Modern Vespa

Howdy. I'm rebuilding a pretty junky VBB and have to replace the right cowel. The replacement I received is painted gray and also covered with some oily gel/goo.

What are the best steps to getting a good paint job? Sandblast the whole thing ($$) and start from bare metal? Or can I just remove the gel with brake cleaner, coat over the current primer with epoxy primer, and proceed from there? I'll be painting with a compressor and gun.

Has anyone else painted one of these replacement cowels? Is the primer that's on there good enough for a base, or do I need to somehow take it all down to bare metal?

Thanks, all, for any wisdom.

Where'd that cowl come from? Unless it was damaged in shipping, it needs metal work before you do anything.

My guess is that you probably want to take it back to bare metal if the quality of the stamping is indicative of that primer.

Thanks. Purchased from a good outlet. I'll clean it up and go over it and see where I'm at.

I've got the original cowel, but one of the louvers is pretty wonky—stretched & twisted—-and I'm not sure I can make it look good with my metal skills. Maybe I'll cut, straighten, and have it welded? That vowel is also dinged/scratched, but I think I can solve those issues to a respectable level.

Seeing the label, looks like SIP's "Grade A Repair" panel, made in Vietnam

yes. stamped in VN.

I bought some SIP cowls for my GL when I redid it and they were coated in cosmoline, but not primed. Good quality stampings, too.

That feels more like EBay to me, but let's see what OP says.

If you know a good welder, give him both cowls to cut a good louvre rib from the bad one to replace the bad one on the good one??? Sorry if I just confused you... I had to replace one on my ratty AllState but used a piece of random scrap metal.

Zoom to label, part code: 75146510. But why it's primed, who knows...

https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/side-panel-engine-side-right-for-vespa-125-vna-vnb-150-vba-vbb-vgla-b_75146510

Which one? I bet you guessed wrong

Best clue is the one I added is a little skinnier, not the crooked weld repaired other ones. Look again.

No need to get it to bare metal.

Remove whatever that goo is with lacquer thinner.
Shoot it with below, then rub it all down with maroon Scotch Bright, followed by green.

https://www.amazon.com/Spray-MAX-Rapid-Primer-FillerGRAY/dp/B00B3I2E8E/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1XNSSH97NW56&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qETyMK0lbZjT_vgFemv6oqdv_ioFH7QaP933iQ-NykcoVla8y8RvP7Z99sq_WUQz6iEqfvG1Yn6AwlGZR11kfVKqI5zxMR8p1wqrpKp3yzV__-dd5HVi4mCZ3T4zCKAZw-p-nYMowGDqdJbelNNpDWPXWs3V8KE-9U75o0LjAGPckI7bLHb9nKbZeiY7qrF3.V9szfAyYuH5pZ9q1cvzdphJz3Z3dhuwkwed6UCzhfLU&dib_tag=se&keywords=SprayMax+3680031+Gray&qid=1731624173&s=hi&sprefix=spraymax+3680031+gray+%2Ctools%2C324&sr=1-4

If we're going rat rod, leave the og cowl.
If we're learning to restore vintage, don't start at a new part, leave it in the packaging in a closet. Work the og cowl until you're happy and more skilled, you can literally not even think about the missing section at all. Never learn on new parts or complete vehicles, unless you're being paid by the hour with instructor.

OP here. Hmmm. I suppose I'm now leaning toward rehabbing the original.

But, just out of curiosity:

What "metalwork" will need to be done on the Vietnamese replacement cowel? The spot welds along the top need to be dealt with, obviously. But what else?

Here are pix of the new cowel and of the dinged louver on the original (ignore the weird paint. Was testing colors. Will take to bare metal before real painting).

Not a rat rod, but not a hot-shot restoration. Just the best I can do, 2nd time out, as an amateur rebuilding a junker in my backyard shed. I want to do the painting myself. Likely single-stage.

Thanks everybody.
[/img]

Find-make a dolly that fits perfectly into one of the good "fins", and slowly hammer gently to arrive at a closer appearance, don't try to knock it out quick. A little oil on the fin dolly so it can move easier across the metal. The dolly should be about twice the size of the hammer head, and you should use a real body type hammer, with very clean flat surface mirror shined on both. Intuitively work it out, like two beers make a better pool player. Use light to see minute changes, look at both sides at every hit. Do not start at the worst spot. That all I can think of for now
Edit,
It's "fin" will get bigger over all and get floppy, if you notice this, tell me what types of heat you have access to. And I'll tell you how to use it to shrink it back.

Edit 2

The dolly, can be a piece of plywood, cut just right so act like an anvil of sorts. Much lighter taps. Use a good fin for measuring. Keep an eye denting the wood.

Looks like you could use either w/ not too much work, a good spot to be in. But I think the old one should be saved and good enuff so only you can tell up close, coz it's not all that bad. Then you have the original on there and that would be worth it to me.

If it was me, I'd do the cowl last, on the legal running scoot after months of enjoying it. Imagine fixing it and then messing it up again while working on something else.

Kinda concours complicated, but thorough I suppose. I used a nice piece of 1/4" thick stock steel by 1 1/2" but the width doesn't really matter and it could be a tad fatter, also can be a lot shorter than the the one in my pic. Depends on your objective and your welder guy's skills more than how you polish and tap IMO. There's tricks to pull the top surface flush and a strong weld both sides so you cant see that is more important, you might wanna consult w/ your guy I'm pretty sure you got this now and now just need to dive in. Do this then what Ray8 says and you'll be proud to be back on the road before long. Perfection is the enemy of completion they all say.

