Modern Vespa

Shimmed a new EFL axle for a friend's PX200 engine I'm overhauling. Old axle had too much play in the hub and the splines had started to deform. New axle shimmed to 0,15mm (Piaggio suggests 0,15mm to 0,40mm)...

270 miles yesterday, 341 planned for today

Today didn't start out as Engine Swap Day, but it ended up that way.

I've been toying with the idea of putting the Stella motor in the Sprint for a while, combining my fastest motor with my favorite bike. I might have even ordered the necessary parts, like a quick pull thottle pulley and long throttle cable.

I wasn't going to do it, but the Sprint motor has developed a worrisome slapping/ticking sound that matches RPM's, so I was going to need to pull the motor to see what was going on either way. It runs fine, but this slapping sound is pretty loud, and efforts to track it down have thus far failed.

All in all, it took me about 3 1/2 hours, but a good chunk of that was taken up with me completely screwing up the throttle cable replacement, resulting in having to pull the fuel tank and pop the headset off to get the new cable reinstalled.

It's all re-installed except the choke cable, with probably a bit more fine-tuning of the clutch and shift cables, but I took it around the neighborhood for a little test ride and...holy crap!

The weight difference between the Stella (~250 lbs, with racks, etc) and the Sprint (~180) is seriously noticeable. It was a blast to ride, even if I didn't really put it through its paces.

I'm glad I did it, even though I said I was going to keep the Sprint auto-lube and generally a high-torque tourer. It's now a pre-mix, side-draft monster. At some point, I'll probably swap the fuel pump over, too, but that's more to get the full use of the fuel tank with the higher head level of the PWK.

Next up will be opening up the Sprint motor and seeing what's going on with it. That's another project for another day, though.

So i seek some sweat, hopelly i can sleep early tonight

ebeth on EIGHT wheels!
Kinda expected this, but on one of those fabulous multi wheeled Indo 2 stroke contraptions.

One not-so-good surprise when I rode the sprint this morning. I didn't have a right-angle for the throttle cable, so I just had it sticking straight up. This was never an issue on the Stella, but on the Sprint, the cowl was bending the cable down, holding the throttle slightly open and causing crazy revving any time I was in neutral.

Unlatching the cowl got it down from "dangerous" to "annoying," but it'll defintely be getting addressed ASAP.

Meh. Always something.

221 started to feel wrong going into 1st gear. Took the selector box off and the cruciform shaft was undone. That will do it. All ok now and nice to have a free fix for a change.

Sorted out the throttle cable last night, but then this morning, go to start it and no spark.

Seems the plug wire had pulled out of the CDI at some point in my fiddling. screwed it back into the CDI and was off again. I clearly need to take a look at where I have the CDI mounted, though, because the Sprint cowl seems tighter than the Stella cowl.

CM, when you have a lot of children it's challenging to pay enough attention to each one. Plus there's a boat!

Revealed the likely reason for my PX's idle circuit being blocked...

Ah, you do have one to ride, easy fix that. But what about poor Buffy?

She's in here somewhere...

u tempt me Brother T

LOL! That's painfully true. Right now, I'm at about .75 of 4 scooters running because I still need to finish up the punch list from the Sprint motor swap, and the plug wire keeps pulling out of the CDI, so I need to relocate that a bit.

Then, I can tear into the Sprint's motor, which is in the engine stand, hopefully that'll be a simple fix.

And, yeah, there's still a few items on the boat's punch list, as well...

NSR, but I thought about posting this. My new employer (Vodafone) gave me a new work / personal use car. It's a brand new, 2019 Toyota Yaris Hybrid. Although it's the base model, it comes with a great package of equipment and features. Only thing that was missing is a cruise control, which would be handy for me, cause I do a lot of highway driving. Guess what. Toyota doesn't want you to know that most of their models from 2010 and onwards, are already equipped with it and the only thing needed is the cruise control stalk (they ask 580EUR to "install" the cruise control, although the original stalk costs only 75EUR in Greece). I ordered a good quality clone stalk on eBay and the steering wheel cover from Toyota (it's not cloned yet). 25EUR later I have a perfectly working cruise control. Took me half an hour to install it (disconnect the service battery, unhook the airbag and screw the stalk inside the steering wheel) and that was it...

Chris
A very clever way to solve the issue.

(It was actually Monday, and not today, but I'm finally getting the time to post it up) But every Monday evening for 8 weeks during the summer, there's a local mountain bike race series. All I got is a BMX to race, so I do whatever it takes to keep my little 20" wheels turning. The track is about 30 miles from my house, and getting there involves dealing with LOTS gridlock traffic. I do a fair amount of "lane filtering" to cut down my commute time. And since the bike isn't any wider that the scoot, I can easily slip between cars.

It takes about 2-3 seconds to install the bike on the rack, and less than a second to remove it. The 3 miles of loose gravel that I have to ride on makes it a little sketchy, but once on the tarmac, it rides smooth at 70mph. I have no idea what other people in cars are thinking when I go by them on the highway, but they must be perplexed.

