Modern Vespa

I've officially broke into the Vespa ranks with this project bike. 2022 Primavera 150 Touring "Il Ratto" The Rat. The poor thing only had 7 miles on it when it was totaled and went to auction... It still had the Brown key! I decided to take a gamble and purchased it from a private party. The primary concern was the possibility of a bent frame. FWIW as best I could, some quick symmetry measurements were made as well as the body seams for warpage and popped welds. The fork also may have been bent but couldn't really tell at the moment.

The test ride definitely exposed the randomness that it tracked down the road. The handlebars were out of alignment, and I didn't check the tire pressure. We struck a deal, my point was that it basically was a parts bike, of which I really didn't want to go that route. You know the deal, the hassle of selling pieces on ebay and locally only to end up with a wheelbarrow full of left over junk that you can't get rid of!

The plan is to do a triage, disassemble and inspect the frame spine and drop the front end inspecting for damage. I'm not much for body work but this is a DIY project. Color matching the paint will be interesting. I'll use a single stage acrylic urethane paint to make things easier on myself. The goal is to make it look decent from ten feet away as it goes by!

Day 1:

Pulling the glove box, floor panels and front end apart. The spine and tunnel area looked good, no buckled sheet metal or popped welds. The leg shield did have a minor tweak in the upper portion of the right side. It obviously looks like the bike went down on the right side and slide under a vehicle or guardrail, judging by the damage on the side and leg shield areas. The sheet metal under the horn cover was creased and pushed downward on the front fender. This caused a slight "sticky" interference on the fender, which explains some of the wandering during the test ride. The handlebars being knocked out of alignment didn't help matters.

Next is pulling the front end apart, inspecting components and start tapping out the sheet metal where it was rubbing on the fender.

So far it needs new leg shield and floor trim, horn cover plastic, headlight bezel ring, blue keys cut and programmed. The front rack has a minor bend but I think a little persuasion will get it back to normal!

The front fork was completely disassembled and checked for bends as best as a DIYer can inspect (didn't take any pictures of that portion). The steering column and bearing/races looked good. The front wheel alignment looked 90* left and right to the floor. The main concern was the fork may have been bent rearward from the impact. Everything looked good using guess work and basic tools.

Olive inspecting the progress and my favorite picture that inspired The Rat name. The scoot was temporarily reassembled sans fender for a test drive. It worked! It tracks straight and verified that the fender rubbing was causing that random drift feeling. I made a few adjustments on the handlebar alignment to get it just right. Yes!!! Now I can start ordering replacements for the broken body trim parts and start my on-the-job body work training

These wrecked - branded title projects can be fulfilling but keep in mind the stigma that goes with that branded title. The value is roughly half of a similar unscathed example. The little things add up. My goal to end up with a decent looking, safe and reliable scooter without going overboard $$-wise.

The left mirror was shattered. Perhaps it can be repaired. Honda scooter run to the local craft store. Once there a 4" mirror for $1.10 was scored! With safety glasses and a little time, the old glass was dug out. The 4" mirror was as close as I could find size-wise. It was centered and epoxied into place with a ~1/8" gap around the frame perimeter. Painter's tape was used to cover the class and metal frame. Then black RTV was applied and smoothed out in the gap. The repaired mirror is on the left.

Haste makes waste. There's nothing like trying to save a few dollars only to get in a hurry and... I made a rookie move, no excuses and will just own it. In my haste to get the initial test ride in for tracking purposes, I almost ruined a $400 ABS Control Unit aluminum block. I noticed that when threading the front brake line fitting it started to get rough. I failed to get it squared up and pressed in properly. I backed it off thinking I'll chase the threads and clean things up. It appeared to work and was then able to complete the test ride. The next morning there was brake fluid seeping from that fitting... A M10 x 1.00 mm helicoil kit was ordered on ebay. I'll pull the ABS unit out to ensure good access when installing the helicoil. Stupid hurts.

