Stella 2T Fourth Powerless

mcvetyty · Post by **mcvetyty** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:46 pm

hello everyone -

I have a 2008 Stella with a sidecar that's been modded with a pinasco kit, sip exhaust, de-blued filter, and up jetted.

It runs amazing through third and can get close to 50. But then, in fourth, it slowly loses speed and at WOT eventually drops to just under 40.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Stitch · Post by **Stitch** » Mon May 04, 2015 4:16 am

What temps are you getting?

mcvetyty · Post by **mcvetyty** » Mon May 04, 2015 12:36 pm

Unfortunately, I don't have a gauge - is there a hack way to estimate this without one?

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:07 pm

I have a sidecar rig with a DR kit and SIP pipe on it. The hack REALLY adds alot of drag to the bike, mine will pull 55 in 4th, but if you add any type of hill in my way, I am back down in 3rd. Do a little checking to make sure the jetting is right. And get a CHT gauge on that thing NOW. Especially pulling a sidecar rig. Keep her below 350 degrees. The little trailtech unit is cheap and easy to install.

ArgonV · Post by **ArgonV** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:22 pm

I have a Stella 4t stock with a sidecar. No temp gauge, but I guess I need to invest in one?

My hack setup will not pull in 4th gear much. I mainly use 4th to maintain speed but if I need to go up a hill or accelerate much, I drop it to 3rd.

mcvetyty · Post by **mcvetyty** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:27 pm

viney266 wrote:I have a sidecar rig with a DR kit and SIP pipe on it. The hack REALLY adds alot of drag to the bike, mine will pull 55 in 4th, but if you add any type of hill in my way, I am back down in 3rd. Do a little checking to make sure the jetting is right. And get a CHT gauge on that thing NOW. Especially pulling a sidecar rig. Keep her below 350 degrees. The little trailtech unit is cheap and easy to install.

Thanks Viney - Three quick questions..

1) What are you currently have in there for your jet stack?
2) I'm getting some advice to swap out my clutch cog- have you, or anyone else done that? What size job is it?
3) In terms of a CHT gauge, is this one that you'd recommend: http://www.trailtech.net/723-et1

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:42 pm

3. Yes, that little guy. Works great, The way I ran it you will need to get a 6 foot extension wire from trailtech to make it reach. The ring goes around the plug (14mm) and I run it under the floorboard, up through the glovebox and attached the little guy with industrial velcro to the top of my glovebox.

2. Is your gearing stock? If so, you can get a one tooth smaller gear on the clutch and run that. It will help. It envolves pulling the clutch and taking it apart to change the gear then re installing clutch. Its about 1 to 1.5 hour job if you know how. Its not a terrible job. You will need a press or a extra pair of hands to pull apart the clutch.

1. Don't remember. Its in my notes at work. I can check this week. The sidecar rig does still have the 20/20 carb ( a little better torque than 24/24). The stack is the infamous Bald John stack as far as the main jet I would have to look.

Which cylinder do you have? The aluminum barrel is VERY picky to jetting. The BJ stack works great on the DR on my sidecar, but it was too lean in the middle for my Pinasco.

mcvetyty · Post by **mcvetyty** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:59 pm

2) Yes, gearing is still stock. This was recommended by someone over at modernvespa in order to get some additional pull in fourth. Do you agree? http://bit.ly/1Ea74L8 Did you do something similar with yours?

1) Sounds good - I'm just curious because I just got the scoot back from the shop who installed my new kit (I went with a Pinasco - will get the exact model # this afternoon), and am experiencing some hesitation in the lower third range. Wondering if going to a BE4 over a BE3 would help, and what others with a modified scoot w/sidecar are running at.

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Mon May 04, 2015 4:05 pm

Yes, that 20 tooth would work. You have a 21/68 now, and the 20 would help a bit with the gearing.

I stayed stock 21/68 on my sidecar rig, but I run 23/65 on my other Stella(no sidecar). The 20 tooth may not be a bad idea. However, if you just got the bike back, give it a few 100 miles to break in and make sure the jetting is right, but that 20 tooth may still be a good idea. Mine will just pull 55 and I like that, but the 3rd gear will get me everywhere at 40-45 if I have to

JohnKiniston · Post by **JohnKiniston** » Mon May 04, 2015 4:05 pm

ArgonV wrote:I have a Stella 4t stock with a sidecar. No temp gauge, but I guess I need to invest in one?

My hack setup will not pull in 4th gear much. I mainly use 4th to maintain speed but if I need to go up a hill or accelerate much, I drop it to 3rd.

With a 4T it's not needed like it is on a 2T. You won't melt a hole in your piston like the 2T guys will.

SYMbionic Duo · Post by **SYMbionic Duo** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:16 am

I'd also look into going with a shorter 4th gear. It'll be a bunch more work to install since it requires splitting the cases (not hard though), but it will give you a closer 3rd to 4th ratio and keep rpms up so that pulling 4th is doable.

There is the T5 36 tooth gear or the DRT 37 tooth. Personally i'd go with the 37 since with the sidecar's drag, you need all the rpms and thus HP you can get.