Modern Vespa

Wait what? What was the problem and how did grounding red fix it? I don't even see a brown wire coming out of the stator. Am I taking crazy pills?

Glad you got it running though. And yeah Matt and Dave are invaluable.

The brown wire is actually purple. Just goes to show the stator needs to be refurbished at some point.....but not now

I haven't studied the p200 six wire schematic yet, but my understanding is the red wire is unfiltered AC for the DC side, but is tied in with the yellow wire. Either the yellow or red wire need to be grounded to ensure the juice is driven to the other wire.

Electrical magic


The red wire is clipped to ground. Yellow to harness, brown or purple nowhere, black to black, and the rest to the cdi

So Chris came over today and we tried MattGyvers fix for the stator he got to see his 62 GL power the lights without a battery, and even hear the AC horn

He brought Safeways finest pastries and we BSed about how good the GL looks, so I broke out the orbital and he got busy.

But the weather was so nice we went for a ride around Florence and picked up burritos on the way back to the house.

Maybe next time he comes over we'll do that ride on Lucy.


Mmmm peanuts, donuts, bagels and coffee....

Come on man, are you done yet? Let's ride!

The beach

The North jetty of the Siuslaw River

Los Amigos Burrito is always busy. Thanks Sonya, Poncho, Pepe, Katina, & Wilma. I've known them for 16 years....

Burritos in the sun. A very good day...

That is the healthiest ride y'all have had for some time.
🙂

Lookin good boys!

BTW - Mattgyver has also bailed me on stator stuff - that included a bodged one from Indo - where someone had rigged a 12V outa a 6 volt system. Super helpful.

That lit speedo shines like a well cut gem. Picturing it's warm glow on a back road on a summer night ride.

Woot
Good stuff all around!

Lookin' good! I'm waiting for the first start and rideout videos of the GL. Just don't feed it a washer. Trust me on that.

And now I want a donut.

I think the GL is the best looking Vespa of all time, even the name "Gran Lusso" sounds sexy

Well, wiring done and buttoned up, and it's working!

I checked the jetting in the carb. It had a 120/BE4/118 main stack with 38-120 idle. I put in a 160/BE3/118 with 55-160. It is a P200 after all.

I haven't taken it through the neighborhood yet, but will soon.

So just a few things to finish up - floor rails, center floor mat, horn mounting, temp CHT gauge......

I love this. I was just starting a first start vid and.....

Woo hoo! Sounds great and looks killer!

Yes! Another GL back on the road and looking fantastic!

Now we need to find you a GL seat.

No doubt! I'm sure Chris will find one once he starts riding it around...

I have the seat which was on my GL when it came to me that I'm pretty sure is the original. I'm using it on my VBB now, but if you can't find one rattling around teh Interwebs, I could part with it.

Thanks Chandler. Chris will read this and get back with you

Sounds like a plan

So I decided to take "The Marshmallow" for a spin. I hit the main road and 2nd, and the engine dies.



It won't shift via clutch, but I click it into neutral at the batwing and push it home.

Then the Kickstarter feels like mush, and isn't compressing...

So I decided to pull the clutch.

First thing I see is the Christmas tree tabs not bent. No bueno. And RTV on the clutch cover. Hmmm.

I pull the cover and the pull the pressure plate...WTF?....no nut!

The clutch slides out with the woodruff key sheered.

So I'm inspecting everything and will put it back together, and see if there is compression when I kick it over.

If not, it's split the cases time...


Nasty mess of RTV and tabs not bent

There is the main chunk of the woodruff key

And the other piece

Phew, didn't lose any in the engine...

Rats!
Was so stoked for you watching that first start video.

Then read the follow up post…. Bah!

Last edited by Birdsnest on Mon, 30 Jan 2023 14:15:51 +0000; edited 1 time

Noooooo! That sucks! Hopefully the clutch nut isn't rattling around in the case…but if the pressure plate was still on I don't know how it could've escaped. Maybe PO just didn't install one?

Yeah, you never know when someone else did the work.

We all make boneheaded mistakes, but when a bunch show up in a row, it makes me want to open the cases and see what else is going on inside.

Missing clutch nut. Bad, but mistakes happen.
RTV on clutch cover? - why?
Loose Xmas tree nut, and tabs not bent to hold it?
Missing washers and lock washers...

It's all adding up...

I agree I would reluctantly be pulling it apart checking tolerances etc.

Worst case scenario, the gearbox might lock up at speed! If there's nothing wrong inside, it will just cost a few hours and a gasket. New oil seals are rarely a bad idea.

All adding up to pulling it apart.....At least it's a good time of year to proceed. It would tough to look at the garage at sunshiny weather with a down scoot. As far as knuckle heads moves, I think on the last engine I rebuilt, I took it out for it's first nice ride and wondered why it was jumping out of gear so badly. Back at the garage, I went thru all the replaced parts that I threw in a box. Old cruciform wasn't in there, no, the new one was still in a plastic package because in my haste I forgot to change it out for the wonky one that was still in the scoot. Take it apart again......what a dope

We've all been there. There's no feeling quite like celebrating a passing pressure test by looking down and seeing the kickstart gear sitting happily on the workbench, staring up at me with an evil grin.

