The saga of my spree continues. I've been riding it to work (~ 50 km a day) while my Ford POS sits sucking up money in the driveway. I figured I'd mention this for the benefit of others who may encounter it.
A couple of days ago I noted a new buzzing sound from the Spree. My Spree makes a lot of noises but you sort of get used to them, so this one stuck out. I was concerned that I was having issues with the new cylinder/piston/just about everything that I replaced and I was going get stranded on the side of the road again. The buzz wasn't consistent, but was always around at the high rpm. Sounded a lot like using a chainsaw.
Popped the side panels off, and I think it turned out it was the while plastic fan assembly that bolts onto the stator/wheel on the side. Those bolts were just a little bit slack and the fan could wobble a bit as it went around. I added in a couple of lock washers to improve the situation, tightened down (not too tight - it's plastic after all), and sure enough it seems to have fixed it. Now I'm just back to the usual cacophony of howls and roars from this thing.
Something easy to check.
I make most of my daily trip at around 40 km/h (24-25 mph), and I seem be getting around 128 mpg (US gallons) out of the Spree. Wish it had a bigger gas tank though.
Also, I got a replacement mirror from feEbay to replace my poor lopsided one. $15 for two mirrors, $15 to ship to Canada. Blah. But, now fearful symmetry.
