Exhaust part I. Removal & fitting (performance exhaust).

Right, time to fit our performance exhaust. I will add before we start, that I thought there was a blow from a small hole or crack in the bottom of the back box of the current exhaust (my reason for purchasing the new exhaust sooner than intended), only to find on removal that there was one but a purposely drilled or pressed one that was supposed to be there. That's how the original one is made, which is odd. Maybe it adds to a nicer sound, who knows? But if you find one it's actually meant to be there.


The new exhaust seems decent enough, as we know it's stainless steel, so it's not going to rot away like the standard exhausts do eventually. It's not much more than the standard ones either, so it will more than pay for itself between 12-24 months. Like I mentioned before, that actual performance element of it is yet to be seen by myself.

The Lextek performance exhaust kit is the one we are going to use here. There are other back boxes, short & carbon tip etc but you would have to buy the downpipe & gasket separately. This long type included in the kit was the one I preferred anyway.

 We need to remove the bottom half of the fairing to be able to get at where we need to work before we do anything. Just a screw at bottom either side and two attaching to the top fairing.

When removing the original exhaust system at the cylinder head the main down pipe is quite wide, which stops us from using our preferred ratchet on the one side of the two bolts (once more I couldn't get it in). You will have to make do with a (12 mm) spanner for that one along with tedious 2 inch turns to get it undone I'm afraid. The second bolt can be removed with our ratchet with extension attached after removing the plastic grate above it (fake radiator? It's an air cooled engine), shown in the pic (four screws each corner). For which you will need the same ratchet set up & 10mm socket. If all you have is a set of spanners, you'll need to take the side panels off fully to get at these bolts.

You will want to keep hold of these bolts as there are no new ones included in the new exhaust kit.

At the underside there's another bolt holding the mid section of the down pipe to the chassis, this of course will also need to be removed.

All that's left then is the bolt on the rear foot peg rest bolting the back box to the chassis and the exhaust system should just come away.

Included in the kit is a new gasket (a gold copper ring) which goes in first where the exhaust downpipe connects at the cylinder tead. It's always recommended that you change this at the same time and seeing as there's a new one in the kit you may as well. You can prise this out with a flat head screw driver but first...

I know it's not as quite a big deal as a head gasket for example but, if you wish to continue to use the one that's already in there then that's your decision, on your head be it! The gaskets do crush down under the torque of the bolts for a good fit to / around the actual connection and that ones been crushed to the last pipe.
HOWEVER!!! The first time around we are going to leave the 'original one in' as this is an initial test fitting and we won't crush down on our new one yet. With car back boxes I've come to realise that through experience, even if one is for a particular model, it doesn't always seem to line up exactly as we expect it would straight off the bat.

Tighten the bolts as tight as possible, even now we don't want no play / wobble to test. This time the pipe is thinner and we can get our socket on both sides.

Again we have to secure the down pipe to the chassis underside point using the same bolt as before.

Don't forget to slide the connecting jubilee clip over the down pipe, we're not going to secure this now, just inter lock the pipe & back box securley but, it's there just in case we forget later on.
Put the connecting bracket on the back box & slide it onto the downpipe then secure it to the foot peg rest.

Now checking alignment just as predicted it doesn't line up exactly as wanted!! It's a bit too close to the swing arm, up against it in fact. The swing arm needs to move up and down freely.
So we need some spacers on the footpeg rest connecting bolt, to space it slightly away from the swing arm.

If I had access to a lathe I could have turned a spacer to an exact size from steel, brass or even nylon. Can you get to use a lathe? It might be a good idea. As it is you'll have to use a collection of good old washers as a spacer here. Or the method I used.

There was no washers of a great amount in my possession, however I did have some nuts and bolts the same size thread but longer. Using these and the few washers that I had, I devised a way of spacing the back box away from the swingarm by using a series of nuts. *I'll edit a picture of this in later. Remember, the swing arm needs to move up and down freely.

Once this has been done the thing to do is disassemble, put the new gasket in and reassemble again. Done.

When tightening the jubilee clip on the exhaust the screw is quite long and again comes close to the swing arm, I would arrange it so it doesn't impede it.

A closer look at the spacer method I used:

 Nut 1 locks right to tighten / close the strap. Nut 2 is tightened left towards the bracket. With each turn towards it the gap between the back box & swing arm is widened. Finish up by locking it in place by a nut on the opposite side (3). Each nut is joined by a washer.

