Modern Vespa

I carry a straw in the box. It is easier to blow crap out of the carb if you use a straw. Other uses can be imagined.

On the subject of exhaust bolts, I recently cut up a px200 polini pipe and welded on a px150 header to fit it on my 150 super.

I had to reconfigure it as a lefty so I wanted it as high as possible.

When I went to bolt it on I found the original bolt was too large to fit.

I thought to go get a cap head screw for it but couldn't be bothered so I just turned the head down on my lathe (any grinder would work too) and cut a crosshead slot in it. Works fine

p.s. didn't chip a single nail

THREE tips in one post Ebeth, that's the record so far! Thanks.... but

#1 WAY cool, BOLT in that brace instead of WELDING it!

#2 I like it, & might use it on one of my contraptions, I have no shame.
But it's NOT gonna be copied by many here, even if almost everybody ADMIRES it.
(Great fear of probably being laffed at that you & I & a few others don't have )

#3 What??? Probably obvious, but I don't see ....

Shiny cowl? Repost. My tip tonight is for the Secret Sauce magical and CHEAP penetrant.
I made up my first batch & loaded my new Sally Beauty Shop bottle to test on some fresh rusty stuff.
Reports to follow.

and you had that acetone to clean off the nail polish, right





if stuff that should move doesnt, put it in the oven for three quarters of an hour on 180c

Here's one that isn't crucial but is a habit that I've been doing for a while.

Plug indexing.

Take your spark plug and with a Sharpie mark the porcelin, near the top, on the opposite side of the open side of the 'ground electrode'.

Install plug and try best to snug up so the ground electrode is open to the majority of cumbustion area. Do not over/under torque while trying to get the plug to index. For some reason I've been lucky and my plugs snug up to within the right indexing for me.


On center fired heads there is no idexing, but for most of us with side plugged heads this allows the spark to freely ignite without any obstruction and increases efficiancy.

Plug Indexing

There exists such a thing as indexing washers. They come in assorted thicknesses.

I don't like them as my plug enters flush with the chamber.

But yes, in the racing world they are widely used.

The thing to remember is you're not going for perfection here when indexing your bike.

Getting the ground electrode to open in the chamber anywhere in the 45 degree area is probably good enough.

Some to most here are probably in that range and don't even know it.

The 50/50 Acetone ATF mix EXCEEDED my expectations! The stuff is amazing and made some nasty disassembly go much better, with a LOT fewer ruined fasteners than usual. I HIGHLY recommend this stuff if you are diving into a rusty scoot.


Steel on steel and even BRASS on steel which usually gives me problems if crusty.

that #3 is a extended brass clucth stud like this


mine is worn out pretty fast due to the Indo quality part so i made one myself and it last longer

wideframe taillight eh this implies you have a widey best vespa ever made........... after 1958 piaggio went cheaparse

oh yeh and that tailight if fkced, but save the internals

How did you make that Ebeth?


I'd really like to know what good ideas folks here have for carrying additional fuel... say 5 litres (around a gallon)?

get one of the merican bbq racks, ive got one it has carried many fuel mix jerry cans,,, i dont know how youd fit one on a super eh

I can't stand inaccurate gauges! 20+ years in quality and engineering in the automotive industry will do that to ya!

Mechanical Speedo Calibration: Be sure the needle was installed with some tension, it should sit against the stop at zero rpm. Now we carefully uncrimp that damn bezel (with great care it can be done with minimum damage) and pull the guts of the speedo out, there's likely two screws or a large nut on the bottom of the housing. Toss it on the kitchen table (my wife loves this stuff) hook the speedo-cable up to the speedo (housing and all) and hook your the powerdrill to other end of the cable, plug 'er in and run her up! (lock the drill at full rpm) Ignoring the speed on the gauge, time how long it takes to run 1 mile off on the odometer. Calculate the true speed given the time it took (ie: 1 minute = 60mph, 2 minutes = 30mph etc. if you can't figure it out get the kid to do it.)

Now the fun part, with the drill/speedo still running, adjust the little hairspring that tensions the needle. (it should be just under the speedo face, thats why you pulled it out of the housing) There's a tiny pin at the outer end you can pull out, then you slip the spring into or out of the pin hole slightly, watching the needle until it corresponds with the speed you calculated above. Carefully put the pin back in, recheck it and reassemble it. Did I mention the need for really fine needlenose pliers?

Do not kink or abuse the hairspring, it doesn't take well to rough treatment.

Use an AC drill, not some rechargeable piece, they loose rpm as the charge runs down and you need steady rpm for this game.

The speedo on my new Enfield was so bad I had to do it before it was of any use!

