Modern Vespa

Hello all,

New member here looking for some advice and encouragement on a rebuild.

I bought a 1978 150 Super from a neighbor 17 years ago that's been sitting in my basement under a tarp until a couple of months ago. My son, who's now in college, came home and asked if we still had "that old Vespa".

Long story short, we hauled it out, cleaned it up, and now it's become a father-son project.

After cleaning the tank, changing the oil, pumping up the tires, and putting in a new plug it, we've gotten it to start and idle fine, although it coughs out a trail of blue smoke when it's accelerating.

I got a new headlight for it last week. It looks like it needs miscellaneous rubber and trim pieces, but mostly is all there.

The major issue we want to tackle next is a vibration in the front end. The vibration lessens when you pull back or apply pressure on the handlebars.

Any ideas what it could be and how to deal with it?

Thanks in advance, hope to share more in the coming weeks and months.

If its like th front keeps trying to bounce off th road, I had this, and it was 1 side of a rim was bent. Try th spare

look's very nice!
i am in the beginning of restoring a VBC1T 150 super but much older, 1969.
maybe the vibration is from the shock or from the rim as someone said before.
good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions.

SubEtherBASS: Good call, I'll check the rim, but I'm kind of doubting that's the issue because it vibrates while the bike isn't moving. The front end kind of "buzzes" when it's idling. I'm thinking something that runs up through that center piece is out of alignment and rubbing.


lirandrob: Nice bike, a few years older and a few more miles than mine but very similar. How does it run? Do you plan to do any modifications? Please keep in touch and let me know how your restoration is coming along and pass along any tips.

Thanks!

if you feel it while the vespa is standing, i think you should check maybe it's a screw that is loose.
from where exactly do you hear it? try to by more specific.

about the miles, mine is kilometers so it's less than you think
about the restoration, i don't intend to do any modification just add a sidecar.
beside that,renew the engine, paint and seats.

It sounds like the steering column is slack.
You need to slacken & remove the bolt at the bottom of the headset that passes through it to secure it to the column.
Pull the headset up slightly and you'll see the bearing with securing rings that can tighten up with a hammer & screwdriver.
Tighten the bottom ring, then the top one. There is a spacer between the 2 rings to keep them apart.
Hopefully this will sort it.

Best to buy a Haynes manual for your scoot.

See SIP diagram here.

http://www.sip-scootershop.com/main/service/PartsCataloguesDetails.aspx?table=774a6773-ba64-4b83-a4e6-3d4371c23848

Thanks nebulae, that diagram helps a lot. Now that I see what's going on in there, I think you're right on, the steering column nuts probably need to be tightened up. Good tip on the Haynes manual too.

We'll take it on this weekend. Good times...

Top steering bearings loose is my guess as well.
If th shock is stuffed th early ones could be pulled apart, then change th grade of oil in it, I tried 4 types before getting a good one, then it handled great, you could stand up and put your arms out at full speed and it went in a straight line ... Yeehaa to Speedy . R.I.P Speedy.

Thanks mate, we'll check the shock while we're at it. I'm sure the former owner took it over more than a few potholes and curbs in its 20,000 mile life. Can't imagine hands free riding at the moment ... but hopefully we'll smooth things out.

Thanks to the good advice of nebulae and SubEtherBASS we tightened up the top steering bearings yesterday and the vibration is all but gone.

While we were at it we noticed a ridiculous buzz coming from the aluminum suspension arm cover. We couldn't get to fit snugly with the dinky little tabs. There has to be a better way of securing this thing ... or maybe a better quality part available? We ended up wedging some rubber gasket felt in the gap where the cover was buzzing against the arm. Temporary fix until something better comes along.

Next up... new floor rails. Problem here is the prior owner took off the old rails and just glued a floor mat on right to the floor with gobs of some kind of rubbery adhesive. Looks like silicone or rubber cement. It's smeared all over the side and center floor plates (see pics) and doesn't come off easy. Spent 3+ hours of careful scraping with a razor, picking & rubbing with tiny amount of Drip Strip to get the left side looking the way it looks, which is still not great.

Any better ideas how to get the goo off without damaging what's left of the paint?

Thanks again in advance...

WD-40 works great and will not harm the paint.

Try Goo Gone.. I've used it on paint and it didn't harm it.. just don't rub all day, let it soak on the goo...

http://googone.com/

What part of SoCal do you live in? Maybe there is someone here who lives nearby and could take a peek at it for you.

I've used Goo Gone as well and it works pretty good in removing the adhesive. For heavier areas I soak a shop rag and place it on top of the area for several hours so it won't dry out. Beats the wax off, wax off effect and lets the GG do the work.

jamesjohn: It's impervious to WD-40. In fact, it laughed at WD-40.

Vader19: Will try "Goo Gone". Already tried "Goof Off" with no luck. Acetone-based removers don't seem to really cut into it.

Mike Bossy: Good tip about the shop rag. The removers I've tried seem to evaporate before they do any real work.

Right on, give it a try, but as Mike said, let it soak.. (rag or whatever you can come up with to keep the goo covered in goo gone for a while) I hope it works out.. I think it will.. may take several soaks but give it a go!