The gap:

There's now a wide enough gap between the back box and the swing arm.

Fuel Filter, yes or no?

Another basic thing to do is to install a fuel filter on the main fuel line / hose into the carburetor.

They are not fitted as standard and they remove all the little nasties from the fuel which will find it's way into your carburetor & engine and build up and accumulate over time.

I fitted an inline fuel filter to the fuel hose but have since noticed a problem with the running of the engine. Fuel is getting to the carb for it to be able start, however it's cutting out indicating that it is disrupting the regular flow of the fuel since being fitted. It looks as though another hose will have to be bought and fitted without a filter once again to resume normal function. And the fitting of an fuel filter isn't perhaps a good idea with this bike.

If you do wish to try fitting an inline fuel filter you can follow the following:

Wait until the tank is pretty much empty other wise you will have to drain it out before hand.

The fuel line itself is the hose indicated in the below picture. The other hoses, one is a breather and the other a vacuum hose.

With a flash of inspiration I used a g-clamp to clamp the hose shut near the tank and make sure that no fuel could flow out. The hose obviously then needs to be cut in half.

Check the flow direction / correct orientation of the filter, which should be labelled with an arrow.

You will need to make sure that the hose is securely attached to the filter ends. The wire clips availabe don't seem to be that tight, so I would recommend using a micro tie wrap / zip tie pulled tight with pliers. You could even double up if you wish to.

However, as mentioned before, It didn't seem to be such a good idea with this bike. Fuel flow disruption seems to be too much of a problem.
There are some round looking ones (filters), also plastic available from the online spares site for the bike but they are pretty much the same thing, just a different shape.

The problems experienced are definitely a direct result of adding the filter to the hose. It's likely that the pump is strong enough on this bike to supply fuel to the carb at a steady rate as it was but not through the filter when also added to the mix. Maybe the filter used here added more resistance than others available? I'm not sure but, the answer for me here is to revert back to a straight through hose to get things running as they were again. I don't think I will try with another filter.

CDI woes

Yet again the new CDI seemed to be a let down for some reason? It must be a difference with the XTR being the likey model reference with the Kaisars & Skyjets and the XTRS is obviously different in this regard.

The model which looked more like a standard CDI unit than the others & was plastic as opposed to the usual anodised aluminium was a KCHUNG D406. The unit did not work with the bike. In fact it was very small compared to the original, because of this I deemed the unit to be an AC device.
Having deemed the XTRS to be DC I removed the D406 just in case it got smoked!

The XTR is obviously based on AC & the XTRS is based on DC technology. Seeing as this is a model used on the variants of the Lexmoto but it doesn't work here on the XTRS, that seems logical.

So, I'll pass for now on the CDI front. I'll have to frequent a few forums & phone around, there has to be a solution somewhere. Even if it has been down to the engine being FMI156-2 (cam). It's running on an original CDI they have come up with and has been on the market since 2011, so there should be something around by now somewhere.

This blog has been written to share with other users of the bike so my pit falls won't be yours obviously, if you don't own one of the bikes your obviously just nosey, which is fine.

So, we've deemed it's firing on an 'DC' system as:
AC Kchung D406 &
AC NEW Racing CDI both don't work.

Also:
The DC Casoli Moto CDI doesn't work with the bike.

A few bits & pieces also arrived. The 115 size jet and some fuel filters, to give me something else to do. The fuel filters being quite important, actually I'll cover that bit next.

Rear indicators

I know I said I was willing to leave the rear indicators until one of the bulbs went before changing them (which is sensible to fair), with a free Saturday afternoon & the sake of just only £2.49 for a pair of longer type l.e.d jobs, I'm not that tight. So to heck with it may as well get them done.

It's not as straight forward as when changing out the front indicators which just involved plugging in the correct wires in the bullet type connectors & securing them to the fairing with the supplied nut. There was a bit more work involved than I was hoping.

This time around your going to need a bit of basic electrical knowledge.
After unscrewing the indicators you will need to physically cut them off the wires!

