Modern Vespa

Yeesh!

Hope it cleans up decently. Seriously, why do folks use scooter parts in their gardening projects?

Gah!

That's gonna take some elbow grease.

That's definitely next level right there. It's not easy to get water into the chaincase like that.

I managed to remove every internals with more or less ease, but the piston is welded in the cylinder … I need to buy a torch. Last option will be the angle grinder !

Dear Lord

Rust removal and sheet metal work can be a long detour, but I think I've turned the corner, 50 miles of welding wire later.

For my next project, I am going to sculpt an entire Vespa out of welding wire one tack weld at a time.

As is often the case for me, I went out to the workshop to have a look at fixing the Lammy's speedo sensor and wound up doing some jetting work on the VBB and GL.

The Lammy wasn't a complete failure. I remounted the sensor and was waiting for the glue to dry when I picked up some jetting changes on the VBB and GL. They were both way too rich (I hadn't finished setting up either), so I walked them both down a little and I'm finished with the VBB for now.

The GL woke up a lot with a leaner main, but it's not done yet. It still wound out to 75 MPH on the highway with more to go when I caught up with traffic, so that's positive.

And I tore into the Lammy motor a little bit more. That clutch was thrashed before whatever Bad Thing happened to it. Burned steels, hammered spider, pretty much the gamut of things you don't want to see in your clutch.

I scooted over to the supermarket for a few bits last night. On the way, somehow, I managed to forget to use the clutch when changing from first to second. Primmy didn't particularly complain at the time, but she got her revenge later.

Arriving home, I thought she was in neutral, let the clutch out and she flipped her front end in the air. No damage to the bike, but it pulled my left bicep! Ouch!

Glad to hear the bike is okay. You'll heal.

In all seriousness, though, getting in the habit of making sure you're in neutral by testing with the clutch when stopping before you just let it out is a really good habit to be in.

And less exciting for sure!

Swapped my slide in Bluey. A #7 slide was recommended by Jack and I ordered it months ago. Been way too cold out there so it sat. Went quickly and I was surprised to see a #15 come out of my carb. Dunno anything about slides though so I don't even know if I should have a thought about that at all. Lol

Very stoked this morning. And it's all about a glovebox.

I know gloveboxes can be point on contention on NSM scoots (sign of a bodge) or a point of pride (Bajaj has a huge trunk for junk).

The '83-'87 Riva 80 that was delivered to the US market...frankly, it's crap. The overly complicated startup system, the weak electricals and the nerfed engine were shared with all customers, but Stateside, we got ugly turn/tail lighting and worthless storage to really dial up the suck.

There is a plastic slot that attaches to the inner legshield. It is hinged from the top inexplicably; I would hazard that feature was included to aid in cleaning debris out of the slot and to allow access to the VIN cover, which is located behind the slot. It's stupid and brittle, but it's the only included storage on the scoot unless you count the rear rack.

There was a glovebox offered for the rest of the world. It's not huge like a Bajaj, but it's a vast improvement over the stupid slot.

I finally found a NOS glovebox. Wrong color, but beggars can't be choosers. Arrived this morning from Caracas, Venezuela. That was one of the two big broken pieces on the scoot's bodywork and now I have replacements for both. Woohoo!

Maybe lightning will strike twice and I can find a set of the good looking blinkers and a non-US taillight...

Right on! All the way from Venezuela!

Spent the day helping my buddy clean out his shed for his new tenant. It was surprisingly nostalgic ( we played a lot of "Remember this damn <widget>? ) and annoying, as we found parts for projects that were thought to be forever lost. Plenty of new stock parts that had been replaced as well. That's some bollocks there!

There was much more crap than we bargained for. We took four loads of tools and parts to his new house; the fifth load is going to the dump tomorrow (it's truly trash stuff).

Here are some highlights:

That 226 Vintage silencer is a definitely a trip back into time. Seems like those pipes were first released not too long ago, but it must have been at least 10 years since they were last made.

My T5 has a 226 pipe on it. One of the rules for myself is no wheelies on it, for that exact same reason that i don't grind down the end can.

The LML that I posted last year, running on angry kittens, is finally here for a full overhaul. Apart from the crap on the cases, it's not too bad after covering 62k Kms. Amazingly, it's even on its stock clutch plates. Owner is a really calm guy and rides it daily commuting to work and around town...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdgVcz9oRmI

And a few pics...

Definitely looks used, but with the mileage considered, clearly not abused.

Stock refresh, or are they opting for a bit more spice?

Stock refresh, only problem is the no oversize piston availability, so we'll probably go for a new LML kit since it's cheap at 114€...

That's pretty impressive for the mileage.

