Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hi all,

I took off the tupperware and opened up the drive housing to see if I could make the (supposedly) 89 elite I bought work properly. A couple things have come up:

1.) The plastic doesn't match the manual. I have one mega-mother front piece and two great big side/back pieces. Also, the left side transmission cover is a single piece, not two as the manual claims. Does this mean I don't have the SA50P I thought I did?

2.) The air box is an enigma. Reeks of gas to the extent that some dribbled out when I pulled it off the carb, and there's NO filter inside. Also, someone cleverly rigged it so one screw was only in the inner peice, which created a gap in the seal. This feels suspiciously like a "Drill holes in the box and stick a wing on the trunk and get 10hp, yo" sort of mod. What should I be suspicious of given the crud that's potentially been getting into the engine?

The plot thickens: I have no variator, just a big heavy disc pulley. Looking at the tech docs, that sounds like I have a spree, even though my body is distinctly an elite. If the transmission is a Spree transmission does that mean the Engine has to be too, or is it possible that some idiot has put a spree transmission onto an elite engine and body?

Pics of engine and bike would help greatly and it does sound like a spree

Kenny_McCormic wrote:Pics of engine and bike would help greatly and it does sound like a spree

I'll get some after work. Looking at fiche's the inner pulley half doesn't look like a spree pully, because it's smooth on the back. It looks suspiciously like the face of a variator.

Ok, got some pics that'll hopefully help one of you guru types:

First off: the scooter itself:

Chicks dig it. Bodywise it's pretty clearly an elite, and the VIN says it's probably the SA50P.

Anyway, this is the smooth pulley that's mounted where the variator should be living:

Side on to show the smooth back and:


The narsty looking black ring on the front that says to me: "Rocky, you sir have a belt that's not being grabbed very efficiently. It's slipping like a *, possibly because no variating device is squeezing it."


Here's a shot of the crankshaft, which seems to be subtly different on the spree and elites, but damned if I can tell from the awful fiche pictures. Maybe you can tell from my awful pictures.

Engine, near as I can tell from the fiche's, matches an elite engine identically, it's just the transmission that's not consistent. If it helps any, the clutch only appears to have two halves, not three like the fiche shows for the elite, which is peculiar. The clutch bell is totally thrashed and ground off inside:

Ya got an Elite E. It has the Spree motor, which there are very few mods for from what I've learned recently. I'm not sure if an Elite E is clearly designated in the model number (ex. SE50P as opposed to SA50P), but chances are if that's the case someone has changed the gas tank. I think those are pretty interchangeable, as for most of the other parts.

Where are you located RockyMountain? I am up in Fort Collins and just got my Elite all nerded up.

Thats the stock engine for that scoot, the 2 black ring marks on the front pulley means the belt never rode up the pulley so the weights & ramp guides are shot!

there is no variator on this engine. therefore there are no weights, no guides, and no backplate to go bad. its a stock fixed drive system.

Your engine is basically a spree engine with a bigger better intake system.

Kenny_McCormic wrote:Your engine is basically a spree engine with a bigger better intake system.

Aha! That explains it then! Thanks a ton for the clarification. Seems the place to start will be a new clutch/bell/belt, any suggestions for what to do with the front pully to make sure it grabs the belt properly?

Is it possible to stuff a variator in there or is there just not enough space to do such a thing?

yea it is called you take a dio engine(94-01 elite engine) and put that on there, that is realy the only way to make your bike have a variable trans, that is why dios are like the only tunable Honda scooter engines