Modern Vespa

Hey all I just picked up a 62 Allstate cruise air. The previous owner took it apart to have it painted and 12 years later never got to it. It's in great shape and has all the parts.
It's even current on the registration! I am new to this. I asked a friend who has experience and he suggested to re assemble it put some marble mystery oil in the spark plug hole and see if I can fire it up. Thoughts? I have a couple books (how to repair and maintain your large frame Vespa and another I forget. ) do you all have any sources for reassembly procedure? What would you do?
Thanks
Carlos[img][/img]

Hi and welcome.

Is the engine in one piece? Has the engine been rebuilt or serviced? Do you plan to paint the body?

P.S. We like pictures.

Welcome to the forum.

Did you pick up the 62 Allstate that was for sale in Carmel?

There are some very knowledgeable people on here and I'm sure you will get the help you need.

Vespa motorsport has several videos on YouTube.

Thanks! The Vespa was in Santa Cruz. Engine is in one piece. I posted pics but they didn't post. Here goes again! I also have two books. Yea I get lost in these threads they are addicting![/img]

Here is the engine super clean and ran when it was taken off the frame[/img]

I may paint it but I kinda like it with its scars. If I do paint it I suppose it would be smart to do it now

These are my books

Random Internet Guy opinions follow:

The first thing to decide is if you will rebuild the motor. If it spins, has compression, and you are confident the seals/bearings are good, then you might as well fill it with oil and try to start it. If you can find a friend with an engine stand that will be hella easier than mounting it in the frame.

On the other hand, you didn't say how mechanically inclined you are, so apologies if this is condescending. These motors are really simple, so if you WANT to dig in and learn to work on them this is a great time to split the case and overhaul it. It looks clean, so you won't be getting grease and grime everywhere.

I would recommend against painting your first scoot. The prep is key and takes forever and then some. It sounds like that's what hamstrung the last owner. Plus you'll scratch it all to hell putting it back together for the first time. I think the blue looks nice and will polish up fine. It's not a particularly rare scoot, so painting it isn't going to increase its value.

So is it a 3 speed? It looks like you have the split headset which is somewhat rare. Hopefully you have all of the pieces to that.



P.S. If you intend to ride this, I recommend investigating the fork/shock upgrade. The front suspension on that bike is flat out dangerous. "Keeping it original" isn't worth it in this case.

Thanks man! All great advice. Yes the headset is complete! I am mechanically inclined but have little experience. I had a 64 gl150 in college and it always needed something so I learned a bit but I have a steep curve for sure but I'm looking forward to it! Yea I will try to get an engine lift or jack or something to try and fire it up before mounting it.

Hey CD - welcome to the forum!

Great find on that Allstate. I've got one very similar. Your paint seems to be in great shape - for being that old, it'd be a shame to paint it, when it is in such good shape.

I've gone through mine, and still am. You might want to look through the thread. 62 Allstate - getting it back on the road (B62's thread)

If it was mine, I'd just put it back together and not worry about anything else right now. Once it's together and you can ride it, then you can start with the upgrades, like a Vespa front end, 12v, Electronic Ignition, etc.

But polishing and greasing everything up, cleaning threads, analyzing what you're missing, etc. Then place an order with ScooterMercato, or wherever calls out to you and feels right.

The biggest thing is have fun with the project!

Looks great! Thx for the motivation!

Glad to hear you have no painting plans, that looks pretty good and is the "right" color.

I suggest #1 that before you start putting it together, that you fish out ALL of the rest of the parts, spread them all out and take a couple of pics to post so we can advise if there's anything missing that you will need.

And #2, read Qa's thread and decide if you wanna upgrade your fork w/ a shock absorber now so you can gather a few parts and line up a welder guy if that's not you.

#3 might be to consider knocking out a simple workstand. I've refurbished lots of these and wasn't until the last one that I think I discovered my "ideal" workstand, with the frame held solid however I want to run cables, wires, body work, install the fork and motor etc. More here: Unpainting a scooter

Stable rightside up


Or upsidedown strapped on


even drop the motor and fork in easy upside down



Here's mine w/ mostly tired original paint and a rescued hopped up Bajaj [img]motor in there. Scruffy AllState, crappy headlight finally fixed!

