Modern Vespa

Hello everyone. I recently picked up a very low mileage '05 Limited Edition PX150 Serie' America edition in Vintage Green that is a gift for my wife. She previously owned a gray '05 PX150 that was knocked over in a parking lot and totaled out, back in 2008. Picked this one up from a wealthy collector in East Hampton, NY. Only 122 miles on it. Perfect visual condition. It does have some major fuel system deterioration. I already rebuilt the carb and have a new fuel line. I'll try and clean the gas tank, and it does need a new fuel petcock on the bottom of the fuel tank. Easy stuff to fix, but the fuel system will be 100% new when I'm done.

I do have some questions about some mods on it, mainly the exhaust, but also the seat. Neither appear to be original, and the original owner who bought it new said he didn't change the exhaust. It appears to be a JL chambered type pipe for a P200. Pics attached. The seat seems different from oem as well. Has anyone seen it before?

Thanks for any help or info. Looking forward to getting this thing road worthy.

I can only seem to attach one pic per post. Exhaust pic 1.

Exhaust pic 2.

Congrats on the nice find!! On to your questions. Seat shape is the correct one and probably was reupholstered. Check it from the inside. It should have has a plastic frame and a "SOFT" stamp somewhere. If yes, it's the original. You could get it reupholstered or buy a new one.

Piaggio codes are:
CM0278020061 (Black).
CM0278020054 (Brown, but I think it's discontinued. Dieffe has a quality repro seat).

About the exhaust, totally wrong choice for, I assume, a stock engine. I'd go for a Polini Original BOX exhaust (better than SIP's Road 2.0). It will give you more power, torque and with almost a "stockish" sound (you'll need to upjet the carb of course)...

I always like the Series America PX. Congratulations on finding one! I agree with SaFis on ditching that expansion chamber that's on there. If the engine is still stock, then it's the wrong kind of pipe for the way your engine is currently set up. A "box" exhaust would be way better. I noticed that you don't have a spare tire or battery cover either...which is usually the case when installing a JL pipe, you can't always fit a spare tire. But you can also easily fit a spare tire with a box exhaust.

The Series America came with a dark brown seat that had a faux leatherish texture to it. The scooter also came with silver hubs front and rear (yours have been painted black). I'd also recommend getting rid of the whitwall tires...not because of "looks", but because quality. A high quality tire will be much safer on both the wet and dry roads.

Check the numbers on your engine. That JL is a sweet pipe, but for a P200. Prior owner might have swapped/upgraded the motor.

The bottom of the seat says Piaggio, so I assume it is the oem that has been reupholstered. The engine as far as I know, is stock. Would this pipe do okay on here with a rejet? I would like to do a cylinder and carb upgrade to raise the cruise speed and top speed. Local shop mentioned a 177cc race kit from some company that starts with a P. Drawing a blank. This thing did run briefly, and the exhaust sounded awesome. I have no intentions of leaving the bike stock, so if the exhaust will work with the engine after some upgrades, that's be nice. It's not daily driver. Definitely a nice weather toy that might go 5 miles from home at most.

The spare tire and battery box are indeed missing. I hadn't noticed the painted hubs being non-oem. I plan to change the tires before hitting the road. AFAIK they are the original 2005 tires, and no way I'd trust them after sitting for so long. The bike is in excellent visual condition, but it certainly needs some live after sitting for so long.

Here's another pic from the front. Anyone able to spot anything else that might have been changed?

Just the chrome wheels, and pinstriped front fender. An original seat would be VERY difficult to find. Though I like the color orange, that color combo with green is a little peculiar, but that's subjective. A black or light brown seat can usually be found if you were after a different look.

Hard to tell but where is the fuel tank selector rod and oil sightglass?

The fuel/oil tank asst is removed for maintenance right now. Inside if the fuel tanks is full of corrosion and sediment, which clogged the fuel petcock and gummed up the carb.

Perfect. As long as it comes with the sale.

It all did. I took it apart as soon as I got it home and started inspecting it. I bought it as is for a steal. I'm traveling for work, so I put all the small parts inside the frame and put the seat back on, to keep the kids from messing with it. I may end up just replacing the fuel tank if I can find one for a PX150 that has the home for the fuel level sending unit.

