Modern Buddy

First Hello, I'm new to the world of Stellas. I bought a 2008 Stella with side car last year and enjoyed it alot. But It needs more grunt so I bought an exhaust and jets to upgrade it. While removing everything to get to the carb I noticed and oil leak that looks like it is coming from under the carb box. So I pulled the box and found that the gaskets need replacing. So my thought is while I'm ordering all new gaskets should I upgrade the reed with this http://www.scootermercato.com/Scooter-P ... GGRHOTREED?

Upgrading the reeds may help a little. Try it and let us know.

That Scooter Thing has a video you should check out:

https://youtu.be/90NgpMjWcCk

I imagine that the Scooter Mercato product is basically the same thing.

But if you are really looking for an significant upgrade in performance then you will need to increase the piston size/cylinder. Check out Eric’s DR177 kit upgrade. Malossi is another company that makes kits for the Stella/PX150.

While there truly is "no replacement for displacement", a 2 Stroke must breathe. This is something I have learned as well as read. The exhaust sets the bar, everything else must adjust to meet it to make the most out of an engine.

The reed can't hurt performance, but it's not going to do as much for the engine as a good exhaust, free flowing intake, and tuned carb. Then removing flow barriers like porting and reeds maximize efforts.

I didn't buy the Reed because I didn't port the cases. Plus the chance of a failed fiber Reed would mean a teardown. It's your money, going fast means living on the edge of disaster. More torque is a more reliable road. My 2p.

I'm planning to eventually do the cylinder upgrade, but figured I would start with an exhaust upgrade. To do things in stages rather than all at once and then try to figure out what is not working when it will not start. Been there done that. At this point in time I’ve decided not to do the reed upgrade. I agree with Mr. Fix It, I’m looking for more torque than speed.

Thanks for the help and I’m sure we’ll be discussing other upgrades in the future.

Ken

The challenge with exhaust upgrades is to retune the engine to work best with the new exhaust. if you are planning a big bore kit, you might as well hold off and match the exhaust to the engine upgrade.