Modern Vespa

Thought I'd document a ratty build of a Vespa 50 special that a friend got 5-6years ago managed to get a Parmakit after seeing the journey of the Egig170.

Something tells me it's a bit of a Frankenstein, didn't know they had the smaller left hand side door… maybe someone else will know.

Will be another diary thread.




Bunch of go fast parts… EGIG mamba S on this motor (I imagine lots of cutting to happen).

Thought these door were exclusive to et3? But I don't know.

German/spanish older model PK75 primavera has the same headset and the side door in the panel. They call it a PK, but it doesnt look like the PK as we know it, looks like a primavera with a 50 special square headset. So this being said, suspect its a german/euro model and not a frankenstein, but legit euro model. Looks cool to me!!

https://destination-scooter.com/en/boutique/all-the-items/used-scooters/vespa-pk-75-primavera-2/

Heres another
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1481057

and another
https://motos.coches.net/ocasion/vespa/pk_75_125/1980-en-madrid-7633239.htm

Super interesting. I see what you mean about the side door.

But the horn cover is the plastic version seen on specials. So makes me wonder.

Everything is coming apart because the floor needs welding and painting.




Floor had previously been chopped away

Wild headset. Thanks for sharing.

Indicators at the back are kinda funky too, but I think I've seen it before on other large frames.

But again, not sure about which models… sometimes I think people just modded stuff.

I would guess the indicators are after market kit, the horn covers on specials were also part of the piaggio new line accessories in the uk. I remember my disgust seeing the PX come out then looking through the accessory catalogues and seeing the special horn casts.

Nice!!! Looks like a German 50 N. Original turn signals were rectangular. It should be 12V with the unique and "unobtainium" Bi-Lux headlight...












"Horn"

Thanks Safis! That's great to know!

What a crazy little variation. German 50n

Horn is kinda funky.

Yeah those round lights on the green bike aren't original for sure, they look like those generic ones on cafe racer builds.

The wiring is crazy too.

Well, a very good and unusual find then! Alls good. Be great to see it when its finished. What colour are you going to go for?

It's funny, I think we were both under the impression it was just a normal 50 special. But then I realised I've never seen a special with a side door.

I've been trying to convince the friend to go for Ferrari silver… but he's fond of the green.

He says "there's not many Vespa in this colour…" (shrungs shoulders)

Ive seen these euro and Asian oddities so many times. I really kicked myself as there was a gorgeous german PK75 (looked just like yours) with the ET3/ETS style exhaust as standard, but was bronze with a 102dr kit in it going fairly well priced. I was all set to get it then got distracted by another oddity which i bought. Th

Keep the bikes coming in!

I've been trying to convince a guy locally to sell me his white PK 50… I don't think he's riding it. Hopefully he'll cave in soon.

Are these any good for your project?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/234945208570?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D247414%26meid%3Dd37a86c4e79549a399df851498f489a9%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D324636666736%26itm%3D234945208570%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V4V6ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecallAndDynamicRecsysV2b&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A234945208570d37a86c4e79549a399df851498f489a9%7Cenc%3AAQAHAAABYNXyzFqVVJ78aQVsgu30hWP%252FpFuTN4L6%252FYpgt0A2DyQQ%252F6a4RgtHNDv4ihWIkox%252F3OgJ7Tbe6siEL%252FcIaE%252Bmaxb0obf9kiZr1sHxNsR7VMbcmUThN5l4scxVV%252BwVCAiqgB0ztj%252B5xOMwrNdk1BJLXHo1bp%252BuPHr9H%252BRuKy05FkSKORvZ%252BjAIdFxt5fJReJbZrDTgiEieYRRDyEyvYD6s2bdBNWVpelc82TrGrqQvzMizgpBzTzu5svicee%252BxglbjzJ%252FYkgxfzuSBgvWm4NyFL6ZhCQohSqD0wApx55oDZYJ8T4AjXZZq2kaPMMkjphxRAK4N9sLRYZPxM2JorRqsVDcLulDNW9iXpGINxn2djDswbI%252B8uS%252BxHWLAG1yEolpyELM3qr6YUznlZj%252Fs4WtpSIzBdvnPS7R0A4vqPYyham2EcY2jMqkzimeFRE77A1ul1gCJdvvE4PX%252FIZZIbkDQXbE%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675

Woah… nos parts…!

4 sets available at moment! Id check their other items too. Are the front and rears generic? I think thats a fairly reasonable price for something so niche. Be good to think you can have it looking like factory standard; im actually excited for you, great scoot!

It begs the question, are you still going to chop the frame to fit the exhaust?

Will be asking the owner what he wants to do…

But another funny thing, I actually brought the same 50n handlebars from Germany aiming to retro fit them onto my PX about a year ago (yup hording parts…). But I gave up in the end. These nos lights are actually kinda cool… but will need to buy the brackets for them. Yeah, owner has decided to chop to fit the mamba… I told him he should've just got the unisex exhaust and keep the frame stockish.

Criminal , keep the chopped bit to weld back on when they regret it.

Yeah not a fan of chopping stuff up, unless I can find the same part easily.

Yeah kinda thought it was blasphemous that the battery compartment will be chopped.

I had exactly the same thought!

I dont know how easy smallframe frames are to find in your part of the world but is there the posiblity of getting something without a toolbox/battery compartment as a base vehicle.

Unfortunately they're like 1 in a million. But the owners had this bike for 5 years and I think go fast parts are his priority with it.

If it was mine, I'd go back to original looks with a kit on it (and paint it silver, lol).

