Modern Vespa

Heck of a job!

I am soooo thankful I don't have space for that kind of project.

A) Cost
B) I'd take a decade to get it done.

That made a huge difference! Nice job.

It's actually taken decades. I've owned it since 1990, but it's been roadworthy for most of that time.

Metalwork was finished about 5 years ago. There is no rust in it. I really wanted to paint it, but put the time and money into building a reliable engine for it as well as redoing the brakes, lines and just about everything mechanical. I wanted to travel with it while the kids were still kids. Didn't matter what it looked like.

You, sir, have the patience of Job.
*Tips hat, bows low*

Well done, you've kept the main thing the main thing. Kids grow up and disappear quickly, and we miss the important bits if we're focused on other stuff, no matter how enjoyable.

Cheers,

Bob

Today was a variety of scooter-related activities.

I started the day by helping out a guy down in the 'burbs with his Stella. He thought it was jetting. Turned out to be ignition. We finally got it to rev on the stand and it began to occasionally backfire. When we put a timing light on it, the strobe was jumping around so much that the timing was basically random.

This evening, he sent me a picture of the coil connector and it was clearly arc'ing and not getting a good connection. Since he lives in a classy neighborhood, he has to wait until tomorrow morning to test it and see if that's the issue.

After that, I did some highway testing of a larger carb on the Lammy. I swapped the PWK 28 for a PWK 34 and the initial results were pretty impressive. Even with the carb just barely set up, it gained a horse and a half across the board or so and an extra 600 RPM's before it goes into runout. It also cruised happily on the highway at 65 MPH in 95 degree heat. Temps got up to 320, but were pretty stable there.

And that's when the day took a couple turns for the worse. After I'd gotten off the highway, I realized that the silencer had fallen off. Gone. I re-rode my route, but didn't see it. That task had the extra difficulty factor that it is about the same size as a beer can, which the roads are absolutely littered with from all the drunk drivers who also drunk litter the roads.

Then, on my way home, the carb decided it did not want to stay connected to the intake manifold any morel. So after multiple attempts to re-attach it and limp home, I finally gave up and just pushed it, heat and all.

I have a couple thoughts on the manifold, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, because I spent my evening fabricating a new silencer mount.

I had some steel pipe that was the ride OD, but a little small on the ID, so I ground out the inside until it would seat over the exhaust. Then I cut & welded the pipe, a JL mounting plate I fabricated a while back for a different experiment, and a new mounting bracket--out of 1/4" steel this time. Got it all welded up and tested, so I can work on the manifold tomorrow.

New can mount looks good and strong!

Two short-lived performance box exhausts in a row.

First was Polini box that tore open at bracket weld after about 1.5 years. Now Malossi box where inner baffle plate has come loose and is rattling around inside the box, also after about 1.5 years. Rather disappointing for major brand, made in Italy goods.

Will post necropsy photos when replaced, but what to get next? SIP Road 3 is not too far behind the Malossi in performance. Might that last longer, or should I just view these things as consumables, kind of like very expensive spark plugs?

I think that's honestly probably a pretty good way to look at it unless you're willing to do maintenance/repairs on them, but that's also beyond the scope of most folks when it comes to things like repairing baffles.

I have both an SR3.0 and a Malossi Box and they're both decent pipes. Neither has failed yet, but they also haven't gotten ridden much, so age isn't representative of their lifespan.

[quote="chandlerman"]
Today was a variety of scooter-related activities.

That's an understatement! Can't believe how that silencer found such a great hiding place. The aluminum bracket didn't last long back there. Looks like your steel bracket will be much stronger and handle the vibration better. The new silencer makes your Lammy look like a sportbike. Those guys are going to want to race you now.

On my Dyna the original carb is just held on by the airbox pressing it into the manifold. Small carb so no problem. I swapped it for a Mikuni and with the added size it needed a bracket installed to help hold it on there. It moved a lot without it. With my new engine it's carb is bolted to the manifold so no more worries.

How's the new silencer, any difference in performance from before? Do you like the way it sounds?

Too soon to tell since I can't ride it until I sort out the carb manifold.

I'm thinking a bracket to support the carb may be the winner for me, too. I'd had issues with the pwk28 falling off when it got hot, but was about to safety wire it in place. That didn't work for this one, though, so I'm going to have to get serious.

That van is amazing. My parents drove my sister and me all the way up to Alaska and back in 1983 in an almost identical one. Same orange color, but my mom made and installed some custom hippy curtains. I slept up top for a month.

I made a couple of straps to hold the carb on. Still need to maybe tack weld the bolt that's acting as pin onto the strap, but I don't want to bother with removing it to weld until I've confirmed it's going to work.

(Even I won't weld directly over an installed carb)

Split my V-One motor. Had idle issues when hot and gasoline in the gearbox. Malossi seal FTW!!! Probably a bad batch since it's the same with a new one. FMP has been posting same issues with two builds. Went back to the brown Corteco, fits snuggly on crank…

Like CM recently, I spent the morning working on a friends stella.
Compression is bueno, had enough spark to shock the shit out of me (hole in glove)... so I broke the fuel system down for a clean and rebuild. Craziest bit... the airbox wasn't attached by an airbox screw?!? It was just held in place by the carb bolts! Said, "It was having idling issues before it got parked."
Yeah, I guess.