Now although it's your basic two wire +- polarity situation, this is the case with my new indicators; with the basic black - and red + wires on the indicators it's not the case with the wires coming off the bike. I think there was a green and even an orange somewhere. And they were completely different colours on the other side. Now of course one's still positive & the other negative, you will just have to find which out by setting the indicators off on the bike and touching the wires to test. You will have to also cut any bullet connectors off the new indicators as they're useless, unless you want to put some female ones on the bikes wires, if you have some to hand? Although I doubt you do. It's pretty low voltage so you don't need to worry about hurting yourself or toasting that unruly Alsatian (or whatever) you have around you.

Once you've got which two wires need to be connected you need to twist them together and solder them. Before you do this make sure you pull the bikes wires out of the hole and attach the indicator fixing nut & thread it back through again otherwise you will have to undo it all and start over.

I'm using a soldering gun here just because it heats up quickly but you can use a basic iron.

Basic wire joining. Now for those that really don't know their arse from their elbow, both separate wires need to be covered so they don't short, you can't just cover it up as it is with tape. I'm using basic insulating electrical tape.

Now, it would've been nice to have some of those heatshrink sleeves to shrink over the top with a heat gun and then it looks all nice etc but I didn't have any.
Anyway not a big deal, I just used more electrical tape and did it the old fashioned way now, straight over the top and pulled it back through to under the seat. This depends on the length of the wires on your new indicators, your join may be outside if they've got short wires.

I personally like to add two tiny cable ties to the ends of the tape just to make sure the tape never unravels overtime (the glue on the tape can go funny in the heat and can come un-done) and I really don't have to worry about it again. Cut the ends off the ties of course and organize the cable nicely. And everything should be ready to go once you've fixed the indicators on by tightening the nuts, not too much pressure or you will crack the plastic.

& that's that, a bit of work but no more changing indicator bulbs again for the sake of pocket change. I have not had to change the flasher relay for one designed specifically to make L.E.D indicators flash here, they work fine both front and back. Some L.E.D indicators stay on, lighted solid & don't flash with some motorcycles, if this is the case you will need to buy a separate relay to make them flash.

Just WTF is it?

Well, the AC CDI unit arrived and that didn't work either! So just what the bloody heck is it, DC or AC?

Actually the fact that neither one of them worked is odd because it definitely is one or the other.

I would then revert back to the like mind that it's a DC system, even though obviously 'you can' get a six pin AC as well as DC unit, So that's BAD advice as to an indicator of one or the other. Which is one of the things they tell you to look for.

What makes it more interesting is the fact that a trawl through You Tube will reveal both these CDI units working on there respective cg 125 / 156fmi versions (but not this bike or it's other versions).  Totally bizarre.

*edit:

* I've since come to realise that this may be a thing to do with the fact the engine is a modded OHC version of the 156 /157 fmi clone instead of an OHV version?

So, really odd ball and back to the original one for now. I opted to try for the one designed for the Kaisar and Skyjet (the name badge of the bike being the only difference, model no's. the same) from Taipei scooter assassins. Along with a 115 size main jet they stock for later on.

That's as far as I'm going to go on the CDI front, if this one doesn't work I'll leave it alone for now. That's the main limiting factor though, no point changing jets etc then as the bike will be limited by the old CDI in anycase. Although it will add a little ummph it won't take it any further than it's already restricted.

As for the bike, I think something needs doing with this bottom fairing, it either needs to be wrapped black carbon to match the top half or gold carbon to add balance:

A few odds and sods

First up, since my post on regarding the air filter and concern about it getting splashed and clogged with muddy water, hence my fix with the old airbox. As if by magic the same filters have now appeared for sale with the plastic shielding around them:

It won't be a concern for me but you may wish to get one out these instead maybe? Up to you.

The cdi situation.

Well first up, that's another DC Cassoli unit marked as for cg 125 / fmi156 that DOESN'T work on the bike.

So it looks as though I got told duff info and the bike runs on an AC system after all! An AC CDI unit is on route.

Just to rub it in I found a site called 'Taipei Scooter Assassins' (Google), which also stock tuning parts for motorcycles do stock a cdi unit that definitely works with the bike (under the Kaisar & Skyjet variants), so either way I'll find one that works but hopefully the one on route should be fine.

They also stock the different carb main jets sizes, which I touched on earlier, so will be worth delving there for those later on. Although as an engineer (engineer not a mechanic, there's a difference) I know full well I could just drill out the hole in the existing jet to the same effect but, it's good to know you have one to revert to that works should a bigger size send things awry.

