Modern Vespa

You rarely see someone use the past pluperfect tense correctly.

Wonder how large the nut was.

when you are taking the case apart, take note of hard it is to take the nut off in the first place.

there is no way anything that connects directly to the aluminum case should be a b*&^h to get off. most peeps overtighten, id rather have a loose nut than a striped stud.

I don't know, loose nuts are sort of an everyday sort of thing, where stripes on a stud could be undesirable.

Or not, I guess.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/1351417093_5f0a9a92a2.jpg?v=0

Whatever

I firmly believe in the importance of hanging loose,
and exercise my sartorial prerogative in that regard at almost all times.

And while not averse to stripes, I've been thinking of having some flames inked in...

- Eric

Hm so I found that one of the nuts on the case-studs was stripped as well. Does anyone know where you can get an M7 sized nut without paying honkin online shipping for one little nut? Home Depot? None of the hardware stores nearby carry them! They skip from M6 to M8

The hardware store down the street from me has a whole drawer full of 'em - plated and stainless.

Worse comes to worse, I'd be happy to mail you what you need, but I'd bet there's a hardware store not too far from you that's got 'em.

Try the smaller places that have been around forever.
Don't bother with the places like Home Despot.

If the place is any good, they'll be able to tell you when you call on the phone.

But could just mail you one if you need me to.

- Eric

am i the only one that reads this thread title wrongly as

Dropped the P-engine - CARP!






yeah...probably the only one.

Just you.

not sure if you have this covered yet,

I cut a piece of plastic that wraps around the piston. then wrap it arond the piston to hold the rings in place. I use some cable ties to hold the plastic there. The plastic piece goes almost all the way around the diameter and is the height of the piston. Don't do the ties up to tight you want the plastic sleeve to be able to slide. Then slide the barrel down onto the piston so that it pushes the sleeve off as the piston goes in. Viola, it is in.
You will have to cut the cable ties from around the con-rod to bolt it all down.

I'm sure there are other ways, that's how I saw my old man do it.

Will

Or you could use one of these (available here):

Tangible enough progress has been made to report on!
https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic34746

My next step is to decoke the exhaust and remount the business. Whatcha guys think?

PS - Will and Eric, thanks for your advice! I actually managed fine without any sleeves or ring-compressors due to the taper at the entrance to the bore. I just rubbed some 2-stroke oil on the piston and rings as well as the opening to the bore and it was pretty smooth getting the piston in there. Funny how much harder it was on that wee moped...

** I should ask though, with the plug cinched in and everything, if I turn the flywheel to move the piston, as it reaches the peak resistance I hear some "hissing" or "breath" ~ does this indicate an air leak or is this normal?

Should be okay. Just compressed air escaping through the ring gap (probably...).

The two steel rings don't ACTUALLY seal the cylinder - they just kind-of seal it.

The final piece of the puzzle is time - the piston moves up to compress the mixture very quickly, then is pushed back down by the burning gasses even faster. In the milliseconds involved, there is no time for the mixture to hiss through the gap, and it acts like it is sealed much more thoroughly than it would seem to be when you slowly push it up by hand.

- Eric

I thought that might be the case, but wanted to make sure. It would be a shame to have an air leak with a brand new cylinder, piston, and rings
I'm getting pumped to get the scoot put together again!

I might need to take you up on this
I kid you not, all the hardware stores I have gone to skip from M6 to M8. I have no idea why. Maybe that size is illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for promoting inappropriate "nut" innuendos or something

Yeah. Taxachsetts is famous for making things illegal.

But it's okay - you can always move to New Hamster, where you can Live, Freeze, and Die.
Or, come to Maine - says right on the sign: "If you lived here, you'd be home by now!"
Just stay away from Vermont - they're just weird there (It's the "West Coast of New England").

Just make me a list - type, size, material - and I'll go on by, then send it right over. I'll send you the receipt, because, of course, the per-item costs for just a few fasteners are always higher than you'd think they should be, but I'd bet they're cheaper than the online sales price.
I stop by the hardware store for fasteners nearly every day sometimes (was there yesterday and today), so they're used to me.

- Eric

Hey I grew up in VT and I turned out normal except for the whole "being a scooter nut" thing!

I really appreciate it though, I'll make a list so I don't have to worry about coming across any other buggers and PM you.

Okay.

