KymcoForum.com
Scooters - Big Bore => Xciting 500 => Topic started by: Ruffus on August 10, 2023, 08:41:07 PM
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Dear scooteristi, you might understand seeing a KYMCO 500i hanging around, with sad headlights watching for a new home, appealed to my god heart and took her home.
An aquaintance of mine called in and ask what to do, this scooter seems to eat batteries like me burgers.
Needed only this year three of them. After a short check it came to a rotten regulator/ rectifier, which cooked them up.
Guys didn't come to the idea to measure incoming voltage. When I checked, battery had incoming 17.6 volts and 65°C, pretty hot to my hands.
Well, to shorten the story, it's in my workshop right now and waits for a new reg/rec.
For reasoning I took it for an acceptable price.
MJ 2008, 18000 kms, one owner, showroom condition, new tyres, brakes and shiny.
First modification : LED headlight and running lights.
Second mod: Topcase mounted
Edit: reg/rect. arrived for €28,- works great
..installed a voltmeter too for further control and less surprise..
..bought a new belt €150,- pretty expensive MITSUBOSHI
..waiting for Dr.Pulleys gliders 29x22 x 30 gr (want quiet cruising) to change at once..
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all right, Ruffus! I really like that color...I think Kansas Kymco had a similar one?
That looks like an easy headlight bulb change. 500 cc's, I bet that's a fun scoot!
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all right, Ruffus! I really like that color...I think Kansas Kymco had a similar one?
That looks like an easy headlight bulb change. 500 cc's, I bet that's a fun scoot!
See Hawk, one man’s meat… it looks orange to me so first job would have to be a re spray! 😂. With all due respect to KK RIP
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Is the charging system permanent magnet? If so there are r/r that are wonderful stuff to upgrade the system. The most common comes from Polaris. I got mine off ebay for 40 bucks, but there are signs you need to know to get a genuine piece. Check out the Suzuki forums for good info.
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Next step to personalize this 500i was to eliminate its original airfilter system and put something more adequate in it.
Let her breathe more freely!
In this case a leftover straight monofilter from one of my GUZZIs. (pls see pics)
The original filter box remains in place, only its connection pipe has to be removed (red arrow).
Reason for leaving in place: oil fog from gear still evaporates into and sale considerations.
Amount, we will see?
Fuel map has to be changed a little bit to cope with its second air system and make a really sweet runner out of this heavyweight.
Plusses:
- 10 to12 kmh more topspeed
- smoother acceleration
- less consumption (not fully tested yet, but seems to be 1 ltr/100km)
Minusses:
- access to diagtool and computer neccessary
- light snoring sound when accelerating
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..and one more feature I like to have on my vehicles, a voltmeter:
to see what my battery, regulator/rectifier and generator has in surprise for me.
Digital, pretty precise, unexpensive and easy to install. (pls see pic)
12.6V ignition on, 13.8V idle.
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@wymple, yes permament magnet system like most oilcooled.
Regs/rects I usually take from "2up" for €29,- to €35,- apiece.
They last pretty well if not somehow caked with dust or covered. It's anyway an unlucky solution to put 'em above the scoots muffler within hot air.
But better to change them once in a while than to relocate the whole harness. For this to forebode I need a voltmeter.
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Ruffus, what are your long term plans for the scoot? Are you just having fun in the short term before selling or do you plan on keeping this for a while? (also very impressive that you can change the fuel mapping, yourself!)
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@lahawk, well...
...right now I plan to keep it for a while, for there is/was space in my workshop again after selling both GUZZIs. Most probably until next year or if something more interesting comes along. For backup I still have my GRAND DINK 150, which also does very well after implanting a different carburator.
Mapping: I did it myself but in a tuning shop where I had access to some sophisticated technical setup. So I have to give credits to this guys who looked over my shoulder and hinted.
They themselves where interested, since my scoot was the first big, four valve, single cylinder scoot they had there.
Also a change to a little bit "colder" iridium sparkplug was neccessary to achieve optimal values. (pls see pic)
Of course I let a data backup to them for (their) future use and a donation.
