The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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Kaos
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The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Hello fine Buddy Aficionados!

Its been a VERY long time since I've checked in here but recently the Buddy bug has bitten me again in a bad way, and I thought you all might like a taste of my crazy project. But first some back story:

I bought my first Buddy, an orange 125, in 2008. I commuted on it daily and racked up a ton of miles on it. As I do with nearly all my vehicles I started to modify it. Back when I started there wasn't much in the way of performance information for the Buddy, so I started to forge a path to crazier and crazier motors. My 125 became a 161cc then 180cc (long before Genuine released a 170!), clocking in insane speeds and crazier parts. Finally one day around 2012 my poor little Buddy told me it had had enough and cracked a crankshaft on the motor. That was the end of that poor motor.

Not one to be dissuaded I picked up a used Vespa GTS250 engine and began the crazy task of grafting it into the Buddy's little frame. The project was going well until I got to electronics. I discovered that the GTS had an immobilizer system that I did NOT have the keys for, and Vespa would not sell me new ones. This brought my project to a screeching halt and the poor Voodoo Buddy was stuck in the back of the garage destined to never see the light of day again.... Until yesterday.

I had long since moved on to bigger motorcycles(The current is a Yamaha RD350!) and rarely thought about the little buddy until recently. I had just completed doing a Megasquirt ECU install on the Porsche motor in my 1980 VW bus and it popped into my head like a spectre of the past that Megasquirt can run almost anything, including my GTS engine. Out from under the pile of cardboard and dust I pulled out the long sleeping Buddy and evaluated where it was at.

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It was a bit sad looking and I had misplaced some parts in the 10 years its been sitting, but it was mostly there. After some tests I discovered the GTS motor had VERY low compression (60psi) and likely needed a top end... eBay provided a bigger top end and my 250 became a 300. Two days of tinkering with wiring and a Microsquirt I had handy, and we had our first start!!

It sounded healthy even with a mess of quickly bodged wiring and absolutely 0 tuning. Have a listen!
Youtube video of the Voodoo Buddy's first start in 10 years

So if you're still following this crazy train or you're one of the people who remembers back that far into the ModernBuddy archives, thanks for letting me check in! More to come very soon as I bolt this thing back together! I'm a little older now, but just as crazy of a hotrodder as I was back then!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by DeeDee »

What do you have about 23 hp carried on those 3.5X10 tires? I love the Genuine Buddy, I also love modern water cooled Vespas. Looks like a good marriage to me. Maybe by 2032 it will be on the road.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by peterp2 »

That's pretty sick....I have a Yamaha C3 that I'm thinking about putting in a rattler 110cc or blur 220 engine in.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

DeeDee wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 7:29 pm What do you have about 23 hp carried on those 3.5X10 tires? I love the Genuine Buddy, I also love modern water cooled Vespas. Looks like a good marriage to me. Maybe by 2032 it will be on the road.
Yep, should be right about 23hp if the Vespa specs are to be believed... To be fair I'll have the GTS's 12in wheel in the back so a LITTLE more meat than the original 10inch.

It'll be on the road faster than that if all goes well, I just got back from the parts store with all the cooling system parts I should need, and a throttle cable that looks close enough to go between the throttle body and the stock throttle grip. I've got a pile of stuff coming in from eBay this weekend so if all goes well I expect it'll move under it's own power in a couple weekends of work. It runs now, which is the hardest part.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

peterp2 wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 7:32 pm That's pretty sick....I have a Yamaha C3 that I'm thinking about putting in a rattler 110cc or blur 220 engine in.
That'd be a fun swap too, I always that boxy design was pretty cool.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by scootERIK »

I have been wondering what came of this project. Glad to see it is moving forward. Big thumbs up!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

scootERIK wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 9:39 pm I have been wondering what came of this project. Glad to see it is moving forward. Big thumbs up!
Well, sadly the answer has been absolutely nothing for far too long :P

But this week tons of progress, I just this moment finished mocking up my radiator. I'm going to TRY for a rear mount radiator. I've seen it work well on bigger motorcycles, so we'll see if I can make it work here as there's not much room on the front end of the Buddy to fab up a radiator.