If you can't get hold of different size jets though, you can just by another spare part original size jet and drill it out!

They claim on the site that they took an slower ohv engine version of the bike (from it's model no) from 68 mph to around 82 mph by changing jets, air filter, and cdi unit. Sounds kind of promising and there's no mention of adding a new exhaust system or even bigger carb itself.

The carb itself 'Shengway' a clone of a Mikuni style carb seemed to have only 1 screw for adjustment a combination air / fuel mix I would assume. This was adjusted to get it running / ticking over better at around two & half thousand revs. After this there is no bogging down when suddenly twisting the throttle right back. It's all a ok.

Since a new Shengway carb itself is cheap for the bike, even cheaper off a breaker on Ebay, if you were thinking about changing the jets I would buy an complete new carb and change the jets on that one. Then, that way you have a complete system you know that works previously just to bolt back on, if you cock it up. If you were thinking of changing the carb out for a bigger one or an actual Mikuni etc then that would be the time.

On another note, I noticed a gearing sprockets / chain upgrade kit for the bikes on another website that not only improves top end but fuel economy as well. That will obviously impact acceleration in a trade off for top end as that's just how things work when it comes to gearing. The 1st gear really is just to get things moving as it is, if it can add more to that it would be good but, it's how it is across the range that counts.

Will it effect the 'just around town / city' nippy performance too much or not affect it really that much at all? It could be that our other tuning might mean it helps there meaning it's not a problem, If it's minimal then it would be worth it just to have a tank of petrol last longer and to have more overtaking speed available in lew around 55 mph. You know your not going to have to worry getting into trouble trying to overtake something at that speed as there's plenty left.

Then again, if other tuning takes it well past that 70 mph legal barrier we have (80 to 90mph) already then do we need to bother? Something to leave till later on.

The exhaust on this is still fairly new, so I want to get the money's worth out of it before swapping it out. Though swapping it out for a performance system that's stainless steel is at some point a no brainer, if just for the fact it won't rust away & need to be replaced is the main reason. Just how much extra performance from one though is questionable?

Another little tit bit is the rear shock, it's ok but does have a low ride height, which I suppose is great for the 17 - 18 yr olds and is still ok with people like me on it but, it can be swapped out for an original Honda CBR rear shock. This apparently gives it a higher ride height. Some say a better handling, again not quite sure about that at the moment? Worth picking one up in good condition from an eBay breaker for pence. I'll have it fitted when the rear tire needs changing, since the guy will have the rear wheel off anyway, seems logical no matter how easy a swap. I can manage with the one that's on for now.

A problem with bikes is that you can tend to get a bit of a rash where you put your legs down the sides (sounds bad doesn't it!). On the bike of course! Scratches from metal lace loops etc brushing down the panels.

I decided to smarten these 2 small panels and add to the black and gold balance by wrapping them either side.

Bear in mind this is one big panel all the way to the back so I had to use a knife to part it off carefully so it looks like two separate pieces:

Both side panels (Larry & Lenny) were finshed ready to be added back on:

Aesthetics Part II

Well, as we know from the previous post I put some gold carbon fiber vinyl wrap on the petrol tank's trim:

Note the 'Don't drive after drinking wine' on the tank's label. No other mention of any other alcoholic beverage, that always makes me laugh. Middle class 'winos' are well and truly stuffed!  

Although it wasn't something easy to wrap, to balance the gold bit out I wrapped the rear grab rail. Not perfect, a few bubbles that won't go, probably better doing something like this in three parts, top and then the sides. I could do it again if I wish to but it's good enough, It will likely be swapped out for a storage box most of the time anyway:

Before:

After:

  

I removed the main side fairing panel to add to this (the other side will be mirrored to match of course).

Every body's going the matte black vinyl approach or the shiny gold when it comes to the wrap these days (mainly on cars). So that's why I decided on trusty carbon. & since 98% of the bike is black, black carbon on the fairing, with a gold logo / design of my choosing to balance it out.

Matt black wouldn't of worked with the rest of the bike gloss! Also carbon works in this way like on a car bonnet with the rest of the car black. And I also won't need to change it's colour on the log book! Wrapping the whole bike carbon at this stage just seems a bit ott, like some wide boy & his '96 Vauxhall Corsa maybe? So I won't.

