2005 People 50 Valve Adjustment, HELP!!!

[Ricfratt]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and to scooters but I just picked up two Kymco People 50's, a 2004 and 2005 (supposedly).   They won't start.  I got one to spark and get fuel but compression is low 75-80 psi. Figured I'd check/adjust the valve clearance before doing anything more drastic but I can't for the life of me figure out where to adjust the valve clearance/lash. 

I've searched dozens of sights and watched every scooter youtube video and cannot find this specific engine.  I've torn everything off and still cannot find the valve cover or where to adjust the clearance.

Any helps (pics) would be greatly appreciated!!!

[CROSSBOLT]

They make this model with a two-stroke engine?

[Viper254]

Couple of pictures would be cool - if it's standard 139QMB-type lump it's not all that obvious

[eamartin]

They make this model with a two-stroke engine?

Yes.  It appears the People 50 came with both 2T and 4T versions.

[CROSSBOLT]

Couple of pictures would be cool - if it's standard 139QMB-type lump it's not all that obvious

Looked up images...four bolt valve cover... what is not obvious?

[Ricfratt]

Yes it's a 2-stroke and I'm generally familiar with car engines and it may be obvious and I'm just clueless but where most scooters seem to have the valve cover on the front of the motor this one has the spark plug. Pics attached.  So if anyone can point out the obvious to me it'd be greatly appreciated!

[eamartin]

Yes it's a 2-stroke and I'm generally familiar with car engines and it may be obvious and I'm just clueless but where most scooters seem to have the valve cover on the front of the motor this one has the spark plug. Pics attached.  So if anyone can point out the obvious to me it'd be greatly appreciated!

Okay.  2-stroke so there are no valves to adjust and therefore no valve cover - only the head.  Compression is way low.  I'd remove the head, slide off the cylinder and check the cylinder, piston and rings for clues.  Very simple to do.  How many miles on these things?

[Ricfratt]

Thank you, so I'm not crazy. Anyway they only have about 1800 miles but have been sitting a number of years I think. Pulled the head and the top of the bore has black charring but haven't dug further. So a top end rebuild, worth the trouble?  Found this on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/fits-Kymco-People-50cc-2-stroke-engine-50cc-cylinder-rebuild-kit-/233089583639

Thoughts? Thanks for all the responses.

[eamartin]

You need to examine further.  Slide the cylinder off.  You may need to tap with a mallet.  With cylinder off you can really see what you have.  Maybe the rings are stuck or something simple like that.  I wouldn't spend any money just yet.

[Ricfratt]

It doesn't seem too bad to me, rings are free, no major scoring, etc.  Here are a couple of pics:

[Ricfratt]

One more.

[eamartin]

At this point I think we need someone who's better at this than me.  Kinda hard to tell anything from these pictures.  Looks like a lot of discoloration of the piston below the lower ring.  Is that right?

[Ricfratt]

Thanks eamartin, appreciate your help.  And yes the piston is pretty discolored so maybe getting. Blow by and rings are bad? 

[Ricfratt]

Guessing it may be varnish from being a 2-stroke oil-fuel mixture. Guess I'll try and see if the bore is in spec and re-ring.

[scooterfan]

To check the piston rings properly you actually need to remove the rings carefully from the piston, slide each loose ring down the piston sleave for about 5 mm, and take measurements of the ring gaps with a fueller gage. Unfortunately I have no idea what size the ring gaps on these scooters are suppose to be.
When the ring gaps are bigger than prescribed specs, the engine will loose compression at the ring gaps.
It will also make sense to hone the piston sleave with a honer.