In the 80s in the uk the fad changed to chopping cutting down Vespas and lambrettas. So many were lost to this practice and structurally dangerous too. My best friends rally got sold to some muppet who promptly cut the fairing down to the horncast. We see chopped custom Vespas and brettas on eBay and although I appreciate their artistic custom work they command such less money and people now want it how it left the factory preferably if possible with original paint however patina and rust ridden it is. This little 50n is such a unique model it pains me to think it's gonna be hacked for the sake of a pipe. Anyway digressing from the post and at end of day it's somebody else's build and desires but still makes me want to shout "Nooooo"

I feel you on this bike.

That's why on my 50s, as boring as it is, it's gonna be untouched. Even grinding the original cases, I was umming and arring before pulling out the dremel.

I see the UK chop ups, there's a lot going up on FB. Everything is gone except the spine, must've been the thing to do back then, dunno why you would wanna though.

I'll be making the trip back to the UK this month. Will be interested to see if anything interesting pops up!

Engine is out.


Couldn't help but see what the kit looks like… needs new cylinder studs, Parmakit 155mm studs didn't fit :(

Time to pull this thing apart

Oh… seal has seen better days. Air leak central. But the rotary pad looks ok. Shame it's a direct intake kit that's going on.

Crank is trash… put it on the crank stand… it's all wonky

Bearings are mostly shot

Trying to remember where I left off…

So everything came apart, the usual push/pull bearings and shafts. Nothing reusable.

So business as usual.

Gearbox is dead. All loose and way past shimming tolerances. A new PK gear set will be used.

Except the driveshaft small bearing… realised the material is super thin…! And with aluminium oxidation, a lot of the surface became powder (don't spray your cases, it's all masking the powder).

The cases cracked as I pulled the bearing out…

Ended up welding the crack. Which started a whole new saga of getting the bearing to fit


Cases apart ready for cleaning

Bearings out… 90% shot… loose and burnt

Can't really see it, but cracked on the inside

More build pictures


Cases ready for cleaning

Cylinder studs. Only the shorter one fits. For some reason the Parmakit one doesn't.

Unfortunately not welding any areas which would be a risk to warping, added the dimples for the JB weld to hold onto as the gasket surface sees too small. I can imagine leaks in that area

Minimal porting as per request from the owner. Won't be reinforcing any areas of the cases.

In goes the primary

Tighten down the clutch side

More progress


Flywheel NU204 bearing installed and making sure the Christmas tree doesn't foul the cases

Ready for the bearing race

The fabbri steel plates are super nice… wavy pattern (which I don't think have any practical use, but looks cool)

Using all the springs as per request from the owner (heavier fella)

Building clutch's like baking a cake

Juicy photos. IMHO that Fabbri plates can cause faster wearing of corks.

Doesn't surprise me…

The edges of the plates had to be cleaned up, if not it'll probably eat through them even faster.

Clutch is in… however even with the crimaz clutch cover, it seems to need a spacer or it rubs on the inside.

Something tells me the DRT primary basket doesn't work the best with the Fabbri clutch.

There's quite a big gap from the primary basket to the first plate…

I didn't have that on my egig one finger and crimaz basket.

Crimaz basket seems to sit more flush to the crankcase and doesn't protrude so much.

Crimaz basket seems to have a nicer finish.

It's definitely more robust.

More material in the right places.

If I could choose again. I'd get the egig basket.

The primary basket previous to the crimaz was a CIF sport. Tabs ate into it like butter, glad I replaced it because I was thinking of reusing it to keep build costs down.

Progress


Dry fit of the cylinder, seeing how much base I need for 1.3mm squish

Reed and stuffer. Seems to be a style Italians prefer.

Seal in, crankshaft lapped and cleaned. Must be the angle of the camera, seal is flush against the cases.

Holding pressure. Not a budge in the needle.

Vape installed on ray's ferrari red engine stand.

Off to the frame to get installed. Transferred over to a SIP stand…

Mamba exhaust is definitely a bit nutty.

Love watching other builds like this. That Corteco fly side seal does leaks for me when I press it flush but holds when I leave it slightly off kilter or raised 2mm. I wanna hear a sound clip of this thing as it fires up the first time.

How's the Vespa scene in HK?

There's lots of PXs/LML here. That's probably because they were used as pizza bikes for about 30 years.

Scene here isn't very interesting, not much customisation going on. Holed pistons are the norm and no one asks why.

But it's great to ride around here, not so great on the highways because no one cares about the scooter on the side. But it's mega convenient.

Everyone's into maintenance-free bikes at the moment. So vintage is taking a hit at the moment.

Here's where problems start… back to square one…

Oil is leaking through the O ring at the gear selector…

Didn't happen before as it only used 250ml rather than the 400-500ml needed for the fabbri clutch


Back at the owners place… looking real sad

Awww man!! That is a total bummer! All brought to a standstill by one o-ring. I had that same o-ring go bad on a smallie. I would always put a rag under the selector box area until I finally split the cases and changed it.

The o-rings can be the Achilles heel sometimes for these engines to be leak-free. The 3 big ones that come to mind are kick-start shaft, clutch actuator shaft, and for smallies as you mentioned, the selector shaft. I have seen people machine an extra groove in the clutch actuator shaft to run double o-rings. The irony is the clutch shaft is easy to get to on both large and small frame engines. The other two, not without splitting the cases.

Yeah I've seen people machine oversized o-rings for the selector too.

I think 10pollici sells one which is reinforced and has the double o-ring, not sure who it's made by, but looks good.

Owner has brought a double o-ring one from SIP to replace it, will be installing it soon.