Modern Vespa

This morning, I pulled up to where I normally park the Stella and get the train downtown and a guy walking past stopped and said, "Sounds like you've got a hole in your exhaust. Need to get that fixed."

I have a SIP Road on it, but I told him, "No, it's supposed to sound like that. If I wanted loud, I'd put the tuned pipe back on."

I don't think he believed me, but....*shrug*...

In sadder news, a PX150 bit the dust and the rider/passenger aren't doing so hot about a quarter mile from where I used to live in downtown Chicago. That stretch of Broadway is always a mess, even by local standards.

^^^I imagine that he had no idea that it was a two stroke motor.

Speaking of motors, I think I finally got the motor I rescued from an Athens scrap yard fixed and running well. Fresh seals, gaskets and a rebored stock top end were installed. It had two smallish gouges in the rotary pad that responded well to some high grade aircraft epoxy JBWeld type stuff that Kevelis kindly gave me when he heard about the problem. Held oil for a LONG time in an informal leakdown test and ran fine in a bike for several kilometers.

Now it's coming home w/ me in my luggage, except for the mostly iron top end which would push me way over the weight limit. And I have a Pinasco alloy kit waiting for it. So today I've been weighing my suitcase & and carry ons. The carryons will outweigh the checked one(22kg max). Security is always lots of fun. Heh heh heh...


swapping it out of my P and putting original P motor back in
it's a P200 motor disguised as a Rally 200 w/ curved kickstart


fits just fine and closes snugly, lots of room for foam blocks and the small bag of tools that would be confiscated if in my carryon
but it's already too heavy


losing some weight, should be OK now but pulling clutch as well to be sure!
now carryon gains weight bigtime

Excuse me sir, any dangerous or sharp objects? any forbidden articles? nope, couple of motors, thats all. nothing to see here!!!

Everything is just the way it should be, sir, perfectly safe, nothing at all to worry about.
Just have a look at this, you can see that it's all been taken care of by the book.

Done @ a hair over 22kg w/ styrofoam blocking to add, so leaving a few tools behind that are prohibited from carry on luggage.
This three-clamp-to-close Sampsonite heavy plastic shell suitcase is a champ, and I will strap it for added security.

I'm worried about the shock mount...

No worries, this is just the weigh-in. The motor will be snugly blocked in with styrofoam as tightly as possible, shock mount pointed away from the sides. I don't want it bouncing around in that big suitcase punching holes in it.

I've done it before, once with a motor all in pieces(fairly easy except the weight limit) in 2 suitcases and a never been disassembled Rally 180 motor in a big box packed like Scooter Mercato advises but w/ the clutch, flywheel & topend in my carryon. This will be similar but MUCH more convenient schlepping everything thru the airport and back to the house.

cursed the skys the snow has started

today i finally made myself a disc brake for the not so normal vespa using an old drum from a friend and cheapo autos caliper, the hardest part is i have to make the braket and to cut the fork for 7cm and not only that i also change the coil on my yellow vbb since i snap the wire going to the spark plug, lucklily i still keep on as spare

Ebeth, You never cease to amaze me, I'm not kidding. You put together some great scoots. These pictures also remind me of living in south Florida where metal parts used to start rusting within ten minutes of taking it out of a package. Salty air, rain, and heat. Man, do I miss it, I should move back.

Cleaned the cases and internals on my newest ET3. Now off to eat turkey. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ok Ebeth, spill!! Is that an 8 inch front end? If so you may be the first... we need much much more detailed photos.

I'm pretty sure he is the ONLY person who could make them... Let's hope so

Today I got the Christmas trees out of the garage

Brake maintenance day. Changed brake fluid on front and gave the pads and disc a good clean. Wanted to give rear brakes a clean but couldn't undo the bloody hub nut. They work fine so I let it slide. Rotated the tyres. I have the exploding Schwable Weatherman whitewalls. Had a good close up look at them and they seem fine.

well OK.. I THINK that worked....

... was having intermittent running light.. fiddled with some wires.. wiggled stuff until I got ON/OFF... got ZAPPED pretty good a few time (never fun) but found a loose wire, chopped it, reconnected and it seems to be good now.. wait until night, ride w/ a buddy and find out if my "fix" fixed it.. this bike needs a new harness, but I want to run a new harness like I want a hot poker stuck in my eye..

... think I got it though..

... next.. new reeds, but again, I want to get into that like I want my nutts squished.

never cease to amaze ..... thats a top job n love the pink

I agree, please show us how you did it Brother E!

Installed the Kheper unit on the P200. No test ride yet but verified timing and that it retards with RPM.

Installed the seat post and fuel lever grommet on the smallie - never had them for thousands of miles because I always kept needing to remove the fuel tank often. But it's been just riding for a long time now, hope I haven't jinxed it.