But ponder this:

Whenever one is engaged in conversation with a person from Vermont (and to a much greater degree if one is actually situated in Vermont), one needs to consciously choose which of two possible meanings is being assigned to the word "Vermont" every time it is used.

1. Vermont: a geographic location
2. Vermont: an amorphous concept which concatenates ideas about ideals of interpersonal relations, relations with the natural environment, and personal freedom, and which has a distinct meaning in the mind of the Vermontah, but may be difficult for the listener to fully understand.

- Eric

ps: choose a bumpah stickah:

"Take Back Vermont!"
"Take Vermont Forward!"

Indeed the spirit of the state is... unique and complex. It's not just the "den of hippies" that people from other states (at least outside New England) tend to believe, but rather a very strange melding of traditional and progressive ideals... coupled with a little dirty tree love 8) Still see those signs on barns whenever I make it up that way

One of my friends who obviously is NOT from VT loves the joke:
Why is New Hampshire so windy?
... 'cause Maine sucks and Vermont blows.


My mother actually just moved to Maine a few months ago, she lives in Hallowell and works at the state house. I was just up there last weekend (too bad I didn't think to pick a nut up for myself while I was there...).

Thanks for the help with the nut! The other ones all have good threads, funny enough.

I UNdropped the P engine today

Bravo!

So... can't mount the exhaust on the new cylinder if I can't get this off the old one. Any tips? I've WD-40d the hell out of it. It screws into the cylinder, right?

Yes...it screws in.

I'd use a lot of heat ...propane torch.

I just tried to wedge a flathead in the notches and did nothing but make the notches slightly larger. Screw it, a new flange is $25.

This thread needs more hot man-on-carp love.

Some would say they prefer a little catfish scrambln' YEEHAWWW!!!

Those are some fine lookin fish 8)

I borrowed a 3 foot long pipe wrench from a friend. If that doesn't do it, or screws the flange up then I'll buy a new one. But if it doesn't do it I'll also be surprised.

Heat it with propane torch
Cool it with some wd40 type stuff
heat it again

Put the pipe wrench on. Get some tension on it.

Then wack the end of the pipe wrench sharply downward with a heavy hammer. A sudden jolt rather than constant pressure will break it loose.

Once off. Jump up and down run around shouting.

Respect my authoritaiiii

I've had good luck using a notched suspension spanner, or the Vespa headset bearing tool on these as well... if you happen to have access to any tools like that.

I'm with Rover Eric on the heat suggestion, in addition to leverage, and, possibly, sharp impact.

Only problem is that the cylinder was designed to radiate heat very quickly and efficiently, so you need to put A LOT of heat into it to get enough to stick around the exhaust threads. Propane may do it. MAPP would probably be better. I'd be tempted to use oxy / MAPP or oxy / acet., but then you've got to get it just right - you could melt something or screw up the temper if you make it too hot.

- Eric

Well, my plan worked
WD-40 and a massive pipe-wrench later, I saved myself $30 and a further delay waiting for a new exhaust flange.

I would not recommend this approach to someone intending to re-use the cylinder

There is no substitute for brute force.

I like your high-tech cylinder retainer.

You followed the blueprints in the factory manual exactly.



- Eric

It was also 90 deg. Today your a sturdy New Englander... 8)

*grunts in a manly and accomplished fashion* 8)

It's ALIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Rode him around 5 minutes ago. Everything seems great. After replacing the dead battery, blown fuse, and a 3 dollar flasher unit his signals work great as well. Pump those tires up good and I'm gonna go get him inspected!

He still needs a couple small patches of paint to be refinished as you can see, and I haven't even cleaned off my greasy hand prints and such from working on him, but here is a picture... i just couldn't resist

Better pics of the finished product will come eventually

is the fan shroud white!

i love that color combo

The fan shroud is indeed white. It could be touched up some, but I probably won't mess with it for now.

Thanks! My girlfriend deserves some of the credit for the color scheme. I had toyed with a number of colors and rich red was her vote. I'm really proud of how it came out!

I just got back from a good 20 minute ride - shifting it sure is tiring for extended periods. But the clutch lever is nice and smooth at least

glad u finally finished ur work and have a ride seem al good work paid well 8)

Great!
Time to ride. its a real nice time of year around here to.

Just wondering if you premixed the first gas or did you prime with the auto lube?