Meanwhile, I got sick of messing with the SIP speedo and did a quick GPS Speedo retrofit before we rode on Saturday.

Only 66 miles on the new clock, but I knew how fast I was going the whole time for a change.

The gauges in the picture reminded me - I wanted to ask you chandlerman if you use an adaptor for the AFR sensor with your setup?

https://kosonorthamerica.com/product/o2-sensor-adaptor-for-2-stroke-engines/

Yep. It seems to be reasonably accurate and has held up indefinitely.

Cheers!

i'm betting it's 10x more accurate and 11x more reliable than a SIP speedo.

That could be entirely true and you still wouldn't be saying much.

Always good to do a temporary installation to make sure it all works before making it pretty. Except a lot of temporary stuff ends up permanent.

I did the "in my friend's driveway right before we leave for a ride" installation. I'll fab up a better mounting plate in the next few days. It'll be a lot easier on the Lammy since the speedo is held up into the top of the headset rather than the speedo being held down like on a non-split headset Vespa.

WFH day, so I decided to use my lunch break for good. I'd bought a pair of discounted Vespa LX tumblers from ScooterPartsCo; Geo had received some incomplete sets (master key only, no slaves) so he was offering a decent deal for them. The plan was to gut one of the new tumblers and set it up to accept the original keys.

Seeing how the LXV was running and still reading the two blue keys, I figured I'd save myself some time and money on replacing both lock tumblers, sending the throttle body/ECU off to be re-virginized (that's a thing) and then having to make one or more blue keys up.

The project was a bit fiddler than expected. The retaining clip was bound due to someone peening the lip of the clip slot over on it. When I finally pulled the lock out, the seal between the lock tumbler and the lock body was inflexible, making separation of the two parts tricky. Removing the tumbler required care, as the lock wafers weren't constrained by the retaining bar (it was destroyed by the thieves and I had to extricate it as part of freeing up the tumbler).

Once I had the old lock broken down, I documented the seven usable wafers. The other two were chewed and screwed by the drilling attempt, so I figured I'd borrow some wafers from the donor lock to fix that.

Reassembly went as smoothly as it can when a crapload of tiny springs are involved. I used the old lock body backwards to improvise a follower tool and installed the seven known wafers and their springs. Fortunately, the sacrificial lock had two suitable wafers to complete the tumbler. Biggest pain was refitting the key slot shutter and the lock cap.

Surgery was a success. Both keys now will lock the steering, unlock it, power up the scoot and clear the ECU immobilizer check.

Now I can put the bodywork back on, do the deferred maintenance, try popping the cowl dents and clean the thing up.

I was cracking up when I read this! Good job!

Good sorting sir! You will be penciled in as the Safe Cracker in my next heist.

Well I needed a better rack to carry my spare gas can for my upcoming Baja trip. The factory rack had a weird bend to it that made strapping the tank a PITA. My bender did another nice job on the tubing. Next time I'm only going to tig the hoop joint and mig the rest. This 1/2 tubing likes to pull when not in a jig. It was good practice before building some cool Vespa racks. I'll be getting the round tubing dies after scrounging up some extra loot.

Nice work Rob!!

What does that fit on to?

It looks good. I hope you will post a photo of it mounted.

Razzafrazzin' failed tub seal. Crud blocked the drains in the bearing housing. Got the rear bearing out with heat and a 4lb masonry hammer. The front bearing just exploded it's guts all over the tub when I tried to tap it out. Taking it to the machinist to run a bead on the outer bearing race in the AM.

It's 25 years old (not-so-modern appliance), and this is the second bearing replacement. Otherwise, I've replaced the drain pump twice, the belt once, the wax motor for the door lock once and replaced a resistor on the control board.

Wow!
What brand of machine, please?

Maytag Neptune. 2000 model, stacked washer and dryer. Realistically, it's served pretty well. I'd also note that Tucson water is chock full of minerals and can ruin any water-using fixture with a quickness.

If you get a service quote for the bearings, it's about $1200. The bearing and seal kit is about $70. Worth my time to fix it.

Okay, thanks!

Thanks! It fits on my Harley Dyna. It's more useful flat instead of bent up. Don't know why Harley did that.

Probably so it "flows" or some crap.

While waiting for the parts, I cleaned up the cases. Lots of kerosene, oven degreaser, my trusty power washer and a change of clothes...

The before...



Some of the crap...





The after...

Gotta say, the more time I spend on this forum, the more I realize I am among kindred spirits. Fixing things that usually get replaced…just because I can. Fixed a 70's drier, a 60's Pfaff sewing machine, my hot water boiler. Sometimes it's just for sport. Other times, it's because it's hard to get a contractor to show up.