AND EXHAUST MATCHING

Just Another Puch E50 Dio Polini (Part 1: Case Matching)

(** NOTE: I started this project while I was in Japan and finishing it up in Hawaii. Hence the changes in scenery, geographical references, and available tools. If you were wondering **)

The moped I brought up to Japan came with an E50 Polini set up on it.  It was the first E50 I put together since I got into the Puch game over 15 years ago.  It ran pretty well with the basic match porting, stock 3 shoe clutch, stock points, Rito crank, 15mm Bing, 28mm header pipe, Magnum gutted exhaust, and 15x40 gearing.  It was probably going around at least 45mph.  It felt very safe and reliable.  But right after arriving to Japan, I wrenched it off and imported one of my ZA50s.  What can I say, I'm a ZA50 guy through and through.

Since I had the E50 lying around, I wanted to see if I can build this E50 to its maximum potential.  I already had the Polini kit so I decided to try my hand at building a Dio Polini set up.  I know its been done before with lots of information out there (i.e Magnum Dash).  But I feel I might be able to add something into the mix.

Build Up - Tear down

Too many bikes. Too little time. Various project stages. 

Soma Still Go Go Going . . .

Konnichiwa B!tches!!

Soma adventures continue.  His annual Honda MB5 meet at Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan happened this weekend. This guys travel from all over Japan as far as 1000 miles away just to meet up for this annual event. That is hardcore!!  Check some of the action.

Aloha from Hawaii

Moped Luau would like to officially welcome all of you to Hawaii!!

Sayonara Japan

Sayonara 日本 . . .  (; o ;)

After five years two-strokin' the right-hand streets of Japan, Moped Luau is finally moving back to the mother-island of Hawaii.  It's been great reppin' Puch mopeds in this country.  I probably was the only on in the country with one!!!  Thanks to everyone who supported Moped Luau in Japan.  Especially my fellow two-stroke head Soma-san.  We carved up that Miyagase run pretty hard.  Soma-san will continue to support this blog with his two-stroke adventures on his Honda MB5 and Yamaha RZR.  Be sure to continue to check out his Corner on this blog.  Although Moped Luau was conceived and created in Japan, Hawaii is where it belongs.  Getting back my garage at full force, I can finally show the community what Puch building Hawaiian style is all about.  Stay tune...

To Japan:

ドウゾよろしくお願い

ONZ Onz ONZ Onz

From:

Nippon: Final Round

Last Street Fighter blasting in Japan with Soma-san.  Enjoy...

30th Anniversary Yamaha RZ-R Meet

Resident JP-Stroker Soma-san goes to Yamaha headquarters in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan for the 30th Anniversary of their 250cc two-stroke Yamaha RZ-R.  They even made the magazine!!  Enjoy some pics:

Score: Puch Maxi

A stock looking Puch Maxi found abandoned at his friends apartment building.  A good score for new Puch enthusiast Ken from Hawaii.  Chee Hoo!!

With star rims!!  Score!!!

Old School Soma Crew

Here's a couple of pics of Soma's MB5 crew back in the day:

Tokyo Motor Show 2014

The Tokyo Motor Show 2014 was this past weekend.  Not just for cars, it also showcases two wheeled vehicles too.  Pictures courtesy of our resident Japanese guy Soma-san:

The New Shop

Not quite there yet as when I left it...

I need power!!

Soma Made the Mag!!

Soma-san's RZ made it into a magazine.  Check it out:

How To Build A Cafe Racer?

I stumbled on this article on "How To Build A Cafe Racer" from a motorcycle website.  Take it with a grain of salt.

Alert: Buyer Beware

I recently bought a ZA50 from Moped Army's Buy and Sell forums.  The seller claimed: "...I did seen it run and move across the garage right when the bike came in..."  You be the judge:

BIG CHANGES ON THE HORIZON

Been super busy after the new year and unable to post anything of significance.  I got some winter projects on hold cause there are gonna be big changes to Moped Luau in the near future.  Stay tuned....

"Mama I'm coming home!!!"

Motomatic Represent

Another kick ass creation from the guys at Motomatic Mopeds: