Modern Vespa

It seem that scooter tires only go to about "7" and the TZ tires go to "11" or maybe more.

Very very cool OCT.

The TZ125 and the old RD350s are my fav yamahas.

Stellalossi came out of hibernation today. Pleased to see my tinkering with the speedo, cable and drive gear paid off and needle no longer wags wildly back and forth above 50 mph. Didn't have GPS today, but guessing it reads about 5 mph too high. I can live with that as long as the needle isn't schizing out.

Spent part of the weekend faffing around with my buddy's wife's Vino. Taiwanese 143cc kit, performance cam, NCY "performance" pipe that weighs half what the stocker does. SAS delete. NCY Gen 4 CVT kit...not quite sold on the variator face without a fan.

Forks were pulled, stripped, de-scuzzed and fitted with new oil seals. Just waiting on a new inner leg and dust boots so I can bolt the legs back into the chassis. Using a fork oil with a slightly stouter viscosity at the owner's request.

Needs tires; the front one is a lumpy SOB. Thinking Michelin S1 tubeless for now.

Waiting on jets to dial in the carb and a bunch of other small pieces to address stuff that's crumbled through neglect. Shooting to have this ready for SuperSunday in early May.

Wish some of the parts for my other projects would show up. Some days, you just have to settle for wrenching on whatever needs fixing.

the stocker pipe weighs approximately 9 billion pounds and has that dumb SAS horseshittery on it. the NCY is a marked improvement.

I've installed a few of those kits, giant PITA but the juice is worth the squeeze. that with some trans work make a very pedestrian bike hustle.

you're doing good work man!

Glad to hear this effort will net a benefit. This thing was pretty clapped out to begin with and struggled to top 40mph on the level. I believe they should do 50-52mph stock in good nick.

I only used the thinner black base gasket. Not sure why there are two, unless it's to provide squish when using the stock head? Had the head re-cut from the stock 51.5mm bore to 55mm, so I figured I could get away with one. Rolled the engine over several times once everything was torqued down to make sure nothing was fouling, but the real test will be once it's running.

Keeping the stock carb, but rejetting it. Stock is a Mikuni 22.5 pilot and a 97.5 main. I figured I'd start with a 25 pilot and a 117.5 main. Any thoughts, since there's so little info out there about setting these up?

today I started my new youtube channel. it's called ASE certified mechanic assembles cat tree while swearing wildly.

Dr. Mrs. The Greasy found it to be highly entertaining. the land bats are 50/50 on it. both the tree and the channel.

click the like and subscribe! merch will be out soon!

I'd like and subscribe the hell out of that channel. It would combine three of my favorite things: building stuff, cute animals, and watching others suffer.

Finished securing the strut channel and insulation to the garage wall around the pedestal I built for the … oh, well of course you think it's for you!

hell yeah! looking good! and the finish on the concrete looks excellent!

what are you putting up over the insulation?

guessing the pad is for either machines or a foundry. but knowing you, I'll be for something entirely surprising that none of us would ever guess in a million years!

The pad is for the lathe I picked up last October (Sharp 1118). The insulation will will be covered in places with cabinets, pegboard, tool holders, splashguard... The strut channel will make reconfiguring things really easy.

hell to the yeah. I figured it was either a lathe or a mill or some crazy 3D multi axis thing that you engineered on the fly. or a foundry. I wouldn't put it past you!

I'm into it. what are you using as splash guard? standard peg or going stainless or something?

the strut channel is genius. so much easier than regular construct.

I replaced the ridiculous lock washer on the swing arm bolt on my SS180. The one on the left is the "correct size" from a Superior Industrial Parts supplier. The one on the right is the NOS original cadmium replacement I found on eBay. It's pretty darn obvious that the dimensions aren't the same.

Put the rebuilt forks back in that fricken Vino. Used Torco RFF 20 in the forks to make them slightly less mushy than stock. The bozo that designed the belly pan on these scoots is a proper bastard in my book.

Also wrote another article for the Scooter Zine. Publishing deadline is this weekend, and nothing stirs the creative juices like running it down to the wire...

Little Blue Sprint needs a bit of running in after an engine freshen by Skand at Retro. Had this bike a long time. 42,000 miles on the original piston... Kept it stock standard. Goes sweet. Chur.

Listed the White P200 on FB Marketplace around noon. Went and installed a CDI on the SS. Came back in and it was sold. Best part is Denver James is supposed to stop by with something for me this week and the buyer is using DJ to ship the white P200 out west.

Hmmmm... Is it too much to hope that mama bear won't notice the color change in the herd?

(Big Mama Lu was a sad find but a GREAT project and even better friend.)

Kicked the Lambretta off the podium and got the lathe up there and leveled

More time on that Vino. Starting to look like a scooter again. Feeling good about that Torco RFF 20 in the forks; tested the damping now that it's a roller again. Suspension isn't too stiff, but it sure as hell isn't mushy like a stocker. The road test should be fun. Hoping to fire it up by next weekend...only two left before SuperSunday and I'll still need to dial it in.

