Modern Vespa

I cleaned things up with 600 and 1000 wet sand paper, then made sure all the edging was straightened out. Time to do some touch up painting.

I wanted to just paint what I welded and under the floor rails where the weather and floor rails rubbing worked their destructive magic. I also wanted to paint the floor pan edge underneath, but just the edge.

It's possible to dial in the gun to spray in just a little area - the size of a nickle. I covered everything for any overspray, but there was so little, I probably didn't need to. I had a big piece o cardboard that I played with spray patterns on before settling on what I wanted to use.

I made this elaborate cardboard cutout of the leg trim positions and use Voodoo's trick of holding it off the area to paint, so the overspray blends in with the original, but in the end, I didn't use it. This paint gun can be dialed in that fine.

I can install the new edge trim after the paint cures!


Left side

Right side

Right inside legshield before

After

Welded area

After



The underside floorboard edges were totally trashed. I figured while I had the paint gun out....

Wow! That really looks good... great job!

I think it's almost time for a road trip to Seattle and please bring your paint gun & some of that blue paint with you.

Can not tell where the new ends and we're onto the old. Bang up job! And kudos to Ron for nailing the color match, tell him I said so.

its already look like a time capsule, top job Brother Q

Thanks Luckybear, Voodoo and Ebeth. It's a labor of love. And Voodoo, I'll let Ron know he was on the money and we need another pint! As far as road trip - that would be AWESOME. Maybe sometime in the future. Never say never...

So today I cleared off the bench a bit and got busy dismantling the headset. I've got to make a bushing for the shift side. It only has one. I'm going to make a matching set out of a piece of hard plastic my brother gave me that I used as a skateboard kick so I didn't flatten out the tail of my board riding the tail in the concrete.


The headset

Headset in pieces ready to be cleaned and polished.

The 1/2 bushing I have. Marked the outside diameter on the hard plastic

Whittling it down using the drill and a drywall rasp. Poor man's lathe.

OK, close on the Outside Diameter, now to drill the inside diameter. That'll have to wait for tomorrow.

I finished the bushing with the dremel and sand paper. I also wire brushed, cleaned, used the tap and die on all nuts and bolts, rubbing compound and silicone wax on all paint, regreased and reinstalled everything.

Now I can get to installing legshield trim, straightening and polishing floor rails, install said rails, and get back to replacing the cables! Ha!


The inside, all cleaned, lubed and put back together

Top side, and bottom side

Closeup of upper bushing. Works smooth.

Using a skateboard kick and a bungee cord for cruise control on your drill. I love your ingenuity, great work Scott.

This bike is looking beautiful! enjoying the progress!

I'm loving the work on ol' B 62. What a beauty. And that old (and new matching...) paint is the nicest thing I've seen in a long time! Great work and thanks for the process photos...

The paint match is so good, I might want to get your paint guy to match my scooter paint color! Let me see if I can find a part with good paint on it that is small enough to ship...

Thanks ScooterChris! It's fun figuring out how to get stuff done. I just gotta think "what would Voodoo or Ebeth do?"

And thank you for the kind words Swiss and Zach! I'm not too fast, and only chip away at things, but it's all about enjoying the process, and of course the ride when you're done.

And Swiss, let me know and I'll hit up Ron about paint. This was one of those things that he did after hours so he could take his time and get it spot on - a challenge. And he digs the one of a kind projects. That, and I've known him for a long time. He's a cool dude.

I straightened trim today. Also polished it and fit it to the floorboards. I straightened them using diferent types of pliers, the vice, a hammer, a chunk of wood, etc. Basically whatever I could find that would straighten the edge of the rails. They're pretty rough.

Polishing I used these sanding bits from Amazon for the dremel.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075C72PGK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They worked pretty good - I went through a few of them, but way faster than mothers polish and a microfiber rag.

Tomorrow I'll rig up something to install the rivets, then put in the new rubber!


The dremel polishing wheel

I had to remove the rivets from most of the end caps.

Polished end caps and rail

Now all I need to do is rivet them in place.

Beautiful!
If you're installing by yourself, it helps to put each rail in place one at a time w/ small screws in all but one hole which you rivet, then remove screws one at a time and replace with a rivet. Repeat five times, add rubber and done.

1. That is a good tip.
2. Damn Scott - the paint work is remarkable. Kinda cant wait to see how the headset comes out when you are done - assume that is going to get touched up as well?

Pure pride riding this one around town - if you are not already locally famous (one suspects you are), you will be.

Thanks CM! Actually, I'm going to leave the headset and tail light, and the side panel scars. I figure they tell a tale and if I start touching up everything, where do I stop? I can keep those areas waxed up. Not so easy under the floor runners or where I welded the legshield.

And in this small town, I'm just the guy that rides around on a fast moped. Haha!

