Modern Vespa

This scooter is in rough shape. It runs (barely). It was found, understandably, in the dumps. It has half a key broken off in the lock, bad wiring for the turn signals, all of the switches are frozen or extremely sticky, battery is toast, floorboard is bent, scrapes and dings all over, clutch is not working, it'd be hard to say everything that's wrong with it.

You guys can see for yourselves with the pictures

What are some good places for parts? I'm hardly having any luck.

Can I get more reliability out of her with aftermarket parts?

Abandon ship. It's worth less than its components. Part it out or start over with a better beginning and use that one for some parts. Don't believe me, though, there is a Stella section on ModernBuddy that will probably agree with me.

http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=14

^ You may very well be right. I should note I don't particularly care to get it looking "perfect", I like the aged, vintage look, I just have to do it right.

The engine does run though.

It took the trader (we traded scooters, I traded my honda metropolitan 50cc, and I'm regretting that a little) about 20 minutes to get it going but once it started it ran good.

I think he had the carby flooded at first, but it ran good when he finally got it going. Couldn't ride it due to the clutch issue.

I've found pretty much everything I've needed from Scooter Mercato

http://www.scootermercato.com/

Parts can be found for Stella 2T, Vespa PX150 or LML Star. All the same for the most part.

^ Guys I didn't know this would classify as the "not so modern" given it's a 2009

it is an old design I guess

Thanks for the link!

I'm going to do the bare minimum. I know it won't be a looker, but hopefully I can get it running alright.

What’s your comfort level? Familiar with this type of scooter? Have much in it? If you don’t have much in it you may want to give it a go. Youtube is a game changer. There are tutorials on Scooter mercado’s site. Also, search online for a Stella service manual. That’s where I got mine.

Just purchased a wrecked stella for the engine. Have the horn cover and some other parts you may want -if interested send me a PM.

It doesn’t look bad at all. The turn signals would be the battery. It’s easy to replace the locks.

It’s basically a rebranded PX 150 made by LML in India. Parts are easy to find. They are almost all interchangeable with Vespa PX.

Try Scooterworks. They are the ones that imported them, and all the parts.

https://www.scooterworks.com/

Scooter Mercato
http://www.scootermercato.com/

Scooterwest has almost every part for vintage Vespa
https://www.scooterwest.com/

One more thing. It looks like it’s out of 2 stroke oil. Don’t run it without that, or it will sieze the engine.

mlw19mlw91 you can get this going for not a lot of dollars and it is a lot of fun.

Get a manual as suggested. Go through all the systems and get a list of what is needed.

The above links and this forum are a wealth of information.

Good luck, keep us posted with progress...

1. Scooter Mercato is your go to. Decent selection, best prices and good advice.

2. Scooterworks is a good fallback. As stated above, they were the importer. As a result, they still have some things nobody else has. Prices are high, though.

3. Scooterwest has Vespa PX parts that are mostly interchangeable. Again, prices are high.

4. SIP and Scooter Center, both in Germany, have everything and basic pricing is good, but shipping can be expensive and slow.

5. LML has been out of business for a while but there are still a ton of LML parts kicking around India that can be had via Ebay and Amazon. Prices are dirt cheap but LML parts generally are not as high quality as Piaggio/Vespa parts. Shipping can be slow.

That said, the chassis on that Stella is not worth saving. Go ahead and tinker with it, but keep your eyes open for a better one you can transfer the parts to in the future.

Kowalski, would you mind sharing what you see that makes you say that this chassis is not worth saving. I'd love to learn.

I don't want to hurt the o.p.'s feelings. Like I said, go ahead and tinker with it. Just don't put money into anything that can't be reused on another chassis. I love mine, but these things just aren't that rare or valuable. It's only a matter of time until a better one turns up cheap.

I love my Stella, but I use it as a workhorse, not a racer or a beauty. If you put decent shocks on them, they have better suspension than a P, the motor is tough as hell, and while the wiring will fail because it's low-quality, with a little bit of love it'll be a rock solid daily rider with lots of tuning potential.

That bike has seen better days, but nothing you can't hammer out, then throw a new horncast on it, spend some time fixing the gremlins, and so long as you enjoy the work, it'll serve you well for many years to come.

And the best part of a scooter that has some wear n' tear on it is that when it gets the next battle scar, you can embrace it rather than cry.

The best way to think about the economics of a Stella is to spend whatever makes you happy, but also know that you don't really need to spend much at all to ride and enjoy it, because it's never going to be a collectible, but it will always be a fun ride.

Looks repairable. There's some major damage to the legshield beading. It looks crimped. But probably possible to straighten out.

The floorboards are wavy. The cowls look bad. There are a couple of weird dents and holes. The cowl brace is bent.

It doesn't look like it's all crash damage. Hard to tell what caused all of that.

But you can get a new set of cowls for $200.

SIP still has the entire LML frame for $1000. Though shipping would probably be a lot.

https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/frame-kit-lml_90713S00

To just straighten it out and make it rideable and presentable, You could salvage most of it. The worst is the horncast and brake lever.

There's someone on Scoot.net that has been trying to sell an LML frame in a crate for a while.

http://scoot.net/classifieds/forsale.html?id=68646

i'm just about to part out a reasonably clean and complete stella. let me know if you want anything.

-g

haven't they been asking $1900 for that though? claiming it's rare but has no serial numbers and no documentation?

They're confusing "rare" with "valuable." And based on my experience, it's not like it's hard to get a VIN once you know what you're doing.

I'd go with frame number 12345 just for the hell of it

thanks for all the help guys! I took it for a small spin today and it didn't run all that well. But it was still faster than any other scooter I've ever owned myself!;; and the manual is a blast.

It only team I with choke on I'm starting by cleaning the carb just waiting on gasket kit.

How much should it smoke? I filled the oil tank up, I put 100:1 in the fuel tank just incase the oil pump doesn't work, but I have no way to know for sure if it's working I can't tell if there's any smoke and the oil tank is full the line is primed I just cannot notice any go through the pump!

You can momentarily pop the oil line off the tube into the carb and introduce a small air bubble in it. Then with the motor running you should see it slowly move. Be careful not to stress or bend the metal tube.

^ Thanks, I'll do that! It was smoking intermittently today and very little so I think there may be an oil pump issue and it was mostly my premix that made it not break. I ordered a carb kit and I'm going ot rebuild it and take a look, it ran kindof bad too.

I found this just hanging out somewhere on the engine, where does it go?

that looks like an air filter securing screw. Holds the air filter onto the carb.

air filter to carb

Adding to what has been said, there are two air filter screws. They are different. That is the rearward one.

If that carb screw was just hanging loose in the engine I would suggest making sure it is the correct screw and a way to ensure it doesn't vibrate out. That screw has a tendency to be attracted to the intake.