Picked up this 2001 from a motorcycle ridin buddy for $500
in 12 years?????
I think the scooter is cute but I was disappointed to find that it has very little power. I live on a straight street that is 1/2 mile long and has an even slight incline the whole half mile.
uphill
downhill
I did a lot of reading here and asked a lot of dumb questions and everyone was WAY patient and helpful. I found out the first things that you do to a "P" model is to deregulate it. For a variety of sales reasons it came from the factory limited to 25 mph.
You begin with taking off the bodywork and removing the airbox and doing the "airbox mod"
The before pic
The after pic
I found that my air filter was totally deteriorated. Bet it hadn't been replaced since 2001.
I didn't want to wait a week for a part. That's what it takes here at my local Honda shop in a small town. So I made a trip to Lowes. This IS NOT the recommended solution but for now I think it will work fine.
So with the air box taken care of, the carb is the next thing to "deregulate" This amounts to removing the stock main jet and replacing it with about an 80 to 88 size jet.
Jet info and more is copied from one of Wheelman's posts (keep in mind the 50p is a #68)
"The Elite 50SR jet is a 78, but remember Honda had to comply with some pretty strict Hydrocarbon Emissions rules back in '94, so it's safe to assume that the Stock jet was actualy pretty skinny. It might run a lot better with an 82 or more. The Secret Code to jetting is 99101-187-0**0. The jet size replaces the stars. Get the 85 and the 88 while you're on the phone if you have the extra $9. Call the Dealer, ax for "Parts Department" and read the number to the Dude. They love when someone knows what he's doing. Deepinnaharta Honda never fails to get my stuff in 2 business days, and shipping is free!
Don't be in a hurry to ditch the stock airbox if you plan to keep it stock-ish. It runs just fine and is safer when you coast down - the small and Fixed Pilot Circuit causes heat spikes when you close the throttle otherwise. Remember to saturate the new filter with OIL, and squeeze it until the drips stop.
Put out a WTB for the SR version of the oil pump and the split throttle cable if you plan to keep it at 49cc. Find the correct SR exhaust or any number of mild exhausts that work with 50ccs, or you can grind out the restricting washer in your headpipe if the muffler is in good shape. This resets your S model to SR form, reliable and durable at 40MPH Plus."
Wheelman is "da man"
I had ridden the bike about 30 miles before I started the mods and I guess the deteriorated air filter was mostly responsible for this mess.
When you begin to do these mods don't be intimidated by the fact that you have to remove the carb. Just take out the two bolts and pull it away from the engine a little way. Just enough to turn it on it's side to remove the two screws from the float bowl and remove the main jet from the bottom of the carb.
I had the part number when I went to the dealer, and I ordered an 85 jet, but no one knew exactly what the jet looked like. The shop guys tried to help me out by loaning me 2 number 80 jets and one 85 just to see if maybe they had one I could use instead of waiting a week.
As my luck would go, none of the 3 jets that they loaned me were the correct type. BUT I tried a 1/32" drill bit and found out it slid easily thru the number 85 jet and would not got thru the stock jet. Interestingly, it would go thru one of the #80 jets and not thru the other one. So I held the drill bit with the forceps and carefully spun the jet in my fingers to drill it out to what is approximately a now #80 jet. Again this IS NOT the recommended way to jet a carb! (but it has been done many many times before) I will replace it with the #85 that I ordered when it comes in a WEEK from now.
The last item in the engine to deregulate is the exhaust.
That little bitty hole in the middle needs to opened up until it is the same diameter as the rest of the pipe! There is more material there than I thought there would be and it is harder to grind out than I thought it would be. From a pic I saw of another bike, it looked like a washer had been welded into the pipe. My bike is a 2001 and maybe they were making it harder to de-reg by then.
After attacking with a step bit you can see how much metal is welded into the 2001 pipe.
But a little patience and some final grinding with my Dremel tool and I have a nicely ported pipe. The final job is a lot smoother than it looks in this pic.
and then some touch up with the dremel after 
I took a good look and the paint on the exhaust hadn't ever been hot enough to burn in. The bike only had 170 miles on it and with the restricted exhaust there had never been enough heat to even get the pipe hot ! 