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I also trimmed down the rear fender and got the hardware to mount the rear wheel on it, so it's sitting on it's own two rims now. Its gotten noticeably longer than stock, and with my current setup its much lower too. But I think it looks pretty good like that, as long as it doesn't drag anything in leans I'm likely going to leave it this low.
That exhaust will be higher when its done, one of the things I seemed to have misplaced while it was dormant is the muffler mounting plate. So its just hanging out there right now...

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

More progress over the weekend, I got the cooling system all plumbed and tested. I don't yet have the correct fan for the radiator so I made due with a PC cooling fan. It works. Kinda. The cooling fan doesn't put out enough air to run it for a long time, but I can run it for 5 minutes or so before it started getting hot. Plenty of time to do some initial tuning!

Part of that tuning involved swapping the engine's stock narrowband O2 sensor for a wideband, which I had handy. This lets me see the exact air/fuel mixture ratio for tuning. Which means its no longer running pig rich with my guesstimate initial fuel table settings.

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I Also got the charging system working, replaced the bad starter solenoid so you can actually start it with the starter button now, and replaced the seized front brake master cylinder so it'll stop when its ready to go.

Now its on to doing some tuning! And figuring out how to run a laptop while riding around on a scooter :P
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Today the Voodoo Buddy got a good wash(It sorely needed it) which revealed that a lot of the panels have a fair bit of paint fade. But it looks a whole lot better now! A lot of the body panels are back in place and 99% of the wiring is done.

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Tuning is going well, the ignition map is decently tuned. Its a little conservative right now but I want it that way until its road worthy. Fuel map is tuned about as well as can be done without riding it, and its got some snappy throttle response and a good growl to it now!

I repurposed the high beam light on the dash as a check engine light that will light up if the ECU thinks something is amiss. Currently its only alerting on temperature, but I'll add some other alerts in there before long.

Thursday my radiator fans and my muffler mounting plate come in, after which I should be able to take it on it's first test run!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Like this whole project, this photo is a VERY long time in the making. Back when this bike was fresh and new I had a friend who ALSO had a Buddy 125. We would swap tuning tips and crazy ideas online. That person was forum member Mr Miller. He happened to be a graphics designer and one day an envelope showed up at the door containing custom graphics for my project. It never got to wear them as it never got running. Today they go on. He's not active on the forum anymore, but we've kept in touch and he got to see his work finally installed.

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Kaos
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

For the first time in 10 years, its left the back patio and runs and rides! I took it for the first spin around the block its had in a decade this afternoon. I forgot how crazy small that bike is! Its not finished, it needs a few bits still, and a lot of tuning. It already seems like it wants to kill me... I tapped the throttle JUST A HAIR. And it spun the rear tire while moving. This is gonna be an interesting bike..

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Now on to tuning!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by scootERIK »

It's looking good! At some point you should try to weigh it. I am curious how much weight the Vespa engine added.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

scootERIK wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 3:50 am It's looking good! At some point you should try to weigh it. I am curious how much weight the Vespa engine added.
Yeah, I'm curious about that myself. It IS heavier, but it doesn't feel like much more when I'm manhandling it around. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to weigh it.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by tenders »

With someone holding the handlebars gently so the scoot doesn’t tip over…
Scale under rear wheel: read weight.
Scale under front wheel: read weight.
Add weights. It’ll be close.

Megasquirt is a generic ECU system that you can graft into any engine and visualize/configure on a Mac? Interesting.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

tenders wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 5:33 pm With someone holding the handlebars gently so the scoot doesn’t tip over…
Scale under rear wheel: read weight.
Scale under front wheel: read weight.
Add weights. It’ll be close.

Megasquirt is a generic ECU system that you can graft into any engine and visualize/configure on a Mac? Interesting.
Ohh hey, yeah that should work. I'll do that here today and see what we come up with...

Yep, Megasquirt is a generic highly configurable ECU that you can attach to ANYTHING. I've got one on a big block V8, one on a Porsche flat-4, and now one on a 1 cylinder GTS engine. The best and worst part about Megasquirt is it can be configured to use nearly any sensors in almost any configuration you can think of so its really flexible. But that means you have to understand what it's doing and how engines work pretty well to make it work. For instance I used the GTS's stock crank position sensor, but I had to figure out how many teeth it had(Its a 24-2 system) and do some math to calculate what angle the sensor was from the crank signal teeth so the Megasquirt knew what position the engine crank was so it could calculate firing times and such.
But that means I can literally give it a timing map with my laptop and set my timing any way I want, and my laptop can autotune my fuel maps based on air/fuel ratio.

