Modern Vespa

This is a must. Paint seems harmless enough, but it can cause problems. I had some overspray on the bearing cup holes on the swing arm on my SS. I figured it wasn't a big deal. The bearing cups would absolutely not go in at all until I removed the overspray.

I had to remove a lot of paint for the bearing races in the fork. Even after taping them up.

I'll definitely tap and die everything. It's just the seat bolts, spare tire, and femsa box posts. Two sizes.

Femsa posts: M6 (I think)
seat: M7
spare tire M8

Thanks!! i can get by with one tap and two dies. Not bad!

This is fun now.


Think that's in right. My rough repair to the fork stop made seating it harder. But at least the fork stops now.

This thing I powder coated with a texture, bc I remember these having a slight texture. And almost black but like dark gray.



Going to put the stripes on after the bike is assembled.

Those seem like a challenge. They are almost always at weird angles.



Almost have these. After like 10 attempts, I seem to have found a technique – Paint, then rub the paint smooth. It's the only way to not have brush strokes or puddle-looking areas.

I think that works. It has a slight bit of a texture. but not in a bad way.

I have this shitty old-school Oscar the Grouch metal trash can that I use to set up my paint gun. The paint on it is perfect and indestructible. Much better than the paint on anything I have shot on purpose. Go figure.

Can we get some people to chime in on restoring those badges? I know that you can also put grease or jelly on and wipe it where you want the paint to stick.. I do like this look though.

I use a 1" putty knife with a good, grippable handle to push the mat down so the bar will hold it, then screw it down. No adhesive, but no issues, either.

And *please* put some masking tape under that brake pedal before you accidentally scrape the paint on the floorboard with it!

Yes! I will do that!

The putty knife is a really good idea.

Those screws are treacherous. They are flat head, and slightly rounded in the slot. Basically designed to make the screwdriver slip and gouge the paint.

Luckily, I did that when I was dry building it, and gouged the primer. So knew to use a mat to cover the paint this time.




The badges are closer, but still need more smoothing. :) every time I do that, I have to reapply paint, but gets closer each time.

Still kind of amazing how these cleaned up.


Last edited by hjo on Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:46 am; edited 1 time in total

I think the badges came out great. All of it, really superb work.

This is the fun part for sure.

the badges look great. A labor of love! That said I also love the history in the wear marks on the the originals. The fact that the the way you made them (your process) had a history of building up texture and marks slowly (instead of just slapping on paint) is a testament to the flavor of the originals and the reason conceptually as well as actually that they look so great, they incorporate the old history into their renewed state.

The badges were definitely a learning experience.

I sent them to a shop to be re-anodized, which was WAY more expensive than I had expected. I didn't ask upfront, bc I just thought "what could two small pieces of aluminum be?"

But they look nice. The anodizing came out beautiful.

This is as good as I can get these.








One center mat attached.

Not attached yet, but the polished ones. I guess they all come polished. I don't think they were originally. They were just cast aluminum.

I damaged the paint with the dolly, peening the rivets. Should touch up, though.

Blue tape over the rivet

That's a good idea. The rivet heads got kind of dented.

These rivets suck! They're from Pascoli. They're the right size, but the material is harder than the aluminum ones, and peening them is much harder.

I can get them to peen, but I don't want to fully round them, bc I know I'll hit the paint. And it's too late to replace them.

Little things.




I'm not sure if these look right. This seems big. But the diameter of the opening is right.

This is the one for the rear brake cable and clutch. If I remember the points in. This was another opening I had to recreate after welding. And the grommet fits.

The big one is fuel, It's not seated quite right. But these are right, I think.

Smaller pointy one is throttle/choke and wires? And the flat one is oil.

Piaggio.

Piaggio & C.

I didn't see a grommet for this one. It's the main harness. And the smaller one is just American 1974 turn signals. A hole they drilled after the bike was made. Might have to get these from somewhere else.

This is the wires for the taillight. This must be one shops have.

This rubber thing is great, but it didn't come with adhesive. It's just cut out. Not sure what to use here.

the one that the harness, throttle, and choke pass through should be pointed up as they all have to pass up and over the cylinder cowl.




This could use type 1 McMaster grommet

Thanks! The cables one is easy. It's very pliable. The fuel line one is almost like plastic. The quality of rubber varies so much.

I'll try McMaster.

Cole hardware likely has one that will work too.

The Ace Hardware locations on Clement and Laurel Heights are surprisingly good for hardware.

I'm amazed they stock that stuff. Or maybe it's been sitting there for decades.

I have one of the blue switches, and one turn signal connecter without the pin.

I think I can modify a brake switch to work, though. Just replace the peg with a metal one, and faux-lathe it on a drill.

I'm hoping. Those are the rarest parts.

Shame no one makes blue switches. They're all gray or black.

Might try to save this.

The kickstart lever was really pitted and scratched. But I like it has the Piaggio badge.

Cleaning it up to see if it's usable.


Still pitted, but shiny. I could probably get a lot of these out.

Love the stamp.

The part where it's touching the ground is flat. Is that from wear, or the shape of it?

This is the worst part. some road rash.

The texture of the paint is growing on me. I saw it as a defect, but can see why the painter called it "character" now. It's very uniform everywhere.

I am so scared to put on the Ulma trim. It's this sharp edge that digs in to the paint

How many coats did the painter end up getting on there?

Two. And he said he did a block sand between coats.

Color sanding and buffing will make a huge difference in the appearance. If there were three coats on there I'd say go for it, but with two best to leave it. The last thing you want to do is blow through the finish. The texture may flatten down some over time.