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Changed rollers to Mr Pulleys and belt to MITSUBOSHI today, wooouw
even better "gliding" than before.
Original were 29/22-33grams rollers in it which were in pretty good shape, no flat spots.
Changed to 29/22-31gram Pulleys, which are actually 31.5 gram, happy riding.
All this measures together with an MAP update and a different airfilter improved fuel consumption from 5.6 ltrs/100km to 4.21 ltrs/100km.
Moderate driven but sometimes full speed (166km/h GPS).
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sounds like you have a very quick scooter! Nice work!
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Very nice! I like that voltmeter install! Kaoshiung shoulda done it that way! You show 'em, Italia!
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Txs all!
Yes. I'm surprised how this scoot is galopping.
Just have to find a way to reduce "intake- snoring" a little bit. Fear it could inhale some slices of pizza when I pass a Pizzeria.
For this voltmeter, reasons are known.
Had this scoot have had one installed from beginning, guys would have found this "battery consumption" maybe by themself.
I simply want to know what my powerstation does.
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Love bit of intake roar myself. It was one of the addictive features of my big Triumph triples as they came on song at about 8,000 rpm! Yep, I miss that.
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Neil yes, this sound is nice but I want to keep it "downsize" as possible, only performance shown at trafficlights should surprise guys on their supers!😉
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Ah, so you're looking to build a bit of a sleeper are you Ruffus you old rogue! Should be fun at the traffic light GP.
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Yeah, we old grey ones...😂
..this done I considered our regs/recs mostly dying from early sudden heat death:
Something had to be done in this matter!
Why not putting a fan on this "heating device" to reduce its temperature and MAYBE extend its life.
(pls see pics)
- taken a new reg/rec (some are always on stock)
- took a 50mm (diameter bolt to bolt, hight 15mm, brushless) printer fan
- drilled two 4mm holes in this regs cooling matrix
- put fiber shims between metal and fan (heat shielding)
- took scoots 12V charging socket plug (METIN box) connectors and put them on fans cables
- fitted all into the scoot (after testing)
- ignition on, fan blowing nicely
BUT
- METIN handy charging light at dashboard on
(pls see pic)
Since I was too lazy to work into scoots front it will be like that for a while until I might neutralize it.
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Since my grandchildren say, a handyholder is a "must" on any two-wheeler, so be it.
But what's a handy without charging system?
So I had to put an USB-slot into my dashboard, to match with its voltmeter, it had to be blue illuminated (pls see pic).
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Since my grandchildren say, a handyholder is a "must" on any two-wheeler, so be it.
So chump me had to look that up on Google! Never heard it referred to as such here doh!
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Ha, you see Neil, for what we have this forum😉.
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As someone once said, the day you learn nothing is a wasted day.
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There are always some surprises with a "new" scoot.
Warned by reading in some forums about our 500i's "childhood illnesses" as there are:
- thirsty (remedy: different airfilter and mapping)
- eating regs/rects and batteries (remedy: spare reg in metin box or fan on it)
- hesitant starting with low voltage (remedy: piggytail/ tricklecharger or LiFePo4 battery)
Since the first two where already solved, my scoot insisted to have, what we called in old times a "diesel thinking second" before it cranked and started properly.
To solve this minor nuisance, a 20 Ah lithium battery was inplanted and all headache is gone.
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Ah BTW, abbrevation METIN- box comes from helMET IN-box, a wise KYMCO dealer told me lately.
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Ah BTW, abbrevation METIN- box comes from helMET IN-box, a wise KYMCO dealer told me lately.
Thank you! I always wondered where that name came from as it made no sense to me. I thought it was something that translated poorly over from Korean.
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One more thing which bothered me, having a topcase mounted,
sideways access to this underseat tray was pretty limited.
Solution: (pls see pics)
-took a used VOLVO trunk shock absorber from stock
-this black mounting clips on the end are the same on most dampers, 8mm ball element, so it could be used
-cutted open its damper element
-bent its rod in shape to fit under my scoots seat
-mounted a 9mm pipe clip under the seat
-tapped a 5mm thread on one end
-put a plastic cap on this thread to avoid scratching my tray
Deal done,
-pro: easy access
-contra: I have to open and keep the seat manually to stilt this holder.
