Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I had stuff to report but work and life got in the way.
When I ended things last, I had the motor buttoned up enough that I was able to fill the carb with fuel and get it to run for a little bit. For some reason I stripped the splines on the kickstart lever. Everything was torqued but I wrecked it. I put another one on just so I could do a little more tuning work and then I stripped kickstart number 2. I also received a new seat cover so I took it to a local upholsterer to shape some foam and cover the seat.
Two weeks later I got home and started checking in on folks. The upholsterer was done and the seat looks great. He unfortunately installed the seat strap screw with a small screwdriver and marred up the face of it torquing it down. Oh well.
Going back to one of my parts suppliers, I told them about the bad quadrant and they gave me a new quadrant and a deal on new levers. Apologies accepted and moving on, I split the cases apart in the frame and installed the new quadrant.
Then it was onto body trim questions. Did 73 Rallys use phillips head or flat head screws on the horn and floormat rails? Lots of back and forth for research came up with no answer. I'm going with flat head and hope thats right.
Then it was time to start getting some aluminum stuff polished. My friend who is a detailer for the local Harley dealership said she could help me out and polished the helmet hook for me in a few minutes. Doing that by hand or with my 3" polishing wheel would have took ten times that. Decision made she's getting the scoot when its finished to polish things once more and give the bike a good once over.
So that leads to today. I was supposed to help the girlfriend and do a bunch of chores but instead I spent all day in the garage working on the scoot. I started with electrical and found brake lights but no horn/headlight/pilot bulb. Tearing into the switch, I found it wired correct but still couldnt get anything at the bulb. Digging deeper I found the spade connectors at the bulb half assed crimped and not making contact with the bulb holder. I soldered and insulated everything, blew a few bulbs testing the system and its now working and tight.
License plate was installed using a Scooterwest mounting kit. Bolts were too long on that so I had to measure twice, cut three times with a dremel tool to get the bolts the correct length. If I had the right tool I could have been done in 15 minutes but since I was using the weak cutting dremel discs, I broke a dozen of them and the whole process took 2 hours.
Then I moved onto the gas tank. It was full of blast media from sandblasting and painting so I spent another good bit of time cleaning and flushing it. Fingers crossed I got all of it and I dont clog the carb in the first 5 minutes.
Then it was onto installing the seat. I used 3 generic M7 bolts but I found 2 LOBO stamped original bolts and polished them up for the rear gas tank mounting bolts.
Then it was time for a fire up and test everything once more. Carb mixture screw is a little lean but everything else is looking good. Tomorrow I'll ride it down to Vespa Motorsports for a motor break in ride and to once again go shopping for all the little things I still need.
Thanks for following along folks.
Ouch this hurt. $60 a piece for a kickstart lever
Thank god you can split the cases of a Vespa in the frame.
I bought a replacement helmet hook but wanted to use as much original hardware as possible. I'll have plenty of spares/ stuff to sell when this is finally finished.
My detailer Jaime had this done in about 5 minutes tops.
Electrical working! My problem with the headlight was partially the switch, but mostly the lack of a dedicated ground.
Love the rear end of a Rally
Done and assembled! Victory drinks and relaxing tonight