Thanks Voodoo! And great tip. Now to see if I've got screws small enough. If not, a trip to the hardware store is warranted.

I think it is, you want just the right screws! Better take Ruby, huh?

I installed the legtrim yesterday evening. It wasn't too hard with the proper tool and the home made groove straightening tool - AND - after watching this video.

Unfortunately I think it's the wrong stuff. It doesn't cover the whole groove and stops short of the floor rail. It looks pretty good though!


Taped it off and gently but firmly worked the aluminum trim onto the edge. I've got to do some more "finessing" of the inside edge. I was in a hurry to install it.

Strapped it down so it doesn't go anywhere

All crimped - just need to remove the tape

Inside shot of crimp job. Notice that it's short of the floor rail rivet hole. :-(

But of course! I always take Ruby, when I can. Two days ago I went to the store and got a watermelon, pineapple, bag of potatoes, greens, ice cream, etc. Overflowed the box on the rack and two bags on the helmet hook! I was just short of stuffing groceries in my jacket! Ha!

qascooter the legshield trim looks great!

"So, you ride a moped?"

"Well, not really a moped, exactly. It's a scooter. They're a little different."

"Oh! A moped. Cool!"

Yeah, quascooter. You ride the sweetest blue moped!😊 Cool! And B62 is lookin' really good.

Bwahahaha! I see you've either had the same conversation, or witnessed me going through the schpeal. What a crack up! Thanks Kimono for the laugh and the kind words.

Very nice work!!

Where did you get the paint? Did you get it scanned? I absolutely see no difference with the rest of the scoot!

We need to find you a sidecar for one of your scoots!

I've been moving slow. Riveted in the floor rails and got the rubber in on the left floorboard rails.


Lots of tap, tap, tapping to get the rivets peened and flattened.

Perfection, that's patience rewarded. Gonna look like a million when you get both sides done.

Thanks Voodoo - I appreciate the compliment. It is time consuming - straightening and tapping, tapping and straightening.

I forgot to show how I've been accomplishing this. Essentially, by whatever means necessary. I'm using an Allen wrench, vice grips, deadweight hammer, ball peen hammer, etc., to make this happen. I've been cutting off each rivet after I stick it in the hole and then just snip it off and start flattening. Here's a few pics of the progress.


Whatever works! :-)

Flattening out nicely. You can see where I got a little out of control. C'est la Vie. Part of B62's story now.

Rails look fantastic.
Inspires me to go clean and feed mine so they are as pretty!
Man that thing is looking good.

You do nice work, Scott.

Hey got a question, how do you peen that corner rivet there under the left cowl?

I did it once, dunno how Scott did it or even if he's done it yet. The best way would be to remove the cowl or just use the special waffle pattern squeeze/clamp tool that reaches in there OK. You peen from underneath and need a solid buck up on top of the rivet head like Scott has w/ his Allen wrench tight to the rivet top w/ the hammer on top for weight to peen against. In that corner I used a small nut resting on top of the rounded rivet head held down tight by a steel log splitting wedge pushed in snug against the bottom of the cowl & held in place by a helper. If you have nice paint, use a rag between the wedge & cowl. Or just pull the damn cowl back off again .



My friend Doc Morgan had the special rivet tool and I used it w/ cowl still installed on my AllState but Doc cheated and did his w/ cowls off both sides which makes it easy.

Hey Socal - here is how I peened that hard to reach and back end cap. I left the cowl on and rigged up the welding vice grips to hold down a couple of allen wrenches. Then put the weight on the whole thing and tried to time downward pressure on it while I peened the bottom of the rivet. The back of the floorboard bounces like a drum and is hard to get a solid hit on the rivet.

Before peening I snipped the end off so only enough was showing that I could peen. I just eyeballed it. Here are a couple of picture.

Oh yeah, I took out the exhaust, because it's in the way to peen. And now I can clean up under the floorboard and paint the exhaust, so pretend it's clean under there.


Double stacked allen wrenches clamped down over the rivet and the bigass hammer holding it all, which I have to hold down.

The underside of the peened rivets. I'll clean up the grime later. :-)

Here is a picture of the top of the rivets, and the small bolts I used to hold it in place (Thanks for the tip Voodoo)

And the bottom side...

Thanks! I’ve got a loose rivet. I’ll give the double-stacked-allen-wrench-welding-clamp-and-big-ass-hammer technique a try.

Thanks for the kind words hibbert. It doesn't quite fit under the floor rail. I'm working that out with the seller now... Thank you DD! The local paint supplier in my town likes the unique projects, verses just 15 gallons of house paint. Ron (the paint supplier) mixed it by eye. I brought him the rack which had some nice paint on it. It took him three tries but he is a perfectionist and nailed it. Ron's Paint in Florence, Oregon.

