Modern Vespa

I bought this ET4 for my wife back last fall. It was abused a bit by the previous owner but since it is my wife's first scooter I figured we'd let her add some more dings to it before dressing it up. So it's been about 6 months now (we can ride year round here) and no new dents. Figured it's time to get started on the make-over.

Since this is the first Vespa I've torn down, I'll be shooting hundreds (literally) of photos so I can refer back to them when reassembly time comes.

Supposed to be sunny and warm tomorrow. I'll go riding in the morning and take this up again late in the day.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Sounds and looks like a great start to the project so far. and yes keep track of the bits and such. It is so easy to get things twisted around.. Any firm plans on color or colors? two tone, main color with several stripes??

im really enjoying this already, i look forward to all the updates

I like it. Keep the photos coming!

i love bodywork and paint threads.

I just became a member to this forum and I'm currently planning to attempt to paint my et2 this next week... pretty excited. I live in minnesota and the snow is finally melting! Time to get the scooter ready for summer!

Keep the pictures coming! I'm definitely going to be referring to this thread for help.
thanks
kyle

Regarding the question about the paint scheme... my wife is a "Hello Kitty" fanatic. So she wants a "Hello Kitty" theme. But not the usual bubble gum pink. She wants a base coat of gloss black. "Hello Kitty" faces on each side on over the rear wheel and one on the front. She wants the faces to be white outline with pink bows. And in the center of the bow, little skull faces. This is her scooter so she gets what she wants.

Got in a couple hours of work this afternoon before I ran out of time. I've got the fuel disconnected (discovered the petcock is stuck open all the time). Just need to disconnect the electrics from the engine, the throttle and brake cables, shock, pivot bolt, and the drive train should come out. I'll start with that next (probably tomorrow).

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

NICE JOB !! Hi Craig reminds me of my 1st ET4 rebuild , I too took lots of pics , good ref for not only you but anyone else who wants to do this but is worried it will be too hard . The one mod you need to finish it off is the "Euro" headlight , it makes a BIG difference to your lighting/visability I have one on my ET and it is amazing the output it gives and it looks good to ,
Good luck cant wait to see it finished , cheers Bill

Worked on this project for a couple more hours this afternoon.

See photos for today's progress…

At this point, I need to remove all the metal clips that various screws attached to and clean things up a bit. Then I'll take all the parts that need paint to the painter and let them do their work.

Probably won't be too many pictures for a while. At least until I get some painted parts back

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

THE RIMS!!! Why not do the rims while you're at it. That will really scream "CUSTOM JOB".
I vote for pink...
And that harness looks like some scary business goin' on.

Have fun

Tom

Thats a well clean frame. (No rust or dents.)

No rust is true. But there are lots of little dents (like door dings) on the left rear cowl and another dent on the leg shield. None will be hard to fix. The painter stopped by and picked up all the pieces yesterday. Should have it all back in my hands in 3 or 4 weeks to start the reassembly.

-Craig

Really loving this thread Craig, keep it coming, you are a brave man that appears to have some serious bike experience and therefore skill.

They look so small and vunerable when stripped down to the shell. Looks to be ready for stripping down and repainting. Any body work to be done? I could not tell if front right cowl was just the paint scratched off or if it dented it. From what I can see I don't think you will have any trouble sorting that out.
That scoot is just a little bit away from being a Hello Kitty marvel!

Just a little bit of body work. Nothing major. Yes, there is a small dent to accompany the scratch on the leg sheild. Most of the dents are in the right side rear wheel cowl. I suspect the previous owner is responsible for the door dings in the cowl. They are all very closely located. Must have been tight parking in the garage.

I removed all the covers from the engine yesterday. I need to throw them in the parts cleaner and let them soak for a few days to remove the caked on scrudge. Also removed the carb and disassembled it for a thorough cleaning. I'm debating whether I should throw in a new belt while I'm at it. The scoot only has 1400 miles on it, but the belt is original and 8 years old. Not sure how big a factor "dry rot" is. Any thoughts from those who've got experience?

-Craig

this has been so helpfull brilliant pictures thanks

Caschnd1
Rubber things, such as tires, balls, bushings, and even belts Dry Rot due to the natural rubber in them. Heat is the bad guy here, for it works to speed up the breakdown of the rubber in your tires and the belt. Try to flex the belt and if there are any cracks, then chuck the belt and re-build with a new one. With the belt being 8 years old you may want to just replace the belt anyway. Unless it had been treated with something when 1st installed, the years will make it brittle. Try bending it as sharply as you can by hand.. did it crack? With only 1400 miles on the belt, it is a shame to have to replace it but if the rubber is breaking down, and you use it then it will shread and could jam up the rear clutch, locking up the rear wheel. That could cause a crash. So since the scoot is for your wife, and I know I would not want to chance hurting mine in any way, it is well worth the new belt to know she will have another 6 to 12 thousand miles of use out of a new belt. I have over 10k on my LX150's belt and it is a 4 year old scoot. I opened things up and took a look at the belt, it had no signs of wear and had no cracks after 7k. The clutch pullies did not have any signs of slipage nor any residue on them so I left the belt in. I have put another 3 k on it and feel I have gotten full use out of it.

