Modern Vespa

Added few M14 washers to make rear shock 10mm longer and found used but in better condition than old upper rubbers. Now there is more space between chassis and air filter.



Changed front tire for more roady than before.



Tidied up the electrical mess a bit.

Finally sorted out problem with glove box door lock.
One guy from FB send me a photo of how it should be looking. And I turns out that my door totally fked up. There is no mounting for lock barrel anymore and push button catch destroyed. So I need new door and push button assembly, new lock barrel I already have.

I'm happy today done few moments.

Put new legshield beading and handlebar. Also cables.



Found a pair of NOS clutch and brake levers.


Cleaned switches and add some silicone to fresh it a bit.


Put new rubbers in outer floor rails and temporary fixed end caps with screws while waiting a new pair to come.

someone did some tunnel surgery in the past - have you looked in there to see why yet?

Here in Kyiv is motorcycle service. They also repairs scoots, quads and other. I already reworked two PK's after them. And it was totally trash. Some kind of vietbodge. They don't know what to do with classic Vespa but earnings is more important.

So on my PK S there was sticker Of this service under the seat. And I was waiting for some surprises. I think they cut tunnel because they can't stretch in cable outers. They did not treat the weld area with anything. This explains why tunnel cover was mount on rivets and not on screws - so the owner cannot easy take off cover and see that mess.
I look in and see nothing criminal, sprayed anti-rust spray.

sounds like you've already thought it all out, that's good. too bad about the surgery. Maybe you can get the rest of the seam welded up or at least use some sealer along it.

On my smallie, someone also did tunnel surgery. There's MIG wire hanging off the inside that I could see when I pulled the brake pedal to change the light switch. Other than being ugly, though, the work itself looked fine.

Lotta strange stuff happens to these things over sixty years.

It will be welded next time big rebuild. Now it cleaned, painted and holes filled with sealant.

Good progress today.

All cables done.




New model correct grips.


Fitted original(TRIOM) rear indicators and bumper.


New original(TRIOM) headlight and old cleaned headlight rim.


New tank cap gasket.


Pity that I have only one this plastic wheel nuts cover. Hope that I can find another one later.


Center floor cover after good cleaned and spray with silicone. Not ideal but much better than before.


Idk why but the more time I spend with Snowball the more I like it.

That cleaned up so nice!

are you going to replace missing badges too? it's looking better all the time.

Still dirty but much better than it been for years Yes. I removed old badges to clean it good, them also had no mounting pins and was holds badly on old two-side scotch. Under badges there also lot of dirt.

Thats looking really good!

White PKs always look great

Thanks for good words guys.

Today was a good day.
I got Snowball out for a test ride and to gas station.

What I can say? It runs much better than I expected. I had doubts about primary gear, 2.86 seems too long for me.
But it turns out that I was wrong. Scoot have very nice start and easily gets to the 80 km/h and seems like it can do more. I checked with GPS and seems that old original speedo is very accuracy.
Now I also think about to try 2.72 primary gear.
At other side even this 80 km/h is too much for it as with old original shocks this speed is really scare me

All badges on the places. Piaggio lettering, hexagon and "electronic" is new and "vespa" and "pk50s" is original one. I searched for new "vespa" lettering and can't find nothing in the same size. Very happy that I have original correct badge.

As original centre stand is worn out and too short I get it to mate who can weld it longer. And temporarily I will use only side stand.
I have 3.5mm thick stainless steel plate and decide to made floor reinforcement plate.






Find a pair of this little rubbers for glove box door.

That's an amazing transformation! Nicely done!

where's your engine door? you had one when you picked it up.

looking great.

Thanks mate. Much more still need to do. It need more attention and maybe welding lock hook. Also need to sort with bent lower hooks. And good cleaning.

Four days ago I met with my scooter friends first time in 2023. And went for little ride.

