The Rezistor - a little progress

At this point I have all the major electrical components for the drivetrain: motor, controller, batteries, contactor, and throttle. I also have two 12V voltage converters for lights, horn, and other stuff, and four LED bulbs (replacements for low-voltage halogen bulbs, actually) that I'm going to put behind the old headlight lens. Not DOT-certified, to be sure, but should be the equivalent of at least 40W to 60W incandescent. I think the original bulb was only 15W anyway.

I pulled off the headset and disassembled it - it was filthy with grease and dirt. The last person who painted it didn't do a great job of cleaning beforehand, so some of the paint just flakes off, exposing a layer of greasy dirt. The moving parts of the headset for the throttle and gearshift I won't need, of course, so I'll have those welded fast after I clean everything. The throttle bar was just a little too big for the Magura throttle, so I had to saw off a piece of old mountain bike handlebar to make a new one, and that will need to be welded in place. I broke two screw extractors trying to get out one of the brake lever bolts, which was stuck in place with either rust, paint, or both, and ended up spending quite a bit of time drilling the thing out. I had to basically do the same with the footbrake assembly.

The big job of building the swingarm and motor mount is still ahead. I hadn't been able to find an old motor case yet, so I was expecting to have to build a swingarm from scratch. I went Ptown, the local scooter shop, and bought an old Vespa axle that fits my rear hub. They pointed me to McGuire Bearing, a local shop that was able to sell me some bearings that fit the axle. Then I built a mock-up of the swingarm using pieces of 2x4, to get an idea of where the axle would need to be and where the swingarm would attach to the rear shock and frame.

I propped up the motor in the location I think it will go, just to see what it will look like.

Then last week a guy from a scooter shop in Colorado calls in response to the ad I put in the Scoot.net classifieds. He said he has an old smallframe engine case he can sell me! I think this could possibly save me some work: the mounting locations for the hub and the attachment points to the shock and frame are already in place, so all I need to do is figure out how to attach the motor. That is, after I cut off all the bits related to the now-unneeded two-stroke engine.

So now I'm waiting for that to arrive, and building the swingarm is basically on hold until I can see how it fits with the parts I already have. Then I'll have to find some sprockets and a chain or belt and cogs that fit the motor and axle - I'll probably head back to the place that sold me the bearings and see what they have.