I'm not sure bending the belt sharply is a good idea unless I plan on tossing it. But then, I'm not familiar with scooter belts. The belts that are used on motorcycles are ruined if you bend them sharply (it tears the internal fibers even if you don't crack the rubber). And at $200 for a carbon fiber primary belt, that gets a little pricey. But I think your advice is solid about simply replacing it because of the age. I was leaning this way just because I tend to be conservative on these types of things. I'd rather shell out some $$ today then break down tomorrow or, as you mentioned, wreck the scoot because the belt jammed up in the pullies.

Today all I did was spend some time cleaning up the engine. Even with the low miles it had collected a lot of build-up of grim. It almost would seem like the previous owner rode in sand a lot. There was a lot of oily sand in the hard to reach places.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Boy, you can sure tell they don't use salt on the roads around there! No pitting on the aluminum castings. (Or maybe it was never ridden in the winter)

didn't look bad to begin with! will be keeping an eye on this one, i like these project threads.

Me too.

The scooter was definitely not "bad" to start. There were numerous little "dings" and LOTS of scratches (it's been thrown down the road on both sides). But most didn't penetrate down below the surface level of paint.

My past projects have been on antique Harleys and this is so much easier. I'm not dealing with 50+ years of grime build up. Also, there are no signs of previous "shade tree" mechanical work. With the old Harleys you typically have to deal with the problems caused by previous owners making poorly executed repairs.

I'm impressed with the way these scooters are put together. Easy to disassemble/assemble and very good quality too. Vespa has done a great job IMO.

-Craig

This project is still in the works. The painter is planning to shoot the base color (black) on Monday morning. After that, the graphics will be added and then several coats of clear to bury the graphics.

The painter (2nd Avenue Custom and Classic Scooter Painting in Phoenix) has been awesome about communicating the status. I get emails every couple of days as things progress. Yesterday he sent over a proof of the graphics. After making a few tweaks to the proof and sending it back, this is what we have:

There will be a "hello kitty" on the horn cover, one over each rear wheel cowl and one on the top case. Not too over the top since it's not all bubble gum pink

Most of the mechanical work is done. New drive belt and rollers, carb rebuild, adjusted the valves, etc. The only thing left is to clean up the front suspension and mount a new front tire. And of course reassemble the scooter once I have all the painted parts back.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Best experience I've ever had with a painter. I get regular photos and communication on status.

Since you've had such a great experience with the painter thus far, I can't wait to see the finished work and also, do you think he would be okay with you PMing me his info? I'd love to find out if he'd take stuff through the mail and what his rates are like.

What's the flame items in the background? Another scoot?

I know he'd be fine with me sending you his info. I'll send you a PM. This guy is super detail oriented (a great trait for a painter) so the cost of using him isn't going to be at the low end. But he's got a great resume having worked in the paint shop for Titan motorcycles and Dino's (a well known custom paint shop in the Phoenix area).

I'm not sure what the other items are in the background. The shape makes me think they are the lower cowls from a crotch rocket. And in another photo I see a trunk lid and hood from a Karmann Ghia.

-Craig

Hey thanks for the info! Just checked his site and he does total restos too...sheesh I can only imagine the $ that would run. But still, I have some airbrush/image work that I need done soon that the local "car" guys have no clue on how to do.

Keep us updated on your ET:D

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Starting to get some pics from the painter of the graphics. No clear has been laid down yet.

Awesome. Thank you for taking the time to do this!

Looking great, and love the skull bow!!!

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

The final graphics were added to the body of the scooter today. All that remains is the clear. That will be done next week. Should have the finished parts back to start reassembly by the first weekend in May.

Awesome job !!!

Nice, although I would like to see some pictures of your Karmann Ghia and beetle rebuild in the back of that room aswell!..

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Minor setback yesterday. The painter sent me these photos of the horn cover. While he was buffing out the clear the heat caused the original Vespa factory paint to release from the plastic. You can see he was able to peel all the paint from the plastic. The black stuck wonderfully to the original paint but it looks like the plastic wasn't preped very carefully. He'll need to re-black and then redo the graphics and clear on this part again.

EDIT: unfortunately the photos of the peeling paint on the horn cover have been lost.

The body of the scooter looks real nice after clear.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

All the painted parts were delivered today! It's always exciting to see new paint arrive. The black came out sooo nice. I laid out the small parts on some towels in the garage and put the body on the table lift so I could begin the reassembly process.

Also installed all the rubber boots in the body and the 15 or 20 clips that various bolts/screws attach to. I had taken lots of photos of the clips during disassembly so I would get all the clips back in the correct spots. I did my best not to mar the paint with the clips, but it's impossible to not do some amount of scratching. Luckily the way the clips work, it's all hidden.

That's enough for tonight. I'll pick it up again tomorrow.

Craig mate, really enjoying your thread, Et's looking fantastic.Keep it coming.

nice job

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Worked on the scooter for about 5 hours today. Got the drive train back in the bike along with the wiring harness, throttle and rear brake control cables, handle bars (but not all hooked up yet), rear rack, rear lights, battery box, and the breather "snorkle". Still need to hookup the bulk of the electronics, do some wire management behind the glove box, assemble the headset (gauges, handle bar controls, etc.) and a whole bunch of miscellanious tasks. But it's starting to look like a Vespa again.

EDITED 31-Jan-2026 to restore photos lost when PhotoBucket went to a pay model.

Ok, the repaint project is completed. The bike is back together and the test ride is completed. Here are some final pictures. This was a lot of fun!

That looks fantastic!!! Job well done!