Easy and fun! Best done with a cold Newcastle Brown Ale.

i weld the brass on a worn out stud after that i smooth the surface with a sand paper, wish i have a better pics

as for the extra fuel you can try this

or this
[img]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2152/2343148246_029f49294e_z.jpg?zz=1[/img]
or even this 29 liters spare fuel




have a nice day in Aussie and cheer mate

Couldn't source a short enough festoon bulb to fit my indicator switch so opetd for an LED.
I had an LED in my last scoot for the break light & one in my current scoot for the headset gem so the way to go if your stuck for a bulb to fit what you need.
Cheap as chips too.

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Thanks to Fritz & Shug for reposting their stuff. In a year or two when I NEED it, I'd never find it otherwise. Here's another addition via a request for clarification that may help with how the gear cable adjustment tip works: Well the bungee is pulling roughly equally on both cables, or at least any difference isn't enuff to rotate the twist grip. The bungee slips around the 'post' and pretty much self adjusts, the post acts like a 'pulley with brakes' on you might say.



If you set it up & TRY it, it all sort of falls into place and keeps EVERYTHING pulled up tight, at BOTH ends of BOTH cables.

The mirror mounts on the Vespa PX's (1998 and on) headset tend to loose their threads after a few years of careless tightening and untightening of those mounts. The usual fix would be to just move them down to the underside of the headset.

I never thought that was such a good idea. It doesn't look right, there's too much vibration, and you can't fit a flyscreen that way.

The newer style mirror mount really is a better design as it dampens the vibration pretty well and personally I think it looks better (though not as good as no mirror).

No time-sert or helicoil insert would fix those threads, so I ground down the top of the bolt hole, but an m8 bolt through from the underside and an extension nut on top.

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I'm reviving this thread as I didn't want to add to "most comfortable shock".

This is a Sebac red and white hidden inside a couple stock sleeves.

Base sprayed black, but could be any color you want.

Very cool! Are there any pictures online to show how to do this part? I've been trying to get into my P200 speedo before, not to adjust it (it's surprisingly accurate, but only up to 50 mph), but I'm pretty sure it needs a good cleaning and lube.

I'm assuming that you did this on a battery driven DC circuit? My P200 is battery-less, so all the lights run on AC, which is usually not good for LEDs.
If there are AC capable LEDs out there, I'd love to give them a try.

I use our turkey baster. My wife will never know...

No - my scoot is all AC - no battery fitted.
LED's will operate fine on an AC system.
Not a problem.

Not all together true or quite so bullet proof.

Ac systems on these things are typically balanced and the bulbs are very forgiving to load changes in your dynamo/stator/generator.

Introducing led's without voltage clippers is iffy and may or may not pose issues.

Not saying it can't be done, just sayin it ain't as plug n play as you may think.

I hear what you're saying but really, I've had no problems . . .

Did you do the electrics yourself or did you have someone do it for you?
How did you map it out?

Seriously ???

I changed the old bulbs for LED's !!!!

Sometimes you just need to try things . . . .

Last scoot - the break light.
Current scoot - headset gem light.

Now - if i was going to change ALL of the scoots lights over to LED, then this MAY need other work done to the electrics - i have no idea.

I am just about to fit small LED indicators to my scoot.
I asked the dealer about AC running & he stated no problem.
I have got a flasher unit which is designed specifically for running LED indicators.
I have, as shown above, fitted an LED into the indicator switch to show me when the indicators are on.
When i get them all fitted, I'll report back.

I have. I'm glad yours is playing along with the mods.

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I was under the impression that the reverse voltage of AC would be harmful to the LED. At the very least the LED will only use half the AC voltage (unless it has a built in rectifier) but they are so effective that might still work well.

I'd love to hear where you sourced the flasher and LEDs, and an update about how it works. My turn signals are very weak at low RPMs.

Hello

For what it is worth it is a diode and with a minor change to the local circuit they will handle AC by changing it to DC,
There are a number of circuits on google, but you may have to use an inline resistor as a voltage dropper.

Regards

Grumpy

So I was re-running the front brake and speedo cable, and they come out of the arm tube near the end.

You can feed them up the tube, not down. Works for the brake, but the speedo has a big old cap on the top end.

I took an old cable and fed it up the tube to the center of the headset, then duct taped it to the speedo cable and pulled it back down.

Very easy.

Re speedo cable.
Are you saying they exit the fork at the bottom together?
It shouldn't come out the forks at the same point as the brake cable.
It should appear out a small hole higher up.
Apologies if i've mis-understood.

It has it's own hole, as you say, a little higher up, about a 1/2 way up that bottom arm tube.

I shoved an old outer up it until it showed at the top, then taped them together and pulled it back down the center tube at the headset.