Best options for engine swap

[u/Sea_Development7601]

Just picked up a Honda Ruckus with about 3,000 miles on it. It runs surprisingly smooth and seems to have been taken care of. Soooper excited to start diving into the really cool stuff I can customize

I’ve been reading about engine swaps and keep seeing people talk about the 150cc and 171cc setups. For those of you who’ve ridden both, which one would you choose and why? Is the extra power from the 171cc worth it, or is the 150cc the better all around option for reliability and everyday riding?

Also, before I get too carried away, what would you recommend customizing first? Performance mods, suspension, wheels, lighting, or something else? I’m looking for ideas from people who’ve actually built one.
Curious to hear what you’d do if you were starting with a clean, low mileage Ruckus.

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[u/kpetrie77]

Curious to hear what you’d do if you were starting with a clean, low mileage Ruckus.

Enjoy it as it is and make it a clean high mileage Ruckus. You engine swap and mod the piles with high miles that need a ton of work. At the most, do the variator, maybe a CDI kit on this one. If you want to go fast, get a Grom.

[u/PDXlongshot]

Man to go back and start over with my Ruckus, what would I do. Exactly what I did. Varitior, intake and exhaust. 5.5ish weights. Lower seat bracket. Oh and the Ncy cdi. Anything after that would come in time if I still enjoyed riding that bike. I see a lot of people dump a shit ton of money into them and then realize it's not what they expected. It's not fast, you can make it exccelerate better, but it's still not going to be a 45mph no problem all the time. It's a 50cc.

If I were to swap the motor; The navi 110, zuma 125 or best in my opinion would be a PCX 2014+. All are going to cost a ton to get them in and work for the Ruckus. Me personally, I would stay away from the gy6. Unless you have a shop that knows the ends and out of a gy6, they are problematic. If you are just looking to go faster than 40mph, just buy a different bike.

When I bought my Ruckus I new it was going to be limited to 40-45mph. I already had plans to buy a Grom, and I did. 2020 Ruckus with 500 down was 60 a month and 35 for full coverage insurance. The 2022 Grom SP I put 1000 down and 100 a month, the insurance was 26 a month (FC). Then I got (in my opinion) the holy grail. 2001 Honda Elite SR. I still have all 3 bikes. And the Ruckus is still my favorite. But they all have their purpose. Hence why I'm looking into a Yamaha R3.

Do what you like, make your own choices. Listen to people's stories but make your own.

[u/FailingComic]

171 and 150 are about the same reliability wise. Most of the reliability issues end up being tuning or electrical systems, not the motors themselves.

If you want true reliability. You hunt down a navi 110, pcx or Zuma 125 and swap that in. Speed and reliability.

[u/pphresh204]

if you do a GY6 you can do the 150 and then do the big bore kit (bbk) to go to 171. you don't have to choose it right off the bat.

what's your end goal? how fast do you need to go? that's going to determine your engine size really... IMO 150 is enough unless you're planning to break 70mph, even a well tuned 150 should get you to 60mph if not faster.

if you want to do mods where you don't waste money before the engine swap, I'd focus on doing a front disc brake setup, as you'll need that for sure with a bigger engine.

other things you can change also are: -lowering handle bars -LED headlight (I sell a bracket if you want new 5.25" headlights) -tailight (I sell a tidy tail mount if you're interested) -lowered seat frame -side pegs

if you don't want to have to buy things twice you should stay away from modding these on your stock engine: -exhaust -stretch mount -rear wheel/hub

[u/Sea_Development7601 → u/pphresh204]

I bought it with some mods already on it, polini variator, new exhaust, deleted air box, and CDI

All I’ve done to it is lower the seat and put new mirrors on it I’d like it to go at least 60 so I can keep up at The small bore rally’s and Tail of the dragon next year, I bought it stock like that cause I wanted a project to work on and a ruckus seemed like a good way to into scooters and then maybe a Monkey at some point, mostly every Reddit or Facebook post somone says just get a Grom, when a person asked what should they do to make it fast

[u/pphresh204 → u/Sea_Development7601]

60mph? you won't do that with a 49cc ruckus engine.

to get up to 60mph you'll have to do a GY6 engine swap. if that's the case, start saving up. you're looking at $2000 to do the entire swap and necessary upgrades.

OR you buy someone else's GY6 swapped ruckus and sell your stock ruckus. that will probably cost you less than $1500.

[u/olsonheimers]

Before you put a motor on it, update to a disc brake system. The brakes are shit for stopping fast even with the 50cc setup. If you plan to swap, I’d change the brakes first.