Modern Vespa

The glovebox put up a struggle to the very last.

At this point I thought that I had it licked as there was only one more part to fit which was the right lower sill end cap which unfortunately was missed from the last batch of parts to go through the paintshop. To celebrate a (nearly) finished project, I cleaned up the garage and laid down an old carpet on the floor to park the bike on.

Fantastic work! It was fun I am sure. I sure enjoyed my overhaul too. I had thought of yellow, orange, blue, green and white for my colors. Finally choose the white. But I am still not 100% happy with it. Next overhaul, it will be stripped and redone again.

Looks great, top quality rebuild... better than a bought one
- how did the test ride go ?

Thanks for sharing your pictures and notes, it's good to see the inner workings of another scooter.. the frame and rear suspension in particular on the GTS, it's very nice.. and the battery is in the right spot, unlike the LX..

I always wondered about airflow with a liquid cooled Vespa.. I guess it's enough because clearly it works.... just looks really restrictive ..

great project, nice work. congratulations with finished. i'l be wating new projrcts.
Great project. Excellent work. Congrat on the termination and I will wait for following projects.

Congrats! a superb outcome. Must say.... a PM pipe would look rather nice....

Enjoy!

Thanks for everyone's kind words, it is really appreciated & has been a constant source of motivation to get on with the job when there are a zillion other things I could be getting on with.

The job's not quite finished, there will be a couple of updates to come and I also promise to take better photos with my camera as soon as the sun shines again in Cheshire.

On my immediate to do list are:
1. Balance tyres (will make my own static balance bar - watch out for details)
2. Fit rh sill end trim (when it is painted)
3. MOT & road tax

Followed by:
4. Decals
5. New matching tyres (plan to design & make a simple DIY bead breaker)
6. Photo session
7. Roadtrip

Absolutely gorgeous.*
I'm drooling over here. Love that color. Love it. GTV would look good in that color as well.

*except for the tan seat which your GT desperately wants to be black

Would you believe that the sun was shining in Cheshire today? I ended up outside at lunchtime talking to a customer about his car and it suddenly struck me because it was so warm it would be ideal to sneak out of work and take the GT(S) for an MOT. Managed to book it in at 3.00pm & aside from slight corrosion on one of the front indicator connections it flew through the test. Whoopee!

The test centre was around the corner from work so I dropped in there to show the boys what I had been up to for the last few months and I'm pleased to say even the sceptics amongst them liked the colour in the flesh which they did not when just looking at the painted parts.

I managed to take a couple of shots of the Vespa brightening up our workshop which also shows what I normally get to play with in the daytime:

Doniq - You asked how the test drive went?

Well, it's been a long time since I had ridden a bike or scooter and even though the trip to the MOT station was only around 5 miles it brought back all the reasons why I wanted to get back on 2 wheels. I had simply forgotten the pleasure of feeling the balance flow from one side to the other when gently swinging the bike into and out of curves so it was a revelation to get the GT(S) up to cruising speed and just "go with the flow". I love it. OK, it's not fast & it's never going to burn rubber, but who cares?

Then I set off, looking forward to the drive home for a change ......


.....and 400yds from the garage the engine died! I immediately suspected fuel starvation so I pushed it back to the unit, ran a few vacuum tests and found a faulty fuel pump that had an air leak. RATS!!! I tried bypassing the pump with a pipe but for some reason the carb must not like gravity feed because I could not get it started afterwards, hence I'm going to have to order a new pump and fuel tap in the morning. Bugger.

Picture in the sunshine now posted in the Gallery:

Porsche Continental Orange Grantourismo "S"

I like this color very cool.......

New fuel pump arrived yesterday, fitted it last night and engine burst back into life. Cool.

Now, since it was at the workshop it would have been a shame to waste the visit, hence whilst our painter Phil was finish painting the missing RH sill end trim I also had him lay some orange paint onto the two top inner legshield covers. I like the contrast of the black details on the GT-S but thought that these covers simply stood out too much and totally unbalanced the colour of the seat.

So, what do you all think? Was it a good idea?

good call on the legshield covers,looks the mutt`s nuts m8.
be nice to see it in the flesh if your out & about on the rallies.
next one for me is Bridlington national. 8)

You'll have to make allowances as I am a complete newby to the scooter scene and have not even thought about us going to a rally.... but never say never, eh? As for Cheshire to Bridlington on a 125 - I don't think my old bones would take it - but I could always throw it into the back of the race motorhome.

