Modern Vespa

My dad used that line all the time too! I find it slipping out of my mouth on occasion now...

There's a chance you can convert the one you got to a "serial" one (I can't guarantee it cause I don't know if the spirals on the coils are the same). Remove the red wire (black X), cut the grounded side from the first pair and bridge it to the second pair. The other end with the yellow wire is now the second blue...

Thanks!

This is the old Stella Stator. I think the ground has been floated on this one.

What is wrong with the old Stella stator?

I have a Stella stator removed off mine that I don't need. I'll send it to you if you want it.

From the 2005 Stella so it has the pickup arm that sticks out the top above the flywheel.



Old photo. I've actually ground the arm a bit so I could adjust the timing without the arm hitting the case where it passes up and out.

Thank you, I really appreciate that. I'm not sure if that Stator would be compatible with the flywheel I have.

There may be nothing wrong with my original Stator. I bought it just in case because I had some electrical issues and didn't want to get stuck waiting for one. I will just run it and see how it goes.

I spent yesterday evening on odds and ends like getting the bracket for the CDI from the 200 to fit on the Stella engine case, adjusting cables, etc. Hopefully it will start tonight.

For jets I put in:

Main-122
Mixer-BE4
AC-140
Idle-55/160

Gotta start somewhere and gotta actually quit dicking around and START the bike.

The new garage is an absolute wreck as I keep unloading stuff from the old garage. When I get this buttoned up, I have a lot of setting up to do.

What size/socket are the Stella signal light bulbs. Trying to order LEDs from work and can't find the info anywhere.

Thanks!

Amber T20 21W incandescent, so you'll need to order a new turn signal flasher, too.

my list of LED equivalent bulbs for all the lighting on the stella:

Thank you!
Found them.

Finally! It started right up.

It spluttered…which I expected. So now I just keep trying smaller main jets until it revs out cleanly? Started with a 122.

What?!? No first start video??? Well, congratulations anyway!

Thanks. Timing was right on too and all the lights work.

From my reading, I should reduce the main til it revs out cleanly without spluttering at WOT. 4 stroking at low revs is normal as long as it clears when revs go up.

I must admit, I'm really excited at this point even though there isn't much of riding season left. The leaves are just starting to change here and if I get in some nice leaf peeping rides, I will consider that better than good. In getting the Stella going, I feel confident in my engine building abilities…at least for a stocker and maybe some of the basics of tuning.

In the course of getting a couple engines going and doing a complete rebuild, I ended up replacing a lot of other stuff; fuel tap and lines, a cable or two, some wiring, front caliper and MC, speedo cable and gear, plus lots of cable adjustments. It felt like a summer of Vespa boot camp, with a few sessions of VW air cooled special forces training thrown in.

I think future builds will be more straightforward and I'm already eyeing the 200 for a winter project. Some important lessons I have learned: Don't pull apart everything and throw it into bins and baggies in the basement. Don't throw those bins and baggies and a scooter carcass in a bus and drive them all to another state halfway through an engine build. Put the engine on the bench and leave it there until it's done. Sorry to write a novel.

Great to see you're finally getting on the road!

Be careful riding on leaves. Those suckers make the road slippery as hell, especially if there's even the tiniest bit of moisture on the road.

And don't forget I might have written a word or two about carb tuning in the wiki...

Thanks! I'm all over that Wiki. It's a good one.

When I had my scooter in the late 80's, it was my only transportation. I rode it from March to December. I have a vivid memory of wiping out on wet leaves.

I may have mentioned during one of my rides, I came across slices of ham strewn across the road in the middle of nowhere. A strange an slippery omen.

That's just more evidence to support my theory that Greasy & BN are eventually going to invent or come into possession of a time machine, then form a band whose music is so amazing that it leads to world peace and a scoot-tastic, utopian global society.

But no pressure, guys!

Didn't get to far with jetting as I don't have the selections of mains I thought I did.

Just for fun I threw in a 115, which is the next smallest size that I have. (140AC, BE4, 55/160 idle)

It spluttered until about 4000rpm then picked up suddenly at maybe 3/4 throttle.

It originally had a 112 main, BE4, 160AC, 42/160 idle. It ran great, but I guess the idle jet was too lean.

Trying to figure out what direction to go in with what I have in hand so I can get through my road test. I will order more jets in the meantime.

Thanks.

If you have a BE5 mixer tube, try that. Not all small blocks need or want a BE4.

who's to say we haven't already?

My world is pretty scoot-tastic, but y'all are definitely slackin' on the World Peace, amigo.

Still spluttery with 140/Be5/115. Sound like 4 stroking up to almost WOT and then it pulls.

Tried the original main stack with the 55/160 idle jet. It didn't seem to make any difference. I'm confused…

I switched to a BE3 (160 AC/112 Main)
and a leaner idle jet (42/140).

I should have made one change at a time. Lots of 4 stroking and spluttering still until maybe 2/3? throttle, but rideable this time…it will actually accelerate. It pulled 4th gear nicely and I actually got out on the road a little, but took it really easy and kept an eye on CHT's.

One thing I did notice…Turning the mixture screw all the way in would not kill the engine with either idle jet and I did test for air leaks.

Thanks.

Still trying to figure this out. I think the hard part of jetting for a newbie is understanding what the engine is telling him.

