need some help getting my Grubee going

johnny q

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Sep 13, 2008
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winnipeg
hi everyone - I just found this forum a few days ago, and I'm really looking forward to browsing through here. pretty cool info.

anyway, I have an 80cc Grubee Skyhawk engine that I would like to get running. I mounted the engine on a japanese or maybe chinese frame about 3 years back and ran into some problems. I never could get it running. The bike has been stored until recently. I have a few questions to ask, if someone can help -

I had a look at the engine a while ago and noticed that I had an oil stain ? on the side of the engine. It looks to me like fuel from the tank leaked through the shutoff valve (I had some fuel in the tank thinking that was ok). I figure it might have leaked through the shutoff valve, filled the carb, and then drained down into the engine. My question is - has anyone ever seen this ? What exactly is happening here, and how do I fix it ? Did I just do some major damage ? disassemble and clean, then new gaskets ?

Here's a pic of what I'm seeing. Please excuse the poor lighting. I took the picture in my basement a little while ago, and even though I had more than enough light to work on it, the pictures came out dark. I have to light things up better on my next attempt.

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thanks MM - I figured maybe new gaskets because if there was a fuel/oil mix sitting in the crankcase (would that even be the crankcase?) and leeching out through the engine cover, I thought it would need to be drained. So you think its ok to just start it and run it as is ? that's good if that's the case.

I also have clutch problems. I could never adjust it so that it was disengaged while sitting/idling, but engaged while running. I'm going to try the patio door roller mod because it looks like it works well. anyway, I have a few other issues, but I'll work through them one at a time and post here.

One other thing - Can I replace the clutch cable with a bicycle brake cable ? The cable itself on mine has a few broken strands right where the cable stop attaches, and probably should be replaced. I can get bicycle cables locally, so that was my first thought.
 
Good Sunday Morning -- johnny q

well -- first off - I will admit that I am not the old pro here on site
many here -- from what I have seen --- great advice !!!

anyway -- I see nothing wrong with checking over what you have
and trying to get it fired up
then as you are enjoying the riding of your MB
just keep an eye and ear on your machine...

thinking that you can take care of that cable
and possible other things after it's up and running

kind of working the kinks out ----

Ride That Thing - Mountainman
 
welcome johnny q, if you think the crank case is full of fuel you might want to pull the spark plug and give it some turnsfirst to see if there is fuel in it. you may also have to disasimble the carb and fuel shut off and clean them as fuel tends toevaporate leaving the gummy 2 stroke oil. HEY!! DO A WHEELIE! hill climber
 
I haven't checked into it yet, but what is that behind that oil stained decal ? I hope it has nothing to do with the clutch. Its oil soaked and if that does house the clutch, its going to have to come apart. maybe I need to check out one of the exploded view drawings of the engine and see what's inside that case.
 
Yes its the clutch
Its a dry clutch and there should be no oil behind the cover

Take it off and see.....
Its 5 bolts and a few minutes

The oil stain probably came from the outside
I doubt if oil could seep through

Did you store the bike with gas in the carb?

Its probably all gunked up and will have to be cleaned
 
thanks for the info, Forbisher and everyone else - I removed the clutch cover and did find a few drops of gas/oil mix at the bottom of the circular area that houses the clutch. I'm not sure how serious that is. Anyway, it doesn't look oil soaked inside, so that's a good thing. And yes, when I stored the bike a few years ago, I had 1/3 tank or so of fuel mix in it. When I started working on it this time, I noticed that this 1/3 tank was completely gone. When I closed off the petcock at the time I stored the bike, I thought the petcock would not allow fuel to leak past it, but now I know it leaks.

Anyway, I replaced my clutch cable, and rerigged it the way that Large Filipino did his, and the clutch seems to be working fine, from what I can tell. Thanks for the excellent info, LF. I took the bike out a little while ago and when I dumped the clutch to start it, the chain came off of the rear sprocket and jammed between the sprocket and the spokes real good. I finally got it loose but now it looks like there's a lot of slack in the chain. What would be causing the chain to come off ?

It looks like my next job will be to remove a link and see if I can do away with the tensioner, the way that others have.
 
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