MOPED ARMY

The idle circuit could be clogged. It’s a tiny hole under the slide if you look in through the clampy bit.

Well, I tried the stock 12.10 and then tried a 12.12, got same results. It's worth trying to clear out both carbs idle passages one more time. Do you mean I need to drill a carb to 13 or quit drilling and just get a 13.13? As far as the gasket, I bought several head and base gaskets and used the best fitting paper gasket for the base, aluminum gasket for the head. (edited)

Try chocking the engine at idle, see if that helps, this could help point you toward carb issues or something else. The fact that both carbs are acting the same sorta says its somewhere else. If you do strip down the carbs again, use a single strand of copper wire to clean passages....assume nothing.

Compression issue? This will rear its head mostly at low revs.

You can even put some gas in a spray bottle and see if you can keep in running with a short shot of fuel. If you can keep it going with this DIY carb, tear into that carb again.

the exhaust leak shouldnt keep it from idling but bot running the stock airbox and filters will, especially if your using a stock size jet, 48-52.

It has been well documented that the idle jet/passage sits below the throttle slide and for some reason your cheepo clone carb it is not there? Take a look at some more posts for images of its location or just use your stock carb. Also, did you service and set your points? Are they good condition original or are they cheepos as well? Is compression good? get a few new non resistor spark plugs too.

Darn I need a batter pic of the clone carb. I had the emulsion tube out, the monkey's that made it literally hammered the tube into the carb, upon disassembly I found the emulsion tube had been crushed in there to the point the four holes at its base were compromised and the tube was bent. Got out small tools and Improved it's condition, and shortened the other end of tube, so it doesn't touch the top of the venturi. I put the tube back in the carb by using a short stiff wire placed inside the tube and then gently tapping on the exposed end of the wire, driving the tube in place, being careful to align the dinky holes. This pic is of the emulsion tube when I first got it out of the carb, you might be able to see the bend near the bottom. I know you can see the badly drilled holes ha ha

Oh sorry pat splat, I ordered a couple ngk plugs, and the points are effe points and they're in good condition, I set the gap with a metal blade type gauge. Haven't done a compression check. What numbers am I looking for with that, are there hot and cold values available?

hopefully its something under your flywheel causing your resistance. dont try to run it till you figure out where its coming from.

coil needs replace, always upjet if you are not going to run the stock airbox and stock screens. The motor will not idle properly without. that clone is pretty much done, stick with the og dellorto. On a vespa the ignition is externally grounded thru your brake circuit. what happens on a bravo is the rear wiring is ofthe compromised especially the fenderbead area o the rear fender.

What is the last picture ??

"brake light wiring" ... Inside the rear fender .

you wrote: "used a rat tail file to open the intake patch only a few mm up and down"

that is a vital sealing surface, more to be gained using / cutting the crank anticipato.

if you know, and understood the consequences of messing with that, you're fine.

only use the correct puller on the flywheel, it's a bitch if it's never been off.

make sure there's a solid ground path between the motor, coil, and brake light, as it's part of the ignition circuit.

Dude, if all you did was take a file to the inside of the intake and it's not perfect and you didn't really enlarge the actual final opening into the rotary valve, so what !!!!!! Mike, who had all the usa vespa stock that subsequently he sold to treats used to get pretty adequate speed with only two mods

1. New dr kit

2. 13.13 carb.

And why the 13:13 carb when the intake was at most 12 mm and maybe even less ?? Answer: it was a new dellorto carb not some skanky chinese copy. He didn't even bother with an air filter. All this yanking out bent and deformed emulsion tubes etc etc and figuring out what's wrong can eventually succeed, maybe. There are numerous posts in previous years on idling/starting issues using modifications of the slide to get the right mix for successful 0-1/4 /wot slide positions. Treats stocks over 6 different slide variations. Screwing with the emulsion tube for better mid slide performance is detailed in grahams old blog on how to pull and mod the emulsion tube. First thing is to make sure the case is tight and doesn't have an air leak. If it passes and the carb is working , all the above should not be happening. If the insides of the grande is all rusty and your gas is partially particulates...you are screwed....doesn't that suggest that one good pothole will be your doom?? I've never read a post on really bad tank rust on a grande.

Oh sorry if I was thinking it was a grande it's a problem okay I got a problem don't worry about it I completely restored one so so you're saying currently your flywheel( spins around the coils) and your crankshaft are not necessarily at right angles to each other? So when you spin the crankshaft with a drill ( put but on end of crankshaft also need a piston stop u can buy a plastic one at any lawn mower small engine shop in town , to remove. Watch the crank as it spins and demonstrate it's perfection or not. If looks good then examine the inner bronze bushing of the piaggo flywheel. Chances are the bushing is possibly partially unpressed. Post pictures and possibly get an other flywheel.

Looks like I'll be ordering another case gasket and switching back to the stock crankshaft, just to make everything fit like it used to. If nothing else it will give me a chance to post a pic of what I've done to the intake. So I don't go finding stuff like this as I search for the right pic

Just now resorted to a gear puller to get the cam collar off. So, while I thought I had done a good job taking off just enough material from the inside of the cam collar, it wasn't enough. It wasn't sitting fully on the shoulder that's on the crankshaft, and it got stuck bad when I torqued down the variator. So a little more off the cam collar and it should work. I switched to a paper base gasket and went with no head gasket, hopefully this gives a compression bump. And tomorrow I'll switch to ethanol free gas and stop using regular gas.