I used sensors from GM cars for manifold pressure and intake air temperature, I measured the resistance of the stock coolant temp sensor at various temps so the ECU knew the temperature curve. I had to figure out the resistance and flow rates of the fuel injector...

But now I've got 100% control of EVERYTHING the engine does, and I can do neat things like having a 'sport mode' button to go between an economy map and a performance map, it can tell when you're rolling down hill not on the throttle and cut the fuel to increase gas milage... And I can even do things like launch control and turbo boost control if I want to get super crazy. They're really cool devices.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Now that going fast is covered, time for stopping fast. The rear on this bike was originally drum, now it's a vented 220mm disc, and as soon as the adapters get here floating 4 pot calipers will be there too. Same treatment for the front so I can keep this monster under leash.


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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by HMBscoot »

Bump just to see any progress.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Whoo, LOTS of progress! I got it together, and its running and riding and then I lost a water pump.... Last week I replaced the failed water pump and got it back going. Tuning is going well, its tuned in at lower speeds. And by lower I mean below 75MPH.

Its an absolute BEAST. It'll burn rubber with just a bit of throttle, it'll wheelie hard with a little bit more. I'm still breaking it in but a quick dyno test last week showed its pushing about 25HP at the wheel right now.

I need to tune it up top now but I'm a little scared to get it to the top end... I've had it at 75MPH so far and its got TONS more to give. I wouldn't be surprised if it was capable of 100+. Not sure if *IM* capable of it :P

And now I'm looking at turbos.... Because thats a good idea right?

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

scootERIK wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 3:50 am It's looking good! At some point you should try to weigh it. I am curious how much weight the Vespa engine added.
Ok, so today was some maths time. I weighed the bike first off, it came in at 263lbs which is a weight gain of 23lbs over a stock Buddy 125.
The stock Buddy 125 has 9.7HP. My GTS engine has 21.3HP stock (And mine isn't stock... Well get some solid dyno numbers eventually).

That means a bone stock Buddy 125 with me riding it should be able to complete an 1/8th mile drag race with an ET of 13.27.
My modified Buddy should do an 1/8th mile with an ET of 10.27. I ran a quick GPS calculated 1/8th mile just once on a test ride this afternoon which netted me an ET of 10.1. Faster than the math says I should be able to do by .17 seconds. That means that my modifications have netted me about 2HP more than a stock GTS motor putting my probable horsepower at 23HP. Thats not too shabby. Thats a 13.3HP increase over stock, a 237% increase...

Thats not too shabby :D
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by scootERIK »

Kaos wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:11 pm Thats not too shabby :D
Not shabby at all.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Got a dry patch for a few minutes this afternoon between rain showers, so more tuning!

I discovered that at full throttle I was hitting 100% duty cycle on my injector meaning it couldn't put out any more fuel. Since I have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator on my pump I took it up from 3bar to 4 bar, which brought my flow rate from 158cc/min to 182cc/min. No more top end cutout!

This is one advantage I have over a stock GTS setup, it can't deal well with injector mods like this but for my Megasquirt ECU it was just a matter of telling it the new flow rate and going for a run with my laptop hooked up to re-tune the fuel map.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

I think I might need an intervention...

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Figured it was time for another update... So the Voodoo Buddy is TURBO now!

Because too much is never enough, I picked up a very small turbo charger to add to my project. After some welding up of a new header and running some lines I've got it hooked up enough to do some testing. Its putting out about 8PSI of boost right off the bat, pushing my horsepower to just shy of 40HP! I've got to finish up a few bits before I can take it out for a spin, but I should have some testing time in as soon as I fix the crack that's developed in my gas tank from sitting too long and rusting! Its always something right??

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Dooglas »

Yikes. This is getting serious!!! The baddest Buddy ever.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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I figure I haven't updated the thread here in a bit, time for some updates!
I discovered that I had an exhaust leak in one of my welds(I'm not the worlds best welder...) which was cutting down my boost QUITE a bit.

