Modern Vespa

This is on my 2015 Primavera 50. I decided I should check my oil level and look around. In doing do, I saw a cable or hose dangling loose and unattached. So you could see it, I pulled it up. In the photo, it is center and has a coiled wire around it. The end has a silver metal fitting with a hole in it. I assume the hole is for attachment. And looking in the end of that fitting is a slotted something that looks to be adjustable.

So what is this and where does it attach? Thanks all

Well, what does the other end connect to?

I believe the outside coil is usually there to prevent kinking on critical lines, like brakes.

But I doubt that's a brake line. I'm sure someone else will recognize it (if you don't solve first by tracing the other side).

Berto,

Fair enough. You have called me on my laziness at not bothering to say where the mystery cable originates. It’s hard to see but looks like towards the bottom on the carb. The very same cheap Chinese carb which resulted in the loss of the original Keihin carb. I’ll bet if I searched out the Chinese carb I’d locate this cable. But I’m hoping the experienced geniuses here will enlighten me anyway. Please?

Ok, I just searched Amazon for Vespa Scooter carb. The pictured one is the first to show up. What a great photo of my mystery cable.

I know little about carbs but looks like it goes into the bowl. So this cable allows the draining of the bowl?

Why would I want to do that?

You'd want to drain the bowl if you wanted to remove the carb to clean it or whatever. Far better to drain into some receptacle than all over your workbench. That hose with screw-tap at the end looks much more user-friendly than the usual hidden screw at the inaccessible bottom of the carb.

Who knew that this carb would result in so many learning opportunities for me. The carb was slapped in the day before I picked up my beauteous new to me scoot. The promised tuneup turned into I was getting a “new carb” too. I knew almost nothing except my Vespa ran and started much better than 2 days earlier. I was thrilled.

But the new carb didn’t exactly fit. It took two zip ties to make the throttle cable function and another to jury rig the new (and wrong) fuel tap.

But in each case, the folks here at MV explained what was wrong and why and I learned something.

So today, I should have known this cable was somehow connected to the carburetor transplant.

But for now, the bike runs like a top and I couldn’t be happier. And the zip ties are gone.

A future chapter may be entitled, The Return of the Keihin. To be continued. Thanks for everybody’s generous help and patience.

On a chinese scoot it would be attached to the case with one of the bolts with the bracket, so the weight doesn't crack the hose

That extension is actually a nice feature for winterizing. I’ve never seen that before in any small engine carb. The OEM Keihin carbs for Vespas and Buddies definitely don’t have it.

Unfortunately most owners of GY6-fed engines wouldn’t think to winterize in the first place….

Yes it's a curious notion to have this long extension full of stale gas that would need to be drained at some point. I like the winterizing idea. I've never had to live with that thank goodness.

I was thinking about this too. I almost wonder if the stopper is up at the carb, and inside the hose is a cable or something. Just seems not great to hold stale gas. And there is that unusual coil to prevent kinking / binding of the hose that seems like overkill otherwise?

You open the screw and gas comes out. No cable, no magic, no sleight of hand. It's actually nice to be able to drain the carb from the left side, without digging around under the seat bucket.
The biggest drawback is that some of them open up while you are riding, and drain the bowl. Then you stop.

I have a few of these from my Chinese Knockoff Carb Trials. It's a piece of fuel line with an anti kink spring on the outside and a nice threaded shutoff screw at the end in that housing. Like someone said the end part is meant to mount some where so the screw can be accessed that allows for drainage.