Modern Vespa

Finally got around to weighing the pinasco rims vs the stock ones:

Stock:
Rim 1498.3g
Hardware (5 nuts and washers) 26.5g
Subtotal 1524.8g

Tube 354.9g
Total: 1879.7g

Pinasco:
Rim 1378.5g
Hardware (10 bolts, nuts, and washers) 166.5g
Subtotal 1545.0g

Valve-stem, o-ring 19.1g
Total: 1564.1g

I was going to spend some time in the garage yesterday afternoon, but ninjah (Gero) texted me that he was down at his shop, so I rolled down there and hung out with him, Kenny, and Andreas while Andreas put a new Pinasco 215 on his Rally, then we just hung out all took turns test riding each other's bikes for a while.

This morning, though, I headed out to the garage to knock out what I didn't do yesterday, namely replace the dampener on the Sprint; install the fuel pump (because I start to run out of gas when I'm a gallon down without it); and re-re-re-re-run the throttle inner after the adjuster collar sheared off and the cable nipple kept not wanting to stay in and causing a high idle.

I decided against installing the stiffer spring for the time being. The suspension wasn't terrible as it was, so I'm going to ride it like this for a while before I do anything else.

very smart solution! plus: no extra holes needed.
i might steal your idea, for my 24" bmx cruiser.

fun day! opposite direction, that's us in the background.
well some angry little scooters here, but chandlerman's frankensprint is the beast

Muahahahaha!

For the record, there are no slow 's in that picture.

Dropped by motorsports... Cut robot delivering another cart full of parts on their way to good boys and girls everywhere

Dropped by motorsports... caught robot delivering another cart full of parts to good boys and girls everywhere

Took the MotoBi for a spin, finished cleaning up the rally after the melee, all set for the southern Oregon TT

Determined that A) my clutch bushing is likely bad. and B) Second gear needs replacing.

Patrick, is that ignition connected to original FEMSA wiring? What is it & got a link?

Thanks

Nice to know. I was a bit surprised at how heavy they feel, but they certainly seem solid.
Changing tyres is definitely not something I'd like to be doing on the side of the road though... have you tried, and do you have any tips?

Oh good, the orange plastidip worked! I gave it a few coats to bring the overall look in line with the original.

it's a vespatronic, but yes fully wired to stock wiring harness and fully reversible.
'74 Rally 200 Vespatronic wiring, with battery, and more...

They are still sitting on the shelf for exactly that reason. oh, and the studs on the rally are too short...

You definitely need decent long studs. The stupid nuts they came with came loose on my rear and the wheel fell off 2/3 of the way around the Mille. Not nice. I only use nylocs now and sleep a bit easier.

The transmission in the Sprint decided to eat (or at least chew on) itself this morning on the way to the train

I was about halfway there when it dropped out of gear, like a missed shift, got a weird wobble, then wouldn't go into gear at all.

So I'm hoping it'll be the just cruciform spun off the shift plunger, hopefully without too much damage to just put it back together and ride on.

And my debit card got compromised overnight, so my day is off to an awesome start.

That sucks! On the upside, surely things can only get better?

Last night, I spent way too much time messing with the VBB, which ultimately needs more than just a carb cleaning & some fresh gas to take over as my daily commuter ride.

I did spend a little bit of time looking at the Frankensprint motor and while I didn't get the cases split yet, I have determined it's not as simple as the cruciform spun off the plunger. That part seems to be fine.

At this point, I know there's some wobble in the rear wheel, the kickstart isn't returning consistently, and it obviously won't go into gear, but runs just fine.

Tonight, assuming I have time, I'll go ahead and split the cases and see if there's anything obvious.

Oh, and the rear hub nut is stuck tight enough that my impact wrench couldn't get it loose. I'll hit it with some PB Blaster when I get home and see if letting it sit like that for a bit, plus maybe some heat, does the trick.

So at this point, I have four scooters, five motors, and nothing to ride. Meh.