The body trim parts were ordered after hours of torment over the thought of using aliexpress. I'll be a guinea pig on this and report back, hopefully something actually arrives. The quality will not be that of the OEM parts but keep reminding myself that this is a wreck rebuild project. This thing was otherwise destined for the used parts bin.

Tapping out the creases and dents begins. This is going to take some time tapping it out if I don't want 3" deep of Bondo spread over the damage! The steering column/horn access lower portion had a deep crease across the compound bends in that area. The old broken & duct taped horn cover was used as a guide to aide my amateur body work skills. The good thing about that specific dent area is the cover hides most of it, not to mention the front rack will also conceal and draw your eye away from it. It's a work in progress.

I'd like to color match, but the sad fact is its most likely to get painted another shade of a gloss metallic gray, and it will no longer have that factory perfect coat. I liked the original Vespa color but the more I look at this thing the more I see small dings and scratches. It just makes more sense to DIY paint the entire scooter in a new shade of gray.

Complete steps A & B before starting step C. It occurred to me that before going too much further with wanging and banging on the leg shield sheet metal, the plastic glove box assembly needs plastic repairs. The repaired glove box cover can then be used to temporarily fit and see if the leg shield needs any tweaking to match the two parts. The back shield currently has broken bayonets -stanchions that lock into place on the leg shield. There's also an 8 inch long crack near the glove box door.

Next was deciding on just how to go about doing that. Epoxy with cloth reinforcement, plastic weld, or both. You Tube is a valuable resource to spool up quick and learn new tasks. I scurried off on the Red Rocket Honda scooter and picked up a pack of Harbor Freight plastic welding rods. The old broken steering column cover was the perfect training aid to practice on. I used a soldering iron and the biggest flat tip I had and began making a mess of things It worked! I need to get more practice and work on technique, but this will work. The epoxy will also be used to further build up and strengthen the mounting points. I still need to figure out how to do a clean smooth crack repair on the outside of the panel. The inside is hidden so function comes before form, not as critical in the looks department.

Have soldering iron and it's time to melt things. The plastic repair on the glove box shroud went reasonably well. The cracked plastic was held into proper shape using duct tape. Then a soldering iron was used to spot weld along the interior side of the plastic shroud. Next a small tip probe was utilized to trace the exterior side of the crack. That area will be finished with epoxy and sanding later.

The interior side of the shroud was then reinforced with plastic welding rod to build up and strengthen the area. The same process was used for the broken and cracked mount lugs/bayonets. One of the lugs was missing. Oh well, if 10 lugs will hold it, 9 lugs will too. The entire repaired area was then entombed with JB weld plastic bond. It's ugly but hidden on the interior side. The repair is strong though.

The repaired shield can now be used as a guide to match up against the damaged and deformed leg shield.

Paralyzed by perfection? Nope, sometimes you gotta go medievel. Having ruled out the possibility of a bent frame, it was clear that the leg shield was bowed inward slightly on the right side (looking forward).

Some initial Cro-Magnon twisting reaped good results but then the big guns had to come out. The 4 lb. mallet and a 2 x 4. This is where the repaired glove box shroud came into play.

Note if you ever find yourself in this undesirable situation. Temporarily remove the metal retainers on the end of the glove box shroud lugs. The retainers lock the shroud into the metal slots on the leg shield. Doing so will allow you to quickly install and remove the shroud as you make adjustments to the metal leg shield area. I used duct tape to hold the shroud in place as needed during this process.

By shining a light, I was able to see just how far off and in what direction the leg shield had to be persuaded to move in comparison to the plastic glove box lugs/slots and the edge gap. I had to think-guess it through on how the metal was bent during the crash sequence. That enabled me to creep in the right direction. Go easy, you can do a lot of damage swinging a 4 lb mallet on that thin sheet metal. It sure felt good though!

Unscrewing my screw up. Earlier I managed to mess up the front brake line port threads in the ABS Control Unit aluminum block. The M10 x 1.0 mm helicoil repair kit arrived. It's time to sort through that self-induced mess.

