Considdering a new Whizzer? hobby VS transportation

Dannt D

New Member
Local time
11:45 AM
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
16
I recently bought an new 07 Whizzer NE5. It looks great and is a blast to ride. It turns heads everywhere I go and is a great conversation starter, even at traffic lights. The price is cheap if you ask me and that is where I think the problems, or should I say, the fun starts. I bought it brand new which is something I rarely do when it comes to most things mechanical. I really wanted something I could use without working on it all the time.
My Whizzer adventure started when I took that first ride and discovered an oil leak. After talking to my dealer and Dave at Whizzer, I traced the leak to the compression relief cam. I stuck an O ring in it as advised and still had a leak from the new gasket that I cut. I cut another new gasket and stuck it on with silicone. That did the trick. I also took time to open the restrictor plate to full port. My problems were over and I was back on the road with a better running Whizzer, until the head gasket started leaking. After another call to Dave for advise and torque specs, I was able to get rolling again and learn a lot about torque wrenches along the way. A few miles down the road and it starts leaking again. This time I pulled the head off and found it was no where near flat. It had in fact never been machined in the first place. That gave me the opportunity to run one favorite machines in my shop, a 12" Hendey shaper. After taking .055" off and a fast feed with a finishing tool I had it nice and flat. I also slotted the bolt holes with a file to circumvent some slight misalignment issues. I ran a tap in all the holes in the block so the bolts would go in smooth and checked bolt length. It took 15 minutes to get the head back on I was off and riding into the sunset. Wow! What difference that made! It was nice to ride at 35 MPH (fast enough for me) without having the throttle wide open. I noticed also that the belt from the motor to the clutch was misaligned. The tensioner needed about 1/8" taken off to make it right. Back to the Hendey again.
So, do I have all the bugs worked out yet? Not quite. The front axle is too short resulting in the threads being damaged. The nuts were holding to only about five threads. Got a new axle at a bike shop for $2.00 today and will get it installed soon. I also want to change the jet in the carb, advance the timing gear one tooth and try to do something to make the back brake functional at more than 10 MPH.
Has it been worth it? I would say it has. The folks at Whizzer are great and always helpful. I originally wanted a fun form of transportation to beat high gas prices. I certainly got that with a Whizzer, but it looks like I also got a new hobby.
 
Ooooo... You have a _shaper_?

I'm in machine-envy...

But, back on topic... My experience, with a new '07 Whizzer,
while not identical, is a close parallel with yours. I just
wanted a cheap and fun way to run local errands, but no..
It was one problem after another. She seems to be running
fine now, but it was a bunch of work to get things right.

And I, too, had to mill off around 1/8" from the clutch swing
arm to get the belts to line up. And I too have a list of things
that I want to do in order to correct design and manufacturing
flaws. But, like you, it seems like getting there is half the fun..

For me it's kind-of like buying, for example, a Harbor "Fright"
lathe. When you get it, it looks like a lathe. But it's really a
kit. It takes a bunch of work to turn the collection of parts
into something that works like you want it to. But, in the end,
it's worth the effort.

What worries me most, though, is thinking about the bunches
of folks who, for whatever reason, are highly unlikely to find
a problem and immediately think, "Oh, I'll just go machine
that down." Or, "Hmm, I need to pull out the multi-meter and
go through that circuit."

If those folks are unfortunate enough to have bought their bikes
from a dealer as incompetent as the dealer where I bought my '07,
they are in a bad situation. Not good for them. Not good for
Whizzer.

However, that said, boy-howdy I love this beast. It has fulfilled
a childhood dream. I'm that kid growing up on a farm again;
re-building a Briggs and Stratton engine to get my home-brewed
scooter back on the road.

--del
 
cam & more

Hi,
You mentioned advancing the cam. What is the benefit ? I asked a friend that has a drag car & if I remember right I think he said I'd get better low end but lose some top end.
I also bought my Whizzer to ride but have done lots of work on it since I bought it in June. It is a 99 & had 10 miles on it. Now it has about 300. It would have more but there was a lot of down time getting things fixed. I love it though.
 