There was a funny situation with Lambretta. It suddenly lost the spark. After half hour fixing it was ok again. After 2-3 km run it lost again. It repeated five times.
Then we decide to help our lambrettista go to a garage. It was shame for him as he not like Vespas but little white PK take to garage he beloved Lambretta on the side panel of which the inscription "Assistenza Stradale" flaunts.

The more I look at pictures of your PK, the more I think "I kinda want one of those..."

Thanks for sharing the pics. Bunch of great looking scooters there

Thanks Chandlerman. Still not a bunch but a small part of our fellows.
I have very similar relations with PK.
I don't like it very much but when I worked on that orange 50 XL I took some interest in it. But I still did not want PK XL as it is very popular Vespa in our group - ten or twelve pcs. And totally another thing when I saw this(already mine) PK 50S! And more I ride it the more I like it.

I started to tear down original PK S engine.
There was some surprises as with most of that engines. Often it's not good surprises.




WTF is that?


But there was one very good surprise.
TA-DAM!! Malossi 112 in perfect condition!(was mounted on totally standard engine and 16.10 carb with 56 MJ )







I am not such cool specialist that can tell about mileage of looking on cylinder but I think it less than 1000 km. How do you think fellas?

I no longer undervalue small frames. They are not actually small…maybe more narrow. The mounting for the center stand seems to be a design flaw of all Vespas. The floor is just not sturdy enough to hold up to all the flexing over time. The plate is a good idea.

Not sure about your cylinder, but seeing original hone marks is always a good sign and not seeing any is never good.

I saw reinforcement plates on SIP. But $20 + delivery cost is too much IMO for the plate with four holes. So I bought two similar plate but bit wider, longer and thicker on local market for the $5. Spent near half an hour to mark and drill holes. I also want to made same for my 50 Special.

Here also bad news. Yesterday on way home I seized cylinder. I was wait till it cooled down but it not started. There is no compression. I always have problems in the past with this Polini 102cc after reboring. I think that guys who did the work done something wrong.

I'm not very upset as I have that Malossi 112. I also think about to put in 4 speed gear box from original engine. It turns that gear box also in good condition.

I worked a bit on Malossi barrel. Chamfered all rough edges. Changed exhaust studs for M8. And polished exhaust port.

Tiny M6


Good M8

Sorry to hear you seized it. I'm glad you had another top end to install, though.

The modified Malossi is looking good.

Engine again on the table. Opened it, removed gear box. Waiting for the new 4 speed gear selector.

Been there, done that.

That looks like a pretty solid seize.

Glad nothing else seems to be damaged…

You're not the first

Personally, I'd clean it and run it again. I've run worse when I was a kid…

Agreed. Those thick rings will run with loads of abuse.

yes and this is not first of my seized piston.

The main problem with this cylinder was that it always had seizes after reboring to last piston size.
I think that guy who rebored it was made some mistake.
When I got it after reboring I carefully run it in for 1000 km. There was no air leaks, jetting was right, plug colour nice, ignition timing ok.
And when I start to ride harder it starts to seized.
In total it was ten seizes and this one is eleven after what engine not starts again.

As I mentioned above this is not big problem as I have Malossi 112 in good condition. So just threw it in. Also this PK is not my main Vespa, more likely workhorse for riding to work or to give it to friend for a short ride.

Added third port to suit Malossi barrel. I was cut a bit more than need, so must cut a bit on cylinder also.

Engine nearly done.

Done today.

This evening I mounted engine in. So the Snowball can again stay on it own feet.

Can somebody help me with questions about ignition timings marks?

This is 4-pole ignition. And I want to know in what direction I must turn it to get close to 16º ? Clockwise?
And how much degrees factory mark is? 20º?

Yes I'm completely understand that this is very rough settings and I need to strobe it to get clear readings.

Rode first 30 km on "new" cylinder(want more but weather is terrible).
Seems jetting bit wrong:
MJ 98
IJ 45

And 2.86 primary is bit long - at 1-2-3 gears all ok, but very weak at 4th, need to rev 3rd really high before shift to 4th.

Also more works was done:

Finally got the ignition timing right. Original marks on the case/stator not even close to correct values.