Why anyone would glue the matt down is beyond me..

Money, I'm guessing. The scooter belonged to a college girl who lived with her folks down the street. I'm sure she didn't have a lot of spare cash for new rails. We used to hear her zipping around on it all the time. After she moved out, it sat in their garage for a couple of years, and they asked me if I wanted it when they moved. Anyway, whatever that goop was, it's turned into some kind of petrified mix of impenetrable grime over the past 25 years.

Another question... any idea what these holes are for? Two on each side near the cowls, and a couple under the seat.

the two holes under the seat looks like they're for the bag hook. I'm not sure about the others near the floor. I'm guessing foot pegs?

I would have guessed pegs pr older crash bars or something for the onbes near the cowls / panels, whatever you want to call them

Cover the soaked rag with plastic wrap, too, to really keep the solvent in place.

Nice idea!

I learned that trick working on brightwork & gelcoat on sailboats, where the breeze will dry out pretty much anything in a matter of minutes unless it's dead calm, at which point it's probably too miserable to do much work anyway.

Nice one !!

Ok, we're doing this in "real time"...

Ten minutes ago I applied Goo Gone liberally to the caked on adhesive on the floorboards (hat tip, Mike B). Then laid Goo Gone-soaked rags over the boards, and covered them up with plastic to keep it from evaporating (hat tip, chandlerman).

I'll let em soak for 10 more minutes then report back...

Hey, it looks like it's working!

The Goo Gone still hasn't penetrated all the way down through to the bottom of the sticky stuff, but I just rubbed a corner and quite a bit is coming off. It'll probably take two or three applications. Good thing I bought the large bottle!

It doesn't seem to be affecting the paint at all.

I'm going to let it sit for an hour then go back to it.

Glad to hear its working. Give it some time to do the work and make sure to use a few applications. Good call on the econo size. You'll need it

That sounds more gentle than brake cleaner, and if that does not work... Petrol!

Good progress on floorboard crud removal.

I let the Goo Gone sit on the crud-from-hell overnight, inasmuch as it still hadn't softened it up after an hour under the soaked rags.

This morning ... success! It's coming off, slowly but surely with a plastic scraper. A couple more applications should do it. Thanks again Mike, chandlerman and SubEB

p.s. Doesn't appear the Goo Gone harmed the paint at all. Awesome stuff, I'm sold.

Nicely done SocalGuy. Another tip....try and keep the area that you are scraping wet during the scraping process. That and only remove the portion of the shop rag/plastic wrap that you'll be scraping at a time. If you remove all the rags at once you'll end up drying out the adhesive and allowing it to become hard again.

Mallossi 166 the sets thing ever made for a super .

Mike - Thanks good tip, I kind of figured that out as I was going along. This is some strange krud... it scrapes off easiest when the Goo Gone's almost but not quite dried. It's almost as if the Goo Gone pulls it up as it evaporates ... ?

Anyway, here's a bonus. Took off the cover that was on the spare for the first time and found this tire underneath. Allstate? Pretty cool. 8)

Pretty cool find. You can consider it a gift since the scooter is giving you the business trying to remove all that crud. Not sure if the Sears Allstate Cruisaire made their own tires but if so you're looking at something made in the 60's. Probably wouldn't throw it on the scooter and cruise around on it, but still a pretty cool discovery.

Yes, they did. That tire is a treasure. Don't use it on your scooter, as it's very old and really only for show. Best to sell it to someone doing a concours-level restoration of an early Allstate.

Thanks, very nice to hear about the tire, I appreciate the info. Bar Italia Classics - I went to your site and saw the same tire with white lettering on one of your restorations. You do very nice work btw.

Thank you very much. And good luck with your project. Any way you slice it, working on these old bikes is a lot of fun.

Yes they are very elegantly designed machines, very rational and refined. The more I work on it the more impressed I am by it.

Any updated photos on the crud removal

Ok, after multiple applications of Goo Gone the 20+ year-old sticky gunk on the floorboard is now as removed as it's going to get without damaging the paint.

What's left is essentially impervious to just about everything except sandpaper and a metal edge. Not bad, but not perfect.

With the crud gone, we can now see what condition the floorboard is in. One ding on the right side there and some chipped spots, but otherwise in pretty good shape, even shiny. The layer of petrified goo probably helped keep the paint from fading. lol.

Next question: Paint or not paint before putting on new floor rails?

Suggestions and advice are appreciated, as usual.

Don't paint. You can always do that later if you change your mind but can't get back the original and the money for the paint job.

You might now do a serious detail on the paint if you want it to look better...

Start with a clay bar kit which might take off the rest of the gunk as well. The idea with this step is that it should take off oxidation, tree sap, etc... making the paint as smooth as possible.

Then...
cutting compound
polish
sealer
and wax.

Or... just put the rails on and leave it how it is... both good options.

I hear you Sammy. Clay bar is a good suggestion.

Probably should do something about that rust though.

What do you think? Clean it up and throw some primer on maybe?