Modern Vespa

Don't let the Sport fool you. This little Vespa is limited to asphalt twisting 25 km/h.

The mod hasn't started. To be accurate, the resto hasn't started either. To be honest the engine also doesn't start. To be fair that is probably a good thing, considering the mounting of the exhaust.

How did this little beauty come into your hands, I hear you ask.
I'll try to make the story short. Shorty before Covid my neighbours kid bought this little gem and used it for school runs. It only took him few months to have a little accident. Leading to his undesirable modification of mounting the exhaust to this jewel by a red ribbon (this can be seen in the picture I hope is attached). Since then this pearl has stood unmoved in the location shown. Rain or shine it has been standing its duty there, letting nothing stop it from not moving.

Then one day, as I was working on my bike next to this rough diamond rotting there and letting it get on my nerves. I coincidentally ran into the owner's father. As we chatted I offered him couple of hundred Euros for the turd. Mostly to be able to get it out of my sight. After some negotiation we came to an agreement of me paying him 50% more. Good thing I didn't have time to negotiate any longer, or it might have been even higher.

Now I'm facing a dilemma that I will explain in a later post.

An interesting project. I'm looking forward to future updates......

I've no doubt that letting the exhaust hang ultra low and fasten it by red ribbons is the future. However, we are not quite there yet. So I plan on removing the ribbon and raising the exhaust.
Careful examination of the exhaust mounting strategy reveals that the exhaust is securely mounted to the exhaust mounting bracket, and that said bracket is securely mounted to the wiring loom. What the eagle eyed among you will also have noticed is that what it's not securely mounted to is the engine block. Where it should be securely mounted to the engine block is a rectangular-ish hole. This might cause a minor problem in the future.

No worries I thought to myself. This is only one of three mounting points. Tack weld it back on, let the other two take most of the strain and strike this off the list. Well,,.
The second one is only half there. And the third one is a bit off.
It's no wonder. The exhaust seems to weigh half a metric ton. First I was seriously wondering if some previous owner had filled it with concrete. I've had liter bike exhausts that felt lighter than this, including the downpipes. Apparently this weight normal.

I'm shocked that anyone thought that would hold??!

Perhaps it was just a temporary thing (to keep the exhaust off the ground whilst parked)... but something tells me that a logical explanation might not be the best. 🤣

So, is the rest of the engine case ok? Never quite realised they could crack like that.

The stock exhausts are very heavy. My aftermarket exhaust (although still steel) is substantially lighter. Kept my old one for bicep curls.

Okay. Let's check the damage so far (on the engine, the body/frame/etc. will be later).
I'll need exhaust and that, ehemm, 'little' piece on the side of the crankcase.

I cannot find a way simple way to position text under the photos (probably due to my advanced age). So I have to ask you to help by imagining that you're reading this part of the text positioned below the screenshots.
Like all the cool kids do these days I looked on the Internet for parts. It's easy. You just find the part on a drawing. Find the number next to the part. Use that to find part number and price. Then I did a quick cost calculation on the parts needed. Heavy two. Plus a large two. Equal a really big four. So big that my wallet asked if I was serious. If I needed professional medical help of the mind correcting variety.
Here is another one of those dilemmas I meant to mention in the first post (I just checked, I did mention there was a dilemma). My welding equipment can easily handle the exhaust downpipe if there is a half decent amount of material left. In emergency, and with great care, it can fill small cracks in aluminium. It cannot really create large structural pieces of a cast aluminium crankcase. It's missing the AC option, welders will know what I mean, and maybe tell me a secret way (taught no doubt to them by Tibetan monks) to get good results without that.
So the options I have left are:
- Buy a better welding equipment (my shoulder angel is shaking its head and frowning, but the devil on the other shoulder is grinning like a maniac).
- Trust a person I've never met, in a welding business I have not found yet, to weld the crankcase securely and cheaply. I guess I should add fastly since I'm asking for all those impossible things.
- Ask someone to allow a stranger to access his professional quality welding equipment. Since I'm dreaming here too, I'll ask for it for free.

