With the cargo bed off for a look at this engine a few oddities are revealed...
The 3ft piece of rebar there is serving as the shifter. originally a cable actuated setup, the cable rusted through so this was fabri-cobbled together from some scraps. though still functional, it's a bit clumsy and an eye-sore. it will return to the scrap metal pile.
Those familiar with the vast majority of these scooter-engined (GY6) buggies may notice the engine is kind of sideways. There are several benefits to this, and one major drawback- that being spare parts for the drive output. everything else about the engine/transmission is pretty typical non-EGR, short case 150cc GY6... stuff.
With the swing arm and rear axle out of the way you get a good idea of what's going on there. The two polished rods link the rebar shifter to the gear box. the gear box takes output from the CVT, provides forward-neutral-reverse selection then sends that to a right-angle gear on the output sprocket shaft. The gearbox takes 80W-90 gear oil (quoted from memory, I'll update later after I verify with the manual)
here's another angle with all of the rear bodywork off.
I don't hate the "naked" look. To be honest, I think the bodywork makes it look more cheap than it deserves. I'm still in the early stages of planning on this project but theres the potential here to use this as a half scale test bed for some of my more ambitious automotive bodywork...ideas...