Modern Vespa

Hi guys,
Would anyone in So Cal be willing to help walk me through a valve adjustment for my GT? Literally just stand there and say " Good Job " or " Your doing it all wrong man " . Offering compensation through night out of dinner, beer, and possibly farm animals if your lucky.. I'm confident I can do it myself but maybe not correctly my 1st time.

I also can trade my IT services for anyone who helps!

Thanks,
Niko

Do you have a webcam?

Unfortunately no, never needed one.

Well, then I can't monitor you remotely. Sorry.

valve-adjustment isn't really all that necessary - many a modern vespa has lived it's life without a valve-adjustment.

+1. my boyfriend has just taken his 25,000 mile, 11-year-old ET4 to the mechanic for a valve adjustment and he could have done without it.

are you absolutely certain that there's a problem with the valves? if you are, then please ignore what i've just written and good luck in your search for someone to supervise. if not, and/or if you're just adjusting the valves as part of regular maintenance, it may not be necessary.

if you go to technical library there is a good posting on how to adjust valves gt200.

On the Leader engines it's well worth checking the valve clearances soon after the engine's broken in. In all likelyhood they'll be fine, and if they do need adjusting they'll stay fine after the initial wear. However these engines seem prone to the valves getting tighter from brand-new, and this can cause starting and cool-running stalling problems.

I've not had the valves adjusted on either the Fuoco or the GP800 yet - I'd be expecting to to that at 30,000 miles or thereabouts.

For just over an hour's work, (less if you get good ) it's a great idea to do a valve adjust when recommended. Just because many bikes run without the adjustments, doesn't mean forgoing them doesn't cause excessive wear. That's like saying smoking isn't bad for you because you have an 85 year old uncle who smokes every day. Ask UFO how often he gets his MP3 valves adjusted. Another benefit is to verify the condition of the head components. We had a customer yesterday who religiously services his gts. He only had 8k on the clock, but during a routine valve adjustment, we found a defect in the cam. Had it gone unchecked, it could have caused much more damage. Just my $.02

I'm confused Drew; the workshop manual suggests the first adjustment/check at 12,000 miles. Did I miss something?

Harvey

The manual for the GT200 states 6,000km, 18,000km and 18,000km intervals thereafter. (4000, 12,000 miles) What Drew and I are suggesting is that it's as well to do that first check soon after the engine has been broken in rather than wait, especially on the smaller capacity engines.

I wished I lived near you, I would be glad to help. I've done it on my old GT and for a friend with a BV250. It's really not that bad. Give it a shot. In my case, the GT was a little tight on the clearance on the exhaust as I recall.

fullerton has a vespa shop also if you can't do it yourself.

On the bv did you have to remove the body?

Bob

It's been a while now but as I recall no. We just dropped the shocks and jacked it up to allow room from the top under the pet container like on my GT. Don't hold me to that though, as I said it's been a while back now.

Thanks

Here is a really good post by Cheeky Thomas on the UK GTS forum with loads of pictures. The principle is exactly the same!

http://www.gtsownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=257&start=0&hilit=clearances

So when I took it in to replace the clutch, the mechanic told me I need a valve adjustment bad and that it would cost 3 hours of labor but he can do it in 2. I have a feeling I was just told this so he can make some money. On the other hand i'm not sure if the valve adjustment was done at the first interval as i'm not the original owner. How can you tell if you need a valve adjustment other than taking apart and checking the clearance?

is there noise from the valves?

is it running poorly? are you losing power at high speed? is it difficult to start (having ruled out any problems with battery, spark plug, or electrical system)?

No problems that I can tell. They even told me when I left that it sounds just fine. I got the spedo up to 83MPH today so I'm guessing that's full power.

Then don't bother right now. If you have a pleasant day and can follow cheekythomas's instructions - DIY if and when you want to.

if it were my scooter, unless it was running badly, or i was advised by someone i trusted that it was time for a valve adjustment, then i wouldn't touch them. can you can get a second opinion somewhere?

That alone sounds as fishy as it gets. Crook!

Sadly there seem to be too many gouging scammy b'stards in the business.

Exactly. He'll do exactly zero hours of labour but will charge you for two.

Yeah I figured as much, he was hoping I was not mechanically inclined and say " OK " to everything. Even told me I need a new clutch bell and it costs $100. Hung up with him and called a couple dealers, MSRP is $28, all the telltale signs of scummers.

This place came highly recommended from MV. It was scootershop.com

try mossimo in costa mesa