Oh JOY! I found the rest of the pics on my phone to help you at each step if you need.

Step by step:

I think the new one will look great with a bit of paint. I'm not too proud to say that I rattle canned the SIP package tray on mine, and it's held up. Perfect repair? No. But I'm not trying to convince anyone that I have a pristine low miles one owner minty vintage scoot. YMMV

And I also think the old one is worth keeping.

Okay, I'm sold! Will attempt to make the original all nice & pretty. SO much good info here. Will give it a shot.

Lots of stuff that's new to me going on. I sprayed my first project with Eastwood 2-part epoxy rattle can. Not much shine, but even coverage and no drips or sags. Trying single-stage with a compressor and gun this time. Have tapped out leg-shield dents as best I can and now will skim with Bondo. Nothing thick, just need to even things out.

Lots of sanding and primer/filler in my future. A challenge for a semi-newb, but that's actually the fun part. I think.

Thanks.

On track and you have a good plan, but allow me to add two things. Be sure to block sand it & research if you are unsure of how. And consider fiberglass filler, harder to sand but I've found it worth it for the excellent durability. Look here to see what I mean:
Scruffy AllState, crappy headlight finally fixed!




Same bike I fixed the cowl on.



It feathers out so nice.

Hey Voodoo: Wow! That's a lovely build thread. Beyond me at this point but something to shoot for. I wonder if anyone around here (Bay Area) does planishing? And is it possible to planish the leg shields (I had to tap out some cottage cheese. Planning on finishing with filler, but planishing would be lovely).

My VBB was a barn find with mouse nests in the well and the smell of twenty years of dried rodent urine (my wife thought it was just old gas . . .). Head & piston were frozen with rust but gears et al were fine. Headset was frozen on but came off with lots of heat, a jig and a rubber hammer.

All new to me! Your Allstate thread gives me hope. Tho I wish you hadn't shown me a pic of a roundtail. Gives me something to think about for the future, and I'm not halfway done with this!!

And, next time: Patina, and save all the old parts!!!

How mine looked fresh from the (literal) barn, and where I'm at now:

That that thing's a dang MESS !

Give it to me?

You just need to decide what you want to do.

The Boo-Badge, my smallie, didn't look much better than that when I started on it. I used zero filler on the legshield, just straightened and welded the taco bend (already un-bent in the "before" photo) (plus a larger & stiffer reinforcing bar), then got to work with hammer/slapper and dolly.

It was bad enough that after it literally run over by a truck there was not enough incremental damage to apparently merit a picture.

If you want to make your own planishing hammer, you could do that for $75 (assuming you have a compressor), but you can also work the metal out by hand and it'll work out amazingly well.

Regardless of where you go, you can do it.

We started to make one in Greece, but was better to buy a cheap one like Doc did and you saw in my scruffy AllState thread. Spend the time working on the bikes!



You could do same at Walmart for a couple hundred bucks. Looks much like that ^^^ one and now I want one too!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/SHZICMY-Pneumatic-Planishing-Hammer-f-4-Throat-Sheet-Metal-Shaping-Machine-Anvil-1-2-3/7535971058

Set up right you might planish the legshield, but seems it would be a tough nut to crack. Carry on and keep us posted.

From a video I saw recently...all seems legit to me

I also bought some new cowls for my vba, they need some work even if new. Mine came bare metal, protected with a ton of grease, it was a mess to remove.

When you think it is degreased, it is not After a bath of thinner I coated them with an epoxy primer and had a reaction... That grease is crazy strong (mine came from SIP), I had to strip the epoxy, then torch the surface and once more degreased then it went finally ok with the epoxy !
Mine needed some hammer/dolly, and a thin coat of bondo to get the perfect shape/surface finish before paint.

I'd go with the original cowl. That louver is easy to fix...

Me too, Safis!

Haha Chandler, that homebrew planisher is definitely me , I'm retired but I bet you a dollar Primer is still a hard working guy(maybe not poor, and can snag a couple measly hundred not so hard in a tuff fancy job or from his generous trust fund??? Anyway 200 is peanuts to addicted Vespa ppl and he's obv seriously infected w/ less free time who'd rather use it working on this. I can already see considerably more skill and patience than my AllState got - which takes TIME as you well know :.


Regardless, great vid w/ good results! I gotta think about it now...

PS: Primer, let's see your smallframe 100!

Simon won't be happy to be painted!

I thought about making a planishing hammer, but not sure I would end up using it. For stuff like a dented cowl or legshield, I can usually get close enough for filler by hand. Hand planishing so no filler is needed would take a lot longer and I probably would still need a little filler. A machine might do better, but I doubt I could get it perfect.

I'd be more interested in having a little handheld planishing hammer I could use with a dolly at the backer for things like body/sheet metal welds, which suuuuuuuck to get flat on their own. But I'll bet they're awesome for stuff like cowls, which I've done by hand to where I didn't need filler, but it was a LOT of work.

On my list for cowls is welding a dolly on a post so I can stick it in a vice.

I have a couple of dollies that could be clamped in a vice no problem. I don't know how they'd work in terms of having clearance with the vice, workbench, etc. (because I don't have the solution to have the problem ).

See if you can find a short piece of old rail or an I-Beam and then clean up the edges.