Test fitted the headlamp replacement unit for the smallframe to replace the "sealed beam" unit that came with the bike. It's hilarious, the sealed beam unit that came with the bike was a bulb soldered into the reflector, and RTV sealing the glass from the reflector. Piaggio scrambling at the last minute to comply with the new rules in 74. Got it from Scooter Mercato on the Turducken sale for Black Friday weekend. Overall pretty good fit, with the exception of the chrome ring, which is rather tight to the headset. I'll use my existing CEV chrome ring instead - it fits the character of the bike better anyway. But it's pretty cool that they give the mini wiring harness to adapt from the existing wiring to the new holder.

Today I upgraded to EFL transmission and installed a BGM Superstrong CR clutch...

Nice clutch!

Update on my Kheper - it works! One snag on my way to work with it - the unit itself is taller than the standard CDI, so the rubber boot gets cramped if you keep it as is. My boot pushed some connections off and the bike stopped. I figured that out pretty quick and pulled it off and rode the rest of the way with no issue. I'd really like a "reversed" boot, where the wires exit on the cowl side instead of the frame side. Since the wire exit is tilted, it's not able to be swapped around. Anyone have ideas on what might work? The alternative would be a modified bracket that drops the mounting holes about 1" lower than the standard bracket.

I think I was way too conservative with the timing. I set it at only 22 degrees, which retards back to like 14. I was afraid with my higher compression ratio that the 22 might be too much at low revs. I heard no pinging at all, so I'll probably go to 24. Recommended for standard is 26. Or I could make a custom curve, but that is probably unnecessary.

hi josh zingzing here, had trouble signing in for a few months. but im back.

anyway im hoping the have the polini t5 back on the road soon

the cutdown will need $ so has to wait.

also does anyone here drive an old saab? i need to repair/replace the clutch master cylinder on mine but i cant find it..they are rare in australia so hard to find info.

Welcome back Josh. I would have thought one of the moderators could help you out with your signing in issue?

Are you missing the M/C? because if the one you have is just leaky, you can get it resleeved. Did it years ago and it was around the same price as a new one.

Hiya newbie.

What model ?

1988, 900, coupe, no turbo

Josh!! Wondering where you been.

yeah bob i had too many attempted fraud on mv and also on my email

saab clutch seems fixed fingers crossed, the clutch and brake use the same reservoir which is still left hand drive on mine...bled the system with my uncle ,,works well for now.

cant find my angle grinder. shed is more of a junkyard than a working shed

t5 just needs gear cables and fuel hose fitted and front brake,,should be able to ride before xmas is the plan

how is the polini pwk treating you,,and what piston is that man?

[quote="joshbangbang"] I was wondering about the Polini carb as well.
Piston is the new style Malossi I believe. A bit lighter than previously.

Great carb for it's money (90EUR). Excellent build quality and easy to dial in. My setup is a 221 Malossi (2016 sport cylinder with new Vertex graphite piston). The 2016 cylinder has the bigger ports of the MHR but with a smaller exhaust port. Crankshaft is a Pinasco Longstroke (no crazy timings). I have used an MMW head to compensate the 1,5mm difference of the 60mm stroke. Obviously port timings have changed so I got a torquey engine instead of a screamer. Intake manifold is handmade (copied from MRP). Exhaust is a SIP Road XL and flywheel is a lightened (1,9Kg) PX200 Elestart (took off starter ring and milled down). Transmission is an EFL as mentioned with a shortened 4th. Took me a lot of time and money, but I really love the outcome...

Finished engine...

Is anyone else having issues posting replies on "Random Tricks..."?

Whenever I try to 'post a reply' the page just keeps reloading due to an error on page!

Possibly due to lots of links?
Could it be time for a new one?

Thanks for the rundown Safis. Quite similar to mine, except I have the 2013 Sport (and older piston). I'm using the Malossi head with a spacer as it gives you the opportunity to make adjustments. And regular SIP road. Keen to try a carb similar to yours though, I think there's a bit more potential power to be had.

Just got asked to rebuild a p200 by Thursday. Lots of electrical gremlins, seized top end, missing cosmetics, usual bike sitting for a long time stuff but its all there. Friends trying to get have this ready for his wife for Christmas.

Rearranged the garage so I can actually work on things. Got the GS back on the road. One bike running, seven to go.

As I understand you are using a SI carb??
I also started with a BGM SI26/26 but I never managed to dial it in properly...

If you go the PWK path, believe me, you will get a totally different engine...

bit of gardening

That's what I'm looking for!! Cheers Safis.

Sorry for late respon, and even sorry to broke ur guys heart its a 10' disc but i have the idea now and will try to make 8' once i got the coins, now as my holiday gift to you all, i' show u what i do till next year, starting out training mu wife to take a long journey with me on her pink vespa spend 200km and she doing fine, my wife that is 8)

Merry Christmas to you all and cheer

Ps: i love you all