I have been working on doing just that.
Unfortunatly the seller on eBay who's '83 UExpress engine I bought ran into shipping difficulties, and I ended up with nothing to show for my $66 investment then a partial refund. The USPS was at fault though, so I'm just annoyed at losing my new engine.
Anyway, the engine and tranny will phsyicly bolt up without problem. The back wheel of the UExpress will need to be used, as the brake drum is larger.
Your fuel and oil lines will attach nicely, and the brake cable might or might not work.
The throttle cable will need to be swapped out though, as it also needs to control the oil injector.
The "fun" part however is the electrical system. the UExpress is all 12v.
This means you need to replace your lights with 12v bulbs, the coil with the UExpress version, the rectifier with the one from the UEXpress, and possibly change the wiring layout all together. This is all relativly minor and can easily be done in a day. But you will also need to replace your battery with a 12v version.
Now, if you use the normal UExpress engine (NU50) engine you can get away with a small 12v battery eather shoehorned into the standard bay or shoved somewhere else. But if you get the NU50M version with an electric starter, you will need a battery about the size of the original, and also a new right grip that's equipped with the starter button.
My plans are to sell my already somewhat modified '78 and buy an '82 which would be more friendly to this modification. Not only is it a nicer bike all around, but the battery location is already differant and more adaptable.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions if you'd like more details.
Posted on May 19, 2005, 8:03 PM from IP address 154.20.212.87