The GL looks really great. Your efforts really show. Too bad about the clutch and other issues. One more thing to deal with... I'd be thinking of splitting too, for peace of mind; and better now, than after being towed home from some other issues that is yet to be discovered. Might as well plan for a cruciform & seals while you're at it...

I totally agree with Scott. If one thing is off, mistakes happen. But when there's a pattern of things being off, and some of them are things you should never do, like RTV on the clutch cover, that's a big red flag.

As an aside, I'll bet that PO was chasing the oil leak from the xmas tree nut being loose, assumed it was the clutch cover, and sealed it up accordingly. Have a look at the rear hub seal. You may find some interesting work there, too, because that's the other place that leak looks like it might come from.

So I decided to put the clutch back in and give it a go. And so far, so good.

I'm going to run it around the neighborhood until I feel comfortable taking it across the bridge.

In the meantime I'm going to work on the floor rails, license plate holder, trim, and polishing.


Made it up the road to the gate

And up the paved road around the corner

The GL is waiting another test ride...

A backing plate

Something like this. We're debating on where to mount the license plate - in the middle or towards the top. What do you think?

Nice score on the vintage 63 plate (same colorway as the 66 plate). Any problems with it getting reassigned and registered to the GL?

As for the placement of the plate, i'm no help. Maybe get a few pics the rear end of the scooter when you're standing back 20'.

Need to get more stainless hardware and nylon spacers for the license plate and backer.

In the meantime I drilled out one of the broken screws for the center mat. PITA but I got it! I'll wait to get the new screws (coming Tuesday) before tapping it.


Gotcha, ya bastard!

I haven't changed the plate yet but guys in my local club say it's no problem.

That's a fantastic numeral orientation! What are the chances of a 1963 1963x plate! Did you find it on ebay?

He did WhoDat. Crazy huh!

I finished mounting the plate and started on the floor rails. Lots of little bends and tweaks to fit them, but it's working out.

The new rubber has been in the packaging for so long that the tape left residue on the rubber and turned into something like glitter everywhere , so I stuffed the rubber into a ziplock and soaked it down with 303 protectant and left it overnight. The residue and glitter wiped right off

And I gave the cowls a quick buff with compound, polish, and wax, then installed the bling trim.

Progress!


Plate is done!

Trim!

Rails in - oh yeah!

Rubber added on the left side

How'd I get that rivet peened without taking off the center stand, by myself?

I used a punch and hammer

I used a couple clamps, a hunk of wood, and a chunk of metal to hold the rivet head secure while I tappy tap with the punch...

Bagel found it on EBay and clued me in

Well, she's all together with just a few minor tweaks needed before riding hard.

Chris got to ride it this afternoon for the first official ride after the work that's been done to it.

Looking and sounding GREAT!

Well done!

Thanks Chandlerman! Just a couple little things left and it's gonna be all ride baby, ride.

Now granted, I didn't open up the engine, so it may cough up a seal in the next mile, or never. We shall see

I've been tidying things up. Added a spare tire holder straightened out the wiring going in-between the throttle & choke cable. And I added a temporary CHT gauge.

Oh, I riveted the cowl rubber and finally got the last rail end cap in by removing the exhaust.

Speaking of exhaust, when I got the old one off it was rattling like a box of rocks,cso I put a different exhaust on from the last build (Bianca's old exhaust)

AND I cleaned up the bench and lift. Now when the weather breaks I'm going to take it out and start getting confidence in it...


Got the last floor rail end cap installed

Cowl rivet installed

Tapping the painted threads

Got the spare mount mounted

Looks pretty good!

CHT gauge zip tied to spare. It's temporary after all...

I hear shrank (shrunk?) all the wire to make it cleaner. Haven't talked it to the floorboard yet. Maybe with dabs of shoe goo...

Bench before

Bench after

You guys will appreciate this.

The last scooter I did was a P200 (Bianca) and it blew the fly side seal and melted it down pretty good. And it stank when it was running.

Well, I put that exhaust on the GL and ran it up and down the street a few times, making sure the CHT gauge is working right.

Then I ran it out of fuel and parked it in the garage and closed the garage door.

About 10 min later I went into the garage and it smelled like burnt seal - the exhaust was cooking out the burnt smell from Bianca.


That's where I parked it. The sheepskin is for when I ride all nature boy through the neighborhood. Haha

Wait a minute...you put a P200 motor in the GL? I missed this, but very much approve.

There's something wonderfully final about installing that last floor rail endcap to me. It's become almost ritual for me--I don't actually install the last one until everything else in the initial project is complete.