Modern Vespa

The soon-to-be end of winter is a great time to start a new Vespa project. So I've started a new side project thats been waiting in the shop for some time, a 1964 Vespa GL 150.

I acquired this Vespa in Oregon a few years ago, and have somehow resisted the strong urge to tear into it immediately. This GL is mostly original and complete, although it has been repainted "Golden" Yellow at some point early in its life. It has been off the road since '78, based on the last registration sticker.

The plan all along has been to build this together with my daughter, for her first Vespa project. We finally both made the time, mental space, and focus to take the first steps. We had a great time tearing it down and getting our hands dirty together. That was the easy part, now the real fun begins.

The body and panels are in good straight condition. Only some minor massaging needed, and no major rust or cancer is present. It does have its fair share of love scratches, so i was definitely well enjoyed. It has character to put it another way.

The Build Plan as it stands
Paint & Body
- Clean & Polish Existing Yellow Paint on body
- Touchup Paint some parts of body & floorboard top
- Repaint floorboard bottom, headset
- Clear and/or Repaint inside frame, wheel well, cowls, mudguard
- Clear and/or Repaint suspension parts
* It's not factory original color, but is part of the history of the scooter.
** Our goal is a well loved clean patina look.
*** Full repaint may be in the future, but not at this time.

Rust Treatment with Ospho or similar
- treat all internal areas of tunnel & tank cavity
- inside wheel well, cowls, mudguard
- treat floor board bottom
- Spot treat body paint areas as needed
- Clean and rust treat the fuel tank

Engine
- P200E stock build swap
* Original engine is locked up
** I have the P2 on the shelf, ready to go
*** Keeps all my (2) runners with same power plant
**** No replacement for displacement!

Electrical & Lighting
- Vape ignition system, 12vDC static
* for strong steady lighting and power

Wheels, Suspension, Brakes
- Repainted Stock wheels
-- Option for Tubeless Wheels
- New shocks, front & rear
- Uprated front spring
- Rebuilt stock brakes, front & rear
-- Option for front disk brake. This would be my preference.

any of this could change at any moment

I love to see this - So stoked for you!

P200 - yes!!!
Are you going premix or oil tank in the glove box?
And don't forget to get the speedo light running. I think that's such a cool feature

Awesome project! Will be a great time with your daughter.

Yes on the disc brake! This is definitely a case of safety first and not safety third. 😀

I'm really digging this! My GS was parked under a tarp at the same time. So glad your daughter is getting on board with a scoot of her own. Good job, Dad! No doubt this will be another stellar scoot.

Make sure it's not too fast so I can keep up with you guys on our ride over to Florence!

Indeed

Which disc option are you going with?

What a great project!
Here are a couple of pics om my gl with the crimaz disc . There is one available without the fluid reservoir.

For the engine, I'd like to keep the autolube; possible with a tank in the left side cowl.

For the Disk brake kit, as far as I know there are only 2 options: Crimaz or Saigon Scooter Center's kit. Crimaz is nice, and the go to for most everyone, but TBH it looks a little clunky IMHO; but I know it is supposed to be a well made bit of kit. Made in Italy is nice as well.

I like the look of SSC's kit, and it seems more compact and a little 'mean' looking; and it has antidive feature. but I don't know of anyone personally that is running this here in the states for comparison. If it's like the 8" kit, atleast I know the build quality will be nice, but I'm not sure about fitment and if it pushes the wheel off center. Floating caliper is a nice touch.

For Master Cylinder: I like the Crimaz compact version with built in reservoir, for a discreet install. The Ottopuntouno billet mc with exposed reservoir also looks nice, for a more traditional exposed reservoir option.

BTW, I'm looking for an original cowl trim flashing, for the right/engine side cowl. I have original's for all the others, and would like to complete the set. If anyone is holding a single or pair, please PM me. TIA!

Subscribed!

GeekLion

Can't wait to see which disc setup you run with. Depending on my GS brakes, might be considering the Crimaz.

3rd option for the front brake…
PK fork + PX disk. Of course this would be the most work, but I do have these parts on hand, so it would be cost effective. Fitting & modding the mudguard would be needed, and we had intended to keep it mostly original. Pk fork kinda changes the vibe. Options

Scratch this idea. Already decided, this is not the direction I want to go.

