Modern Vespa

Love the T5!! Back to the 80"s sticker is so TOTALLY RADICAL DUDE

Dug in this weekend!
Cables, harness, floor rails, locks, and cowls.
Fighting the front hub rebuild, so I stepped back, and put the seats and spare on just to see. Anything to avoid the legshield trim
Short of massive jetting issues, should go plaid by October!

Looks sharp!

Uh, yeah. Just going to make some cinnamon rolls...


1) Yes, I noticed they missed one of the main gasket surfaces during vapor blasting.

2) Yes, I am that guy who install his bearings with the markings facing out.

I thought that was the correct way to do it so you could see the bearing's spec while it was still installed.

Unfortunately, that un-blasted main gasket face is probably going to cost you half a horsepower.

Don't worry, I've got that covered.

Yesterday I.
.
Went to a man in his shed to have some "heritage machining" done...

No functional parts were harmed, just stuff from my "broken bin" to turn them from scrap to usable again

Today I... have nothing to report, except that it's pg 177 & I've got a post on PG.177

that counts

Today I...

Roared with laughter at the previous two posts...

Plus, received notification that another frame is ready to collect from the painter - not mine, a friend of mine dislocated his shoulder so im doing it for him - slowly i might add.

That thing looks amazing. I know it's going to be fast, too, based on the color.

Wow - that is beautiful - and for some reason I'm always drawn to orange

And what a nice friend you are!

This scoot has been a challenge. Fixed all the known issues, now chasing a phantom transient fault.

I for one believe that if you have problems removing and installing NSM fuel tanks, do the job on a fuel injected GTS a time or two.

^^^
Masochist

Yet another reason I stick to vintage scoots.

Yesterday, I was riding home and saw this socket wrench with 10mm socket still attached in the middle of an intersection. Luckily, it was a four-way stop and there were no other cars because I screeched to a halt to pick it up.

It's the AutoZone house brand, but has a really fine action, so just the thing for working in really tight spaces where there's not a lot of throw.

Nice ground score.

The road will provide.

Free tools is free tools. Got a free DeWalt drill that way.

Those dang 10mms will always find a way to escape, even if they hafta drag the wrench with them.

Yep. This one has been epsilon-close to zero fun.

Things I've fixed so far:

- Replaced Torn Intake Manifold
- Adjusted Valves (too toight!)
- Replaced Cracked Fuel Injector (held together with a zip-tie)
- Replaced Faulty Fuel Pump Relay (would intermittently spazz)
- Rebuilt Fuel Pump (checking work today)
- Replaced Lambda Sensor
- Found and Spliced Damaged Harness to Lambda Sensor
- Found and Replaced Damaged HT Lead
- Tested HT Coil Primary Windings
- Cleaned IAC in the MIU
- Reviewed and Cleared Fault Codes (multiple)
- Reset MIU Adaptive Parameters (multiple)
- Tested with Spare MIU and Key Pair (still fussy)
- Replaced Rear Pads and Bled Both Brake Circuits
- Cleaned and Re-Oiled Air Filter
- Replaced CVT Intake Filter
- Replaced Worn CVT with Multivar
- Cleaned and Rebuilt Driven Sheave

It's close, but gets intermittently shitty and acts like it's lean. Occasionally triggers the CEL. Always with the P0130 (lambda - low). That's now a red herring, as I've run it with IAWDiag and I see the O2 sensor generating voltage and behaving as-expected. Even compared the values with a '13 GTS and lambda behaves similarly. Going after fuel and spark again.

To Chandler's point, yes, vintage scoots are more enjoyable to work on.

Well, I've gone to the dark side

Got off work and did a 160km roundtrip to get a bargain 2024 GTS 300 with only 2878km on the clock for 4500€. Came with an extended warranty (2+2 years), a factory alarm, a seat cover and a disc brake lock...

Score!

Nice! You got a great deal there.

I wasn't a fan of modern largeframes originally, but I've warmed to them. Most(*) of them are fine touring machines.

* Present service project excluded, but a lot of the issues were due to hackery or ignored maintenance.

Took the words right out of my brain!

Excellent score!

az_slynch: I agree! They're totally great although I can't justify the €7k Piaggio now demands for the new 310. The 80km I did for the way back were totally relaxed and comfortable. At this price and total km it was a great bargain and within the price range I was willing to spend for a GTS. It was from a private seller who moved to a Honda NC750. He couldn't move it cause of the color. I have no problem with it...

I LOVE the color!

Isn't the 310 actually 280cc or something?

Impressive score there anyway!

Nope, it's a full 310 CCs. And an impressive amount of torque.

Update: the issue was the fuel pressure regulator. Scoot runs perfect now. With the Multivar setup, it's a friggin' hoot.

I took a look at a Vespa yesterday. It is a FBM add, the pictures did not show much and the owner knew less. He also has a Cushman up for sale as well, but I have no interest it that. Backstory: It's been over a year since I have been on anything with 2 wheels. Spinal surgery, post-op requirements - PT regiment, frequent walks, blah, blah, blah.... When I asked when I could ride again, The Doctor told me to wait a year for the fusion to happen. Fair enough. How about kickstarting? He said probably never - any sharp shock could be bad. Back to the Vespa... I could see from the add that it was most likely a VBB or VBA. Despite the doc's advice, I figured with such low compression, I would be ok. So, I drove an hour to put eyes on it. It was buried in a pile of stuff and only the front could be seen. It had been in a fire and the speedo was melted. No seat, but the front of the scoot looked fairly good. I dragged it out a bit to check the VIN and it came back as a 1965 VBB. Moved it out more and my heart sank. The back was five different pieces of metal welded together. 10 inch wheel on the back. It was propped up on a box so we put in on the center stand. On closer inspection and a bit of scrapping the yellow boots were revealed. A box next to it contained the cowls (that were in good shape) along with some bodgy trim and the license plate mount for a large square plate. I thanked the owner and wished him good luck. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and it was a nice drive thru the countryside.

After 25 years of year-round use I finally decided to bite the bullet and re-paint my '68 SAAB wagon. It has had Krylon red primer on the lower half for the whole time I have had it and I even re-sprayed it with that again at some point. I even sprayed Rustoleum clear on top but it all chalked up and sort of came off. It's been a bit of a rat but about as good as it could be mechanically. Time to make it look as good as it runs. .
The paint's coming off beautifully with the abrasive rust remover pad on the angle grinder but there are spots I can't get at and the great news is that I finally found a stripper that actually does what it is supposed to do. Klean Strip Ultra Aircraft. For years, nothing I have tried even came close to the old Methylene Chloride. You need a good mask because this stuff will knock you out, even outside, but it works.

Pictures!!!

What he said!

Tomorrow.

Just about all paint removed. Now for the sanding, filling etc,.etc.
I'll leave the glass as long as I can. It's all getting replaced. The windshield stays. I have an excellent set of doors and fenders I've already worked on and are just about ready for paint.

Very cool!

Saab's take on the Nomad.

Those old Saabs are awesome. How is it getting parts for them? And will they hold a scooter in a pinch?

Today I...

Put some legshield trim on my buddies Scoot and reached out to the forum members to enquire if I shoukd start a build thread on it?

I have hauled an incredible amount of stuff in these cars but I have never tried fitting a scooter in there. I'd think a scooter (maybe a VBB) would fit in backwards with the wheels off. The rear is essentially a box 36" W X 30" H X 6o" L to the seat bottom. Full flat metal floor.
I have a set of racks that clamp onto the gutters (remember gutters?) that I have loaded with enough lumber or plywood to just about settle the springs.
Very practical car and it handles like the 96 sedan.

Yes!