It seems that I am following in the footsteps of the PO in leaning out the idle jet. The way it was jetted before, there was a little 4 stroking at low throttle, but the power came in pretty quickly. From what I have read, this is pretty normal for a tuned engine and I thought it rode nicely.

The previous jetting used a 42/160 idle jet. I last tried a 42/140. It seemed to make an improvement. The acceleration is still raggedy at low to mid throttle but it was worse before and not pulling well through that range. I'm assuming the idle circuit is still rich?

I could really use a push in the right direction.

Many thanks.

As you've already surmised, the hardest part of getting started with jetting is learning what various terms actually sound and feel like.

You shouldn't have four-stroking at low to mid rev's unless you need to downshift. On the stand, it should rev cleanly when you blip the throttle. If it bogs (gurgles/sputters, maybe four-strokes), then it's too rich. If it sags, meaning that it seems to just lose power for a moment until the throttle opens further, then it's too lean.

If you can post some videos, that will help a lot for diagnosing what's going on, because it will let you begin to tie what you're seeing to the terminology and let us give better guidance.

That's a great idea. Easy enough to do some YouTube audio clips with quick descriptions. I will also mark the throttle. I almost always overestimate how much throttle I am giving it. Just the sort of that's rich, that's lean feedback will be a huge help.

Thanks

You haven't marked your throttle yet? That's a must. Otherwise, as you've noted, you don't *really* know where you're at throttle position wise.

It's also fairly enlightening as to where you're at for a given speed.

make sure to use an eye on the carb while marking. mark full when the slide starts and stops moving. there can be extra motion on either end.

Here is a tedious unedited video with marked throttle.

Marking the throttle was a good idea. The four stroking seems to diminish after about 1/4 throttle. This is close to how it ran before. It seems to have decent power.

I have somehow developed the habit of pulling the clutch and giving it gas when coming off full throttle, though I have been taking it easy and staying only briefly at WOT.

Temps got up to 215F. I'm glad I have the Runleader gauge.

I took my road test today. They don't tell you if you passed. You have to look later on line.

Realized this morning that I never got it inspected and I need the sticka for the road test. A local shop squeezed me in, but I failed because I had thrown on an old tire by mistake. Thankfully the spare was ok. He inspected it in my bus after I changed it…in the bus.

I passed my motorcycle road test! Woot!

One thing I noticed is that the scooter is running better as I ride it more.

Would really appreciate some feedback on the video of the "that sounds rich/lean variety". That will be enough to point me in the right direction.

The magic combination of jets, I will have to figure out over time.

Sorry to be pushy, but thanks.

Beautiful up there!

Have you played with the mixture screw yet?

"If I were you"
Remove the throttle tape and engine cowl. Turn in the screw a 1/2 turn from where you are now and take it out with a tool to adjust the screw once warmed-up, then 1/4 turns in any direction and ride it. Lots of trial and error here.

Between gurgling barely open and popping while coasting no throttle is the sweet spot.

Thank you. I gave it a try and took it for a longer ride. It was a beautiful afternoon and I just enjoyed it on some back roads like the one in my video. I took it easy at about 45-50 mph and CHT's never got higher than 240F. I still have to do plug chops and I know it will take awhile to dial it in. The 4 stroking seems to be less noticeable when riding for realz and seems to get better the more I ride it. I also think that going with a better squish/spacer arrangement will make it better overall, but I probably won't put enough miles on it to get to that this season.

I'm happy to enjoy it as it is for what is left of riding season. It starts every time, seems to run smoothly and have decent power.

Super important to get the bike fully warmed up for jetting, get yourself a good 30 minute ride before judging

10-4 on that. It makes a huge difference. Even just carb adjustments. Warm from real riding. Not just from idling in the driveway

I was doing 10 minute warmups and the results were so inconsistent. Never again.

One thing I realized this time around is that somehow I had missed the different idle screw adjustment on the fine threaded Spaco carb when I first started riding this bike. I had it set at 1 1/2 turns out rather than 2 1/2. I'm sure that didn't help my first time through. In the process of building this engine, I did come across this information.

I am still on the 42/140, 160AC, BE3, 112 MJ. When it's good and warm, the 4 stroking is still there under 1/4 throttle but doesn't hinder acceleration.

Here are a couple observations now that I've finally had a moment to watch/listen to your video...and now that you're past this point in tuning...

0:45 -- bogging coming off idle. Too rich on the mixture screw.
1:20 -- power is coming in late, again b/c too rich at idle.
1:30 -- four-stroking at half throttle. Too rich an atomizer OR bike isn't warmed up yet.
1:35 -- four-stroking at 1/4 throttle

I was waiting to see if the four-stroking would clear up as the bike warmed up, and it seems like it does at the 3:00 mark

3:18 -- four-stroking returns as you go from 1/4 to 1/8 throttle.
3:30 -- nice return to idle . Of course, being a little rich, that's to be expected, but lets you hear what the expectation should be
4:40 -- sweet Trans Am, dude. You painted that yourself? I'd never have guessed.
Entire video -- riding style is not at all like "stolen." You need to work on that.

Beautiful part of the world, too.

Now, I think I'm going to go see if I can change out some smallie cables with only minimally-functional hands. This should be...fun.