Modern Vespa

TLDR bought a GT200 yesterday, spent today pulling it apart and poking at the insides...ish. Just over 10,000km.

As much as I'd love to 'just ride it' - I am awaiting a new battery and it needs a safety, so I may as well do the little stuff I know it needs, or at least figure I should check.

Finds:
- the bike did go down at least once, as evidenced by the owner asking if I knew how to fix the alignment, and proven by the 2" chunk of brake lever he gave me in the bag of parts.
- left brake cover has a small crack where the screw goes in, glued that back together
- brake fluid is high on both sides, better than low I guess. Did these come with braided stainless lines to the front? Mine has that.
- rear lights was being held on with 'thoughts and prayers'. both tabs that the screws go into were broken and the top tabs were not inserted properly!. Expoxied them back together, we will see how long that holds
- found the turn signal that was out, tested the rest
- cleaned the air filter, it had a LOT of oil in the compartment (clean) so whoever oiled it went to town on it. (almost 1/4 litre puddled on the floor BEFORE I squeezed it!)
- filter itself is crumbling, ordering a new one.
- coolant level is...TBD. I can't see any at all! Tomorrow will flush/drain and refill. we will see if there are any leaks, there may be at least something. I see small signs of some coolant around the thermostat and water pump, could be very old, definitely not from our ride yesterday.
- spark plug looked great, very new, I'm guessing 2 years, and it sat for one of those. The PO gave me the old spark plug, and it has the typical slanted electrode profile I read about (on this forum of course!)
- I think the exhaust has a leak, it was pretty loud when started up, but without it running I'll wait to check that again. I'll have to search up where that exhaust gasket is located and the best fix for it (I think rhymes with shmakropovich?)
- checked the fuel lines, and all the rubber in the engine bay, looks good
- brake pads look new
- lubed/oiled various moving parts

To do List:
- check the belt, hopefully that is as new as the spark plug
- change the oil, filter is on its way.
- coolant
- centre the handlebar


If anyone knows of anything else I should look for/at, PLEASE feel free to let me know! Now is the time for me to get at it, once it's on the road I'd like to keep it there!

Thank you again for all the great info on this site!

Congrats on the new bike!

Unless you know it was done recently, you should probably change brake fluid too.

How are the tires? Any cracking? Are they old?

Good call on the brake fluid, cheap insurance and I have it on hand anyway.

Tires seems great, one is 5 years old though. I may change them out next season, I want something with a little dirt capability (like a 90/10, nothing knobby) as we have some unpaved roads around here and we occasionally hit some on our travels.

Thanks!

Are you sure you've got the right stuff on hand? Vespas are very specific. DOT4, I think, but double check the reservoir cap will tell you.

Also, when you say "on hand" you're using fresh stuff, right? Not a half bottle that's been on the shelf for 2 years?

Good stuff on the maintenance, and I hope you get rolling soon!

lol, yes. Fresh and new DOT4. Just bough a bottle as I changed the fluid in my other bike last month.
A fair question though! in Internet land you never know what some folks may do.

Sounds like you've got it well in hand. I miss my GT200. I think I say that everytime I see a GT200 post.
Thanks for posting your process. These kind of threads really help me learn!

Good for you for diving in and getting your hands dirty. Hope the belt and rollers are good, but you will have to buy a new nut for the front pulley as I think it is one time use. I could be wrong. My advice, for what it's worth: keep a log of all maintenance - when, what and miles done. I'm 65 and keep up with 6 cars, 1 truck and a couple of motorcycles, scooters, etc.....(four adult children, wife, me, in laws,..) and it is getting harder to remember what was done, when and what needs works. I enjoy it, but it gets confusing sometimes. Good luck with your scoot.

The nut for the front (driving) pulley is meant to be one-time use, as it has an integral Belleville washer. However, I've re-used one on several occasions with no harm done. The important thing is to have it torqued up correctly, as it's a PITA to correct any damage caused by it coming even slightly loose. Some people like to use a bit of blue Loctite - personally I'm not in favour of any grease, anti-seize or Loctite going anywhere near the crankshaft.

When I rescued mine, the fuel line from the tank was on the verge of crumbling. Cheap fix. It looked okay but split when I applied even a little pressure to it. If it's an older one, I would just pull it and replace it. Especially since you're in there already...