From the beginning I wasn't sure where this thread was going other than a show and tell of a wrecked Vespa. Eventually I realized that maybe this DIY project thread could be an encouragement to some folks with their potential projects. The intent is to use basic home tools and resources, to show what can be accomplished with that. If that inspires some people, all the better. There's a saying that goes something like; Necessity is the Mother of Invention. Do the best you can with what you have.

The depth of the port was measured using old fuel drain hose. It was placed into the ABS brake line port and marked that with an ink pen. It measured about 8mm of thread depth before bottoming on the machined mating surface. Next the drill bit's sharp tip was blunted on the bench grinder. This helps reduce that chance of damaging that mating surface at the bottom of the port. Eight millimeters was measure from the blunted drill tip end and marked with tape to indicate NTE (Not To Exceed) drilling depth. The same tape marking process goes with the tap also.

The original plan was to completely remove the ABS control unit from the scooter. When I went to break the rear brake line fitting loose from the ABS block, it was not moving. I didn't have a proper line wrench and decided to not push it and cause more problems than what was already being fixed. The ole steel sawhorse was dragged over, and the ABS unit clamped to it for a stability. I used a cut down foam ear plug to place in the bottom of the port and keep drilling debris from going into the fluid passage. If you pack the drill bit flute (cutting groove) with grease it helps capture the metal cuttings. I didn't actually do that but just gave the bit a shot of WD40, squared up the drill bit, gently and slowly drilled a few rotations, removed the bit and rinsed the debris of with parts cleaner spray and repeated until finished. Edit: The new helicoil was then inserted with a few drops of thread locker. It was 2mm too long, so a thin 6" machinists' ruler was slid between the exposed threads above the bore. A jewelers' file was used to cut a groove in the exposed coil thread and thus snapped off relatively flush with the ABS block.

The exact same procedure was done for the tapping of the new threads, also a fresh ear plug was stuffed into the bottom of the bore. Learn from my mistake when hooking up the brake lines. Ensure the line is seated squarely into the port with pressure while slowly hand thread the fitting as far as you can go before using a wrench. I caused myself unnecessary grief.

The last picture is of Olive doing her Quality Control checks.

The joy or torment of picking paint colors. This sweat equity Primavera is intended as an upgrade for my wife. Her favorite color is yellow, but when I showed her some images of yellow Vespas she wasn't interested. It basically now boils down to Grays and Blues. All of the other colors are out of the running.

I found a very reasonably priced single stage acrylic urethane paint system. Plus there's the option to use clear coat to give the paint more gloss and depth. It's Summit Racing Equipment's house brand generic colors. They offer this paint system for the DIY crowd, and it seems to be a durable product. It will be under $150 for Qt size materials; paint, activator, and clear coat. That's what's motivating me.

There's a Glossy Metallic Gray and a Gloss Pacific Blue. I really like the blue, however I have to convince my wife with that one. I'm not sure if she actually likes the gray or just because the Vespa is already a shade of gray. It's only a question, she should get the color she wants...

Interesting thread. Thanks for taking the time to post and bring us along.

Thanks, berto. The thread started to evolve into the process of what I've experienced on previous bike projects. This one is different though being essentially a new scooter with body damage. Usually, it's the other way around for me, working through mechanical, fuel, electrical issues and replacing consumables on older dirt bikes.

I figured that maybe it will inspire other people sitting on the fence for their potential projects. They might be intimidated to start and or just dream about instead. Sometimes it's issues of having some basic tools, a secure place to do the work, time and resources. I'm having fun with this too.

I can't wait to see it finished!

Thanks, I'm hoping to get it completed by July and be able to enjoy riding it this summer.

