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When we introduced this bike, we discussed how the original air filter disintegrated in our hands. We’d be foolish to reinstall another sponge filter in the factory airbox. A K&N 1 ¾” breather filter fits the intake elbow perfectly and costs $16. Not only will the K&N filter and breathe better than the old sponge filter, but without the restriction of the airbox, we should gain some serious power! Serious power meaning about 0.25 HP, but hey, that’s a 12% increase! 
You may have notice the above package says 1 ¼“. We bought the smaller, chrome topped filter early on because it fit the ID of the intake elbow perfectly. We then spent over a month trying to diagnose why the engine refused to rev. When we finally figured it out, we definitely face palmed. See if you can figure out why the first filter (on the right) was causing so much trouble.
The new filter fits over the outside of the original elbow and cinches down perfectly. The original elbow is needed to snake the filter between the fender, frame, and magneto. It also necks down the intake to fit the Mikuni carburetor’s smaller venturi.
You can see how tight things are and why the elbow is needed. We also added a K&N pre-filter to our engine. Usually these are installed on dirtbike engines to help keep the worst of the dust off the filter itself to extend the service interval of the filter. While we aren’t planning to motorcross this bike, adding this to our Summit order bumped us over Summit Racing’s limit for free shipping. So we’re using it.
Now that our engine is protected, we need to see what's behind us! We scoured eBay for weeks looking for used FA50 mirrors to no avail. When we did find mirrors, we could only find the left side mirror and it was way overpriced. Instead, we found a set of universal reproduction moped mirrors. The replacement mirrors are simply chromed plastic. While not as nice as the metal OEM mirrors, they are also far more disposable (and they were half the price of used mirrors). We had a few options to choose from, but these most closely matched the factory mirrors. I guess they do look a bit awkward, but whatever, we're not riding this bike for its style, we're riding it for its practicality.
The mirrors thread into a built-in hole in the brake handles. It seems mopeds all use the same basic M8 thread for side mirrors as these universal mirrors fit our Suzuki perfectly. A jam nut holds them in place so you can get the perfect alignment.
3 comments
Hello ! I have the opportunity to buy one of these Squirrels. After finding you guy’s, & this info .
I think I’ll make an offer. Just connecting here so I’ll remember this. Thank You ! for this valuable info.
HAVE A GREAT DAY , NO MATTER WHAT ! Dan . new squirrel guy
How were you able to fit the front fender with the new tires? I tried to bend the arms of the front fender but can’t get it to not rub.
It’s been close to 10 years since I mounted the tires but I think the only rubbing I had was with the little rubber nubs on the new tire. Once they wore off it went away. But again it has been a LONG time since I first mounted them.