Was thinking about how I would protect the paint from the trim...

tape on the edges of the trim would allow it slip without scratching the paint. clear packing? blue?

when doing the aluminum roll on trim large rubber bands made from inner tubes are normally used to hold it in place while rolling. could keep it in place while removing the tape and screwing it down.

When I fitted it with the primer on, it went on ok, but when I took it off, there were spots where it scraped away the paint.

I moved it around a lot to position the floor rails, and reshape it a bit, though.

The design of it is like that. It holds on in the front with a sharp edge, and in the rear with screws. It's treacherous for paint.


It went on well

after removing

I used construction paper and purple painters tape on the Ss180. I still scratched a few small bits spots, but it worked well overall.

FWIW

Slow. But progress.


OMG. This thing is amazing. I borrowed from Geeklion. <3

I hadn't actually looked under the bike. It looks good!

One rail. It looks so nice!

Dry fitting the rails was really hard! But now they fit perfect, and go right on.



I countersunk the rivets in the dry fit, and that working well.

So they fit right into place. This set is all domed ones.

A before shot.

And after! You can't tell the metal has been replaced.

There's a slight bit of seam visible here, but subtle. This must have happened when the paint shop fixed the top rail holes I drilled wrong.

I love the waffle things!!

I'll do the rest over the weekend.

The white paint really looks nice with all the silver and black trim. Happy I kept it the original color. It's just an elaborate bath.

How beautiful is this? omg.


Last edited by hjo on Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

Looks great! Prefitting the rails was worth all the effort and more. Nice n easy now. I'm glad the tool is working out. IMHO, it is the only way to do this job properly

It's amazing. I love it.

On my P, I just used a ball peen hammer. And it turned out ok, but the waffle pattern and pinch is one of those original details that always gets lost.

Being able to recreate it really makes me happy.

And the tool is very easy to use.

I guess the waffle is there not for style, but to grip on the rivet. and works much easier than pressing with one hand and hammering with the other.

This thing is coming together so nicely! I love it!

And the before n' after of the tunnel repair is an excellent reminder of how far you've come.

Keep up the amazing work.

Looks ace!

Oh wow. The rails took me a whole day.

Why are floor rails harder than rebuilding an engine?

But It turned out ok.

I obsess over it. Then come back, and things look nice to me.

This was a real challenge, bc the new floor panel had none of the holes for the rails. And the rails needed a lot of modification to fit.




This side is almost perfect. The replacement floorboard is a different shape, and had to bend more.

Inside curve. The rivet heads didn't get damaged at all.

There is a slight gap on the outer two. I could not figure out how to bend them so they were perfectly flush.

Six.

This side isn't as perfect. And the rail came this way. It was the better of the two sets I got.

I destroyed a couple, and had to get a second set.

There's a little warp on the inside, too.

But the rivets look nice. I honestly don't know how perfect these were from the factory.



I hope that's ok. Are they even? Argh. I think the middle ones are too long.

I love the waffles.

The length is really important. Some I made too long, and they bent over. But they still work.

This is the only damage from installing them. Slight scratch here.

ok. stand.



Is this sacrilege?

Originally, there are no washers, but It freaks me out to not have them. I'll think about it before tightening them down.

It has legs.

The seam is more noticeable than it was, which I guess I can live with.

I had it almost perfect, but drilled holes in the wrong place. When the paint shop fixed the holes, they didn't skim coat it as seamlessly as it was.

But it's not too bad.

It looks nice in sunlight. and lol. I just noticed a little dent in the legshield I hadn't caught. :)

I really doubt the rails were even near that perfect from the factory

Looks amaze!!!!
Really great. Love watching it come together.

(Now get rid of the washers.)

It just keeps looking better and better.

Plus, you now know why we all bitch so much about floor rails!

Yup, total giveaway, they never shipped that nice.

On the center stand there should be some spring steel tabs that go between the stand and the frame, keeps it from rattling and wearing on the paint.
edit: part number is 174880, it shows up in the P parts manual but not earlier, But I seem to be sure I've seen it on older bikes.

For the bolts I use stainless and spin the face of it in the lathe with a bit of a chamfer top and bottom, then install with no washer. Do the same for the front fender nuts even though no one can see them (but I have had one person notice).

Be happy to turn some for you.

ooh. Thanks! I'll order that. It's good to have something as a friction surface on the stand that isn't paint, too.

I think the bolts I have are ok.

I was thinking of throwing in the engine and fork today, but I guess I'll wait.

I should probably make the wiring harness before putting in the fork and engine. It doesn't really get in the way of the engine, but the fork, for sure.


Looking at Bar Italia for reference, they say the hardware is made by Lobo, which is actually still around.

I can't even read the bolts from the before photo.

I think these are the hardware from the stand and fender.

They say "3F 8.8" and JH 8.8"

The ones I got say "YL M 8.8."

They're pretty nice. Zinc plated. And identical except for the brand mark. I guess you lose points for that.

The bolt has a rounded, raised area, as a contact surface. I guess better this digging in to the paint than the sharp edges of the hex bolt.

Are these decals from Scooterwest good quality?

The German shops don't even sell the silver ones.

I'm guessing the Scooterwest ones are what Bar Italia used for this one. When I searched for the stickers, I saw a post with Bar Italia recommending them.

Does this look wrong? There's a P and pre-P version of this bracket. They're the same, but the P version is a bit less curved.

I might try mounting the rack to see if it sits right with this one.

I love it.



<3 <3 <3

The lobo ones are "correct"

Here's the modified stainless


2 min of work, now that I think of it I should put them on my Rally

so cool looking tight!