The Pacific Blue solid color wins the day. My wife also liked it and gave me the green light to order the materials. With all the Summit Racing quart size containers, the acrylic urethane single stage paint system & primer system came out to $205. Very reasonable, look up your favorite Vespa color and see what a quart of that paint costs… This single stage system is perfect for those of us fledgling spray painters. The clear coat is optional, but I went for it. Over 50% of this scooter needs painting, there was no way I was going to recreate and color match the original beautiful factory finish. The next best thing is to re-spray it another color that we like better anyways. My patience level and limited body work skills will dictate the outcome.

These rebuild projects can be a slippery slope and you can nickel and dime yourself right out of your budget. I had a rough $500 repair budget in mind. Currently I'm about $400 into it for parts and materials. You can see why insurance companies write off the steel body Vespa. Body repair labor costs alone can make them uneconomically repairable. Using due diligence, the DIY-er can end up with a nice ride at a considerable savings.

The fuel tank will be removed to gain access to the right-side body panel dents. I'll attempt to tap out as much of the dents as possible. I'm slowly mustering up the motivation to start this stage. That which does not kill us only makes us stronger...

Nice!

Both would've been fine colors for a Vespa, but I would've picked the blue, too. I'm enjoying following this project.

The garage was looking like a grenade went off and starting to interfere with Homeslices' creative juices. I had several house projects going on and it was getting cluttered - bad. Clutter causes stress, time to put some order back into my world. My motivation is starting to head in the right direction again.

If you start one of these projects take lots of pictures before and during the teardown. You'll thank yourself later when can't remember how stuff goes back together. Where do these left over bolts go?! Put hardware back into the parts you removed them from or bag them and mark it with a Sharpie pen.

This Vespa is still in teardown, the front end needs to come off, and I'm debating if I should just drop the engine out of it. We'll see, not sure yet.

Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware. Earlier I mentioned a purchase through aliexpress and that I'd report my findings. The good is it only took 15 days for the shipment to arrive in separate packages. See the attached pictures below of the crash damaged OEM parts and knock off parts.

The headlight bezel was packaged well and arrived unscathed. The faux carbon fiber look horn cover was also packaged well. It appears to be made of a more brittle plastic than the damaged cover. The trial fitting was good on the scooter. I may paint that part, undecided as of yet.

Here's where my frugalness may have just bit me. The leg shield trim kit arrived broken. It was poorly packaged with zero padding, just tossed into a box that held the long fragile awkward shaped parts. You guessed it, the baggage crushers had their way with it. See bottom picture. The bottom part is the crash damaged OEM, the upper part is the new shipping damaged part. I filed a refund request for that one but have this sick feeling they're going to tell me to pack sand. We'll see.

The takeaway is this. Consider carefully the shape and fragility of the item you want and what they go through during shipment. These are knock off parts, perfect for my situation with this wreck rebuild. However, you may very well want to go with OEM parts for your scooter. I did find it somewhat unnerving and dirty that these parts even had bootleg Piaggio markings on them.

That's the guinea pig report for this process.

For those interested in the paint system, the Summit Racing shipment also arrived. They had fast shipping from Nevada to my location. This single stage acrylic system with option to use clear coat is designed for the DIY person learning how to paint. It is their house brand paint and only comes in generic colors. Color matching will not be an option if you're trying to spot repair a stock Vespa color. The plan is to make things as easy as possible for myself and hopefully get it right.

I chose a solid color thinking it may be easier to lay down as opposed to a metallic color. It sounds like metallics are more apt to streaking if you don't have much experience spraying paint. I may be wrong about that, but it was my reasoning based off of the innerwebs. Pick the activator for the climate temperature range that you live in. In my case it was the 70*-80*F activator for my local area and season. There's a 70* and below and an 80* and above activator.

The primer is a high build sandable primer with catalyst. The total cost after tax was $205 for everything in the picture.

Very interesting posts so far, keep it up.

Your Pacific Blue colour choice looks quite a bit like the blue of my Primavera (which is an OEM colour).

Thanks, your scooter looks beautiful and the color is one of my favorites. Its why I gravitated towards the Pacific Blue on the generic color chart. I was relieved when my wife liked it too! It's a fair amount of work to prepare and wasn't too keen on spraying it another shade of gray metallic.