If anyone can suggest good solutions (for example where I can buy just the small half part of the crankcase) I'll give them a compliment.

It's not an easy thing to repair. The good news is that a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend knows a guy that has a brother that supposedly is able to fix the crankcase a good welder. Problem is he is very busy. I am not familiar with the general standard of the aluminium casting Piaggio uses for these crankcases so I don't know how easy they are to weld. The oily part of the engine is still pretty much sealed so in theory it should run fine. It'll just be a bit loud.

Good luck - I think the engine case is the most expensive part.

If you're able to, perhaps consider another donor scooter (they often come up as non-running project bikes).

Not sure about your bike - but my engine number is stamped on the variator side of the case, so swapping the stator side won't affect the registration documents. 🤞

Either way, it'll be a fascinating project. 👍👍

Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.
To continue this assessment of this chariot of the gods. The front is next to be inspected. I suspect I should have started there, as it's always the first part to arrive at the destination. As I suspected there is slight room for improvement here too.

The front tire and wheel team are mounted to suspension arm (covered with still almost chrome (or satin, it's hard to say in this light, under this dirt) cover) that is connected on the other end (with barely visible breaks in the seals) to the tinworm colored fork, which looks to be exactly, no more, no less, as bent as it should be.

This is suspended by the spring that, through inspiring teamwork with the damper (and the aforementioned fork, and tire and wheel, of course), has kept the front from getting as fashionably low as the exhaust. Through the same teamwork it has also shared some of the tinworm with the fork. And the damper is oily. Oily tinworm is typically a very rare beast, as most oil types repel tinworm so they rarely share the same space.

Just goes to show that age/mileage metrics can be deceiving. Vehicle history is a key component to the general condition. 👍

You can probably sell that nice red strap for a euro or two?

Looking closer at the front end, it's "mostly" fine mechanically. The most pressing, apart from broken seals (no animals were harmed in the typing of this post), is the spring that presses the earth down so the body doesn't lie on the ground. Lying on the ground would cause friction as to prevent this speedy steed from being able to move. Tinworm in springs can cause unexpected high speed reduction in ride height (not unlike what happened to the exhaust), that can lead to another sudden drop, this time in speed, which can lead to the rider meeting the ground in undesirably uncontrolled manner. Unfortunately the spring is another of those "dot" items that is so integrated with the damper unit that it simply cannot be separated from it. They might think this is idiot proof, but I have some ideas for another time.
The tire is not as evenly worn as one would have liked under ideal circumstances. The wear indicator on the edge lives in a chasm, but the one in the centre has reached the point of wearing at the same rate as the rest of the tread. At least the wear there cannot increase. Which, as I wrote earlier is not ideal. This tire has served well for 10 years. It might be time to retire it and allow some younger black beauty to take its place?

The trouble with starting at the front is that you can only go backwards. That's why I didn't start at the front. But I've covered the front and I'm going backwards. The left side is in pretty good shape and not much to say about that. The seat is comfy, without any damage. Little moss is growing, but that only adds to the charm.

The red accented white sport clocks are a beauty and add at least 0,15 hp to the power. That probably takes a whole second from the standing quarter mile. The fuel gauge is a pure luxury item. Back in my days we had a Petcock (one word, must be one word, I looked it up) to use when we ran out of fuel. The clock is there but has lost its ability to tell the time. I read that the batteries in the clock don't last long. First I thought that the battery was LR44 as in the little game computers like Donkey Kong. Post 58618 in this forum told me that it's (among others) a Duracell D386. Voltage is 1,55. That makes it tempting to solder wires to the clock and put AAA Alkaline battery where it can be easily replaced (similar to topic 147350 in this forum). Although that might be overkill with the likely lifespan left in this battered, hobbled, rusted, sorry excuse for a mobility device.

I keep typing longer text under the images than is displayed. I must watch out for that.

Now the rear. It looks pretty good. Still firm, without any orange peel. Just tiny tinworm spots here and there and tiny cracks in the plastic of the lights. Like spreckels of freckles and the tiny wrinkles around the eyes of a beautiful woman as she hits her 30s.

