Squirrel Power: Saving a Suzuki FA50

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Real bike guys will think this is a wuss bike and they’re probably right.  Good thing I’m not a bike guy.  It’s definitely not as high tech as MotoIQ’s Project Aprilla SR50, or as awesome looking as our Project Aprilla RS50, and is definitely dorkier than our Project Ruckus.  But look at it!  I’m going to go out on a limb and say for sheer simplicity and penny pinching, this Suzuki beats all our other scooters so far.  Considering Mike built all those other bikes, I’ve probably put less money into this entire scooter than he did on just one installment of any of these other bikes.

Before we can even think about top speed, we need to get this old turd running.  First things first, we cracked open the airbox.  The old air filter was so rancid it turned to dust the moment we poked at it with a finger.  Good riddance, the airbox in the FA50 is designed to limit power, so that gives us an excuse to ditch it for something more modern and efficient.  

 Finding a replacement sponge filter for the airbox is next to impossible.  Most replacements are NOS parts so they’re just as likely to turn to dust like ours.  Besides, the airbox is a crappy design (that tiny little hole in the middle is the air inlet), used to help speed limit the bike to qualify it as a moped.  We’ll improve both the filtration and airflow by using a modern cone filter.   We’re still trying to find a filter that fits as due to the location of the carb, the filter has to dodge the fender, frame, and side of the engine.  

Next we drained the gas and oil tanks and cleaned them out.  The FA50 does not use premix fuel, instead using an engine driven oil pump to mix the oil in the carburetor to prevent clueless or lazy people from seizing up their engines.  This is also quite convenient as it means a rider can refill at a normal gas pump without always needing a bottle of oil on hand.  The oil pump also sprays the crankshaft, keeping it lubricated as it spins. 

 The oil tank includes this handy gauge to make sure you don’t run dry.  The gas tank receives no such luxuries (unless you have a 1980 FA50.  Ours is an '82).  Before you fill the oil tank for the first time, make sure the bezel for the gauge is nice and tight.  Otherwise it will leak into the seat cavity.  Take a guess as to how we discovered that particular tidbit of information.

The gas tank was bone dry, but spraying in some carb cleaner revealed quite a lot of varnish hiding in the bottom of the tank.  We plugged the outlets and poured in a bit of fuel to help dissolve the grime, then hosed it all out with more carb cleaner.  Fortunately the gas tank is plastic, so there is no worry of rust here.  With the tank being hidden under the seat, there is also little chance of UV deterioration as well.  The oil tank still had oil in it and the leftover oil had turned into slime from age.  We carefully hosed out the tank with solvent and then replaced all of the dry rotted oil and fuel lines.  We noticed the tie down bracket for the two tanks was missing, so we found a used one on eBay.  Some parts are easily had, but Suzuki specific parts are long out of production, so buying used is usually the only option when repairing these little runabouts.

 

Both tanks are located by this panel that also holds the battery (which we had already removed).  There should be a metal strap holding this assembly in place.  This strap also secures the seat (the bottom of the seat has suction cups to hold it to the metal bracket).  This was missing, so we found a used one on eBay that even included the screws.

It’s pretty snug under here.  We were hoping to add some extra length to the fuel and oil tanks to aid in servicing down the road (being able to set the tank aside as opposed to draining and removing it makes service much easier), but it’s so tight that any extra hose just gets kinked.  The rectifier for the electrical system is the tiny black box at the very bottom of the tank cavity.  The rectifier converts the A/C signal coming out of the magneto into DC to run the electrics.  The black box screwed to the oil tank is the CDI unit for the ignition.  This is great as it means there are no points to service!  This is as complex as the electrics get in the FA50.  A single ceramic fuse by the battery prevents voltage surges and a single solid state relay powers the turn signals: that’s it.  These really are wonderfully simple bikes and are perfect for those with little mechanical experience.
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