I'm currently disconnecting parts on the rear half of the scooter. By removing the fuel tank mount hardware, I was able to gain enough access for dent removal on the right-side panel. I also now realize that I don't need to drop the engine out. There is enough clearance to tape everything off for spraying. I already managed to drop one of the taillight retaining clips into the abyss!

**Edit: Kudos to Aliexpress and my confidence has been restored. I received a refund for the broken leg shield trim parts. I sent pictures of the shipping damaged parts to Aliexpress. They stepped in by not releasing the funds to the vendor and the money was refunded. If you receive broken parts do not click the confirmation button, it will indicate that the item was received in good condition, and you have no recourse to dispute the transaction after that. Go straight to the dispute process instead.**

I loathe junior high school drama, things we seem to get flooded with on a daily basis. I don't want to see anyone else get taken, be forewarned, you get what you pay for. Obviously not all vendors are guilty of this but...

Concerning my Aliexpress order it's going the pack sand route that I thought it would. In short, the issue gets kicked down the road until the resolution time frame expires. They win and you're stuck with broken parts from a poorly packed shipment. Sometimes you spend $80 to save $40!

Here's a copy of their reply: "Dear friend,we are so sorry for the inconvenience,we've packed well before shipment,it may crashed during transportation,please open the dispute and apply for refund."

The next vendor message was even better, basically its accept our offer of do nothing or cancel the refund request!

I felt a responsibility to highlight that and not mislead anyone. You are rolling the dice when making one of these orders. Use due diligence if you plan on ordering something through one of their vendors.

Water under the bridge and moving forward.

Thanks for all the info. as you go, especially the pictures! This is a real learning experience seeing the insides of the scooter.
Were there any bulbs or wires going into the original internal rear turn signal locations?

geokeg, here are a few pictures that may help.

The first picture shows the North American version of the left and right running lights/yellow connector (not to be confused with the European Turn signal location), the taillight connectors, and the license plate light connection (this one by my hand routes underneath and to the beavertail/mud flap).

The second picture shows the North American version turn signal connectors. They actually route underneath through a plastic clamp and to the licence plate beavertail. For clarity I pulled them through the running light portal. It's hard getting decent pictures against that darker gray color!

The third picture shows the small tab that you gently pull outward to disconnect the turn signal. This is accessed from underneath the scooter.

If anyone wants certain pics of this generation Primavera. Please feel free to request any other pictures while I have this thing disassembled.

In keeping with the informal WWWYG (Working With What Ya Got) theme. I'm somewhat of a minimalist and at this stage in life, I don't want to buy any more tools than necessary. Nine times out of ten with a little creativity you can find a reasonable work around for most situations. It avoids the "Impossible, can't get there from here" mindset. Someone call NASA, Stat! We need a rocket scientist!

Today the big bucks were spent at Harbor Freight. I squeezed in another quick run on the Honda Red Missile and forked over $7.50 for a manual fuel transfer pump and $2.99 for a small ball peen hammer. Don't tell my wife. Lol.

The fuel tank weight-wise had about 10 pounds of fuel in it. The tank mount hardware was removed but I didn't feel like completely removing it nor fight the awkward weight when the dent tapping begins. When I started to hand pump the fuel out of it, nothing happened. Must be defective, nope, just the idiot operating it. The input and output hoses need to be in the correct location. Lol See pic #1

To gain better sheet metal access the Vespa was jacked up after removing the lower shock bolt. The scooter becomes unstable once that shock bolt is removed, have your jack supports in place beforehand. One jack was used to support the frame, the second jack was used to slightly lift the rear of the body with left over scrap blocks from a deck project. Note, be mindful not to jack it too high. There are still lines and electrical harness' attached to the frame. That's cause for potential damage when trying to take a short cut. The scooter was then secured with tie down straps to hold it to the jacks. No need to set up a situation that causes a chain of events with damage and injury, millions dead. See pic #2 & 3

Right about now a real body work person is probably rolling their eyes and howling at the moon. I'm using whatever I have laying around as dollies to tap against with that small ball peen hammer. Whatever flat surface fits and works to apply a little pressure while tapping. I doubt that 4 Lb mallet will fit as a dolly but you get the idea. The large socket fits the concave portion of the right side body panel. The panel has a high spot in the concave. See pic #4

Vespa as a drum set. For starters, I'm not a body repairman so take any comments I make about it as a grain of salt. For the DIY-ers perhaps watching this may help or give you some confidence to dive in... or not!

