Modern Vespa

Damn! Riding "All nature boy" in Oregon means everything is going to shrivel… even with sheepskin. Be careful!

Today was a big day - the trip across the bridge! And then up Glenada hill at WOT. She feels solid. Now to start the jetting process....

Chris came over yesterday and brought a few goodies for the GL.

Black legshield badge with rivets
Headlight guard - looks bitchen
Piaggio legshield emblem
Fly screen - decided negative and left it off
Rectangular stadium legshield mirror

And donuts!

So we got all that installed, after making some mods to the headlight guard and went for a ride. We didn't get far when the throttle cable snapped on Chris.

After a big coast and a little uphill push, we were back in the garage 5 minutes after we started.

The throttle hasn't been working right this whole time. It had a huge amount of throttle, like 270 degrees of throttle. Upon inspection, it showed I put it together 180 degrees from how it should've been and now it's back to 90 degrees of turn, stops at both ends.

After putting in a new throttle cable, and adjusting the shifter cables, clutch cable,cand front brake, we went for a ride through town and got to compare the GL against Ruby, the P200.

A great day and it's one step closer to getting to Yachats.

donuts and grease... stuff dreams are made of!

Chris got a performance exhaust (SIP Road 3) and a new seat, so I decided to pull the carb and carb box and flow accordingly.

I was rather surprised how much meat I could take off the box to match it to the engine inlet, then again, it always surprises me

Wow cool trick with the pick scribe!

Thanks Hibbert - it works really well!

This exhaust crap just pisses me off.

Chris gets a SIP Road 3 exhaust. Cool!
I go to install it - the nut cage is welded too high for it to go through the swing arm and thread properly!

WTF SIP? Its not like your job is to make these things fit! AAARRRGGGGHHHH!

So now I've got to break the welds and weld the cage 3/8 of an inch down so the bolt can grab. So now I've gotta get my welding equipment set up to do this. It's gonna be an hour or an hour and a half of time to fix this fking thing.

Like I said - pisses me off!

Same thing with my road 2. Wouldn't line up AT ALL. wtf. Shelved it and put the Polini on and haven't looked back.

Since I'm waiting to talk with Matt to see if the exhaust is just a bum one, or are they all like this, I decided to check if the carb float bowl was drilled out.

It was not...

So I drilled it out to 2.35mm and cleaned up the bowl itself. It had some ... buildup.

Scott,

I had the same issue on the white P200 I built last year while the SS was getting painted. I don't weld…. So I ended up cutting the capture nut out and using a lock washer, red lock tite, and a wing nut. (Used long needle nose pliers to hold/tighten the wing nut.)

Lemonade outta lemons. Worked well… and a good option b.

Thanks for that Jeff - now that I've thought about it I have three options...

A) do like you did.
B) get everything fitted, then re-weld the nut holder
C) return for another (crap shoot) or something else...

Probably do option B, but it just sucks.

I keep recalling the hassles Whodat has had with fitting stuff....

I just automatically figure that ALL exhausts won't fit correctly right out of the box. Since i don't have high expectations, it means that i won't be disappointed. Having a welder keeps me sane.

-EGIG Superbanana exhaust bracket sucked enough that i made my own. I also had to weld up pin holes.

-JL Right. I had to make my own rear hanger for the silencer.

-every Sito+. Oval out the hole where the mounting bolt goes through.

-SIP Viper box. ummm...fix a slew of things.

I find that it's best if i just realize that no exhausts out there are going to fit perfectly. It keeps me from getting too frustrated.

Thanks man - this actually helps with the disappointment factor. I'll oval out the hole and reweld the nut cage and quit whining. Ha!

I finally got to ovaling out the back exhaust bolt mount and rewelded the nut holder.

Actually, had to clean it up and reweld again cause the first time the welds sucked

Now it's time to up the jetting accordingly, after it stops raining that is..

More patience than me, I removed cage, tossed in trash and used a flanged nut. You can get in there with a wrench and tighten it up on a Stella, tight fit but you can do it.

Nice job. Drill a hole in the head base and the other spring fits nicely.

Maybe it's just me, but I *always* drill the cylinder fins to attach the springs. Hanging the exhaust off the cases just makes no sense to me when it's attached to the cylinder.

My take?...the spring will work just fine when it's attached to the case, buuut it's preferable to attach it to a cylinder fin. But 99% of the time drilling a hole in a cylinder fin might only be realistic when the cylinder isn't bolted to the case. I see it as one of those things when the next time you happen to have the cylinder removed, then make a mental note to drill holes in the fins. Until then, the exhaust will be just fine where the spring currently is.

I only do one spring to the case.

Thanks guys - I'll look at the possibility of drilling a hole in the fin if/when the cylinder comes off. I may still not do it, but who knows...

I finally got a good day to ride and make sure all is as it should be.

What a great run around town. She's running fantastic. Temp never got above 270f, and I had it pinned for a good 5 minutes before I had to slow down because of traffic.

Now all's that's left is to fix the leaking float needle, and ride it to Yachats with Chris! That's the testing grounds - 60 miles round trip through varying terrain, and coffee and something tasty at the half way point.

It's official - Lucy, the GL, has been to Yachats and back!

Chris, Geoff and I had a great ride and the GL with a P200 engine is an absolute beast, and a beauty.

She's headed to warmer pastures.sniff... but I can visit any time

It was a pleasure to get this baby back on the road and learn about it's idiosyncrasies.

Caio Bella...

What brand is that carrier? I've been looking for one.

My brother gave it to me and there is no branding on it, possibly home built. It's has a lot of flex in it and I'm not impressed but the price was right 😀

Can't argue that!