First up what logo / design should I choose? Well I thought this one fitting (of course!) & printed it out onto a piece of card to use as a template on the gold sheet:

 I was originally going to cut the shape out of the black carbon wrap, then put some gold on to the fairing 1st of all, then the black on over the top with the rampant 'Larry the Lion' we'll call him  for our purposes here, showing through from underneath. However, knowing that the wrap will stretch it wasn't a good idea as we would end up with a slightly disfigured Larry!

Deciding against having a lion on the side of my bike, looking like it had been on the drink for a week, I decided to stick it on over the top of the black wrap later on. 

Cut out ready to go:

 After cutting the template out, I used a thin permanent pen to draw around on the top gold part of the wrap because the back is shiny and you can't write to it! After you have cut it out you will be left with some of the black line around the edge. To remove this, find and pester a female of the species for some nail polish remover and dip it on the tip of a cotton bud & rub it off. You can see where it left a mark on the board while being removed. You can spray deodorant on the cotton tip as a 'low rent' alternative, the alcohol will remove it but the design will smell of the fragrance of course afterward for a while. Put this aside for later on:

Right now, to wrap the main side fairing. Same method again, heat gun. Leave some around the edges when you cut to size to give you something to wrap around to make it look seamless. It doesn't need to look pretty on the other side, you can't see it. Just make sure you pull it around enough so the front looks as flawless as possible and the bubbles and creases are taken / smoothed out. The more heat you can put on the better for it to form down the contours properly / nicely. Just remember too much heat will not only melt the wrap but the plastic fairing as well! Notch it up slowly to get a good heat. Some parts of the edges need to trimmed with a knife that are designed to lock into place on the bike etc & some screw / bolt holes need to be pierced:

 Finished:

Right now to add our rampant Larry the Lion to the faring. Line your design up first then stick it on. This was important with mine as it comes in multiple parts:

 Finished, had to apply a bit of heat to get part of it to form down the vent contour nicely :

I'll admit, I felt a bit like Niel Buchanan from Art Attack doing this but, I'm quite happy with the results. Wondering whether it needs anything more but, it's not too overdone & stupid looking just as it is.  Now I have to do the same to the other side fairing & the logo has to be mirrored, so I will just turn the template around in the opposite direction to do this.

The vents seem a bit vacant when on the bike, so I'll borrow a wide boy (as I call them) car modders vent trick & add some vent mesh underneath for a couple of quid. I can't find any gold mesh so I'll spray it gold to match the theme. That should make it look a bit better.

  

I'm also pondering wrapping the lower part of the fairing on the bike all gold or not to add a bit of overall balance ? I'll see when these go back on. 

Installing the mesh.

Use a pair of snips to cut a suitable sized piece of your mesh from the strip, I trust you are clever enough to know a tape measure or rule could help you with that? Better to use a pair of tin snips over something like a hacksaw to cut the mesh. After, use a permanent pen to mark the mesh against the vent, as you will have to bend it's sides slightly to fit better. 

Use an straight edge like a desk or a piece of wood to bend along the lines by bending and tapping / hitting the mesh with a pair of pliers or similar.

After spraying with gold paint we can use our heat gun on a fairly low setting to almost instantly dry it ready to fit straight away.

Fixing it is the problem as the plastic is too thin to use a small screw like you would on a car bumper for example, so it will have to be bonded with a glue. 1st of all I've used a No Nails type glue as it's strong enough and thick and gloopy enough to bond to the plastic and up in to the mesh itself. Just a few blobs here and there as you will want to add something else a bit stronger like cyano, UHU or 2 part epoxy in some of the space later on as the No Nails works well as a quick strong fix but I would be unsure whether the bumps on the road would work it loose without another stronger glue over time? 

You will have to apply a lot of this though as it doesn't have the volume the No Nails does, our reason for choosing it in the 1st place! You'll need lots of masking tape to hold the mesh down taught while it dries, I would give the glue at least overnight to dry solid.

Of course if you have the 2 part epoxy with the kicker for the quick setting you could go all out on using it straight away but, it's the thickness of it that's a concern. You would likely have to use half the contents of the syringe tubes to get a blob of glue as thick as the No Nails we've used here, which is why I've chose to go with a combination.

Silver or gold mesh? Well to be honest it looks good without the gold paint but, it's getting the gold treatment anyway: