Modern Vespa

Today we had tech day at Casa Raton! The guys came over and we dropped the motor out of my 64 GS.

It really is like taking a walk back in time. Nothing on this bike has been touched. More than 50 years and some things like the wiring and outers look to still be in great condition. The rubber...not so much.

Now I need to pack it up and send it off for rebuild while I work on the rest of the scooter!

Probably go to first oversize, vapor blast, seals etc. Have everything done right. I'm staying stock and keeping the 6v points set up. I know a lot of people like to build them up but for me it is a fairly rare scooter and I just really like it stock.

Can't wait to have it running again. It is just such a fun scooter to ride!

Way to go Raton - I'd agree with rockin' a GS as stock.

Today I got about 2 miles out on my Primi and turned back around - pig rich at idle. Must be a float issue. Last time I had it out I cleaned out the foam filter that had a ton of fuel in it thinking that was the issue but now I'm guessing that was just the symptom. Oh well, I'll yank it and look for a leaking float or needle.

Scooter Speed has them in stock. Had a wonky CDI ordered a new one and could not resist the Kytronix any longer.

I'm now the owner of a 150 Super... And a lot of genuine Italian rust.

What I have been doing the past week is installing the Polini 165 kit I bought like two years ago. Almost all of the time has gone into porting the head, turns out there was more meat in the ports than I thought there was. So to list what has been done so far: decked the cylinder for .04" squish gap, ported intake and exhaust, polished combustion chamber, polished exhaust port, lapped the valves, lapped head and cylinder gasket faces.

Today I finished up polishing the exhaust port, cleaned the head, and got the cylinder onto the case. I still need to reassemble the head, install it, get the carb and exhaust back on, install a new Cosa clutch, and reassemble the rear of the scooter. All so later on I can completely tear the engine down to replace all the shitty Indian bearings. I just wanted to get the kit on and dialed in to judge if I should muck about with gearing while the engine is apart.

Let's have a look then...
Plans?

I'll have a picture after I get it dragged home. It's an old Italian rental fleet bike as far as can tell. A group of us scored five matching scoots. Four supers and a sprint. At least one in the group was registered for road use as recently as 2012. So much rust, so many years of jury rigged repairs. My plan is to fix as little as possible and ride it as the crazy survivor it is. Four of them run with fuel in the carb, the fifth has had the ignition ripped off so we couldn't tell. I'm scared to really get it running before fixing the brakes and tires as I know it'll just take off to the liquor store then the beach, stopping to pick up a voluptuous blonde on the way.

I'm sort of upset [redacted] seems to be shut down as I kind of wanted to load it with cheap Asian chrome on top of the vintage continental patina.

I've had my eye on these suckers for over a year now, the opportunity just arose to get the entire fleet in a mutually beneficial arrangement. I've been taunting the mechanic at the shop they're coming from for some time now. First I told him that one day an old Italian gentlemen was going to pop in and berate him for the scooters not running, walk over, turn a couple of screws, and ride off on one. Then it shifted to he was going to come in to the entire shop burnt to nothing except those five bikes. Sitting in the middle of the rubble acting innocent.

Some one brought in some Pakistan scoots awhile back, then tried to flip on Atlanta CL. I hope this isn't any of them. Either way, good luck.

If they're Pakistani someone went through the effort of finding Italian trash to leave in the glove boxes.

Well, it's good to read this, good bit of detective work there. Those Paky ones were floating around for quite a while on Cl, sometimes in the neighboring cities. I'm glad you picked up some good ones.

At the end of the day would a thrashed bike from Pakistan be any worse than a thrashed bike from anywhere else though? I'm not sure that rust respects political borders.

No, I guess it does not matter who or where it gets it thrashed. Rust respects no one. And I could probably make the argument that more damage could come from a amateur like me than anyone else just putting a whole lot of miles on a scoot.

Got my smallie rolling again. Clean carb, new float and float needle, points gap set, new plug, and all is right again.

bought some mirrors for my scooter again. i wish i would have never gotten rid of the ones that came with it. i'm sure they went to a good home though.

Hope you get these survivors back on the road again Thomas! Careful though these old shifties are so addicting that your more modern twist-n-go's might end up getting neglected. That's what happened to me anyway haha. But then again you've already got your V90 so u know what's up.... keep us updated!

The ol' wasp finally got some sorely needed new suspension and brakes on the front!
Now I'm staring at the new bits for the rear wondering if I should dig in and get er done or just go riding...

It's been running so good for so long now that I almost hate to tear into it again....

Is that exhaust the SIP Road 2? Scoot looks good.

Niz, are you going superstrong?? You'll love it. Did you get the CR version??

It's actually the Sip Road XL!

For now it's just upgraded plates/springs (Newfren) w/ banded basket. Seems to be holding up well so far but I'm expecting some extra torque with the SIP XL exhaust, so soon!
The BGM box in the pic is the BGM Silentblock swingarm mounts. The little CD looking BGM package is an upgraded Clutch circlip.

No superstrong clutch... yet.

Fat little sucker. How does it run? Is it loud?

I have a problem with the Cosa clutch I'm trying to install. First is I can't use my clutch holder tool since there isn't enough space between the plate stack and the bottom of the slot, so I need someway to keep the crank from turning while I tighten the nut down. I tried wedging a piece of 2x4 under the rear hub with it in 4th, but all this did was caused the hub to lever the scoot up. Second is the clutch nut I bought, it's an eccentric lock nut, I didn't know this when I bought it. Do I use a wave spring lock washer with it or not? Because it seems like the nut is too long and won't engage the crank threads fully even when torqued down to spec. It also seems like the nut is too eccentric (the hole is quite oval) and is very hard to tighten.

Last night we got #5 to make noise! So now we know that they will all run with fuel. The worst in the bunch is the poor Sprint. Everyone loves to show off Vietnamese bodge work, wait till you get to see some Italian shadetree engineering.

Got sent this from some fam in sicily. Cool mix of scoots

Got the 79 P200 that I stole started for the first time in a long time. Malossi 210, 30mm side draft, reed block PSP 2000.

Have headlights but no turn, tail or brake. SIP speedo isn't working either. I do know that the battery is toast.

Clutch plates are sticking so still a bit more to do. It sounds and feels bad ass.

It was built by a German guy that knows his stuff and it is stupid fast!

Cheap fun! 8) How about a shot w/ the engine cowl off?


Modkuo, nice Italian pic there, I see four smallies, all 50 Specials!!!
I thought the red one had bar end mirrors, but zoomed in I see that it's a pigeon the little girl is feeding.

Still not installed yet, but this scoot has always had an expansion chamber on it except for the first few weeks I owned it when it was stock, so I'll probably think this XL is too quiet! haha

Here ya go!

Went to take the Primavera, made it about 2 miles. Clutch cable snapped. Well now I've learned how to ride home without a clutch. The worst part is launching from a stop - fine line between stalling and wheelies . Ran it home and parked it for later. I'll check my supplies and see if I had enough to do it roadside, which I think I did. It was just more expedient to take it home with it failing early in my ride.

Bummer John ... been there, clutchless riding is definitely an adventure. Timing is everything.

For you back east dudes.

I'm wondering if a 2nd gear launch would be easier - less speed change and less wheelie tendency....

Yes. I foot pedal and then second. First might work too. Did it all the way home from the border mall outlets one time. Calif stops at lights and make as many right turns as possible...

right on, makes sense.

Yup, I don't use 1st when I'm clutchless.. but then, 1st on a Super is a pretty short experience even with a clutch.

Well I figure I'm doing pretty well if I'm 9 years into scootering and it's my first clutch cable to go on the road. I did have one stretch really far on the P though, but I was able to adjust that one to get home.

Got the Stella back together today. I hunted around for something I could make a clutch spacer from this morning, I went to S&S supply (fastener store) and Fastnel, but no luck. I even looked at brass shim stock, but couldn't find any the right thickness. So I gave up and used the stock spacer. Usual annoyingness putting the rear body shell back on and the bolt holes never lining up properly, always afraid I'm going to cross thread or strip a weld nut. But got everything together fine. Bolted on new carb without adjusting idle speed or mix, just swapped out the main jet to a 125 (had a 120 in the old carb before kit and porting), fired up second kick with choke, idled fine without choke until I turned it off, pretty happy about that. Now just need the weather to get warmer so I can take it out to break it in and dial the carb in.

Shipped out my 64 GS motor for rebuild. I'm pretty good but I know that there are some special things about these and I want everything done right.

This lump has never been opened up. Staying stock. May have to go to first over.

I have enough modified bikes. I just want it to be a sweet riding stock GS!


Also shipped out a couple other parts for a partial swap. You guys will find out when it arrives! It's gonna be awesome!