Hi Winginman, Getting the plastic off was not too difficult at all. The scoot was this blue I just felt that the two side panels that were goldish silver colour the same as the drive cover and silencer heat cover needed to be blue as well, so at the same time I decided to do that plastic cover bracket on the screen and the two brake filler lids. The spraying was a bit of a story because its a candy paint so me paintshop had to trace the correct base coat and the correct candy blue. So its a coat of plastic primer then a coat of silver base then a coat of blue clear then a clear coat over that, so its quiet a process. I started by taking off the two back pegs, watch out for that little spring loaded bearing that clicks into the dimple when in the correct position, one shot out and went bouncing into the distance, then took out the two bolts holding the side covers and clipped them out. The brake covers I took off and carefully took out the seals inside and kept them in a clean jar with the lid screwed on, then I wrapped the fillers with plastic wrap and put elastic bands around to keep them air tight and keep dust out. The plastic cover bracket on the screen is not what actually holds the screen in place, I was surplised to see that but it's just a cover to hide the screen mountings.
I have finally got the scooter back from the dealer Saturday after it was with them for the whole week. They say the problem was with the clutch/drive system which they explain would not further open or slide when the revs increased but was sticking mostly allowing the revs to increase but not transfer the power to the drive. he says when he first tested the scoot the revs were far too high when he reached 120km/h almost redline. They did almost 100km on it during testing and never even added any fuel. Now I have worked on car and bike engines but never seen inside a scooter so I don't know how the automatic scooter works but I will start researching it and find out for myself. Anyway they say they replaced both pulleys, the belt and the entire clutch assembly. Now the scoot is going like I expected it to go in the first place so it seems the problem is sorted and I'm very pleased about that, so much so I never even complained about the fuel. I will watch it and see how it goes, hoping I'll get a better distance on a tank now, I was getting about 15km per litre (expected 180km on 12litres)and it meant filling up every second day because I commute 68km per day (3 trips = 204km). I was too scared to try the third day on a tank for fear of getting stuck in traffic and running out of fuel. I have a fuel station 1km from my home and then none close by the rest of my route. Regards for Durban RSA.