Using 80 grit sandpaper with a multi-tool on the right-side body panel. I quickly the stripped paint down to metal to expose the high and low spots. This allowed me to easier identify the low spots with the paint remaining and the higher or normal areas that went to bare metal. By gently tapping with a small ball peen hammer and whatever tools that fit for applying pressure on the inside. This isn't a battleship so go easy with the tapping. See Pic #1

Tapping around the low areas I was able to reduce some of the depth. The high spot in the contour along the top required the large socket to tap and work the metal out somewhat. It's a work in progress, short of dropping the engine out for the best access. I'll try to get the dents to a minimum and then feather in body filler as best I can. The area will be stripped further once the dents are reduced (within my abilities). Body filler – Less is More!

The left side had a slight dent in the scratches. I want to keep the paint removal to a minimum to preserve the protection from the factory coating. When locating dents, rubbing your hand along the panel is more accurate than visually looking at it. The left side just looks like scratches but there is a slight dent there. That 4 lb mallet used as a dolly actually fit behind there, some lighter taps around the low spot on the exterior side worked out the dent. I'll take the win! See Pic #2

The materials pictured minus the multi-tool and old sanding block cost about $25 at Harbor Freight. See Pic #3

This little guy took a good hit to the nose. It must have slid under a bumper or guardrail. There is a deep diagonal crease across the horn cover area. It was ugly with all of those complex bends and stretched sheet metal.

Earlier I used a MAP gas torch and a wet sponge to shrink some of the stretching. Wood was placed behind the area as a fire wall to protect the components back there. I'm not sure how much that helped to shrink the metal and probably wouldn't go that route again. The flame/heat is too much of a damage and safety risk. I wasn't comfortable doing that.

The Crows Foot tool worked perfect as a dolly to snake into that mess and start tapping. Using the new horn cover as a mockup I was able to get all four tabs to line up with the slots in the leg shield. It covers that mess up nice. Not to mention that when the front rack is installed, all the better! The rest of that edge damage is going to be sculpted with body filler. There's only so much you can do! The good news is the glove box cowling still lines up with the leg shield. Relief...

Look a squirrel! Today the attention shifted from dent removal to badge removal and plastic parts paint preparation (say that fast three times!)

The badges were removed by applying some heat from a hair dryer and using dental floss to slice through the adhesive by slowly working the floss back and forth. The worst part of that operation was removing the residual adhesive on the scooter. I finally ended up using either paint thinner or lacquer thinner and a lot of rubbing to break it loose. See pic #1

Next was filling the groove in the plastic welded area on the glove box. I used the pictured Loctite product made for plastic. It didn't work as well as I thought. Laying a bead of the Loctite in the groove and then using a razor blade to shave flush the excess. I didn't factor in the curvatures of the part and potential to cause more gouges with the razor blade while shaving it. Ultimately it was sanded off and a thin layer glazing puddy was applied to fill in that groove. I hope it sticks. See pic #2

The plastic parts were scuffed with 400 grit sandpaper for paint adhesion. There's no need to primer these parts other than spots where repairs are made. See pic #3. The high build primer can then be feathered in and fill any minor imperfections. The metal body will be scuffed up with a Scotch Brite pad for primer adhesion over the factory original paint. The repaired body filler areas will get sanded stepping up from coarser grit to shape and then 220 grit to prep for the primer coat. The block sanding starts after that.