The GT-S will be on display tomorrow though at the Porsche Club regional concours at Arley Hall in Cheshire, we'll be there with a display of cars from 10am so in case anyone from the NW is reading this, please feel free to call in search me out.

well if you ever do want to go to a rally, youve got the most comfortable rally going machine there is! i took my GT125 to Mersea scooter rally a few weeks ago, 130 miles and 6 hours to get there (coz of Lammies breaking down on the way ), only took 3 an a half hours to get home with a clear run and no breakdowns you have to try one mate, im sure you'll love it! best find a local club first! so you can make new friends and go on ride outs if you want to find your feet on the scoot

OK Spud & Robbo, thanks for the encouragement, I guess it would be rude not to make the effort to find a few new friends. Cheers!

Wow, great work. I am definitely diggin' the color scheme. Beautiful.

Details, details, details....

I mentioned in an earlier post that the new exhaust silencer had a slightly damaged tailpipe which is obviously why I only paid half retail price for it, not a big deal though as I intended to replace it with a rolled end stainless steel tailpipe in the style of an early 911. The only problem was where I could get a 32mm rolled end pipe from??

Anyway, roll forward to lunchtime today and as I'm eating my chilli & nan whilst looking through the MV Gallery, I get a lightbulb moment whilst looking at the chrome tailpipe on a new GTS silencer. Without a moment to spare, I legged downstairs into the machineshop and powered up the lathe....

Looking fantastic!

When does the black seat arrive?

Looks absolutely stunning - sterling work!

I agree wholeheartedly with your first page comments about vehicle colour, and your eventual choice looks lovely.

Your work on this scoot is simply amazing. If I could describe this bike in one word it would be "flawless".

Mad props, keep it up!

Thanks Meek, glad you like it.

Other people seem to agree as it attracts attention wherever it goes!

Fitted a new pair of Michelin City Grips today before riding the GT-S home from the garage (see DIY balancer thread for details). What a revelation!! All the strange handling traits have gone and the Vespa now seems to have almost telepathic steering as well as a super smooth ride quality. Well pleased!

Gave it a quick polish & took a couple of photos to celebrate:

Wow - what a fantastic project - it was quite educational to see this project step by step.

Cool project I like it !!! You need to add a "Carrera" logo black stripe on the bottom of the side panels ! (this will change from the GTS "Super Sport" logo stripe)
Next color ? Why not a Blue Audi RS ?

Wow what an amazing project - almost makes me embarrassed about mine. Congrats on a beaty!!

Definitely need to emulate the gt stripes down the sides in matte black to finish it off though!

Note to self - must get lathe, milling machine and stay booth.

I have to say it's a very nice job you did here :p congrats !

Love the colour, amazing result.

Just out of curiosity if u were offering this as a service how much might u charge?

Thanks for the thumbs ups guys, it is really appreciated.

If I remember correctly Major-Jump I priced up the commercial rebuild costs on the thread of the build of my replacement GT250RS (see GT250RS - it's all white now. ) and it came in at £4000 plus the cost of the donor GTS.

Why Piaggio don't take inspiration from your color range ?
Really racing theme ... Orange or this white & orange rims I like them both !

Hello
You should be proud! Lovely!
Where did you get the seat from on your white scoot please?

I've noticed on one of the earlier pictures that you're riding Sava's and I wanted to ask you how do you like them, but later on you've replied (without me asking) when you installed Michelin's.
That's next on my list, new set of Michelin's.

P.S.
I miss the orange, just the wheels are not enough

One of the best projects in MV very detailled and informative for all of us!Congradulations and many many thanks!!

Nice project!!

Gr. Jim

Looks fabulous whereabouts in Cheshire are you just in case I ever want a respray, I live in Alderley edge

Mark

If you don't mind me asking how many hours do you think ou have in tear down and rebuild?

I'd like to know how long it took you to put it al back together too! Respect for the job you did! Those modern bike have an enormous amount of parts and the electrical looks like a daunting task! I dig seeing pics of good machine tools in use and it looks like you needed them and uses 'em to good effect!
Very nice, tidyjob you've done for sure!
Cheers

Well it's been a half year since Mr 'meister posted, I hope he isn't bored with scooters already. Of course it really IS winter where he is.

I never thought I'd be hanging on like that, looking for next progress on a modern CVT Vespa, but this man's resources & own abilities were a tour de force anyone can enjoy. I probably wouldn't even have looked if I hadn't seen that another shifty guy posted here & now I see why he did(tnx V).

But I REALLY posted up here to ask Mr 'meister if he's considered getting an older, 'classic' Vespa and doing what he did here to it? I would enjoy that a LOT and so would Mr 'meister, I believe.
( And do you prefer your Porsche with an automatic? )

awesome job. didnt like the color till you took these pics.