My previous boost limit was 11psi, after fixing the leak I took it for a test ride and it ROARED to 20PSI of boost! Surprised the hells outa me.
After some back of the napkin math this pushes the Buddy to just shy of 60 crank horsepower. Up a small bit from it's stock 9.7HP.

Unfortunately this means I have to make some design changes I wasn't planning on needing as I never expected to get more than 10ish PSI of boost. First on the docket was getting a wastegate setup on the turbo. Previously I had the wastegate wired shut so there was no boost limit but now it was important to get that dialed in. Next up I added a manual boost controller, this allows me to set where I want to limit the boost to. Its setup right now to limit the boost to 13PSI for daily driving, and uncap it to 20PSI with the turn of a valve.

I took it for a 60 mile run this afternoon, the first time its been more than a mile or two from home in 10 years and I'm happy to say that its running like a champ. It was almost delightfully boring as long as I was careful to keep off the throttle. It would cruise down the road at 3-4psi all day long, but crank the throttle and it would scream to life. I had a quick run on the interstate of about 3 miles on the way to my destination, and was surprised to look down after I gunned it to merge to see my speedometer buried FAR past the 80MPH mark. I'm sure its not wildly accurate, but I was hauling!

Next step is getting a blow off valve installed, at 20PSI of boost on a blow through throttle body the back pressure when shutting the throttle can do damage to the turbo, so I need to work that out before too long.

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by scootERIK »

That thing is ridiculous...

I want one.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

scootERIK wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 2:09 am That thing is ridiculous...

I want one.
It's beyond ridiculous. You'd love it. I was literally laughing out loud riding it today, it's just stupid fun... I haven't touched my big bike in weeks. I'd rather ride this!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by DeeDee »

Wow! Looks great. What are you using for a fuel pump and tank on that? If I look closely, I see the stock tank and petcock sitting there. You're not feeding fuel injection w/ the petcock are you?
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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DeeDee wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 3:44 pm Wow! Looks great. What are you using for a fuel pump and tank on that? If I look closely, I see the stock tank and petcock sitting there. You're not feeding fuel injection w/ the petcock are you?

No, I'm not feeding the FI from the petcock. I am still using the stock tank, however I removed the fuel level sender from the tank and used it's hole to mount an in tank FI pump inside the tank. I may try swapping it for a later FI Buddy tank at some point to get the fuel gauge back, but it works fine for now.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by DeeDee »

I'm glad you're using your mad scientist skills for good not evil! You have a single shorty shock mounted between the Buddy frame and GTS block? How is the rear suspension? Was the 125 engine toast?
Less chit chat, more riding, Buddy 50, 125, 170i, RH50, Yamaha C3
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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DeeDee wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 5:09 pm I'm glad you're using your mad scientist skills for good not evil! You have a single shorty shock mounted between the Buddy frame and GTS block? How is the rear suspension? Was the 125 engine toast?
Yep, single shorty. The Buddy was a single sided shock originally so there's no place to mount a second shock on the frame. I could probably weld in another shock tab but so far its working fine.

The suspension is a little stiff. That helps a lot with the massive torque but it doesn't ride quite as smooth as stock did.

The 125 engine spun the crank bearings. It still technically RAN so it could have probably been repaired and kept on the road but I figured if I was going to pull the engine out I might as well stick something larger in it's place.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by skully93 »

I hadn't checked in here in a while either. This is a fun read!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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skully93 wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 12:34 am I hadn't checked in here in a while either. This is a fun read!
Glad you enjoyed it, I suppose I should make an update then! :P

Beginning of December I had achieved 25PSI boost after some hose changes, which pushed the Voodoo Buddy to almost 70HP. I was on a test run logging to collect some data, I floored it and went on a terrifying full throttle run. About 3 seconds into the pull the power dropped off a bit. I let off the throttle and it seemed to be running ok, until I noticed it was puking oil from the breather hose. That meant I had some serious blow-by. Not good. I rode it home a mile or so away. It had less power than it should but it was honestly still way more powerful than most scoots... Tore the engine down a few days later to discover that what I suspected was true. I had cracked a piston. Blew the ring lands right outa it.