While getting a good nights rest at a Holiday Inn Express, a major tool manufacturer sent some specialty tools for the project… That curved tire iron came in handy to tap against on the sweeping contour lines. The little socket had a nice radius to tap against where the sheet metal had a gouge that squared off the right panels' upper body line. Just find something to wedge on the interior side to support the metal while tapping the area. Get creative with what you have on hand. See pic #2

It got to a point where I felt like I was chasing my tail with the dent tapping. It was time to focus on removing a little more paint and feather the edges. 80 grit was used for striping and 220 grit for feathering the paint edge. The multi-tool has been very handy for this project.

Next up was using compressed air to blow the dust off and a quick wipe down with paint thinner. The Bondo brand body filler (~$18 can) cures very fast, you have about 4 minutes to work with it and then it becomes unworkable. Have everything ready to go, including some thinner and clean up rags. The areas you see are literally 2 golf ball size globs worth of Bondo over all of the scooters' dent spots. I decided to mix a golf ball size batch and start on the smaller areas first. Once it begins to get harder to spread, just stop, don't be tempted to keep working it. It will just get worse and thicker by the second, you'll have to sand it down anyway. Take that time to clean up your spreader for the next mix batch. In ~ 20 minutes the filler can be sanded. See pic #3

When sanding use 80 or 100 grit to shape it. Sand in an asterisk pattern; First horizontal, then vertical, left oblique and right oblique. It helps keep things uniform and not over work certain areas, thus ultimately having to fill it back in again with the next batch. Use a darker spray paint to lightly speckle the larger filler areas and gently sand over that. It will make spotting the low areas easier for the next buildup layer. See pic #4, not the best but you get the idea.

Progress is being made and getting closer to the primer stage. With that I was dreading removing the residual emblem glue on the scooter. It was difficult removing that goo from the glove box with paint thinner. Today I had an idea to use a piece of old towel saturated with paint thinner, tape it to the body and walk away for an hour. It worked, much easier. See pic #1

The body filler was fine-tuned as best as my experience level could do. It got to the point where I was chasing my tail trying to find that sweet spot. Glazing putty was used to fill in the pin holes and minor divots. Hopefully it doesn't wave too much as it drives by! The entire scooter was then scuffed with Scotch Brite pads to give the high build primer something to adhere to. I removed and bagged all of the body hardware inserts to avoid painting over them. See pic #2 & 3

The primer will most likely be sprayed outside. When the wet sanding is completed I plan on setting up a "spray booth" in the garage. The garage door overhead tracks will be the attach point for the plastic and make it up as I go.

I'm really glad you're repairing this bike! But seeing all the work required makes it clear why these bikes are so easily written off

Thank you. It certainly does take a fair amount of effort, especially with a color change! There is that sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when projects are completed.

Edit: I just realized my latest idea to leave the front end on for painting would be ok. The fender still has to go on, Arrgggh!!! So much for that plan! It looks kind of cool without it though.

Preparation Day, the day you find out all the little things you missed! I talked about getting to a point where you are chasing your tail looking for perfection (that right side panel). Don't be paralyzed by it! One last glob of Bondo was mixed for two minor low spots, light sanding, and a spot of glazing putty pushed me to the ability limits.

It was time to clean and assemble the $18 Harbor Freight HVLP (High Velocity Low Pressure) gravity feed paint gun. An air pressure regulator for fine tuning at the spray gun and a last chance water filter was installed. Having completed the obligatory Youtubin' videos and actually reading the sprayer instructions. I was ready for battle, what could go wrong it's just primer... Time to first install the water filter on the compressor… hmmm, missing a fitting. I hopped on the Red Missile (Honda Elite) and burned rubber back to Harbor Freight. Picture #1 shows ~ $40 worth of components including the sprayer.