Run out of vespa

Ride the smallie today but realize the barrel sucking air somewhere so i cannot seem the ride in slowly, open the engine cover and discover my spark plug loosen, wait till it cool down and try to put it back and voola.. The pattern in the head for the sparkplug were worn, push it home and ridw it like steal it and will gotta weld it heat tommorow

What funny is folks get angry and told me to ride normally

Well guess they mever experience air leak

Have a nice night and cheer

Trying to nail down Jetting on my recently installed Malossi 166mkiii. Been way too rich but getting closer. Took the blue filter off and ran it wot on highway without going up on main. 360-370F. Piston got melty but didn't seize! Won't do that again!

this is the pic of the head.. I know its too rich and dirty inside that barrel but none sold the jetting here

Nah, no melty pistoni yet. You still had a ways to go before you'd need to worry. The physical properties(strength) of cast aluminum for most alloys starts to decline real fast after about 400 to 425 with the special eutectic alloys used making pistons somewhat higher. Google 'Hypereutectic piston' for details


Long WOT uphill in hot weather, backing off throttle for a blip periodically. 125 motor w/ bigger carb & pipe but 90/100 primaries so it eats hills easy.
Well used & broke in setup, would not try this on a newer kit w/ a snug piston.
Just riding around normally, even in the heat & 2 up, it's never over 300.

I pulled the head on my Sprint's motor and found it had a loose cylinder stud. That would explain the seize I had, but I don't think it explains the ticking sound, so the cases still need to get split, but at least one mystery is solved.[/img]

I split the cases tonight and I think I figured out why the Frankensprint wouldn't go into gear...

That Sir, is Nasty.

Good to know I was not in the extreme danger range yet. I'm confused though, you say your never over 300F when running under those conditions, then what is the 425F temp photo from?

To put it mildly.

I was actually pretty happy at first, because I thought I had a spare drive shaft, but I pulled it out and discovered it was non-EFL, so now I'm stuck bitterly waiting on the SIP Gods so I can get back on the road.

Wow. Any idea what caused the severe split of the axle end?

Prob the Crimaz cruciform is hard or close to hard as the axle end and add the speed of the cruciform spinning maybe a part of the reason.

Sorry, it was a test run when I finished the motor build and was getting the jetting dialed in after the latest changes, maybe 4 or 5 km of uphill w/ throttle wide open most of the way. The ~300F is what I normally see max.

Awesome. Hope I can finally dial mine in like that!

Crazy! I've never seen a axle fail like that....
Was it a Piaggio driveshaft? How many miles on it?

That 'hardened' cruciform looks extremely poor for only 1 year old.....

Is the kick starter on the 'wrong'side? Or is that the rear brake & they push started it??? Help!




1947 Vespa 98 Race

Wow. That thing is pretty cool. Perhaps the kickstart hasn't been fitted?

rear brake, push start, no centerstand race bike.

I might be wrong, but I think I'm right

I don't recall if it was an LML or Piaggio driveshaft. I put it in about five years ago. I'll have to look it over for any manufacturer's marks, but I don't recall any.

I think the crimaz cruciform may have actually gone in two years ago after I shattered the previous cruciform getting on the highway, so major failure of significant pieces of metal are not unfamiliar to me.

Big Horsepower == Big Failure

New parts are packaged up and waiting for UPS on the dock at SIP. Hopefully they'll arrive by Saturday, but it's always hard to know for sure.

I found the picture of the cruciform. It was a year ago that happened.

The clutch, a BGM Superstrong, decided to chew on itself and shear the woodruff key just before Slaughterhouse last Labor Day weekend.

I'm hard on my scooters. What can I say?

you are correct!

on the wide frame the kick starter would be in line with the rear axle. they actually did special castings for some of the race bikes, the boss that would have the kick start has the bottom half bevelled for ground clearance, you can see it as a half round below the shift mechanism.

Parts for the V50 came in. DR 102cc, 18/67 Primary, full engine overhaul. Engine bushings were a PITA. Had to machine a "dilator" to help the tube go into them, using my hydraulic press. Most shops here retrofit the PK ones but then I would need to machine a "compressor" tube to make them go in...

Everything's clean and assembly has begun...

What the...? I'm having a tough time imagining the forces that were in play here. Were you doing burnouts? Jumping off cubs?

Oh well. Just slap a little JB Weld on there n you should be fine