Modern Vespa

Yes, bend in both directions. And yes, the one in there looks too thick. If the washer's not the right thickness it'll affect where the cruciform sits and you'll get clicking when you spin the wheel in neutral.

A few runs in the clear, passable. The clear is harder to gauge than the paint.

That looks pretty damn good from here. I'll roll with those.

for anything that sucks - there's always stickers.

So the bodywork stuff went great, you can't see the repairs. My defects are more ordinary. There are sanding marks in the recessed groove, too cautious trying to avoid sanding through. Dirt in the paint is expected in my work environment. I honestly think some of it happens because I have the ceiling fan on to move fumes down to my exhaust fan. Also I use a hanging corded light to inspect my work and I wonder if dust drops off there sometimes.

The first pic has a blemish near the reflection of the ceiling fan. I think this is when a drop comes off the spray can.

The second shows the worst clear drip.

I'm gonna stick with them though. Based on my work so far, it's likely that if I wet sand and shoot again I will still end up with something else similar. The run on top of the cowl is a weird place for a sticker though…

Still waiting to see how much more the surface smoothes out with time, that is such an interesting phenomenon.

You could probably wet-sand that and get an awesome shine on it, I bet. Lay down another coat of clear so and then go to work.

Do a test patch to confirm that the clearcoat will wet sand properly and you'd be golden. I know that the clearcoat I used on my GL, it explicitly said not to wet sand, but I still might try it on the underside at some point just to see if that's true.

Yeah, all the above will get dust in the paint and gloss black is especially unforgiving. Looks good though.

If I get them perfect it will make the old respray on the frame look crappy, can't go too nuts

The outlier is the fender, that came out bitchin' for some reason. It's all good learning.

And yeah I knew that gloss black was always a tough target. It looks good against the silver though.

White is among the most forgiving colors.

there are 2 coats of clear over three coats of color. If I didn't have a wife that can't stand paint smell I'd consider it. But I had to wait for her to skip town to make this happen.

whoa, nice accidental find for first time older motor builders:
It's interesting because this Bajaj motor is a bit different, it has no screw in bearing retainer for the rear axle and has the more modern fly side axle bearing.

If not for that video, I totally would have missed the thicker clutch washer thing...

One down one to go…

The other side is on…

What blemish?

looks great! love the front fender mods.

that fender was off the Stella I parted, figured I'd try my hand at painting it and decided to keep it

I approve. And I agree, the front fender looks great, good call.

That thing looks ace! Well sorted man.

Remember the starting point??

I'm still going to rebuild the px engine and swap it back in, but otherwise I'm done.

How long for the paint to really harden? Got some fine scratches today handling one cowl, nothing big. Waxed them to help protect. Just wondering.

So I got this crank installing tool for the oldies. It seems badass. The threaded part fits each side of the crank, which seems to mean we can pull the crank into the clutch side half (with a bit of preheating I'm sure). Then later it looks like we can pull the fly side over the crank using the same tool! Only thing that seems weird to me is that the 3/4 circle rides on the circlip instead of the case lip, but then again maybe the case lip is fragile for that job.

Looks like the dremel will get some work, it hangs a bit on the primary, but not much.

That washer is thin

Thanks, got a few better ones in my Mercato order.

I love my pullers. They make every installation better in exactly the ways you're thinking.

It's always so satisfying to start reinstalling parts. Transmission in and shimmed to 0.3mm. I would've shot for tighter but it's a low power build and I knew this shim would get me into spec so I didn't order two.

Thin selector washer installed and bent.

For crank installation, with the older VBB style motors when the bearings go onto the crank, I haven't liked using the puller tool for trying to install the crank into the case. It presses against the oil seal. That puller is better for P series motors.

I prefer the method Scooterwest displays in their video: heat the sh*t out of the clutchside case on a hot plate for 10-15 mins and then hand install the well oiled crank. Make sure it sits fully. The case does need to be fully hot.

I like the cutdown front fender in the photos too. Looks like a fun ride!

Well that's why the lock isn't working…

Anyone have a guide to taking it apart? The cylinder matches my steering key and I'd like to keep it.

I don't have a guide but just pull the flat metal piece out and flip the lock around.

Edit: I should've said the thin, flat metal piece with a little hole I'm it. It just slides out, with a little wiggling and persuasion

So pulling the lock out of the door, not so bad, I get that part. The snapped off piece will need replacing though, and I'm not sure how to get the cylinder apart to do it. How does flipping the lock around help - what do you mean?

I have a full lock from the Stella but I want to keep this key in the equation.

From the other side, no obvious way to disassemble.

Dooohhh, sorry John, I misread the question. I'm such a lame-bozo sometimes.

I have no idea how to get the tumbler out of the lock housing. Is there a pin or hole somewhere that'll release the tumbler?

I can't see one for the life of me, but I'll have a better look once I get home. It had to be assembled, so there should be a way to take it apart. Worst case scenario is I end up with the old 2 key bike, which is pretty normal for me . In fact, I have no key for the seat, so it's likely to end up like my last P as a 3 key bike if I decide to care about the seat lock, which I normally don't.

you should re take the same profile photo with the finished scooter. Same pose everything

Key in, press the "secret" tab and barrel comes out…

SaFiS you sneak in here with gold at all the key moments.

Safis you're my hero

Nice bit of secret sauce on the lock! I did not know that.