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nice work, as always, Ruffus!
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Being engineer, certain things on our toys, offend my sense of accuracy.
Such as our KYMCOs overdiligent/ optimistic speedometer.
So there had to be something done to improve this manco a little bit.
After a while of mulling over this nuisance a vague idea lightened up in my grey ones.
Our speedos get their info or pulse from an serrated piece of metal at the front wheel.
Why not reducing this pulse for a certain amount and make our speedometer more accurate?
Thought and done:
- bought a used, pristine front wheel
- cutted out four (4) segments from this indicator plate
- brake discs on again
Testriding and result (GPS comparison):
- at speedo 50 km/h - GPS shows 49 km/h
- at speedo 100 km/h - GPS shows 95 km/ h
Before I had at speedo 60 - 50 at GPS.
Before I had at speedo 110 - 100 at GPS.
With this results I'm in a tolerable percentage of deviation. Like any modern car where 5% is tolerated.
Second thing I did during this intervention, was.
I had from taking over on this scoot a slightly wobbly (no DUI) feeling when I turned in bends or when longer curves were ridden.
Could not imagine what would cause that, because I checked wheelbearings and they were fine in my opinion. But it proofed wrong.
In this used frontwheel I put new bearings and oilseals and the scoot runs perfectely now, without any wobble or strange move. So if you experience a difference to as is was before, think of wheelbearings.
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Ah, so you're looking to build a bit of a sleeper are you Ruffus you old rogue! Should be fun at the traffic light GP.
@Neil, I could not resist when I saw an inexpensive MSR performance muffler. (pls see pics)
Had to be restuffed and refurbished a little bit, but fits nicely and sounds even better. No speed increase measurable.
Even filled with stainless steel wool from kitchen scratchies (14 pc) has this muffler 1/3 of the OE s weight.
The catalizer (uncontrolled metal oxydation cat) I removed because of extraordinary heat built-up (pls see pic db-killer) within the pipe and blueing its connection tube.
At this rear db-killer I experimented to find the proper sound by closing airholes with riviets.
None of them stayed (melted and were blewn away) in place thanks to enormous heat, caused from catalyzer. Must habe been around 500°C to destroy this aluminium reviets.
DB-killer front and rear are mounted to avoid too much of noise.
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The very first Kymco I ever rode was the X-Citing 500, while my wife was picking out the Vitality. Man! What a scoot.
I'd love to have one!
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Nice job with the exhaust pipe Ruffus!
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Had to rethink my scoots MSR muffler and its sound.
It was for my ear a little bit too "throaty" and "tinny" without catalyzer mounted.
So I found a combination of non- regulated cat and front db-killer in one. (pls see pics)
Since lenght didn't fit perfectely, a 50mm INOX distance ring was machined and welded in front.
Sound is now more bass and deeper.
Heat developement I still have to observe but it seems to be less than with its original plug-in cat, which I suspect having been partially choked.
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Found a comparison scale how iron changes color at certain temperatures.
Next time you check your clutch bell, you will know how much you tortured it. Imagine is not mine but from an asian site.
(pls see pic)
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Having seen this perforated clutch bell I could't resist to drill some holes in a spare clutch bell from stock.
Wasn't the hell of rocket science to measure, puncture, drill, smooth and sand it.
Material is soft steel, so it drills easily. Balancing was done afterwards with my wheel-balancing axle, but not that much of inbalancy.
After that on the lathe to check its roundness, but was under 0.3mm, nothing to worry about.
We will see in the future whether it's eating clutch shoes or behaves as it should and stays cooler.
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That is some incredible top end with the mods you made. My stock 500Ri top speed is 90mph (145kph) I am in need of a regulator/rectifier because I was am getting 18vdc+ at the battery, which was blowing headlight bulbs, after melting the headlight plactic lense. Did you get an OEM replacement, or did you find a suitable replacement? If so, where did you get it? Thanks,
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Scootmaster, pls see other post in this matter.
https://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=34007.0