Modern Vespa

I'd get it blasted or dipped to uncover the "cancer" lurking underneath. My Ps frame had rot at the tunnel, under the outer sheet. I cut it, cleaned it up, treated it with rust stabilizer, welded a new sheet and then used solder instead of bondo...

That came out so nice!

What did you use to cut the metal? It's so clean. I was thinking of using a Dremel with a small diamond cutting wheel. The curve along the bottom is such a tight angle.

Yes. Going to get it sandblasted. I think first going to fabricate a brace for the frame, then remove the rusty metal, so I can blast the interior parts that have rust.

That's good to know! One part that isn't destroyed. Piaggio didn't ever clean up casting marks. There are so many.

I have a mini air angle grinder and used 1mm cutting discs. A Dremel should be fine too...

I found these. They seem perfect.

And then I'm going to use a file sander to remove the spot welds, and hopefully not remove any material from the bottom sheet.

Finally ordered the body parts.

This is the first time I've ordered from SIP. And not too bad!

It took them two days to process, and the shipping was a fortune. My items were $250, and the shipping was $120.

But three days from Germany to California once they processed. I thought it might take a month.

Parts.

Got the frame pieces from SIP, which wasn't too bad. It took a week.

These are Carlucci, and quality is not as high as I'd hoped. The floorboard especially. The beading is different than the Rally, it's shallower, and has a different shape along the floorboard area.

I this is my OCD, and can work with it, but it's not perfect. I guess better than fabrication.

I'm tempted to consider a different floorboard, but this might be ok.

Makes me want to gut mine…

My floor board in reality is like a piece of Swiss cheese, thin patches of filler have patched up the holes, but the struts are starting to buckle…

One day… one day…

Wiring question.

The 1974 American market Rally had a unique (and really buggy) wiring system.

That leaves the option there to recreate the wiring harness from reverse engineering the original, possibly.

But there's this one. The German market one looks very close. It had a battery and indicators. And instead of the ignition switch, had a kill button at the frame.

Will this one work?

It looks like it would just possibly need a modification to add the wires for the rear turn signals. I don't know if the lights are connected to the ignition switch, but possibly that too.

Is it otherwise the same?

The onlt other difference with the American ones, as far as I know, was a front brake switch, which added a post to the front brake lever.

But might be totally different regulator, stator, etc.

If it has a wiring diagram, see how closely it maps to yours. And worst case, you can always either intercept the kill switch wire and pull it out of the sheathing under the tank or just run your own since it's basically just a short to ground.

That seems like it would be ok. The American one had this switch, which amazingly you can still find NOS. They were also used in Fiat cars.

The wiring might be a bit different. I think the switch also killed the lights, but there's also an off/on switch for those on the handlebar, so if the key just kills the ignition, that's probably ok.

I'll check the diagram.

My slow project.

Parts. Found a shifter tube to replace the damaged one. And a NOS turn signal bracket. Scooterwest had just one of the four, but it was the one I needed!

It's so cool when all the little NOS bits somehow come together.

Cleaning up the flywheel. This is interesting.

The bolts on the flywheel are stamped Fiat, which must be original.

Rebuilt stator.

Scooterwest did this, and did a really nice job.

Some progress. Had San Francisco Scooter Centre put in the critical engine parts, I was afraid to do wrong, after having to replace the engine case once.

New crank, bearings, seals, clutch, shifting cross, engine mounts, all the moving/wearing parts.

Starting to look like a vespa. At least the engine.

Case stud questions.

It seems like the case studs for the selector box are too long.

I have 8. Six the same length, and two short ones. The short ones go on the carb box, but seems like the selector box ones are too long.

Clutch parts.

Ah. With the studs tightened down a bit, it looks right.

Afraid of pushing these things through the case.

Some progress.

I keep running in to places where I need parts, and have to wait thee days. I initially planned to use all the original hardware, but it's so weathered, that new ones are better in a lot of cases.

The engine is all together except the hub and top end, which I think I'll wait on until it's close to finished, so the hone stays perfect.

Next week, body work. I found a shop where I can grind and weld without disturbing neighbors (Moto Guild, which looks amazing).

Having OCD with this. But I guess it doesn't have to be perfectly original. Feels like it should be.

Beautiful n clean, you're doing a cracking job 😎

Got a new tank (well, used). Didn't even notice at first, but has a big dent in the top.

Wonder if this is fixable. It's subtle, but indents in the middle. The interior is very clean.

Exciting.

I think I may have found the last remaining set of NOS CEV 173 chrome turn signals in existence. Where have these been sitting for 50 years?

Took a whole month to arrive from Italy.

All of this is amazing.

And those new turn signals…. Swoon!

Great job all around.

Those raised tanks having a dent from the seat is pretty common. My ss180 also has a bit of a dent.

I think I can live with the dent. I didn't even notice until I compared to the old tank. But that one has dents, too.

Ooooo those signals are sweet. Did you get stalks too?

e I had three of them. The missing one, amazingly, was one Scooterwest had as NOS. They only had one of the three, but the one I needed.

And found those really nice repro gaskets.

It looks like the original one has some light plating, but pretty rough casting. I think I can polish the others to match.

Where did you find the repro gaskets? I'll need those for my 74 super if I can run them down.

Scooterworks also has a pretty decent repop turn signal replacement now. It's not a perfect match--they recommend buying in pairs--but they look pretty close and certainly better than nothing.

Dunno if they have stalks, though.

Clauss Studios.
https://www.claussstudios.com/store/p546/Vespa_Turn_Signal_Gasket_Set_74_-_78_Rally_Super_Sprint.html

Scooterwest also has them (I think from Clauss Studios). This actually might be better. They ship a lot faster. I think Clauss might make them to order, and Scooterwest has them in stock.

Bar Italia has them.

The Clauss gaskets are top notch. I got the grey for my Super 150. Correct color and well made, just as all their products are. Most orders are made to order; so shipping can be slow...

The ordeal begins.

This is super hard.

I thought I could just remove spot welds, and go. But it's taking a long time. The sheet metal isn't that bad, but there's rust between the panels, that is this sandy texture, and about 3x the width of the metal.

But it's working now.

The file sander isn't great for spot welds. I was hoping it would be easier. I think I need to drill them, then file them.

I'm feeling better about this. Made some progress.

It's so strange. The metal is not that damaged, but so much rust has built up, it's pushing apart the metal.

It seems to be only in the horizontal areas.

I wonder if this bike spent time completely submerged in water. I've never seen this on a Vespa.

But... it definitely seems salvageable.

The hard part will be the small curves at the floor. I don't know how to cut that out.

I feel your pain. Busting out spot welds and peeling apart rusty steel baclava is a bitch. My experience with this is with VW buses. Welding it all together again is way more fun. Nice work though. You're doing it right. Be thankful it's not a bus.

It really is baklava!

It seems overwhelming, but it's really just very small pieces. I feel so much better about it after cleaning out the worst rusted areas, and seeing that the metal underneath looks good.

The only problem with this thread is that it has me wondering how much rust is lurking inside the frame of my GL.

Other than that, I'm totally digging it and taking notes for future projects.

Is this cylinder head usable?

It has some light pitting, but not sure if that's an issue.

So long as you can get a good seal, that's fine. I run a head that looks a LOT worse than that in my tuned out GL's motor.

I'd say lap it a little bit to make sure you have a good smooth sealing surface and you're good-to-go.