A different kind of Jaguar

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The title may be a bit misleading. No this isnt an XK8, E-type Coupe, or F-type roadster. It is a Schwinn.

The story of this bike dates back to my 13/14th birthday when i wanted a "50's bike". Found this particular bike at target, fell in love with it and soon after was given to me for my age turning ceremony by my father. As the years progressed, the bike didnt see much ride time, I had taken an interest in anouther form of bike culture-BMX.

Fast forward to Summer 2015, I had just turned 20 years of age, and went to visit my best friend (known since we were 5/6) after he had moved in to his new apartment on the edge of North Carolina State University's Centinnial Campus. As i walked up to his room, i noticed that his neighbor had a bike with a small engine on it chained to the railing. Later that night, while shooting the sh!t, we got on the subject of the neighbors bike. Whipping out my phone i surfed google and later stumbled upon BikeBerry.com and after about a day or two of contemplating I had a MegaMotors 66/80cc 2-Stoke engine on the way.

A month passed and the engine was nowhere. After annoying the hell out of bikeberry, they informed me that some of the parts were out of stock and it would arrive shortly. 3 weeks later it was on my doorstep. The next week was spent mounting the engine to the Jaguar frame. Once everything was mounted and no parts were left, i took it out for a test run. After a few coughs, it fired to life. I let the bike sit for a day or two and tried to start it again. No dice. I then noticed that i had my wires backwards and did a spark test. No spark. A trip to ebay resulted in a new CDI and Magneto loop set.

Fast forward to today (Nov. 28, 2015) and my father and i loaded up the bike, took it to his auto shop, and tried to get it running. We did a spark test and were confirmed that it was getting spark. We took it for a test ride and it coughed to life but it didnt have much power and didnt crank again. He told me to check the plug and sure enough, it was soaked. We determined that the bike was flooding and that i incorrectly mixed the fuel and oil resulting in too much oil.

After the bike is running, it will be used for recreation and for transportation. I am (hopefully) planning to move into the same apartment complex as my friend and will use the bike to make the 2-4 mile trip to work and back occasionally as well as going to grocery store or coffee shop.

P.S. We never did figure out who's bike the neighbors was, even the people who live there dont know. It will just appear and disappear at random intervals in time....

Now for some pictures. The red bike in the later pictures is a Huffy that my father acquired from someone. We are unsure the size of the engine.
bikemount.jpgbikemount+.jpgBike3.jpgBike4.jpgBike1.jpgBike2.jpgBike1.jpgdadbike.jpgdadbike+.jpg
 
Its been a very long time since any Schwinns were fabricated in Chicago. Do a google search and read how many of those superstrong frames were made by electroplate smash welding! I wish I could have seen that! Schwinn was a great company - so much so that the brand is still very powerful and valuable.
 
Got some more done to the Jag today. I wired up my kill toggle and spliced it into the Blue wire from the CDI. The Switch works flawlessly! It was my first time splicing wires and connecting them to a switch and i couldnt figure out how to heat shrink the splice so i just resorted to Electrical tape (also used it to hold the switch in place because my krazy glue dried up). None the less i am happy! I will get some better photos when it is light out BikeToggle1.jpgBikeToggle2.jpg
 
After a good abscence i feel it is time i returned, with some good and bad news....I have started school so that means the bike has taken a backseat, along with multiple parts breakages, dozens of frustrations, and just general distain with the build the Jaguar has sadly had the engine taken off :(


HOWEVER its spirit lives on in the form of a Schwinn Magna mountain bike! The frame feels much better for the engine as well as being lighter and more able to be taken off road better! I acquired the bike from a friend who had found in it in his neighbors basement while cleaning it out. I was a sort of payment for helping him swap engines in his Volvo 240 wagon
 

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Small update: Went to the store to day to pick up a few things (in 20 degree weather no less >.>) and all was good on the way there. The chain was somewhat loose but i figured i'd tighten it once i got home (store is a 1/4th mile one way). On the return trip, i pulled out of the shopping center and the sidewalk ended in a grassy area. All the sudden it got really loud. I look down, my muffler had fallen apart at the weld. T_T. I pulled up bikeberry.com and checked my warranty information and to my surprise the engine was still under warranty. I am awaiting an email from them. As a side note, does anyone know how to keep a chain tensioner tight? i cant seem to keep it in place no matter how tight the bolt is or how much teflon tape is on there.
 

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Is your chainstay to small of diameter? If so just use so kind of thin metal or aluminum as a spacer , To put in between the tensioner clamp.Then get rid of those junk bolts , and nuts. Then get some grade 10.9 bolts and nuts to replace them.
I just striped one of my bolts last week when I was tightening them up. Praise The Lord it happened then and not when I was riding it!
Hope this helps you! Ken. Keep looking up!
 
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KenM, by "chainstay" do you mean the metal bracket that the pulley/wheel is attached to?
 
Yes sir! That is what it is called as far as I know.
I have my kit on a Huffy road bike , and the chain stay is real skinny and I nead to do that ,to beef it up a little. Hope this helps. Ken.
 
The Chain Stay part of a bike is the tubes that go along the bottom of the frame to the back wheel.
 
Ended up getting it fixed. I was tightening the pulley wheel too tight and as a result once the engine was putting a load on the chain, it would give way due to having too much pressure and not enough play. Loosened it enough to give it some play but still keeping tension. My issue now is that it will rev insanely high when i clutch-in, ive done some research and believe it may be an air leak as ive got a blown exhaust gasket
 
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