A bit of progress finishing up the breakdown of this GL.

Started to clean inside of fuel tank. It is absolutley CAKED with gunk. A thick chunky layer of dried up fuel, oil, and some rust. I poured in some acetone to help loosen things up, then after a bit got in there with a scraping tool to break up the worst of it. Lots more soaking and abrasion needed before its anywhere near clean inside.

Removed the floor rails. 3 of the 6 had loose rivets, so I decided to go whole hog and remove them all. These will be cleaned up and refit with fresh rubber & rivets, after dealing with the floor board rust.

Loosened up the rear brake pedal. It was frozen on the shaft, so I hit it with a torch to break it free, which worked great! Now I need to deal with the stuck pin....

Cleaned the yellow overspray paint from the front badge. Some careful picking & scraping, and a touch of scotch brite. Now it looks much cleaner.

Started progress on dealing with the top floorboard rust. I used a pick/scratch awl to pick away at any of the scaly-bubbling rust spots that have formed along the rails and seams. Nothing too bad, but we are aiming to prevent the spread and preserve it as is as much as possible. As we all know the floorboards and rails are a potential problem area, so we are debating repainting the floorboard top and/or simply preserving it with clear coat or Owatrol or similar.

Gave the outside of frame a quick scrub down.

More to come!

More pics

Strong work, GL!

You have my sympathies regarding the skanky tank.

Just to show just how difficult it is to correctly get the front fender to fit correctly on a PK conversion fork with a disc brake. Look at SIP's yellow Rally. The scooter is one of SIP's flagship builds, and it's a VERY nice build indeed. In absolute no disrespect to the builders, take a close look at the front fender and how it sits a bit cattywampus over the tire. No doubt the builders did whatever they could to get that fender to sit correctly, yet still didn't get it to be 100% correct. Then just imagine any of us amateur body and paint guys here on MV trying to get a pre-P fender to sit right with the same fork, suspended, and brakes.

The scooter is very very nice though. Whoever built it definitely has some major skills.
https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/category/tuning_1177/race-scooters-customs_1877/custom-sip-rally-200-street-custom_3568

Looking good man!

I'm glad you pulled the floor rails to clean up the floorboards. And a respray of the floorboards is a great idea, and possibly the rims while you're doing it. I don't think it'll take away from the overall used look of the scooter.

And some ospho for the tunnel eh?

Thanks for the pictures!

Of course it's waaaay easier during the hot summertime heat, but i would douse the inside of the tunnel first with purple power, then blast the ever loving heck out of the tunnel with the biggest pressure washer you can get your hands on (coin-op pressure washer i would consider too weak). Let all the water dry 100%, then repeat that same exact process. One it dries out again, then i would coat the entire tunnel with Ospho. Let it dry for a few day, then apply a second coat of ospho. Follow up with your favorite primer (cheap as chips rustoleum "rusty metal primer" is my go to). It won't eradicate the rust, so it will eventually creep back, but it will keep it at bay for quite a while. Ideally it would be 80~90 degrees outside to perform that whole process…which it a good 6 months away from Roseburg.

Very nice build indeed. This is exactly the reason I'm not interested in doing a PK fork swap, on this particular build. I have no desire, or my daughter either; to get into this type of fitting and fabrication. We're going vintage and KISS, with a few small improvements in the mix.

Yeah, ospho the tunnel and repaint the floorboards, wheels, hubs, and a few bits; for looks and longevity.

This is a great outline, and pretty much exactly what I have planned. I'm not sure I want to wait 6 months for warm weather...but I do like the plan above. I could rig up a heat gun/blower to force dry the tunnel.

As an alternate way to treat the tunnel, I have thought about creating some type of rust treatment 'bath', using Evapo-Rust. Somehow seal and fill up the tunnel with Evapo-Rust, which would allow it to seep into all the cracks and hopefully eliminate or atleast reduce most of the rust within. I could even use a small water pump to fill & keep a flow of the evaporust flowing. Follow up with ospho for an extra layer of protection.

Whatever I do I want to save the paint, so that is a consideration.

That rust inside the tunnel looks like it's mostly surface rust, so that's good.

