Modern Vespa

Here are some sources I have used:

https://www.casalambretta.us
https://scooterfix.ca/collections/lambretta
https://scootersoriginali.com/collections/lambretta
https://www.swisstonysscooterspares.com
https://www.scootersurgery.co.uk
https://www.lambretta.co.uk
https://discodezscooters.co.uk
https://www.scooter-center.com/en/lambretta

Martin "Sticky" Round's book for Li series 1,2 and 3 is a must. The new third edition would be nice but either of the earlier ones would be good. Too bad he didn't do a Vespa one...

This is true for Vespas, too, but extra-true for Lammies.

You'll need some specialist tools, too, for things like the clutch compressor. You can use regular M5 (I think) bolts to remove the mag housing, or you can buy special fancy tools for that, which are basically just big t-handle M5's.

Similarly, there's a rear hub remover, or you can pop it loose (it's a conical pressure fit like Vespa flywheel) by getting the weight of the motor under the hub and hitting the end of the axle (or, better yet, a punch into the end of the axle) to drop it off.

There are some excellent YouTube resources for Lammy's, too. I learned way more from watching videos than from more traditional routes when I was starting my Lammy journey.


Kickback Garage has a lot of good info, and he's pretty entertaining, too. He does some great videos related to (dis)assembly of forks and other non-motor bits, too.

And here's a super-detailed video series on engine rebuild:

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Thanks for all the tips guys and we'll be checking out the videos. We have a copy of Sticky's manual coming so we don't get completely lost.

Postponing the tool box forced entry for now, we had bigger fish to fry. Yannis came by after work and we attacked the legshield and horncast. BTW, now I know why they are called 'horncasts' - it's because Lambretta uses cast aluminum for theirs!

Here's all the stuff we removed. Yanni got frustrated with the M6 bolts holding the floor section on, He snapped two off after trying to ease the nuts off from underneath, so he used the angle grinder w/ cutoff wheel and said " OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"



Half naked frame:


Old dad put some interesting stickers here & there, reminds me of my second Vespa here that came with even more.


This is the one. It was in worse shape than this Lammy in some ways, the floor & mudguard rotted out but was mostly complete. I literally rescued it from the garbage 16 years ago.

Gonna need lots of fixin $$$$. Time, money and patience can make it a reality. You have to accept the amount of money its gonna take first.

Yeah, I'm realizing that it's not so easy, and how much simpler Vespas are. I was hoping that big curved panel on top of the frame would come off but looks like that's a big NO.

BTW, can somebody please tell me where to find the VIN?

https://scooterhelp.com/serial/lam.serial.locator.html

That's called the frame loop. It's not detachable unless you cut it off. The frame numbers are on the tube frame kickstart side of engine area

#Fiddly

Reading about scooters, the Vespa vs Lambretta is obviously a ´chapter´. Invariable the performance race gets a staging.
Nevvah evvah does any shed light on the rather fundamental difference mentioned in thís thread.
Not a detail I´d say...
The detail imo being a conceptual difference in the design brief.

Analogy Time! Vespa is to Lambretta as ...

I was tempted to add to that then saw it was over a decade old...

And it seems like the images on some of the better ones are lost to the sands of Internet time.

somewhat unrelated, this is a great video for seeing the basic steps/sequence and tasks for rebuilding a S3 motor. Too fast for detail, but still gives a good flavor of what it's like to work on them.

Thanks for that engine rebuild vid, he makes it look so easy with a clean bike, the right tools and no frozen fasteners. But limited time remaining here, lack of adequate bandwidth & incentive(my LAST Lammy I believe!) and Yanni's own capabilities to deal w/ panel & frame refurbishing and painting as well as tracking down parts should work out OK.


We got the motor out w/ the help of one of the previous vids, but not so easy - we cut some stubborn cables that will be replaced anyway, the muffler was a bitch to get off the header pipe and the worst was the frozen main engine mount bolt which slid out so nicely in the vid. 100+ blows w/ small sledge hammer on a drift before it finally started to move. YAY!