If I remember correctly Quenton told me that it helps the top end on these engines. My personal results is that it helps some at the low end but more on the top end. This I believes goes against what your racer friend says but many things are different on these bikes. I know that helps keep the head from loading up with carbon but why it does that I don't know. I do know that it is a standard modification that comes straight from Whizzer. I have done it to mine and Kilroy's bikes with positive results. Give it a try. It's easy and you can always undo it if you don't like the results.

Jim
 
Advaning the camshaft changes the motor from "rich" burn to "lean" burn. If you degree a vintage camshaft and a new edition WC-1 camshaft you will find them very similar except one tooth off. The vintage Whizzer camshaft has a .150" lift, and so does the WC-1 version. The NE camshaft has a .178" average lift, but has the same basic lobe center as the earlier version [not exact, but close]. Although many think advancing the camshaft causes the bottom end torque to gain the most, the dyno tests show otherwise. However more torque is produced over all, so there is some additional power at lower RPMs. The big difference is from mid to full throttle, and on some modified motors it can add almost 1000 RPMs to the top [but average is 500 to 600 RPMs].
Another important upgrade to aid in power, gas mileage, and duribility is to mill the head. As a rule motors with a milled head, start easier, idle smoother, accelerate quicker, and usually runs at about the same tempature. Using the copper head gasket helps lower the operating tempature, but is twice as thick and lowers the compression even more. I usually mill most heads .060" and use the copper gasket which is a gain of .050". Another reason to consider milling the head was mentioned in an earlier post, because of all the NE heads I have milled, only the very early NE [2005] were completely flat. On all the Ambassador motors I purchased, the heads were milled, but they were cut at such an angle I had to mill the heads to .090" to .095" to allow the head bolts to contact evenly. It is possible to mill the later NE heads to .100" without hurting the strength, but is of no advantage to do so.

Have fun,
Quenton
 
I advanced that cam

I did it today after work. Sure seemed to run better. It seems to have more top end. Took off well from a stop. Temp today was in the 70's. It always runs good when it's cooler but it still seemed better. I also called Quenton & ordered the NE5 cam & new lifters. Can't wait to see the result.
 
Here are the magic numbers. Camshaft #188 Exhaust lift .178", intake lift .180" [wow], Exhaust duration 286 degrees, intake duration 290 degrees [wow]. Intake opens 36 BTDC, intake closes 74 ABDC [wow 75 is max without pumping losses], exhaust opens 46 BBDC, exhaust closes 60 ATDC. There will be a degree chart with the numbers in the package. These numbers were compiled with the following conditions; intake lifter clearance .006", exhaust lifter clearance .008", and the camshaft advanced one tooth counter clockwise. Special mushroom lifters 26 grams each, stock WC-1 lifters weight 32 grams each, 20% less weight. The camshaft has the gear welded to avoid slipping. This should make you a little happier [or a lot].

Have fun,
Quenton
 
Last edited:
Jay
Your gonna like that cam. I just got out the sheet on my cam and the numbers are very very similar.
My number are:
Lift
Intake .180"
exhaust .179"
Duration
Intake 293 degrees
Exhaust 288 degrees
You will hear a difference in your exhaust too. :)

Enjoy
Jim
 
I keep talking about the power the engine mods have done for me but I should also state the power is a relative thing. What I mean is you must remember that it is only 138cc or 8.42ci flat head engine. It's not gonna run like an HD Fatboy but it will impress you if you remember that it's a smaller engine than your average lawn mower. The neatest thing is that it's just as happy at 6000rpms as it is at 3500rpms. The one thing I do know for sure is it will go faster than I will ever drive it. A 300lb man hurtling down the road at 40+mph on a bicycle is a frightening image. I can't stop thinking that I am only on a bicycle. I'm getting too old to bounce around on the blacktop. I did enough of that as a kid and have the scars to prove it. That's not gonna stop me from getting a second Whizzer though. Everything is in the works for a vintage "H" engine that's going on a 1950 Columbia 3 Star bicycle I'm restoring. It will be neat to compare the engines. I wish I would have discovered this hobby about 15 years ago. Just remember to have fun and enjoy the ride.

Jim
 
Back
Top