I guess I'd have to say that I think your paint looks rather perfect to me!

Looks like I have to put in a plywood floor. First things first!

Hmmmm... Well OK, looks good, but I'd maybe get a decent FIRE EXTINGUISHER too ?

Well day one was on the shop! And yes a fire extinguisher is on the list!

This is going to be a nice project see come back to life?

I'm with Lynn - and a cat is always good luck in your shop, regardless the color!

Too bad you're not closer - What you're about to do is what I love doing - putting stuff back together. In fact, I offered to help a friend put that very scooter back together with him if he got it, but the distance was too great for the deal to happen.

Oh, BTW, you've got one of the books I've been watching, but can't stomach spending the $50 it costs, so good one on that. Have fun with it - and my thing is if I'm not having fun, I'll walk away for a few minutes to a few months, then come back and usually it is fun again!

Check out Abebooks.com they have both those manuals one around 25, the other around 20... sometimes they have them used for less.

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Great scoot Carlos! Welcome. I had just snagged a dirt cheap project and I still almost bought your Allstate when I saw it on scootnet! That original paint is ace. Hellava good deal. Enjoy.

So I forgot it is missing the front fender if anyone knows of one available please let me know. Otherwise I was gonna get this one from scooter west. 75 bucks. Thoughts?

That allstate did not have cowl trims and that same fender is cheaper here: http://www.scootermercato.com/Scooter-Parts/Fenders/89301

Didn't that year's Allstate have the seamless fender?

Thanks Birdsnest - I'll check it out.

No front fender? Bummer. Yes, my 62 doesn't have those indents or trim.

There are a bunch of subtle differences between the Allstate and the VBB Vespa: lack of glovebox lock, lack of fork damper, lack of legshield trim, lack of speedometer, and I'm sure there is more.

It had to be one of those deals when Sears said "Look, we want to sell your Vespa's in our catalog, and we'll guarantee to buy X amount if you sell them to for Y dollars...".

From my limited understanding, the early blue Allstates (late 50's) had seamless fenders and the last batch (early 60's) had a fender with a seam in the middle and crease on the sides but no trim.

Found this. It's a 62 and appears to have a seam. Not sure if I will drive 2 hrs for this one or get the one off scooter mercato. Upside is I can get the speedo off this one

I'll drive the two hours and get it. Those original speedo's are getting expensive and the repops can be a hit or a miss with quality and usage. May get lucky and he has something else you may want.

Good luck!

Cool picture. Oof, that's one way to run those tricky cables.

Mine has a seam and it's a 62. And if it was me, I'd get the used!

If you can get the entire front end assembly for a decent price and can use the parts I would get it. Might have a few nuts bolts and other parts you can use. When your done you can always sell the spares or horde the extra parts.

I got the used one has some great extra parts too. Cowels And tank and it has the whole front end intact. [/img]

Also a cracked but original speedo

Wow, score CD - that's awesome!

Sweet score on the speedo.
I may be interested in the engine side cowl if your selling, and it isn't too roached. Also could use the headlight and headlight bezel if you're gonna part bits out.

You did good, can't go wrong.

Thanks its fun! Birdsnest I will post pics tomorrow of the engine side cowl and headlight assembly, The cowl looks pretty good actually. I would sell them to you. Just took the light out today, looks good too

Speedo King for the cracked speedo. Steve is awesome.

http://speedoking.com/

Thanks! Will send you a PM

Got the headset off today, that took a while to figure out and I had to be rough with her, she was not wanting to come apart! This is from frankenvespa the parts scooter (getting the fender )

It was a tough battle but after a hard fought victory I have only minor injuries (hammered thumb and bruised foot from dropping the front end on it!) luckily my fender sustained no such injuries!!

That's awesome you don't see the 2 piece headsets often now you have two.

Good job on the fender!

philosophical question: do I paint the fender a similar color to the original 62 cruisaire blue ( can i find an exactish match) or paint it a different cool color?