Modern Vespa

My original MP3 500 (2008) gave me a few years of good service after a top end rebuild but I think the increased pressures in the case from the piston failure caused issues that in order to fix would require the case to be split and I don't have the heart for it.

Moving ahead in time. Jess offered his 500 (2009) so I had it shipped from CA to IN with the intention of swapping engines. Both bikes spent time outside. His in the Bay area and mine in Florida and his seems to be in better overall shape so instead of an engine swap I am rehabbing it with new and parts from mine. One from two.

I will be replacing both throttle cables, rear shocks and any parts that haven't aged well plus all of the service stuff.

Jess's 500 was great - I borrowed it in 2010 when I came over to the US chasing down Ivana Tinkle, now Ms jimc. I took it through the 10,000 mile mark.

It still starts even with gas that is over 5 years old. A situation I will rectify first once I get the rear tire swapped out and the AK silencer put on.

What, you'll stop it starting???

Excellent news! This makes me happy.

Any chance of having a pair of 13 inch rims up for grabs after you have finished the project ?

No chance. The earlier MP3 500's came with 12" fronts. Including my 250 I have 6 12" rims currently and will probably keep 2 to have a swap out pair once I am down to two scooters. I may have a spare 14 inch rim for the rear though since I bought an extra one years ago.

Well this was a bit of a wiggle to get out. I'm going to swap it with the one on my other scoot because it is a bit burned by the California sun. I had to get in here anyway to replace throttle cables so I might as well. I'm going to move this back to the MP3 forum.

Jess the heated grips still work as does the gps power cable. I'll just need an adaptor. I know it's been awhile but do you remember if you did any "notch" work?

Over the years I've worked on more than one Piaggio with troublesome relays. There are quite a few on an MP3, but they aren't too expensive. At least test them all carefully.

Nope. Never had to do any notch work. To the best of my knowledge, I never noticed any notch effect. I've ridden other MP3 500s with a notch (Oz's, in particular) but mine (yours) never had anything I noticed.

What kind of tires are those to the right of the shop vac??

Regarding notch, I have done all the recommended things, and have about 54,000 miles on my MP3 500. No sign of notch.

Looks like one of those fold up utility wagons. But maybe he has a droid that's charging.

Nice! Never seen that before

Yes. That is exactly it. Handy for pulling grandkids around.

We have one of those Gorilla carts. Used it to pull the kids to the local brewery.

It's badass but awful to store.

Continuing this here 2009 MP3 500 rebuild. One from two. so as not to clog up General with MP3 specific details.