Bike looks awesome! 177 kit from Polini?

That pipe is a direct from JL given the logo - it is the same as the SIP Performance. https://sip-scootershop.com/en/products/racing+exhaust+sip+performance+_20010000

Super versatile exhaust in that it can be used on stock P200 for mild performance upgrade, or as part of an insane tuning setup for big power. Supposedly sounds great - not too loud. Looks the bees knees IMO.

I'd ask the JL crew directly about using it on the 150. Personally have no idea.
https://www.jl-exhausts.com/

What number is your Serie America? Mine is 107.
If your limited edition plate is in good shape could you post a pic of it?
Mine is losing all it's printing and I was thinking about maybe trying to reproduce it somehow but I don't have a picture of a good one.

I got my Serie America with 1100 miles on it a year ago after I totaled my "normal" 05 PX150.
I replaced the fuel and oil hoses as soon as I got it because I knew the original ones would be rotten like they were on my 1st PX ( my 1st one had sat in the crate for 3 years before I bought it).
I was expecting to find crud in the gas tank when I pulled it out but it was shiny clean.
Excuse me if you already know this, but you will need the fuel tap wrench to replace the fuel tap.

My "normal" one came with the tan seat shown in the pictures from SaFiS.
My Serie America came with a dark brown seat but it was rotten and splitting so I put on a spare black one I had.
It matches the black top case I pulled from the totaled PX (which was black).

It really seems strange to me that someone would buy a Serie America and do all those modifications, and then just put 122 miles on it.

I'll refer back to SaFiS' post again to second his comments about the Polini Original Box exhaust... it is way, way better than the SIP or the Sito+.
I went up to to a 105 main jet and I am loving it. So much more power and a much more refined sound.

Great find! I regret selling mine a number of years back.

The seat was thrashed, so I found the closest material to stock that I could, had an upholsterer duplicate it, then took it to the local embroiderer to stitch the Vespa logo in the side, like the original. It turned out excellent!

Thanks for the advice. Mine is build number 162. Not sure why it'll so much was changed either. I did contact the guy I bought it from and he said he had the seat reupholstered because he wasn't happy with the quality of the oem seat leather. I do have some new carb jets on the way, along with the fuel tap wrench and a new fuel line. Ordered from Scooter Mercato.

Looks like you're missing the original Serie America plate. Another mystery for such a low mileage collector's bike.

I've seen pics others online with the same very basic plaque with nothing but a number stamped on it. Is it done other kind of limited edition?

Here's another one with the basic number plaque in this old for sale ad here.

2005 PX 150 Ltd. Edition 4 Sale!

Mine was 366, and had all the other text. Here is a picture.

That's interesting. I'm curious what the difference is between the two? Why the plaques are different?

It was the Polini 177 kit that they mentioned. Before I decide on one though I'll definitely research to see what other cylinder kits there are. My primary goal is to have a cruise speed of at least 55mph in level roads.

Having a cruising speed of at least 55mph in level roads is stock 200cc territory. It can be done, and it only takes money to get a PX150 to get to the same speed...and even more money if you want it to be reliable. Most people tune up the Stella 150 instead, so it would be cool to see a 2005 US market PX150 go fast.

I don't think his is different. I think it's the quality of the printing.
It seems like they printed the basic plaque and then came back later with the series number.
The paint used for the plaque must have been the cheapest available and the paint used for the series number a more durable mix.
The series number looks like it is stamped but it feels more like paint.
Vespa did a Canadian series of 500 too. I wonder how well their plaques survived.

Anyway, thanks for the pics.

An update to this thread: I got a much bigger bargain than I imagined when I bought this thing in non-running condition after the previous owner left it sit for two years. Last year early fall I replaced the fuel tank, fuel feed line, and fuel selector valve/petcock because the entire fuel system was gummed up from the interior of the tank corroding. A shop the previous owner took it to used generic fuel line that was the wrong type, size, and length. I also removed, disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the carb with new jets. A 55/160 and 160/BE3/102 jets as a starting point for a PX150 with an exhaust and drilled air filter.