On the Vespa front, I did drop off the silent blocks with my machinist, so I should be getting back to my smallframe soon. Looking for steel tubing to sleeve them for a smallie bolt.


500

Wow. Thing if beauty right there!

I'm just here shamelessly plugging our Rally this weekend.

Hill Country Classic 2022

https://fb.me/e/1YFpNcIoO

Carry on with Bollox

So bummed I will miss this!

I just cut off and re-welded the mounting flange on the new muffler so I could actually install it on the '66 Allstate Blue Badge.
Wouldn't you think they'd have a jig of some kind to position things properly ???? !!!!
Last Friday I painted the SS Blue Pavone. Beautiful color and came out nice.

We need some pics of the blue pavone!!!

Looked like this Friday afternoon.
It really changes color in different lighting.
I'm waiting on some parts and I like to let it sit about a week for the paint to fully harden.

Pavone Blue is a lovely color. Nice work with the makeshift booth. Cost effective and gets the job done

The food is going to be almost as good as the scooting.

Made a Hub Holding / Hub nut tightening tool. From a junk wheel, and square tube. I've seen these for Lamby's, but here I have made a Vespa version. Hold the hub without the tire and/or engine out of frame.

Used my Lincoln Weldpack 100, which is still set for fluxcore. The welds are - strong, if not all super pretty. Flux core is a messy affair, and I'm mosdef out of practice. I"ll hit it with a superficial smoothing over, mostly to knock down all the damn flux slag; before a rattle bomb paint jobber. Got the job done tho!

Yeah I don't know why more don't use the holding tools like you made - I 've got one made up and I love it.

I've always done the ol - wait till its in the frame, jam yer foot awkwardly on the rear brake while sitting on the frame and tweaking over to turn the torque wrench. this will be mucho better

Got the Vino running on Monday. Needed to address a few remaining details (vacuum caps and a PCV hose), so I wrapped those last night. Bolted on the seat/bucket and tried a few laps of the shop lot.

Rear tire unseated from the bead on the second lap.

Somehow got it cleaned up and reseated with the the shop compressor (33gal tank with one of those oilless pumps, rebuilt it last year) and the world's sketchiest air chuck. Ran another heat cycle while checking for bead leaks, I'll see if it's still holding pressure tomorrow.

Decided to take it around the block. As Greasy said, this kit put a bit more pep in the Vino's step, even without being broken in. After putting around for a bit, I turned out onto Oracle Rd. and fed 'er the onions. Came up over the crest at Glenn and was surprised to see it had been accelerating all the way up the hill and was running faster than a stock Vino while doing it...even with my big arse aboard!

Was rolling the throttle closed coming over the crest when the engine GOT LOUD. Tapped the kill switch and tagged the brakes.

Ah, crap. Please tell me I didn't just blow this up.

Couldn't find an oil leak, the rocker covers were still attached and the muffler was still secured to the head/block.

Tried cranking it to see if I could find the issue. It sounded like it had blown the exhaust gasket, but I couldn't find evidence of it. Fired it up and it wasn't rattling or knocking, so I all but idled my way back to the shop.

On the lift and under the light, I found my problem: it seems my machinist doesn't understand the thermal expansion of different metals. Or doesn't understand that a 3/8" pipe cap will not seal properly in a 10mm hole...especially an unthreaded one.

Visited him today about it. He'd hit me up over the weekend for a favor, but I hadn't had a chance to look into it yet. Since it was a slow meeting day and I had a late maintenance tonight, I humored him and fixed the trash one of his neighbors had brought in. Now he really owes me.

Gonna make him fix it in the frame for having me set tools to that hot garbage, and then hit him up for my smallie mounts when I get back from SuperSunday.

Washed 3 years of dirt off, replaced the clutch cable before it broke, and put the CSA rack back on.

same boat. everybody has some spare shitty rims and either has a buzz box or knows somebody that does. knock that shizz out!

(btw if anybody need lammy or vespa 1/2 rims hit me up, kajiit house of wares is lousy with them!)

That Rally is gorgeous.

Took some inspiration from Robbie 11 and put an old-style fender crest on my Stella. The mounting posts were closer together than the PX/Stella one, and the radius was very slightly smaller. Addressed by drilling a new rearward hole in the fender and bedding in a generous layer of trim adhesive.

Headline in today's paper made me do a double take ...

good thing you have your bikes secured in several locations - they won't nab them all at once

Vino is done and dusted.

Greasy, I wound up with a Mikuni 25 pilot and a 107.5* main. Still on the stock air box, but it has a UNI bi-element filter. I had it up to 57 in traffic and ran out of road. It's funny to get impatient with traffic when you're riding a Vino.

Owner is happy to have her baby back and is pretty pleased with its newfound giddyup. She's doing break-in riding this week, then I'll do a head torque check, valve check and change the oil when we meet them in LA.

*Mikuni jets are rated by flow, not orifice diameter. So a Mikuni 107.5 is physically comparable to a Dell'Orto 120. Stock jet was a 97.5, which is roughly a Dell'Orto 108.

Turn forty and going strong

Love you all, stay healthy and cheer

Happy Bday E!!!

40?? More like 25
What's your secret??