Check those ground wire connections for corrosion and check the wiring harness for kinks, cut insulation and loose wire connections.

End of Day 2 Update:

Thank you all for the tips and suggestions, I went over every one of them and things look good.

- pulled the muffler, that gasket is long gone. Will replace. Also the heat shield is pretty smashed up, ordering a new on of those too.
- painted the muffler black while I had it out
- pulled the trans cover off, just to check if the belt had been changed and the condition inside. Really the transmission air filter told me the whole story - a firm 'no one's been here in a while'. Grass, pet hair, and a layer of crud on there. gross. Belt looks good, but obviously due soon to be changed. I may put that off till winter. Cleaned out as much of the dust as I could. I didn't pull the front nut off, really no point as I could see what I needed to without going that far.
- checked the grounds and electrical - looks excellent really - no corrosion at all. It was definitely kept inside.
- didn't get around to the coolant yet, I figured I'd wait until I have a battery so I can run it. That arrives Tuesday.
- checked the steering bearing, needs replacing too. That can wait till winter as well I think.

So that's about it! Overall not bad, I'm pretty happy. About $300 in parts should get this in top shape, plus a weekend of 'research' in the garage, with tunes on and a smile on my face.

I'll post more pics once I get her cleaned up!

oh! And I centred the handlebars! One good whack to the left did it.

I enjoy seeing another GT getting cleaned up and back on the road.

I have three and find them to be wonderful machines.

I see a note that you believe the steering head bearing needs replacement...at 10,000km (6,000 miles).

My three all have much more mileage than that.

Two with 20,000 miles and 36,000 miles are still on their original bearings.

Rocket, at almost 100,000 miles has had it's replaced twice. The first at around 50,000, second last year. I wonder why it has gone bad so fast.

If the steering is not stiff, or before the last change, sticking making for a dangerous ride, I would leave it alone.

I designed houses and boathouses on two islands in Lake Joseph just north of you. In ten trips to the area, I thought the roads were in good condition.

Bill

Honestly getting this scoot would not be possible without the help on this forum. I would never have felt comfortable buying it since it was sitting, but with all the tips and info on MV I don't think there is. problem I couldn't tackle. Its a pretty simple machine once you know it's quirks (getting there).

re: steering bearing
What I did was get the front wheel off the ground and turned the bars side to side. There is a definite 'indent' at centre. Not a clunk or anything, and the steering is not stiff at all.

I plan to replace the chrome trim along the front/sides over the winter - that would mean pulling apart a lot of the front anyway. I'll see how things go and maybe do the bearing then, but its good to know I may not need to.

Lake Joseph is a beautiful area. Lots of nice houses on those big lakes! Its about a 3 hour ride from my home - definitely somewhere my wife and I hope to ride around, maybe this fall. (her parents live about 30 min from there)

Congrats on the scooter...looks like you've got a bit of work...assuming it was a good price!

Thinking the air filter may not have so much been over-oiled, but the extra oil may have come from over filling the crankcase. It's not an uncommon problem (thus the common recommendation NOT to fill it to the "full" line.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

what should I fill it to then? I assume there is no 'Not Quite Full' Line?

When I clean and oil my filters, I hang them overnight to drain off excess. I don't get any oil in the drain tube.
I wash with Dawn and oil with 50/50 motor oil and gas. I don't like the spray on filter oil, too hard to clean.

I'd go somewhere between half and 2/3. I think a lot of people assume that inserting the dipstick without screwing it in is the way to measure. Good way to overfill...by lot.

Half full is fine. That's all I ever do.

Got the battery in today:
a) electrics all work, clock keeps changing time for some reason (search incoming!)
b) got new turn signal bulb (ordered 4, got 5 so hopefully I won’t have to source THOSE for a long time)
c) 200 ccs of uncorked Vespa is LOUD! (I have the muffler off awaiting the gasket). I love loud pipes but…
d) while cold it wants to die if I touch the throttle. Again I haven’t run if long at all, but I’ll keep an eye out for that.

I’ll update again once I get parts on.

Great scooters the GT200, my gateway drug to Modern Vespas.
I am surprised that no-one has quoted our old late friend Judy - replace all the pipes; that is all the fuel and vacuum lines. Cheap insurance for reliability.