1986 Spree engine making scraping sound when turning engine by hand

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foxkeric
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1986 Spree engine making scraping sound when turning engine by hand

Post by foxkeric »

Hi all, first post here. I own a 1986 Spree that sat in my parents barn for 15+ years. My dad and nephew got it running and gave it to me in 2018 as my first motorized thing with two wheels. I ran it around all summer not realizing my dad (who should have known better) stuffed a brillo pad into the airbox to replace the disintegrated old filter. Read the forums, educated myself, realized it soft seized, had no compression, yadda yadda...and the scooter has sat in my kitchen since fall 2018 (a handsome appliance).

I purchased a used engine with good compression (minus carb and flywheel) for $50, and a honda OEM air filter. Yesterday I swapped many of my parts, including brake pads, oil pump, carb, and my known-to-work stator. I will be eventually using my clutch cover, as for some god-forsaken reason the owner of this "new" engine painted the clutch cover a rattle-can olive green.

I have not yet opened the clutch cover of this "new" engine, nor have I swapped starters. Worth noting: the new engine had a lot of oil sludge on the outside, and the top of the piston is covered in carbon. The "new" engine's oil pump had the outlet nipple snapped off, so my guess is they were running premix with too much oil.

Now for the problem.
After sliding my flywheel back on, using the "new" engine's woodruff key (which was not removed), and tightening it enough so that the engine will spin with a wrench (but not all the way, there's still a couple of millimeters to go) I turned it over by hand to be greeted with nice compression...and a scraping sound when the piston is near the bottom of its movement. I can't tell if it's something from the flywheel/stator area, or something down near the crank/piston rod. It's not loud, but it's plainly audible and it creates a tiny bit of resistance when turning the engine by hand.

What could be the cause of this? Carbon? Something under the clutch cover? The "new" starter?

Edit: a second question...what’s the best place to buy or borrow a flywheel puller? The one I used to pull my flywheel was borrowed from someone who is no longer in town.
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