The rear tire has lots of tread left in most places. Like the front is has some localized wear. Unlike the front it has been replaced at one time. Oh, and it's flat. No pressure there.
The black variator cover has been invaded by the fancy tinworm and is now mostly grey/white (or gray/white if you live in the colonies).

Added a photo of restomodded Sportster that I spotted in the village. This has some of the things I'd like to do to mine. First and foremost of these is make it rideable.

Well, well, well. That is basically it. Preliminary inspection finished. Some little rust damage here and there, as can be expected for a 10 year old. All is good.

Wait a minute. I forgot to look at the bottom of this shiny foal. Since it's a unibody, not a bunch of plastic on a pipe frame I better look there too.

I guess I'd better have a chat with the doctor about some heart medication. This could have gone better. It's starting to look like the engine is the lesser of two evils.

Phase 1. External examination of the Sport Pony is complete.

"They said it couldn't be done. They might be right." Nik Blackhurst.
Truth be told I was about to cancel the project. But I found a cheap broken engine, containing one piece exhaust and unbroken exhaust mounting points. That can be combined with the original one I have to make a nice working powerplant. Dash of work and then worry about the chassis. Which is my big worry right now. That underside is a lot of little bit past its prime. And seems to have been lacking some primer. We'll see this better once I've sanded the paint off and gotten better look at the condition of the sheet metal and ease of access to weld patches in if needed.

Onwards to Phase 2. Teardown (and I hope it will not be tears down) to start next week.

What to expect under the plastic covers. Shocking amounts of (c)rust under the paint on the otherwise nice metal. Stuck fasteners, leading to broken fasteners. Worn moving parts. Broken mounting points. Split seals.
I have removable energy storage container rotating electrical apparatus (what the snobs call a drill), whose extruding part can convince most stubborn threaded carpenter nails to change their mind. If that is not enough, I also have mains connected sandpaper equipped rotated fast rotating disk electrical apparatus (the snobs call that an angle grinder) to nudge them further.

Aren't I forgetting something? Oh yeah. In light of new previously unknown project downsides, on the downside, the previous owner is dropping the price a little.

Let the dismemberment begin. Like every good builder we start at the top. Off with the screen. Only four screws and the screen is off the mountings. Then two more to take the mountings off. Looking back I can clearly see that it would have been easier to remove the screen with the mountings. But we don't remember, or learn from, the easy stuff.

We meet again.

Under the screen we find the light. Behind the light we find connectors, and I must admit, a little bit of rust. Nothing serious this time though.
I've been debating LED conversion by bulb replacement. Light replacement would work too, but could cause some fitment issue. It's difficult to find square LED headlight. Why would it be called a "headlight"?

The turn signals are off, and off the scooter, as are the clocks. The clock in the clocks is also off. It's not clocking in. It needs a new battery, but not the same battery as the rest of the bike.
Life is complicated. How can you tell if a turn signal is working if it's off half the time?

Onwards with the off things.
Now more plastics to come off.
The screw that just spun around, around, like a record baby, came off in the end without any parts being damaged. Or more accurately, more damaged.

Am I boring you? Just let me know and I'll stop.

I think for all models, it's nice to see disassembly (with lots of pics).

You never know what happens to a bike over the years though, so it's a shame new bikes don't get taken apart like that - that would make for a much better reference.

Still, I'm sure most people would be able to tell that red ribbons aren't standard. 😂

Hi, this is a great thread please keep the updates coming.😎

This project is sapping my energy. Maybe it's because of unexpected complications, mostly from tinworm. Or maybe it's because the battery is flat.

Just for fun (haha). I tried adding water, and connecting the battery to my Mr. Ctek, the trickle charger. After few days it was declared to be fully charged and Mr. Ctek, the charger, went into rest/test mode, where it monitors the self-discharge. To my surprise the battery got the okay from Mr. Ctek, the charger. All lights are green or yellow. The fifth light being green indicates that it is a okay. If the sixth light comes on it will definitely have survived this ordeal. If it had been dead dead (too much self discharge) the red light next to the (!) in the upper right corner (or the lower right corner since the photo is on its side) would have turned on. Penny saved is penny earned. More to spend on the mods (haha).
Time will tell if it's like a cat on it's ninth life. It's a bit big though, and heavy. I will use it for now. Since I don't expect many more years of service out of it, would anyone like to share their experience with Lithium batteries.