And while you can see where the bike sat with half an inch or so of water in it on the electrical wire in there, I don't think that's an issue.

My GL's tunnel looked worse than that when I got it--honestly, I probably should have replaced some of the sheet metal under there, but didn't have the skillz yet, so I just did the best I could, which was basically the same plan you're following.

It's been almost five years now for me and I see no evidence of additional rust or deformation, so I think you'll be good.

I agree the inside rust doesn't look too bad. Pretty much just all over surface rust. I did the poke test all over the underside floorboard and found no weak spots, or break through; so at this point I'm calling it golden!

Following.

Love seeing the progress. Thanks for the detailed share.

N

I figured we established that on the thread title.

Why Yes, Exactly

Don't spend your money on Evapo Rust, here is a better solution and very cheap ! This is what I use and trust me, THIS is very effective.

Extremely informative, and interesting concept. I appreciate the methodical scientific approach. Given the results of the video, this could be a great cost effective and efficient solution. I've used evaporust plenty for small parts, but not for something as large as a frame. This seems promising.

I had a bit of time to spend on the GL, so I worked on cleaning the fuel tank and a few other small things.

I drained out the first round of sludge, after letting the acetone soak for a few days. I also dumped in a bunch of nuts and shook it around a few times a day to help loosen everything up. I got in there again with a long scraper to get as much of the thick sludge off the surface; then drained it all out. First round was a golden success! Atleaset I can actually see metal, rather than the black death. I gave it a rinse & drain, then filled the whole thing up with Simple Green, for another full soak to get the last of the oily residue.

With progress being made on the tank, I decided to abandon that and use a completely different tank.

Not so much as abandon, but more of a pivot. I'll still finish cleaning the original tank, as it needs it; even if it's shelved.

We're going with a P2 engine, and want to keep the auto lube; so I dug into the stash and pulled out a P-series fuel tank with oil tank. Quick test fit looks good, for both fuel and oil tank. We'll block off the sight glass, so no big hole drilling; then make a dip stick for checking the oil level.

Just a few more pics inside the tunnel

Leaving this brilliant method here:

My sunshine post welcomes this wonderful barnfind from out of the depths, into glorious daylight. Had to be in San Francisco for a long time, delighted.

What a great idea! And it saved the room in the side cowl.

Big thrills for small victories. Today we worked on freeing up the stuck headset tubes. They were both rusted solid in place. We tried soaking in penetrant with no success. So we busted out the small torch to make those tubes cherry. A few minutes on each side, heating up the steel tube from inside, focusing heat near the bearing surface areas, then a fresh dose of penetrant, let it cool and we have freedum! Both tubes pulled out by hand with ease, and should clean up nicely. FIRE FTW!

Nice work on the tube extractions. They can be real buggers. To get the tubes to have a super smooth action inside the headset, i'll take a wire wheel to the corroded tubes. After i get them super clean, i then will sometimes use a scotch bright pad and Ospho on the just the steel portions (keeping it off the aluminum). I'll scrub it for about five minutes (until the metal gets bright), then wash it off. Once dry, then i'll smear valve grinding compound on the tubes and insert them into the headset. Spin the tubes round and round a whole bunch of times until they spin very smoothly. Then wash everything off with Purple Power. It makes the tubes rotate better than new.

Good thorough process Whodats! I usually do the wire wheel & scotchbrite on the tubes, then a small scotchbrite on the dremel for the headset. Good thinking with the Ospho & valve grinding paste! These tubes are good overall, but do have the surface rust, so may benefit from the full treatment.

Next up we need to decide how to finish the headset. Paint yellow, leave it raw, buff it, or shine it up!

Victory!

It always feels so good when you're trying to free stuff up like that and it Just Works.

I don't go as far as whodat, but I wire wheel off the tubes and then hit both the tube and the headset with progressively finer wet-dry paper until it's nice n' smooth.

I'll have to try the valve paste, though, because getting inside the headset with wet-dry can be a real PITA.

Me doing the same to the stuck tubes on my GL

Just wanted to remark... This is such a capital idea! Good on ya.

Also like that little sun etched over the Vespa logo? Sooooo good. *Chefs kiss*
Are ya'll planning to keep that?