Team-BHP - My 1983 TVS 50 Drag Race Spec Build

Hi BHPian's,

this project has been taken by friend, who has registered in Team BHP but his account is not approved."Karthik_r".

Mods, please look into this ID.

all the statements in his words:

I was going through the race website of TVS and read a very interesting statement which said

"It all began way back in 1984 when Sundaram Clayton Limited (A TVS Group company) introduced its 50 CC mopeds in the arena of road racing, notching up unbelievable speeds of 105 kmph. Since then, there has been no looking back for TVS Motor Company.."

Back when I was a school goer, there used to be this next door mechanic who had numerous trophies and cups along with the greasy tools. I remember asking him, where did you win them ? To which he replyed with a smile "rally". I proceeded to ask him as to which bike he was riding in the rally. Bang came the answer "XL", I was like TVS XL ??!! He patiently said yes and said there is a race at green pitch, if you are interested you can come and watch. This was back in my 6th grade.

Rewind another 4-5 yrs back, my dad had bought a second hand TVS 50 XL, a 1983 model. 20 yrs after, the moped rusting to bits,not able to find its share of the porch space with the bikes and car, had to refuge beneath the terrace landing. Today, thanks to the power cut, I was scavenging the house and there lay my dad's humble step thru. This bike carried around 4 passengers in its hay day for till 1999 and was retired by the scooty. I felt this one needs some steroids and decided to bring it back to life. Moved the car out, to make some room and accessed damages caused by nature, rodents etc. The rims, spokes, engine head and a few other parts were rusted, wiring cut, frame bent..I was very sorry for the state of the bike and now, I am doing something I've never done before in my entire life..Yes, restore it. I know some guys here restore bikes like the TZ and RDs..

Will attach pics and list of parts that needs to be changed as and when brought. And I have decided to do all the dirty work except the painting my self.

First set of essential bought :

>>Front and back brake cables
>>Front and rear brake shoes
>>Throttle cable
>> Clutch or the starter cable as they call it
>> Clutch gate or gata (whatever the lingo)

Today, the entire bike lays disassembled in bits and carefully stored in a card board box. Spent close to 4 hours with my brother on the disassembly. Hopefully will secure all the spares by the next week.

let the pictures talk.

Day 4 restoration update :

In My Friends Words:

Today, I gave office the slip for a shopping spree.. List of spares purchased

>> Super XL heavy duty fork assembly, cone set, axle, U-clips, T-stem, plate
>> XL swing arm
>> Escorts rear shocks
>> #55 jet , reed valve, gasket kit etc
>> Front and rear rims, spokes.
>> Friction drive ("belt" as we know it)
>> Front and rear fenders (chrome baby!!)
>> Dunlop tubes for both front and rear
>> Rear tail lamp assembly
>> Fuel lines, fuel tap
>> Brakes cables, acc cable, clutch cable
>> consumables like new bolts, washers

And boy, shopping was sure fun. Had to stop only at one spares shop where I got almost everything listed. Now my house is almost a little garage with parts lying around everywhere, I had many "Ah here you are" moments, if you know what I mean

I have ordered for a digital caliper, thinking of making my own exhaust. The engine is still lying around somewhere in the house . My bro was helping me through out and this is turning out to be more of a house hold project, my dad who used to ride this bike 10 yrs ago was lending a helping hand too .

Here are a few pics of today's progress on the bike. I am putting together the bike, just want to make sure she's up and running before the paint job.

Hi Speedy Racer,
Nice to see this restoration. Now a days it is getting hard to see this heritage moped that ruled the roads (especially in the villages of Tamilnadu). The chrome mudguards look classical.
This is the first time I slipped into this thread, so sorry for putting in my ideas after you had purchased almost everything you need. Some suggesstions of mine. The rear shocks of Max 100 R is somthing thats suits here for your high speed requirements. The engine looks like the one from XL super. Have you used the bore and head from XL super? In that case you could also have tried the electronic ignition from the same vehicle.

Refer to the attached excel sheet that gives details of designing an expansion chamber. Hope that helps. All the very best for the successful completion.

-Ilango

@ Speedy_racer : Thanks for putting up a thread here mate. Appreciate that.

@All: The moped which you see here is my 26 year old TVS XL, lots of mod done to it and still in the stock factory outfit (paint I meant). The challenge was to use stock parts of other bikes and incorporate for ease of replacement, in case. Spent close to 6 months on this family moped with initial plans of restoration only (Read 40kmph moped), but one track day at coimbatore was enough for a change in plans.

Check out this video YouTube - Kari : Moped class TVS 65, these are 65cc mopeds churning out speeds in excess of 115kmph on the longest staright.

Because I did not have post privilieges, I asked SR to post it for me. Spare him the questions :D

Cheers!
Karthik

Here are some pics of the bike in between builds. I had to replace the bore kit, so decided to go for a scooty bore. The moped was doing some 65-70kmph with out any works. Some where down the line, I decided to get myself a sigma and here's what I did with it.:D

List of thing changed :

1. Rims, spokes and tubes.
2. Wheel hubs painted with AL paint.
3. Handle bar (Fury)
4. Fuel tap and lines.
5. Fork assembly and T-stem (XL super).
6. Wheel bearings
7. Rear swing arm
8. Rear shock absorbers (Escorts).
9. Bore kit (Scooty 60cc)
10. Clutch assembly.
11. Control cables.

A mechanic near my place promised me that he would build a RX beater and robbed me, literally. End of the day he converted the crankcase to accomodate a power port bore. A bore which was in its last oversize. This was way back in 2003 and I still remember cursing myself for lightening my pocket on such a worthless so called 'performance' upgrade. The moped was struggling to do even a 50kmph on the speedo.

I was laughing my heads off when I changed the bore myself to a new scooty one and voila, 65kmph on the clock. And all this only for a meagre 1k. I was happy with the speed and decided to give her a paint job which would complete the build. But no, one track day at coimbatore left me gasping for breath. It was then when I decided to transform the humble family moped into a mean racer. Things fell in place and I now have a pocket rocket in my living room, ready to wake up the entire neighbourhood and blaze trails.

Cheers!
Karthik R