I have a low end compressor that is used for seating motorcycle tire beads and blowing dust. It has enough performance to run a spray gun but not a DA sander. In keeping with the Use What Ya Got theme, you can purchase custom paint & clear coats in spray cans at auto body supply stores such as Wesco. They conveniently mix it and put it into spray cans for you. That avoids the entire issue of needing a compressor. I have one so it's getting used! See Pic #2

The Primavera was then taped off, wiped down with paint thinner and ready for spraying. Last picture is of the Red Missile

Operation Prime Time. Now that I had enough information to be over confident and dangerous it was time… I went straight to priming in the drive way with some drop plastic for added protection. The cats were in the house as to not accidentally paint them and I was ready to rock. The high build (sand-able primer) has mixed 4:1 with the activator and poured into the paint gun. The gun was set to about 30 psi, fluid knob adjusted and with the new found knowledge the trigger was squeezed… Pffff, too much air or too much fluid? Having foregone the practice patterns on something, anything, I had a fail. Eventually after fiddling with the adjustments, I was able to start laying down the primer. Lesson learned, buy some cheap Rustoleum and practice painting your wheelbarrow first! Learn to use the equipment…

While spraying primer I managed to unscrew the last chance water filter having done one too many pirouettes. The Puffff sound startled me but luckily there was no impact on the scooter. The takeaway is activate your situational awareness button while spraying, be mindful of where the hose is and don't have trip hazards in the zone.

Lacquer thinner cleans acrylic urethane. To clean the mix ratio cup, paint thinner was poured in, that'll be a No Go. It just makes sludge. Lacquer thinner does a fine job for spray gun clean up. Everyone, repeat after me, Lacquer thinner!

To prime the entire scooter, it took 10 ounces of primer mix. The takeaway is that a quart size container is more than enough for your entire scooter project.

Vespa sun bathing. Since laying on the high build primer thick in the damaged areas, I'll let it bake in the sun for a day or two. Then the wet sanding by hand will commence. I'm seeing body filler areas on the leg shield that didn't blend as good as I thought. Hopefully the primer sanding will feather some of those areas in and reveal less. The right pod area turned out better than I thought it would.

The area where the front rack support pad(s) sit has some obvious high filler spots. Worse case is I'll sand it down more and respray some high build. I'll see how it goes because the rack will be permanently installed and probably hide most of it. The leg shield area absorbed most of the energy from the crash and there are body lines parallel to the horn cover as well as the slightly curved sections.

My limited experience is only going to get this so good. The picture shadow makes things look a little worse, Ya that's it the shadow... Glazing putty will be used for the scratches and fine tune the areas between the small dings in the lower area. At any rate it should look better than it did from the start. Work in progress.

The Perfect Storm. That's when my expectations met reality plus patience and abilities ran out. It's just the point when you know that you're finished with the body work. I had "hit the wall". The front luggage rack and horn cover was temporarily installed to see what body repair imperfections was hidden. That allowed for less fretting and chasing my tail. The crash impact energy was transferred through the rack support pad contact area. Wet sanding reduced the high spot and the rack/cover hid the rest of it. See picture #1.

The right-side pod was my breaking point. With the complex curves and still with some panel imperfections, I was at the end of my patience and skill level. See picture #2. I had to go through that beat down process and then it no longer bothered me. I'll smile in my helmet every time I think of the total cost of this "new" 50 mile Vespa.

The high build primer was sprayed on heavy over the body filler repair and surrounding sheet metal areas. By building that up with the sand-able primer, I was able to wet sand the high spots down and gently feather them into the primer filled lower surrounding area. It's incredible what obvious spots disappeared or diminished after feathering with wet sanding.

The materials/tools used for wet sanding was 400 grit sandpaper, soft pad/sponge/scouring pad, water spray bottle and a bucket of water. See picture #3.

Keep the sanding area wet and lightly sand in circle patterns and then alternating diagonal patterns. Rinse the sanding pad frequently in the bucket. Avoid sanding of the body lines with the pad, it'll burn through to the bare metal. For those areas, lightly use a piece of sandpaper by hand. Keep rinsing as you go. Naturally, watch some online videos to get the idea. It's best to do this process outside, it does make a mess.