I think all batteries suffer from being left unused/discharged for long periods.

You'd hope a lithium battery has some in-built protection to avoid discharge damage, plus decent charging logic to ensure it's not over charged (the bike's charging won't be calibrated for lithium - so this has to be worked around somehow). So if a battery is guaranteed to work on your bike (ie those protections are built in), fair enough.

Without those guarantees, I'd rather not have the risk of a lithium battery exploding under my bottom... or being damaged from discharge (costing way more to replace).

I opted for a sealed AGM battery - so far so good, but it's not experienced winter yet. 🤞

Your scooter might get damaged as well.

Good point.

Suppose one's bottom might repair itself... but the bike certainly can't. 🤭

Battery is well taken care of, in intensive care, by the very capable (and suddenly, but deservedly, promoted from Mr. to Dr.) Dr. Ctek, the trickle charger. So on to the next object in the line. The fuel tank. This fuel tank is made of plastic. Plastic!* What a great mischievous way of cheating part of the tinworm clan out of a place to live. Muhahaha. Surprisingly the fuel tank contained 3,45 liters of fuel. That is more than 90% of US gallon. With the current fuel prices it nearly pays for this godly stallion, who only needs six more tires to be like Sleipnir, the personal horse of Odin. The master of Valhalla. Father of Thor. The god of thunder (Thor is god of thunder, not Odin).

* Reference to the movie "America 3000". What a masterpiece that was. Oh, no. I remember now that I misremember. It was another movie from that same year that was a masterpiece. Highlander. That was a masterpiece. "I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. And I am immortal."

Digressing a moment, your* Dutch style bicycle, I see it has no brake levers. Do you pedal backwards in order to stop?

*From the height of the seat, I presume it's not yours?

This inner leg shield. It works, no doubt about that, but it's sort of "meh". Like a hooker on a street corner while you're driving to your sexy mistress, it doesn't light any desires in your heart. My desires are towards a covered, maybe lockable, or at least mostly waterproof, storage unit. The plan is to have a USB power outlet somewhere in that region (for a smartphone, or other electrical apparatus) and a bit more water damage limiting, snatch and/or drop preventing design would be most welcome. I wonder if legshield from another type is a bolt-on, or if I can design something sexy to 3D print.

Toolkit, toolkit, toolkit. Who doesn't love free tools?

The Dutch call it "Omafiets", or grandmothers bike. Built out of sturdiest and cheapest steel available. Weighs nearly half a metric ton. Lasts for decades of neglect and mistreatment.
It has footbrakes. You don't pedal backwards, but put backwards pressure on the pedals. That activates the brake built into the rear hub. Moderate pressure is enough to lock the rear tire enough to slide. With a lot of practice you can time it perfectly so your bike slides 4-5 meters, and the front tire ends perfectly in the bicycle stand outside the school room, while you're stepping off, and the girls are looking at you adoringly. At least that's how I remember it.

Enjoying this thread immensely. It's like listening to Roald Dahl read "Going Solo".

Do you also write copy for the J. Peterman catalog? Seriously, love your writing style.

They say that to make money, you have to spend money. I have few equals in my mastery of the second part. You could even say that after years of ceaseless training eventually I learned to become one with the spending and have thus transcended to a higher form of living.
Let me share a free advice with you. You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Oh, no, no, hehe, that's the wrong advice. That one is for me. This is the advice. Don't have few beers and start searching for bargains online. It's sometimes called a Dutch bargain. And for God's sake don't start making low bids on stuff on Ebay. I have spent many a sleepless night desperately hoping that someone outbids me, only saved by some kind samaritan two seconds before doom. I'm guessing those samaritans have had few beers and started searching for bargains online, only to be sidetracked by some shiny stuff on Ebay that could be fun to have. I can only wish that someone would have saved me from a recent two wheeled purchase. Even though time is relative I cannot time travel. And as any Whovian would tell you anyway. You must never mess with your own timeline. I humbly accept my fate, my destiny.