I've updated the rack a smidge since this picture, so it's even better now.

Now that's impressive!

I replaced the spark plug cap...AGAIN on my PK. It seems like every other time I ride it, I break the cap. I need to remind myself that it isn't a MX bike. The thing is I use the scoot around the farm for hauling around stuff and corralling the horses and alpacas (the farm dog also loves running along side the scooter as well). So I finally bought a grip of the red colored rubber NGK caps. I've been meaning to do this for the past 4 years or so. Hopefully I won't have another broken cap anytime soon. Another bonus is the the scooter starts easier with a new cap and plug.

Is this normal? I wondered why the OP of my bike had 4 new and one broken caps in the box of stuff he gave me. Do you have a link where to get the rubber ones?

Wow killer set up and cool PK Ripper I had a Torqer anyone remember Webco?

It can be very common on a Smallframe...especially if the soft stock shock is still on it. When the suspension is compressed far enough, the spark plug cap foul out against the frame. It's not an issue with a largeframe...then again I just removed a cracked spark plug cap from my PX a couple days ago as well.

I can't seem to find the link where I bought those caps. I must have erased the emails that I got from the company.

when i got my smallie that plastic cap crack and make the tip of my spark plug bend and i end up with a rubber cap but still use the bend spark plug

as for today i manage to fix the smallie after yesterday it loss power to the heat weather.. its does hot here, i can wash my cloth and hang it out at noon and half a hour later its dry

wonder why it loss power when it got too hot

have a nice weekend everyone and cheer

Great, thanks for the info.

I found the link... https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=20168

Knocked out some punch list items on the Sprint. made a couple brackets for the CHT and tach, mounted them onto the mirrors SoCalGuy-style.

I still need to do final shift cable adjustment, and I'll relocate the wires inside the frame next time I pull the tank, but at least they're re-installed.

bought a long death super for $75 with a damage fuel line and flat tyre, and a very stiff gear cable, my plan is to use the engine for the pink pupm the tyre luckly it still can hold some air, change the cable and the fuel line and also tune the carb seek the spark.. voila it alive in the evening, since its have a old smelly fuel i have to give it a teist in the trothle and maybe somehow it disturb my neighbour (i guess) but suddenly some teens pop up and asking to buy it gotta let it go and seek a better engine (wish i can find a px engine) but still laugh till now as its the quickest vespa that i sold got my money back and a extra 2 pack of cigarete for fixing it

Right on ebeth! The universe will hook you up with a sweet engine. Great job moving along a machine to someone who wants it!"

its actually benefit me as i now have a new friends to ride together and their close so i can fix and maintenace the vespas with friends now

Cross my finger if i will find a busted px with a good engine so wish me luck Brother

Until then have a nice day and cheer

75$.. Damn

That super looks amazing, ebeth. Glad you got it back on the road and made a friend along the way!

I need to spend some time on the front end of my Sprint over the July 4th holiday. Now that it has my fast motor in it, it's popped enough wheelies that I need to tighten the headset bearings.

I figure I'll do that, plus rebuild the front hub and finally install the new, stiffer spring & damper I've had on a shelf for three months.

And I have something that's rubbing intermittently at-speed in the back that I can't track down, so I guess I'll have that fun as well.

Did this a few years ago on my wife's corolla. Sneaky Toyota quoted me $380. I did it for the cost of gas to and from my buddy's Toyota wrecking yard.

At last a smallie in my garage. Large frames are nice and all but smallies are fun to work on. Full overhaul for this little guy. It's been ridden hard for the past 8 years with minimum maintenance. It has a DR 68cc kit which will be scrapped (many soft seizes and too much wear - rings have a 2mm gap), a FACO "banana" exhaust and a 19mm Dell'Orto. Primary is stock. Cruciform is shot and the same goes for the conrod (they had installed a narrow small end bearing and it was working "sideways"). I'm thinking for a DR 105cc, 22/63 or 24/72 primary and keep the exhaust and carb...

I really love these little engines and their design...

Few photos of the smallie and my 25 year old handmade clutch compression tool...

Nice!!

Thousand two hundred miles later. Much longer lasting than Diablos and also good in the rain for now. Next update will be five hundred miles later.

Got back on the horse ;P

Heavy rain today... nothing like being in the shed wrenching in the rain.
Next phase.. join these back together. Quick belt and happy enough with the profiles. Did some cutting outside the shed... filthy.

Coming together. Gonna have to learn to weld now.

Nice work. I assume you are welding them?

By the way, if you weld you know, make sure the galvanization is completely removed from those pieces.

Yeah will do. Will grind/sand all surfaces just before welding. Using a baby fluxcore MIG. Will probably just spot-fill weld (to prevent warping and blow-throughs). Got some nice chunks of copper for heat sink too.

Need a welding bench in the carport...

Nice, definitely post some photos. I will be doing some similar work this winter.