03 Ruckus PCV upgrade to 06+

[lsands13]

Hey everybody, I'm really new here but I'm wanting to pick up a scooter.  For obvious reasons (who am I kidding, it's mostly just for the awesome style), I want to go with a Ruckus.

Anyway, this is my situation:

I've been scouring craigslist and have come across a very clean, well kept 03 model with only 1000 miles on it and the guy is asking $1400. Seriously, it looks absolutely immaculate, you would not think it was 10 years old. There's also an 07 and an 08 on the radar that I don't know too much about, except that the guy wants $1350 OBO for the 07 and $1550 OBO for the 08.

If I were to go with an older model, I definitely want to update the ventilation system to the post 06 model specs to avoid having to rebuild an engine later on. Can you explain to me in detail what it would take to do that upgrade? I have been reading up on opinions/info on the matter here and here and here, and I found some useful tuning information here. I feel like I'm pretty up to date on general knowledge and understanding. I would not at all mind dropping $60-80 to grab the new cam chain tensioner, nor would I mind spending the same on a new ventilation hose+one way valve+filter if it translates to an 03 being just as reliable as an 06+. Would I have to update the ECM along with the other stuff? Or would that not matter?

What I'm unsure about is the difficulty of the upgrade. I can wrap my mind around most mechanical systems and I think I'm fairly handy, but I have limited access to tools/workspace (away at college in an apartment). I've changed oil, tires, various sensors, head lights, brakes, hubs, etc., on cars but I don't know much about electrical/cpu systems. I have a very basic understanding of the function of vacuum hoses and air intake, but I'm shaky on the exact setup of how they work. I understand the function of a carburetor, but I'm a little bit unsure about how it's set up in relation to the motor and vacuum hoses and fuel supply.

All that being said, if I were to go with a pre-06 model I would want to bring it up to date as far as the ventilation system goes. Much lower on my priorities list would be to upgrade the carburetor, variator, CDI, air intake/filter, and exhaust, along with rejetting. Possibly a performance cam at some point, but that's a ways down the road if it does happen.

Can you give me some feedback, at least on the ventilation system upgrade for the 03-05 models?

Lucas

[chanito]

Pre 06 ruckus and metropolitan scooters had a very simple PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) system. Almost all piston engines have blow-by, which is combustion gases passing between the rings and the cylinder walls. this gases increase the pressure in the crankcase and rob the engine of precious power, old engines just vented those gases to the atmosphere, then we discovered that doing that was not a good idea as hydrocarbon gases can be terrible for your health and the health of the planet, so we started circulating them back into the combustion chambers to be burn.
Early GET engines have the blow by gases being pick up from the top of the valve cover and filter in a little compartment on the air filter housing, then send into the intake hose and it worked great, the problem was that there was no intake of fresh air, so the only supply of gases was the blow by, once engines got warm and the rings sealed better, there was no longer a fresh supply of air and since the carb continued to suck the gases from the crankcase it created a nice vacuum, this make the bearing on the variator side of the crankshaft a gateway for dirt which was getting suck in. And this dirt would eventually lead to bearing failure. After '06 Honda decided to help the bearing by providing a source of fresh air into the engine via a nice port in the chain tensioner, and a one way valve so gases can get in, but the only way out is thru the combustion chamber, they also added an electric valve to cut the air intake when the engine is cold, therefore allowing a vacuum to operate on a cold engine making the system more efficient when blow by gases are at their peak, once the engine warms up the valve opens and fresh air rush in, no more vacuum and a happier life for the crank bearing.
The PCV valve from the stock later model is a very efficient reed valve and a solenoid valve controls the air intake and is operated by the ECU, however you can create a very efficient fresh supply by simply replacing the chain tensioner with the newer model and adapting a PCV valve from a car, making sure the engine can suck air in but not blowing it out (PCV valves are just simple one way valves) and some sort of filter for the air going in, as you do not want to give dirt another way into the crankcase.