Modern Vespa

So quite recently I joined the Vespa community with a 2005 PX150E that I got from a friends dad for 800€(money well spent by looking at the prices). It has been maintained mostly stock for all of its life. Only mods that I found while taking apart the scooter was a 25mm phbl dellorto carb and a Sito exhaust.

Since I'm a firm beliver of "built not bought" I decided that I want to set it up to my taste. That would include bigbore kit, reedvalve conversion, bigger carb, stronger crankshaft, exhaust, possibly gearing, suspension etc etc...

The only part I'm not certain on what to do with is the reed valve conversion. Could anyone point me in the right direction where I could get good information about this? Crank and porting wise.

Also if someone happens to have had a similar project in the past, linking or sharing them would be greatly appreciated

If they have done those 2 mods (carb, exhaust), then it is highly likely they have also done cylinder kit

Cant you pop the cylinder head off and see whats stamped on it, might reveal its kitting etc.

Engine is already taken apart completely. Everything besides those two was stock. With 8000km on the clock, I'm guessing everything else hasn't been touched from factory

once you go reed, you can't go back...

if you've got a decent rotary I don't see any reason to blow it all out and go reed. there's plenty of very powerful and decent kits on the market that with the right selection of components will make that thing haul ass.

what kind of riding are you doing? what exactly are you looking for as an end result?

short anwser: reliable power

This would be my second bike that I would use for daily commutes to university(while popping wheelies along the way). I would also like for it to be able to reach highway speeds (~120kmh). Basically a ride that I can have fun on and use for longer roadtrips aswell. I know I know that I could have fun on it the way it was but it's missing just a bit of power in my opinion.

I'm open to suggestions if you think going reed won't be neccesary

To get anywhere near 120km/h you're going to need a high power cylinder kit and a decent exhaust. Strong clutch and gear kit. The 25 phbl will be ok for commuting but an SI26 would get the autolube back. Lots to decide.

I have no issues with premixing. And well aware that I need a whole setup. Just tryna find out what someone has tried and has worked out to save some time and money. Carb wise I thought of going for a 28-30mm pwk

How fast did it go when you drove it prior to disassembly?

Hec

It was set up for city riding and got 82kmh on a long stretch

I will be watching your progress.

I am currently upgrading my 1980 P125X Engine with a Mazzuchelli 60mm stroke race cut Crank, SIP 2.0 Road Exhaust, 24MM carb. I will be installing a Piaggio 150CC stock cylinder bored out to 2nd oversize with a new piston. My goal is reliability and a cruising speed of 55 MPH/86KPH or better. BTW the Stock Engine got me to 45 MPH and it had air leaks.

Hec

your stock engine in good tune would've had you comfortably and reliably at 55, even more so with that pipe. the addition of the bigger carb and the 60 crank is a total mismatch for that cylinder. unless you tune the shit out of it- port work, a different or profiled head, packer, maybe top or tail the barrel that thing is gonna run like butts.

cut your losses. sell the 150 barrel and buy anything aftermarket and you'll be miles ahead. adios that crank and you'll solve the fiddly bit of setting up a cylinder not made for that as well. the 24 is fine, but a 20 is more than adequate for what you're trying to accomplish.

you're asking a lot, especially in the wheelie department.

but you can drop on a kit, get a bigger SI carb (24 or 26) add appropriate gearing and a well suited pipe and have something that will be reliable and run 60mph all day long.

you don't need to go reed for what your goals are. a well sorted rotary set up will do all that easily.

Px, reliable and 120khm highway driving is like chasing a rainbow IMO. Yes you can get the bursts to 120 kmh but not long runs that will be reliable. You want something like that then head for an auto gts 300

I'm not saying snap your fingers and make it happen, but it's doable with a small block. a 200 even more so.

but it's definitely not a "lets just open the catalog and order up the go fast bits" kinda situation.

I only want it to be able to hit 120kmh. Most cruising will be at 90-100kmh. There's one stretch of road in this country where we have 120kmh speedlimit. Rest is 90-100

120km/h is nowhere near as hard to achieve as it used to be. For cruising at that speed it requires at least 200cc. And a whole load of upgraded parts.
The reliability comes from how well it was assembled, combined with how well the carb is set up.

So I've gotten so far with the dissasembly that I have to remove the rear axle. The thing isn't budging one bit. Tried to dismantle the rear wheel bearing aswell but didn't get far with that. Don't have access to a press but I do have a large selection of hammers.

All the guides I referenced got it out with a few love taps, not mine tho. Any ideas for this?

Access to a large clamp?

It'll be off center, so you have to be careful…

Rubber mallet and persistency usually works… just keep tapping it. Your bearing will be trash most likely

have you tried heat?

So it's been quite a while. But big progress has been made and the engine now runs! After months of being indecisive I finally pulled the trigger on a setup that would suit my requierments. The setup is as follows:

Cylinder: Quattrini M1X 172cc
Exhaust: Malossi MHR
Intake: MRP with Vforce4 reeds
Carb: 25mm PHBL (looking to swap that out later with a 28-30mm)
Crankshaft: Flowed crank by Worb5

And lots of other upgraded bits and bobs that would make the list too long to keep track of.
Took me about 3 weekends to complete the engine build with many custom tools made for installation. And finally got the engine mounted and running yesterday. With lots of porting and fiddling with the cases and lots of headaches with fitting the cylinder to correct requierments later I'm really happy with the results.

Timing adjustments have to be made when I get my hands on a strobe light.
I'll add some pictures of the build to sum up a long project that at some moments I couldn't see the end of

Looks great!

What's happening with the crank? Installing the bearing race?

Not sure if that would twist the crank webs unless you had something wedged in between.

But shouldn't be too much pressure as the race goes on.

Heating the race with a frozen crank and it usually just slide on…

That is exactly what jumped on my eyes too

Otherwise that setup is looking absolutely great! Especially good job on getting the cases that clean. Have you tried how it runs already?

looks great. Going to be quick if set up well.
That malossi exhaust looks impressive. Do you know how it matches up to the cylinder port timing?
What was your reasoning for choosing the M1X and not the M1XL?

Worb5 would choke on their schnitzel if they saw that picture.

One thing I never do on a performance motor is install a black rubber (stock) clutch seal. Anything would be better but ideally a BGM brown viton seal.

I used a bearing puller to press the needlebearing inner ring onto the crank. It went on without resistance and I supported the crank with plates that aren't visible in the picture.

The port timings were in range with the exhaust so it should work well together. I chose the M1X over the M1XL because of limited reed valve applications for the M1XL. With a cnc intake I can fit basically any reed block onto the case. While using the direct intake model I would be restricted with options for future expansion. Plus choosing a high flow crank would've been pointless if the intake was on the cylinder

Limited milling options on the cylinder aswell. Would rather add more material to the cases and mill away at that than the cylinder. Got busy this weekend. Will conduct first test runs on Monday. But it sounds epic

I chose the M1XL for mine. I just bolted it on for now but will change crank in few months. The stock reed is not bad and there is a Vforce4R reed block for the M1XL which I'll get when the stock one wears out. Your kit and mine both do 10,000rpm so that won't be long.
https://www.scooter-center.com/en/reed-valve-tassinari-vforce-4-77x63x45mm-honda-cr80/cr85-1989-2007-fits-also-quattrini-m1l/m1xl-malossi-c-one-r-one-3333728
PX125 catalysed to Quattrini 181 sleeper (Page 2)

Nothing wrong with your choices but mine will be a bit faster