Slowly but surely the future stallion is being converted into its component parts.
This throttle is the opposite of smooth. It doesn't cooperate in any way towards being smooth. I would even go so far as describing it as stuck. But patience and perseverance prevails. (Just ask you wife. She'll tell you. "No, you cannot change men anymore than you can bend a rock."). After lot of fiddling the shout could be heard across the land. "The throttle is free." All within hearing distance came together to celebrate.

OK, I'll bite.... What is that bolt doing on top of the engine?

I'm guessing that's the top exhaust bolt (though it looks quite chunky in that pic)?

Why leave it there though? Hmm...

PS - Holy Moly - the difference between that bike and mine is quite marked - garaged bikes clearly fair a lot better (though they still rust).

Fixing the flat tyre on that bicycle may well be the best was to ensure some form of two wheeled motion is in your future.

Adam didn't stay in his hut at Paradise-street in Eden for long. I'm not sure at what age he is supposed to have been created (he cannot have been created as a toddler because he would have starved to death with no mother to feed or raise him. It's more likely he was created as a young man. Not too young either, because there no reports of Paradise having been equipped with the self-filling fridge, full of food, that no teenager can live without*) but he was let out for bad behaviour of others (talking about the innocent suffering from the action of others) while he was still young enough to have lot of kids. Eve was of course a little bit younger, probably pregnant already (they didn't have birth control back then). Which might explain some of her irrational behaviour. Talking to snakes, always snacking. Again it's not perfectly clear how much she was younger. Time is relative, especially the old time from back in those days. This was terrible harsh judgement towards the people that had just been created and hadn't really learned how to use the world. Kicking them out of Paradise for eating (the predecessor of) an apple (apples didn't exist back then) from the wrong tree. I'm not sure where I was going with this, so I'll end it here.

I bet you guys thought I'd hadn't thought of the front. I hadn't, but that is being fixed as soon as I finish dinner. Not the front being fixed, but fixing me not thinking about it. If all goes well there might even be some action performed on the front.

Even though there are plenty of material left on the brakepads I put them on the growing list of things to aquire. They are not needed until "It" goes on the road again, so I have "some time" to work on the list.

* If you ask me, it's kind of suspicious description of "Paradise" that doesn't mention a fridge full of beer.

I hope you have deep pockets

Now I remember what that nonsense in the beginning of last post was about. I have been encouraged to move the whole project out of the nice location where I was working on the Speedy Gonzales.
That will reduce the opportunities I have to work on it. But It'll give me more time to think about working on it instead. When one door closes another one opens.

It's one of those sinking moments that come so often in life. It's like when you reverse out of your garage and realize the door had not fully opened. When you start driving after replacing a flat tire and see, in the mirror, the wheelnuts on the ground. When you wake up in the morning next to the pretty woman you met the night before. Only to realize your estimation of physical attractiveness was not as keen, due to dim lights and alcohol, as you'd wish now. Somewhat flawed estimation would not be an exaggeration. That was nowhere near the desperate feeling I got when I removed the footboards, and was greeted with this unexpectedly high number of brown chips of the metal descendant variety. I discovered more after taking these photos.

My feelings were well matched to this quote by Zoot, the blue/purplish saxophone player.
"If I had a match I could put it out of its misery."

The full conversation (as carefully crafted by Jim Henson and co) was like this.
Nigel "Okay, Zoot, it's time for your solo. Have you looked over the music?"
Zoot "Do you expect me to play this, man"
Nigel "What else would you do with it?"
Zoot "If I had a match I could put it out of its misery."
Nigel "Trust me, Zoot, this is a great little number."
Zoot "What if I refuse to play it?"
Nigel "What if I get a new sax player?"
Zoot "What if you and I just get right down to it and do this little beauty, huh?"
Nigel "Good thought."
Zoot "Forgive me, Charlie Parker, wherever you are."