Modern Vespa

Hi Everyone, new to the board here, just got my ET2 out of a long storage (I didn't have a place to garage it at home).

Anyone else have the injected model ET2? Does anyone know how many of those were made?
Mine is (I think) a 1997 model, Italian market version(30mph flat out top speed). I got it almost new, from a company that had imported it because they were thinking of licencing the fuel system patents. Eventually they were cleaning out the warehouse, and I got the winning bid on it. Mine is a bit different from the normal American ET2's I've seen(mostly lights and reflectors), but I havn't compared them side by side yet. I'll try to post some pictures. I'm thinking of adding chrome mirrors, and maybe fenders., and a 2-tone paint job to liven up the somber black a bit , provide more visibility, and cover up a few scrapes from the time I got run off the side of the road by a sugarbeet truck.

Eric in Milwaukee

Welcome!

I've never heard of such a thing. It's very cool - also very surprising since injection wasn't used on mass-market vespas for almost another 10 years. What's the gas mileage like on it? You should de-restrict it to keep up with the US-Spec ET2s!

Pics!

The injection system is interesting, it's not your regular direct-injected 2-stroke. The ET2 injection uses a 2-barrel carburetor, with one barrel only metering air into the crankcase for scavenging. The 2nd barrel is only 4mm diameter, and meters a very rich fuel/air mix that gets pumped or "injected" into the cylinder by a small extra piston after the main piston has moved up to cover the exhaust ports.
The extra intake pumping piston is in the head of the engine, driven by its own small crankshaft, driven by a toothed belt to keep the proper timing relationship to the main crankshaft. I think Piaggio was anticipating that emissions regulations would get tightened up a lot for the smaller bikes, and developed this to meet them. In the end, I think the 50cc emissions regs were not so strict, and they were able to meet them with a more conventional engine for a few more years before going to 4-stokes so few of these were made. If you google "et2 injection" you can find some old tech articles about it.

Eric in Milwaukee

In our Vespa bible at work it talks about the first ever fuel inject 50cc scooter, the ET2 but I always had some doubt in my mind. That is so cool that you have one. Have you run it against a carbed one? Id be curious to know the performance differences? That is of course once you derestrict it?

Congrats on having such a rare bike.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=et2+injection

I've never had the chance to compare it to a US spec carbed ET2, but I imagine it wouldn't be much different, except mine is limited to 30mph and 2.0 hp (italian market version) Italy has strict regs for the smaller bikes, because 14 year olds without a licence can ride them, or so I was told. The main advantage is that it be registered as a moped in MI and WI, and most other states, since it doesn't go over 30mph. I'd love to get a little more speed out of it if possible. Anyone know how they restricted these and how to modify it?

The main difference is much better gas mileage, since it doesnt loose any fuel out the exhaust ports like a normal 2-stoke does, and lower emissions. It sounds like a 2-stoke, but doesn't smell like one, and no blue smoke. Also there is no gasoline washing the oil off the bearings in the crankcase.

Wow, that's quite the unusual bike you have there... that injection system sounds fascinating, almost Rube-Goldberg-esque! Be careful when getting a title and registration though, because it's not a US-spec model that isn't DOT or EPA compliant, regardless of the fact that it's more fuel efficient and cleaner than the ET2's that they allowed to be sold here. Hopefully the WI DMV won't care or even know the difference, but you should probably offer as little information as possible and just say "I got this moped here and I wanna register it so's I can ride it". Good luck and congrats on your rare find (for the US anyway)!