Modern Vespa

Oh, that is 100% the case. It was the "winter bike" in Chicago and has been laid down on snow and ice more times than I can count. Bad weather is its only reason for existing. And maybe throwing some knobbies on it for some off-roading this summer. TBD on that. Even I have standards. Also, I don't think I'd have made it to the top of the bridge over the river. That bridge is damn tall. If that bike ever generates a counter reset, it'll generate my funeral at the same time.

Seriously, it's a Stella motor with a DR 177 kit, but otherwise stock. I even put the electric starter back on, but then wound up with a Ducati ignition and flywheel, so no starter ring on the flywheel.

But it also started second kick after sitting for a couple months yesterday morning. It's a workhorse.

The Stella is safely back at the house. Everything was 100% normal on the ride home. I'll admit that I was basically counting down both the horizontal and vertical distances home throughout the ride, though.

It'll get an oil change this weekend to get the brass glitter out, but I think it was just one of those Freak Incident things. Yay?

… replaced my Malossi box exhaust with an SIP Road XL. Initial motivation was I hoped the XL would match the Malossi's dyno curve while being quieter because it is supposed to have 2-layer, fully insulated construction, whereas the Malossi has single skin construction and the only insulation is what looks like a cocktail napkin stuck to the roof and floor. Upon removal, however, it turned out the Malossi needed replacement anyway because the inner baffle had broken free. Malossis are so loud you can't even tell when that happens unless you take one off and shake it. This is the second Malossi that's done this to me, so I think I am all done with Malossi boxes.

Went for a little rip with the XL. Initial impressions are it is only slightly quieter than the Malossi--max 125 db for the Mallosi vs. max 120 db for the XL measured at 6" from the outlet pipe while revving on the stand. Was hoping to get to earplugs optional with the XL, but that ain't happening. On the plus side, there is no apparent loss of performance--jetting, max rpms, and max speeds in gears all remain the same.

I had good luck with my Malossi box. It's on the shelf right now, but the internal baffle is still intact. I've had the exact same broken baffle problem with RoadXL's, though. I think it's just the nature of the beast.

My recollection is also that the RoadXL and Malossi were pretty similar, performance-wise, with BGM177 builds, but I want to say I got a few more RPM's up top off the Malossi.

Put new (10+ year old though) shoes on the Fireball. Hopefully they'll stay together long enough for me to feel like buying a new set, have to be sure to watch for dryrot cracks.

Engine's been starving for fuel and the bike's had a slow mystery fuel leak. I'm hoping I solved both problems. Fuel line had gotten itself pinched in somewhere back between the flywheel housing and the cylinder.

I might have this exact same issue right now. No fuel starvation, but a weird tendency for the fuel pump/line to need priming after it'd been shut off overnight.

I got caught in a thunderstorm yesterday on the GL and saw it was dripping gas at a light, making pretty rainbows as it poisoned the river at the end of the storm drains.

Stellas have a foolish little metal bracket riveted to the frame-side of the cylinder shroud. I believe it is supposed to guide the gas line but on mine it is just in the way. I wonder if you got caught up in that.

Today I....


Took delivery of 3 used piaggio 200 barrels. Measured them up and two of them are the 12bhp version. Happy days.. little bit of port widening and a rebore and they will both go onto the standard ones I have.

Any advice on squish band to set these to?

Unless you're running 60mm cranks, you're going to have to take the chasm that comes stock if you're not milling them down.

If you have room to play, I'd say 1.2-1.5mm.

On my o tune 200, the head is machined to be inset. 1.3 squish, I think. Head opened out to drop compression. The 4mm stock squish is almost 9:1 already.
60mm crank is actually easier to set up.

I wasn't planning on going 60mm

Looking for options and suggestions for "do it in my shed after work" suggestions.

If the head needs rework, ill probably leave as is, I have plenty tuned toys, just fancying something simple and easy. I can have fhe barrel shortened at the cylinder head end if irs viable to do so.

KiSS principle on this one, rather than lets get the max we safely can

If the stock squish is 4mm, is taking 2.5 0ff rhe barrel length viable? Upto .3 I can achieve on the head wirh glass and emery paper (fine)

Conrod kit - £50 I already have (N.O.S.)
Crank 57mm in the Ossary rebuild £60
Barrels were £40
Piston an rebore +/- 100

So 250 all in so far

If you measure the head volume and calculate compression. Adjust the squish to achieve not more than 10:1
Probably going to be 3mm or so. But will be the best it can be without machine work.

what are the measurement differences between the 10HP and 12HP cylinders?

Not much to be honest. Its tbe exhaust port height measured from top of barrel

39mm is 12hp
41mm is 10hp.

Minor difference in the exhaust width also

Thanks! Just measured the rally and seriepro I have stashed away, exhaust is 39 from cylinder top

Checked the fuel line on the GL and sure enough, it was cracked at the outlet from the fuel pump.

Annoying, but a quick and easy fix, at least.

I also spent a good chunk of time straightening up and cleaning the workshop, but it still pretty much looks like a hoarder house.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I have too much scooter crap.

