New Project for the Shop
This is a Yamaha CV80.. also known as a Yamaha Beluga.. You can read more about them : http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Yamaha/Riva80Beluga/Riva80Beluga.html
And You will find out why at first I turned down the offer to buy two of them. They don’t rate well compared to other Scoots. But this time the guy who had them just wanted them gone.. and so I paid him for the tires, battery & other parts and took them home. They are twins .. One has registration and the other is an ICBC write- off. Most of the body plastic is either gone or broken, but it runs. In other words a good parts machine.
The one closest in the photo is the good one.. hard to tell cause they are both in pieces. The wiring harness in the good one was bad so he was in the process of changing it.. But before I tackle that …it’s bath time ! So I removed the rack, seat, gas tank , oil tank and the air box. That way I can clean better.
So here it is all stripped down and clean. I wanted to get at some of the workings.. especially the vacuum lines that work the cold start. The more I put back together the harder it is to access stuff..
One thing that I noticed ..is that the rear body piece of the scooter could have been a cool looking tail light. They used the same mold but molded with white plastic. In Europe it’s a tail light. We have rules for how wide apart the turn lights have to be. So Yamaha used the conventional North American set up. Which does look nostalgic.. good for a 1982 scoot.
Everything is all back together..for now.. I’m still waiting for a battery so I can start it up. I only have to glue one piece of the body , the rest is in great shape. In fact it’s still shiny as you can see. I polished up the rear rack and painted the licence holder.. looks like new..
Yeah ! Got the battery and put some gas in the tank ..and oil in the oil tank.. and she fired right up .. runs great. No adjustments needed.. so I took off down the street.. Plenty of get up and go for my liking.. Weeeeee I forgot how fun they are.. So I put all the rest of the body panels on.. 100% like new.. EXCEPT the turn signals would not flash.. Hmm I’ll try them with the motor running. And I’ll take some good photos too.
Here are those good photos:
Hey I did a good job of erasing 31 years… It helps when something is well made.. The only rust I found was under the rubber floor mat.. and that came right off. Winter is fast approaching so I think I’ll cover and store this Scoot till next spring. But I will be tinkering with the parts machine.
The Parts Scooter:
Well aside from some missing parts.. there is some “hard to repair” damage to the parts Scoot… SOOO it’s never going on the road again. I’m taking it all apart. That will allow me to check which bits are good and which are worn out. I also got to have a good look at the carb. It’s missing the throttle valve, but the rest is in good shape. I’m understanding how things work now.. I’ve read a E-book by a CV 80 enthusiast on rebuilding one… full of very good info and tips on how to keep it alive. Plus He delved into the history of the CV80. I’m also learning how to take the whole scoot apart and put things back together. I have a better wiring diagram that came from the E-book author. That and my service manual are giving me a good understanding of the electrical system. Now with all this vast knowledge I’m thinking about buying yet another CV80 and doing a complete rebuild this winter.. There is one for sale in Kamloops that I’m looking at. (photo below)
This one is white. Started a new post for working on this one HERE. Owner says he used it lots.. has 5500 kms on it and now has starting issues. I now know where to look to fix those. Also you may notice the front fairing and windscreen. I have one as well.. came in the box of parts.
Also I’ve ordered a new flasher, and bought a European tail light. I’m looking into LED lights as well.
The parts scoot is proving to be very useful.. both as a teaching tool and as a source for good parts for the new scoot on the block.. I’ll get back to the Red scooter in the spring.. For now I moved it to the storage in the basement.
Work on the white scooter is coming along so nicely ..and I’m very fond of the new color .. I decided that I will keep the white (now blue) one and sell this one..
SOLD the red scooter… here’s a photo of the two before the red one went off to it’s new home.