The motor will be sent to an experienced Lammy mechanic a who can go thru it and properly deal with all the fiddling needed and has done it before. Hopefully I'll be back in the fall, everything is ready and we can put it all back together again.

I went through this exact same exercise getting the motor out of my Riverside. Of course, the first time I pulled the motor from my Stella, the bolt was so frozen up from years of road salt I finally had to just cut it out with an angle grinder. Which then made getting it plus the engine buffers out a real treat, too.

Live and learn on that one.

Been there and been bitten the same, recently on a 12 year old LML, noone in its life.had ever greased anything!

Oh yes one more recommendation for the Lamby, stainless steel fixings and fastenings everywhere you can. Local dealers UK side offer these as bagged items so I see no reason why Stateside shouldn't oh and anti seize paste or plain old copper grease if your feeling nostalgic.

Gravelrash out 😀

Terry, per your question, here are the locations of the toolbox holding bolts.

Once those are removed, you can work the toolbox loose from the rubber gasket that's probably gluing it in place.

Since you're going to do it anyway, removing the air scoop and airbox first will make the job a lot easier.

Chandler this is for you. If you haven't seen it I think you will enjoy!

#1 I am so jelly of the scooter he got! It's so much like ours but so damn different - it's all there and the fasteners all just unfasten.

#2 Good thing I didn't see it before and naturally expect the same kinda condition.

#3 NOW I wish I still had another month or two here!

Great Success! We have finally reached naked frame status, but it was a helluva battle with so many not easily accessible rusty 8mm fasteners and

This is Lambrettas in a nutshell.

And in my case, they love nothing more than to just shear off, even with penetrating oil and heat. I don't even mess with bolt extraction tricks when that happens now. I just drill and re-tap.

I'm inching toward a proper start on the Riverside. Progress is being held up by a consistent drip of small projects on other bikes combined with a lack of final vision for it, in particular the motor.

Welp... at least I know it's not just me then.

A few more pics of what we wound up with. Or early Lambretta kit, mostly all there, 2nd hand and some assembly required.

Those of you w/ sharp eyes may wonder where the horn cast is.

All those tiny fasteners! The bridge clips are a must.

Painting a Vespa entails about a dozen pieces. The TV200 I did was about three times that.

Thanks for that, will recommend to Yanni along w/ all stainless steel fasteners.

said bridge clips. SLUK are the brand i like best.

Now that the easy bit is out the way, are you looking forward to the rebuild?

ABSOLUTELY! Team Pacemaker on YouTube has given me considerable encouragement, maybe too much.

While he makes it look easy during the build, he also documents all the ways he suffers miserably on the road, and I'm there for all of it.

Truly, as I said earlier, a man after my own heart.

I've got the cylinder cover off, and fan cover & carb. Now I want the fan/flywheel off and have removed to 4 Allen screws but I am stumped by the conical done in the center that looks held down by the fan OR the red glue where they meet.

I am still waiting for Sticky's manual, but my time left here is running short. Can somebody please give me a clue how this should come apart?

There's a wire circlip that's holding that cover on, probably lost in all the grime.

And when you finally get to it, the flywheel nut is REVERSE THREADED, so don't accidentally tighten it by mistake.

Not forgetting that you will need to twist that aluminium "dome" also to remove it

Thanks, Chandler. Said circlip likely broken or lost along the way. I got the nut off without much trouble and found a random circlip behind it. Now awaiting some of Dad's tools, pretty sure there's a FW puller or two there.

Yeah, there were multiple pullers in that picture you shared. Naturally, it's not the same size as any of the Vespas.

Wait till you see how the crank comes out....

Or how it goes back in....

Plenty of "eh?" moments first time you work on a Lambretta 😀

Well, with broken flywheel fins, it's now the perfect time to update the old points to 12v electronic ignition.

Update, just got a message from Yanni

Wow great photo and cool period accessories

I'm back in Greece and this Lambretta is back on the menu. Yanni is getting the frame & sheet metal blasted & primed while I get the motor back to build a test stand and begin disassembly. Fortunately we have a copy of Sticky's manual.on the way.