Modern Vespa

i pulled out the petrol tank for a good cleaning yesterday. i'm thinking of dropping some fuel in the fuel line for an attempt to start my little rat.

i've been told by members that it's either a '55 or earley 60's, i'm not sure. i'm really enjoying working on this machine. i own currently a 1969 xlh sportster, i'm building a 1956 "k" model flathead and wrenched on old harley's for years. i owned r-69-s series bmw and a few dirt bikes, but never a "vespa" until last week. soooo simple so far....

any advise before i fire this 250cc up would be apprecitated.

250cc?

I'm sure you know but just in case:
use 2% premixed fuel.


You can use the following link to find out exactly what you have:
http://www.scooterhelp.com/serial/ves.serial.numbers.html

Also, I'm pretty sure The Motorcycle Shop, in SA works on vintage Vespas if you need some local assistance.

before you fire up that 250 id go back to the seller hit him square on the nose and call him a tw@

i don't read code...tell me what you mean exactly.

Tw@ = twat. (assuming you've been mislead by the seller) If so, hopefully not maliciously.

To my knowledge there were no 250cc model Vespas back then. (Am I right in assuming it's a Vespa?. You have it in "quotes" on your original post.)

If I'm wrong, someone will correct me.

if you go to new topics under "id help", you can see pics that i have uploaded on my beauty.

Aha! I didn't think there was a 250. That's what was throwing us off in your original post.

Nice find by the way.

Also, after looking at the pictures, another piece of advice:

You may have removed it, or it may be missing but, there should be a plastic shroud surrounding the cylinder, attached to the fan/flywheel cover.

Don't run it for long with out the shoud installed. You'll burn up the engine really quick.

Yeah, no 250cc vintage vespas. That's a 125cc if it is the original motor.

+1 on the cylinder shroud. It's critical for directing cooling air from the flywheel fins over the cylinder.

thanks for everyones imput...