Afternoon is ET3 time.
Have to pull the carb to up the main jet now that we are running a bigger exhaust.

First kick hopefully this evening.
*knocks wood*
**hopes greasy has pulled pins from voodoo doll**
***checks ham supplies***

So I committed two of the Cardinal Sins of test riding this afternoon when I went to test my carb retaining strap.

First, I didn't make sure I had the *right* tools to get things sorted if I had an issue. I wound up with no way to properly tighten the hose clamp on the rubber boot.

Then, I committed the even graver sin of not riding uphill from my house until I was sure the fix worked. For that, I had the penance of pushing a couple blocks home uphill in scorching sun and 95 degree heat.

I ultimately added a second strap around the float bowl, made sure I had all the right tools, and success!

How 'bout you, BN? Any progress to report now that's it's Oh-beer-thirty?

Oh, you're strapped now!! I second the beverages.

That blows! Are your seals the new style ones? I saw the FMP video about the older ones not lasting long. Now you have me wondering about my 221 build.

Good thinkin with the straps. Although I'd be a little concerned that vibrations would turn those into little saws, slowly grinding away at the carb body. Perhaps your carb rubber is a bit too large diameter and/or too long?

How's the 221 build going? Waiting for update!!

The manifold is a little too small, I think. Really intended for a 28-30mm carb, and typical Quattrini, they don't sell them in other sizes.

I'll be keeping a close eye on things for sure. I considered other options for my materials, but this was the best from what I had on hand. If I get worried, I'll add buffers made out of old inner tube to the straps.

And all of that eventually fails, I'll just make myself a manifold and be done with it.

Right now, I'm on to bigger and more permanent things, like determining if the cowl chokes off the intake and, if so, do I want to cut the cowl to fix it. I think it does, but haven't been able to do enough testing to say for certain yet.

This is the perfect metaphor for every scooter project I do.
*Wipes sweat off brow* First start about 15 minutes after Oh-beer-thirty.
It was brief, and still much to sort... but happy to hear it fire for sure.

The 221 is now going in my P200 project "The Pickle". I've been spending most of my time on getting the GS150 done then I'll finish the P.

Congrats!! Finally! But you know what they say....video or it didn't happen

Edit: saw your video! It's alive! Really great to see!

ya sorry... I'm multi-theading.

Oops...I did it again.

Running errands on the Lammy and noticed that it seemed loud. Not all the time, but definitely blattier some times than others.

Got home and the freakin' stem had broken off the exhaust. Fortunately, when I circled back this time, it was lying right in the middle of the road where I'd left it, so I pocketed it and rode back home.

Welded the stem back on, added a support strap, and need to fix about a millimeter of play on the upper support mounting hole. Also discovered that I was blowing past the exhaust header gasket, so replaced that. No idea why, because the safety wire between the two bolts was still in place, so they didn't back off.

Still, it's better than it was and hopefully will stay that way until I have time to replace a couple more case studs with extended studs to better secure the upper mount and also add a second support strap.

So...anyways...not the best day, but better than the last time something fell off the Lammy, I guess.

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This song seems appropriate but exhausts coming off while riding don't count. Not much danger when they pop off on the stand. Major carnage is possible on the road. Glad nobody was injured and you found it this time.

Yeah, it's one level of annoyance when I'm running errands and it happens a mile or less from home and I find the piece for ease of repair. If it happens when I'm fifty miles from home, though, that's a very different conversation...

Loud pipes save lives, amiright?!?

They also cause some dogs to attack. Been there, done that. 🤣

I'm looking at the angle of the brass U joint on the fuel tap lever. Does the carb not really fit that well in there? Can you use a shorter intake manifold?

I watched the JL silencer fall of my friend's lammy. I turned around to grab it, but there was a lot of traffic. By the time there was a short break where i could run out into the road to grab it, an 18 wheeler semi came barreling down the road…and crushed the silencer completely flat. We're talkin pancake city flat.

Try these?

+1
If it can't move it will crack. Taking a TIG welder to a rally is going to be embarrassing.

Great fix, but it's such a shame about the GORI parts. I've never had any luck with their products, especially their exhausts. Aftermarket lambretta parts is a mine field of dog turds to step on among the daisies.

Ready for our trip to the 38th national Vespa summer meeting. It's 700kms away so we decided to load everything up in a friend's van…

The cab of this van will smell worse than the cargo area by the time you all have arrived home.

🙂

Enjoy!

We just got in our rooms…

Also….

Farts were only released on pee and smoke breaks during the trip…

Got out for a bit of a run with a friend, Mustache Matt. 2 P2's on the back roads of Douglas County! We clocked about 50 miles thru fast winding roads in wine country, farm lands, river views, and some good for a pitstop in the small town of Sutherlin.

Both P2's are kitted, Matt's running a Polini 210 with SI24 & auto lube. We keep pace fairly well, except for when I feel like pulling away and leaving him in my smoke trail Both scoots ran well, and my temps stayed nicely below 300; even ripping it for long stretches WOT. I dropped the main jet down to 135 and it made a big difference in top end response; as rpm's would flatten out with the larger jet. It was a good day!