So that means if you take 2.5mm off the top of the barrel -

36.5 is 15hp

Shout-out to oopsclunkthud and vintageconnections.com for helping me level up my wiring game!!!

Spent a few hours sanding the grips to silver...needs few more hours sanding then a clear coat...So far I'm really liking it a lot and the black grips will be up for sale.
Wife's reaction was priceless when I told her I got used grips on ebay for converting to silver grips...rolling her eyes saying I'm crazy, LOL

I like those. Any chance of a link?

Top marks on the wiring and the grips.
Looks ace.

Monday was crazy a scooter day...

Rode for about 15 minutes.

Fapped with the points on the R180 engine as noted in the Spanish thread.

Then did the garage to storage boogaloo. V6AT frame left and the Skate and Destroy p200 came back to the garage. I was invited to bring it to the premier of the Big Boys doc by Tim Kerr himself in late June. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4364438/?ref_=ttfc_ov_bk

I had built the engine in March/April but have yards of maintenance before I can slap the lump in. Will be a race. The whole frame needs the rust treatment done and all the cables, etc etc. I did get the green wire jumped through the frame. Now need to jump/drop from the headset.


Then tinkered on the Servetta. Doing everything I can sans a part order that is in limbo for lammy jammy.

Lastly while searching for P200 parts in storage I realized I had at some point ordered a vape for my 09c (GT160) motor. WTF?!? So... I also pulled the motor out and put it on the engine stand. Having been a few drinks in at this point and partially sun stroked, I dropped my Motovespa SIP note into my SIP cart and and sent my SIP money (that apparently was only being held in escrow) for our german friends.

Scooter ADHD all day long.

*adds another chainsaw to the juggle*

Thank you guys!
Used ones show up on fleabay once in a while for good deal https://www.motogadget.com/en-us/products/mo-grip

Tried for longest time to avoid SIP but holy smokes that place has everything!!! SIP ended up emptying my pockets too...resistance is futile!

My god that Motogadget stuff is expensive.

Nice looking but $155 for grips is cuckoo

Deals can be found...I got the grips for $90 on fleabay...they're nice metal ones with monkey edge frag pattern so they do cost more than normal grips. But yea my wife would agree with that assessment about me haha!

Avoid the german site, they add taxes, then tax the taxes...jeez they're doing a good job on themselves these days...

Today I....

Tatted around at a buddies house helping him do some jobs on his PX. And came away wirh a wiring loom for an electric start that has been through the wars.. ill he liberating all the shaped connectors from it and stashing in tbe parts bin for later usage

Yup. Still working on this. It's the last of it. I WOULD be done but…

The stars seemed to line up. 80* and sunny. A day off because of an unused snow day. The rest of the family at work or school. But windy. No problem, just dry spray to sand out, but this time a new enemy. Pollen. Chunks and shitloads of it. Might be able to rescue it with color sanding but jeez…

When I need a break, I give the VBB a bash. Hoping to make it a real project soon when I'm done with the bus. But for now it's an exercise in metal finishing. How close can I get the lumpy legshield to straight. Just trying out different techniques.

Share the technique?

Mostly basic hammer and dolly work. Bring up the low spots from the back. Even the area out with a small slapper. Repeat. Sometimes a little heat shrinking with a micro torch on the stretched out spots like the crease. As it got closer I painted it with layout fluid. Sand the lumpy spots in a crosshatch pattern to find the highs and lows and work them out. Eventually there are only small low spots. A good place to stop is when you can lose the rest with a reasonable amount of filler. Getting something from filler ready to bare metal perfect is a huge jump in time and skill level. I will be filling.

Impressive

Have you tried the shrinking disc? Originally invented by Wray Shelin, helps you achieve perfect bare metal flatness much faster/easier.

I have one but haven't tried it on the scooter yet. I will definitely give it a try.

I was gonna go for a shakedown ride after my fuel line adventures then the sky decided to start falling.

Started it up and it kept stalling out, lots of cussing. Damned spade terminal at the coil had broken off the wire from the CDI. At least that was easy to fix.

That happens to almost all of the early Stellas with the frame mounted coil. Fortunately, as you said, it is an easy fix.

Excellent work de-lumping lumpy! I've just started to learn about these fillers you guys are talking about and find it fascinating...I've been living in bondo world haha

I woke up to this sunrise, caught two tuna, made sashimi with one and ended up back at the harbor to this sunset. Not a bad day.😁

You're not really fishing until you get fish blood dripping on you! Looks like an awesome day Rob.

Today I....

Will be removing all the multi block connectors from a damaged loom. Some of the connectors are getting difficult to locate so I will be recovering these.

The male and female pins are the same as found in Molex connectors (think computer power) so they can be sourced. But the other ones? Not all of tjem are easily found

Fitted new bearings to the front wheels of a hayter 48 pro lawnmower...

Man alive, genuine wanted £20 a bearing so I I went to a bearinf Stockist and got them for £4 a piece.

Exactly the same bearing without the markup.. so it was £16 versus £80.