It sat in the garage over the holidays as I just didn't have time to deal with it, but I got the new piston in last week and as of yesterday it was mostly back together. Its still got most of it's body panels off and a few things need adjusted or installed properly but a quick run down the street and back confirmed it was running nicely and I can get back to my sick obsession with speed...

For now I'm going to likely have to limit it to 10PSI or so while on pump gas. I plan on swapping injectors and adding a flex fuel sensor to run E85 and push the boost higher if I can find a local source of E85.
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by az_slynch »

Dude, this project is nuts, but in a totally awesome way!

You've built the scooter equivalent of bull riding: How long can you hang on the throttle?
At what point does a hobby become an addiction? I'm uncertain, but after the twelfth scooter, it sorta feels like the latter...

Seriously...I've lost count...

Seven mopeds ...that's still manageable...
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

az_slynch wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 2:44 am Dude, this project is nuts, but in a totally awesome way!

You've built the scooter equivalent of bull riding: How long can you hang on the throttle?
That's it 100% its a terrifying couple of seconds until I chicken out and let off :P I've yet to see what it's top speed is. I'm afraid to try!
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

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Kaos wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:49 am For now I'm going to likely have to limit it to 10PSI or so while on pump gas. I plan on swapping injectors and adding a flex fuel sensor to run E85 and push the boost higher if I can find a local source of E85.
Star Oilco sells E85 ethanol blend. You probably have an outlet near you.
I believe Space Age Fuel on NE Glisan is also a source.

https://www.staroilco.net/ethanol-fuel/
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Rapchiks »

I dislike Voodo! It's bad(
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Dooglas wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:57 pm
Kaos wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:49 am For now I'm going to likely have to limit it to 10PSI or so while on pump gas. I plan on swapping injectors and adding a flex fuel sensor to run E85 and push the boost higher if I can find a local source of E85.
Star Oilco sells E85 ethanol blend. You probably have an outlet near you.
I believe Space Age Fuel on NE Glisan is also a source.

https://www.staroilco.net/ethanol-fuel/
Thanks for the tip Dooglas! Also, I just noticed your location is OC... We're neighbors!

I've found a few spots to get it. There's a Quik-Gas in downtown that pumps it, I can get it at VP Race Fuels in Canby, and Apex Motorsports in Oregon City right up the road can order it for me along with their 110 race gas orders, and finally I can go buy a gallon of "Klean-Strip" denatured alcohol from Home Depot which is 50/50 Ethanol/Methanol which will work as well(Though its sorta spendy) ... So I've got a few places to get it.

The Flex fuel sensor came in early this morning so hopefully I'll get a chance to try it out here today or tomorrow if the weather holds.

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by unit562 »

Vespa engines are so good. This looks like stupid fun.
I would recommend for anyone doing similar down the road, use a microsquirt instead of mega. It's MS's motorcycle/powersports package and it's great for these.
'08 Buddy 125
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Kaos
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

unit562 wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2023 1:45 am Vespa engines are so good. This looks like stupid fun.
I would recommend for anyone doing similar down the road, use a microsquirt instead of mega. It's MS's motorcycle/powersports package and it's great for these.
They really are, and it REALLY is!

I'm actually running a microsquirt. I usually call it a Megasquirt because its ESSENTIALLY the Megasquirt 2 in a smaller board and nobody seems to have ever heard of the Microsquirt, but many people know what a Megasquirt is. I got tired of explaining its just a Megasquirt in a smaller box :P
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Kaos
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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Kaos »

Figured I'd add some more updates here for anyone still following along at home!

I finally solved my clutch issues by going with a Malossi Delta Maxi clutch. It grips now and the launch is CRAZY hard.
I'm in the process of installing water/methanol injection to allow for more timing and a denser air charge from the turbo... Waiting on one more part then it'll be go time...

Finally, I lowered the front forks 2 inches to make for a better front stance. I think it fits into the fender much nicer now. The only down side is its now low enough that I had to section and re-weld the kickstand so I could safely use it without it pushing the scoot over!

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Re: The Voodoo Buddy rises from the dead

Post by Neil82 »

I'm loving this thread! Looks great with the front end dropped down.
2022 Buddy 170i
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