After doing all the above I simply could not get the bike to run. No amount of tuning would get the bike to not run lean. I could never ride it out of my community above 25mph roads because I couldn't get it tuned properly. Fast forward to this week: I began to mess with it again since the weather warmed up to the low 70s. Same thing. Way lean, could not tune it. Went up a few jet sizes and it helped very very little. Changed the spark plug and no change. I noticed it had a spark plug that wasn't called for in the 150 manual so I put a new one on from NGK.

Today I was about to remove the carb thinking it was still dirty internally. I planned to replace it and wanted to verify what carb was in it. I saw it was a 24/24E which seemed odd for what I assumed to be a relatively stock '05 PX150. More investigation and I found a sticker that said "4870445 MOT.200 2T V.PX MIX.A." Some quick research showed that was a P200E crate engine. Someone on the forum confirmed for me after I posted a thread asking to ID the engine.

Engine ID?

So confirmed: I have a '05 PX150 with a P200E crate engine assy on it. Someone in the above linked thread also said the cylinder head was aluminum, meaning kitted. I took the plastic covers off and confirmed even more info, my engine has a Malossi 210 cylinder kit in it!

This all makes sense as to why my bike was running so lean. I had a jet kit and the BR7ES NGK spark plug that was in it when I bought it. Jets are now 50/160 and 160/BE3/135. After an hour of warming up and tuning I am proud to say: the bike runs great! No more lean condition as far as I can tell. I fine tuned it in reference to a thread in here and the Sito carb tuning instructions. 1.5turns our seems to be the sweet spot. I went two more flats of the mixture screw out to richen the mixture slightly to be on the safe side. It's smooth. It idles nice, cruise nice, accelerates great. Once warmed up it no longer bogs when I free rev it. It revs and responds very fast. I only had it to 35mph or so. I'll get it up to some faster speeds and verify the tuning once I get a CHT gauge installed. Since it is a bigger AND kitted engine I want to make sure the CHT stays in check. I'll likely use the aftermarket digital one from Sip that is ready to have a CHT probe connected to it. Hoping it's also more accurate. The stock one is 9-11mph off on my gps.

Congrats on figuring it all out. If you cant get the CHT installed in a timely manner, you can always jet too rich and come down on the jets until you can get 100% RPMs with a load on it. For example install a 140 jet. It is too rich and it bogs at 90% throttle on the center stand. Ok go down to 135. Better but not 100% screaming. Ok down to 132, ok now I can get 100% screaming. Go for a ride and rev it up hard in 4th. Uh oh you cant get 100%. Then go down to a 130. Now you can get 100% screaming throttle with a load on it. I'd stop downjetting there. I'd then install a new spark plug. Go ride and check on it after a while. The spark plug color should be chocolate brown to black. Anything grey or tan means youre too lean. Time to go back to the 132 if thats the case. If its a nice dark brown then youre good on your jetting.

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to order up some more jets and give it a shot. I'm looking forward to seeing what the top cruise speed is on this thing. It would be nice to cruise comfortably at 60-65. Honestly don't know what to expect from it. Anything is an improvement over stock '05 PX150 speeds.

You did luck out on the engine. By 'crate', I assume you mean brand new at the time of the upgrade? The Malossi kit may or may not be set up correctly, and you'll need to find out more about it. I have two PX150 scoots, but they didn't stay that way for too long. Riding those things in stock spec. is like wading through treacle!!

Yes by crate I mean a new ready to run engine/gearbox assembly. Apparently everything was replaced with the P200E stuff. What needs checked on the engine?

Buona sera è possibile sapere il codice del colore della vespa
Se è possibile inviare una foto al 3337383130

La serie america?
Penso che è 382 - verde vintage.

Se è per un altro, vede questo:
Original colour chart / color codes/paint codes reference

Sounds like you really got a good deal. To find out that you have a new engine Malossi kitted 200 with a JL pipe instead of a 150 is like winning the lottery...LoL
I have had a few JL pipes and the quality is unbeatable. They sound really nice, not loud with a nice burble...
Enjoy it...👍