So I FINALLY finished the floor rails. And I did a little cleaning. Also put the exhaust in a bucket of vinegar to take off a layer of rust before I wire brush it and paint.


All rivets are peened and the rubber is installed.

I cleaned up a little bit - not Vader clean, but some of that grease has been on there for probably 55 years...

Haven't done much. I did manage to soak the exhaust in vinegar for a few days, then paint it with some BBQ paint.

It'll protect it until I figure out what I want to do with the engine. I'm itching to replace the cables, then just ride it as it is for a few...


That's the exhaust soaking in a box with visqueen under house plastic as a liner.

Ready to paint. You can see the line on the neck where the vinegar stopped.

I just used this stuff. Next time it's a trip to the auto parts store, not what was on my paint shelf...

At least now it's got a couple of layers of paint on it...

Cable mania happening.

Pulled the tank and replaced the choke cable inner and outer.

Then proceeded to replace the throttle inner and outer BUT, it's attached on both ends. I've got to make an end or buy a screw on end, so I put that one on hold.

Replaced the clutch inner and outer. Had to shorten the outer to be the proper fit. I cut the cable housing, filed and opened the ending up, put the old cap on the new end.

A cool trick is to use a super long generic cable and thread it through the new housing, then the old housing. Then pull the old out while pulling the new in. Works super smooth.

Also replaced the shifter cables, inner and outer. Then adjusted.

So now alls I need to do is the throttle cable and housing, front brake cable and housing, put in the new speedometer cable, speedometer, gas tank, and roll!


First off, get yourself a super long-ass cable. This came from the bicycle shop for a tandem - 138" long

Then thread the long-ass wire through the new housing, and the old housing.

Until you pull the old housing out and the new housing in.

This is the two shifter cables pulled through using the above method.

I used this teflon lube for the cables. Voodoo mentioned that using general oil will gum up over time. I agree. Triflow is my usual but figured I'd give this a try. I just lubed up the cable and fed it through the housing...

The shifter cable ends with cable. I've got a 50/50 chance I've got the cables going to the correct side of the shifter box. :-)

I put a temporary mark to line up neutral from where I could see it.

Then pulled the cables tight and tightened the cable clamps.

I got the back wheel off the table and played with shifting until the cable housings were seated properly, then adjusted the cables one more time. Good to go!!!

I managed to replace the throttle cable. The cable housing for the new throttle inner and outer was too long and would cause a big s bend in the tunnel, so I removed the cap and cut the housing, and reinstalled the cap.

I also had to cut the cable and decided to solder the handlebar end back on to the cable. They make an .80 cent replacement with a screw in it, but I don't have one and didn't order one. And I'm impatient to wait for one so I spent a bunch off time getting the wire all set, then having to redo it because the cable was too long!

Anyway, I got it dialed in. Now for the front brake, grips, speedo cable with speedometer, headlight, tank, go for a ride....


I cut the wire of the old cable and applied heat via a torch to the end and pulled the bits of cable out, leaving a nice hole for the new cable.

My fancy technique of opening up the housing end cap so it'll it back on the shortened housing. A Phillips head screwdriver.

Using an awl to open up the end of the cable, and I filed the end smooth also so the cable won't snag.

Crimp on the cable end and we're good

Soldered the end on the wire, then cut off the excess.

So I thought I was done and everything was golden. Not so fast! Notice how the cable is about an inch too long. I resoldered the top end after cutting about an inch off. Refining the process as I go...

It's in, and the correct length. Woohooo!

nice job on the diy solutions instead of buying and waiting for delivery!

thats briliant, i wanna give it a try so i dont have to worry when the cable snap

Scott - just caught up on your thread.
Two things:

1. I love the care and time you are putting in. This scoot is truly being restored - and restored to ride - which I love. When you get to the motor you will have a couple options - and lots of opinions. My guess is that the two top ones will be the BGM 177 kit and the Polini - for their potential grunty reliable power. Both will require some JB weld on the cases I suspect (at the sides) - and a decision about doing a little grinding to create the third port or not at the front. ( you can skip that with just a two port solution and a gasket that closes off the cylinder's third port that won't get fed). Will be interested to see where you decide to go with it.

2. I have no idea if your screen name is with a G (as in Gas) or Q. I suspect i'm not the only one. Can you enlighten?

Loving the outcome.
- CM

Thanks Swiss and ebeth! It only took me three tries to get the right length!

And thanks for the info CM. I've almost got it back on the road. The only reason I've been so methodical (slow) is because I've been slow. Haha. Other priorities, as everyone can attest to.

And as far as my handle. In another life I used to be in the Quality Assurance field (Software Test Engineer actually). I couldn't think of what to make my handle, so I just put in QAScooter. Little did I know that I'd never be able to modify it - EVER! So there you have it!