maico help

brought my first ever outfit, a maico, whole engine is in the frame just needs wiring up an rads fitting etc, just stuck as to where things go etc anybody any pics, drawings etc they could send me, any help appreciated, thanks.

just to try to explain a little more, the thing im stuck with is that on the engine there are four holes for rad hoses, one by the spark plug, 1 by the carb manifold and 2 together at bottom of the left hand sidecasing by the clutch lever, trouble is the rad i was given is a big square thing with only 2 hoses, could they be split into 4? an does it matter which goes where?

Hi Fella,

This is probably a question for the modern forum as watercooled Maico's are technically a modern engine, but allow my to try and help a little.

Firstly, yes it does matter. (And it gets expensive if you get it wrong and it overheats!)

The two together are for water in and water out of the water pump (Take the cover off and you should be able to work out the direction of the flow by turning the engine over slowly and seeing which way the impela turns). There is also one port to allow water to enter the barrel to cool the engine and one to allow the water to exit the barrel to circulate the radiator to cool down again before going back through the pump.

So sequence should go:

Out of Water Pump in to Barrel
Out of Barrel in to Radiator
Out of Radiator back in to Water Pump

From memory water from Water Pump enters the lower part of the engine and exits out the top of the barrel (Using the old theory of heat rising), thus making the system more efficent.

Then in top of Radiator and out of bottom and back to Water Pump

Someone please correct me if I am wrong... (I am only a passenger and should not be allowed near spanners or engines!!)

As an additional note, if the engine starts to make the oil turn "milky" due to moisture in it there is a good chance it is a failed seal on the water pump shaft allowing coolant to enter the gear box. On early Zabels (derrived from the Maico) this could be quite common and also be a sign of a failing head gasket. Keep an eye out for this and get it sorted when it occurs, is cheaper than what happens next! (I would also change the gear box oil after each Practice day or race meeting, if you do this however, rather than buying expensive gear oil each time Automatic Transmission Fluid can be used instead).

Cheers

Dave

thanks alot mate realy appreciate the help.

jgreenysill wrote:thanks alot mate realy appreciate the help.

Sounds like he has the combo correct, you can get info from Zabel, Zabel and Maico really are one by all standards, I have a 685 Zabel rig and raced it till sidecars stopped racing here in the states, oh yes on the trans, yes change it every ride and mix it half and half with ATF and trans oil.