Modern Vespa

Got the brake drums and axle seating today and installed them. Just waiting on the wire harness now. Hoping it ships soon!

If you bought the newer SIP type, I recommend welding up the lugs.

I'll second this. One of the lugs on my SIP 8" conversion hub broke loose and needed some molten metal love.

The "press fit" of SIP's wisdom does NOT give me much confidence.

On it fellas. When I pulled the axle seating out of the box I had instantly said "gonna have to tack them in place"

I also don't have confidence in the press fit.


Anyhow progress report-

Floor rails are going in! With rivets. PEENED. By my shitty ass shoulders no less!


Ich glaube es nicht!

Wow, commitment. I just bolted mine on for potential later removal. How did you handle treating the metal for corrosion resistance?

I wanted to see if post third shoulder replacement I could even peen them. I couldn't before surgery so I'm stoked on being able to.
Rust resistance is provided by Sharkhide bare metal protectant. Gonna rock the bare metal body for awhile then eventually paint it lemon yellow, probably in 5-10 yrs or so.

Best email of the day. Harness has shipped! Along with the 3 random rubber bits I needed and a steering lock.

Rebuild will commence next week!

Nice work on the outer rail. Looks the biz! Outer rails are always the hardest.

Suggest - for your shoulder and since you might paint in a few years: Rivet the outer rails and the tops of the other rails, but aside from the tip-top of the inner rails use screws everywhere else. No one will see them and will save you mucho time and effort.

When you eventually paint then do your concourse resto with all rivets.

Good idea. Especially since my right shoulder (the hammer one) is not pleased with what I did yesterday. At all.
So I may be a one rail a day guy. Or do like you said!

Physical limitations are the pits. My brain is all "heckling a right let's do this" my body is all "nah dude".

You should consider stumping up for the SIP tool. No hammering required.

Yeah I know. I borrowed that three times already I think? Wanted to try out the old world way. Shits for the birds I tell ya.

Floor rails are in. Peened the end caps but used screws on the inner guys. Only took 2hrs total.


Not too shabby. Better than the first try with Bluey. But then again Bluey was pretty wavy. Bear is much flatter.

Looks perfect and your 'patina' is so nicely uniform. What a difference well done floor rails make, especially on a rat. Good work, man!

Thank you! I seemed to have learned something putting these in. I'd be happy if the outer rail's bend at the back end of the floor matched closer. That part is the hardest to suss out. Once I got that I put a screw in the end cap and clamped it as I bent it. Rubber mallet helped too.
It's definitely more fun with less anxiety after you've done a bike once. I'm not stressed about running the wiring harness or cables. Should be a pretty smooth affair

Fantastic. Looks the snazz!!

Lovin this.

Today I putzed around and installed the engine and put the wire harness in. Of course it involved a blood sacrifice as is mandatory when doing that job. Got the cable outers run too. Tonight I'll get the SIP speedo stuff run.

I do like that I already documented all of this (especially the speedo hook ups) so I can just go back through this thread and see how the wires were supposed to go. I think the reason it stopped working was a bad ground. When I removed everything off of Bluey the screw holding the ground in was pretty loose. So this time I'm going to use industrial Velcro to hold the rectifier and AC/DC converter and ground them on the cowl screws and oil tank screws. Should work better this way.

Anyone know of a product that can remove compacted wood from a fork tube?

I can't run the front brake or speedo cables due to a blockage. Which I first thought was just dirt but after spending a few hours putzing with it I found it's wood and there was a piece of metal in there too. I tried a drain snake, drano, a very long drill bit and a piece of an old clamp that I ground a spear end into that I hammered into the wood to brake it apart. Can't get to the bend of the fork tube though. I need something that will break down the wood to allow me to remove it.

What you got?


Edit: gotta love how life works. As soon as I posted this I tried again. Got a break through. So I took an old outer cable and took the wrapping off it. Exposing the metal casing. Then I pulled that apart a bunch to creat a kind of saw action that I did once I got the cable out the top of the fork. I can at least get the brake cable through. The SIP speedo cable is pretty tiny so I hope I can cram that through too.

Something like this?

https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/drill-driver-bits/twist-bits/extended-length/18-in-316-in-14-in-25-in-long-wood-bit-set-3-piece-68822.html

I've got a 3/8" by 16 inch long drill bit....

I love the way your frame looks in raw metal.





Last edited by garncarz on Fri, 14 Oct 2022 11:29:51 +0000; edited 1 time

Weld a lag screw to the end of a long drill bit?
Soak the wood in wd40?
Wood contracts somewhat in the cold. Soak it with keyboard cleaner spray?
Flex auger bit? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-5-8-in-x-54-in-Extension-Flex-Auger-Bit-53722/203872165#overlay

Man, tough luck on these projects. Who shoves wood down the tunnel?!

Kill it with fire!

seal the exit holes for speedo / brake cables and use pressurized air to blast it out

You have a pressure washer? Try blasting it with that, maybe.

quarter car wash....

You guys all have great ideas. However I got the speedo wire run. Then realized I have no front brake outer cable. F.

I hate cables.

Tinned all the wires on the harness today and put the fork in while I wait for the upper bearing cage to arrive. Put the engine cowl on too just to get a glimpse of the future and oh boy does Bear look sweet!


Wasn't too sure about the grey rubber and if I should go with black but I REALLY like this look

Also got rid of those HUMONGOUS balls on the ends of the levers. Kinda like the old style but less stabby on the end

Wow, looking good!

Question: are you going to add a dampner to the front end, or change the front end out at some point?

Yeah. I have the swing arm and everything needed aside from the bracket. Goal was to get at least one more ride in this season then add the dampner over the winter during the boring days

Great plan!

I'm surprised you didn't just swap the fork over from the blue one.

That looks fantastic! And yeah the grey trim is ace!

Very very cool.

That one doesn't have the fork stops is the only reason. So it was kinda a choice between do I want the stops or the dampner? Got a stiffer spring to see if that'll be kosher and if not then I'll worry about the bracket and welding it up.

Man does ethanol do a number on these machines. Already had to replace the fuel line I got last year as it's already rock solid and cracking!


New one is so supple! Old one is rock hard. In only a year of use.

Yeah that ethanol… I had the green hose go solid in six months. I'm now using automotive fuel hose made in the USA. BMW 7mm fuel hose works a treat too.

It's always something. Luigi messed up big time. Got the headset all set up and went to tighten the securing screw and hmmmm it's not catching on the threads that's odd…


Hmmm that channel in the fork doesn't seem to be in the right spot…

Guess I can ride with the headset on sideways? Suppose I'll have to grind out a new channel?

A couple of observations:

The fork you have is for the later 1-piece headsets. The earlier split headsets have the headset bolt entering on the side. You may be able to get away with removing material off your fork to make it work—-but be careful here.

The earlier chassis' would have come with loose bearings.

Is that some type of metal "repair" on the chassis I see in earlier photo? If so, best to have it TIG welded up-best and correct approach. Check to make sure the steering stops are in the correct position to stop the fork from turning so much the headset hits the chassis. This is the most common reason why these legshields get torn up.

The piece of metal around the shifter cables only serves one purpose-to royaly piss anyone off attempting to remove said cables. I do a lot of things by the book but this is one I pass on.

I use USA made rubber fuel line.