Whew, it is finally back on the road! A big thanks goes out to Starr, a local lambretta rider, who really made this possible. I am not sure I could have worked out all the mistakes and fixed them without her. Here's a video of the results. I am jump starting it because I broke the kick start lever.
So a few more things I would tell you about getting everything back together before I forget.
1. Make sure to put the muffler mounting bolt on the engine BEFORE you put the engine back on the frame. You want the bolt head on the front tire side. You will not have enough room under there if you don't do this ahead of time. And you want to be sure you can tighten the nut onto the bolt so it needs to be on the rear wheel side.
2. Make sure you keep track of all the adjusters for the cables. Some how I lost my accelerator cable adjuster and I had to order a new one. It is bigger than the rest of them on the 150 super.
3. Use every one of those nipple things that come with the cables. They go on top of the outer sheath of the cables and help to keep the throttle cable, gear cables, and clutch cable from falling out of alignment and wrecking havoc on your adjustments and the cables actually working. The nipples go on the top end at the headset.
4. When installing the clutch cable, make sure the speedometer is off and you get a better angle for most of it and then you can chase the wire into the tube.
5. The clutch and rear brake cable are a pain in the ass to install, make sure you are pushing the levers forward on them when you are tightening the nuts that hold the cables in place. Very helpful to have a friend.
6. The gear selector box. This took a while to figure out but when we did it made sense. You need to tighten up the cables, but don't go crazy. Snug was good. Then when the cables are tightened on the box, shift PAST fourth, I mean as far as you possibly can. Again two people is almost essential. The person shifting has to watch the cables on the shifting tube because they can easily slip out of the shifting tube when they are going that far past fourth. The person in back may need to help the selector box "jump" past the notch on the selector box. When you are way past fourth you can go ahead and start pushing it down on the studs. Make sure you pack it with grease. Starr also used a small screwdriver to help the selector rod get onto the gear selector. That should do it. Try it out.
7. I completely forgot about this, when you put the fuel tap switch on, go ahead and put it on the tank first and then you can actually get it out the hole on the frame. Otherwise you are trying to fish around in there to get the switch on, but you don't need to do it that way.
8. I had to go back to my old wiring diagram and what I learned for the super was that position 3 and 10 on the ignition switch need to be jumped together for power to get to all devices. You can't just go to one or the other.
9. Don't tighten the screws that hold the front brake and clutch levers on to the handles or you will limit their action.
I think that was really it. I had also sorts of crazy adventures figuring all this out. I was on my way for a celebratory beer the first time I got it running and everything connected when the clutch gave out. It was around 8:30 so getting dark. Starr comes over to rescue me and it takes us a while to figure out that I had forgotten the nipple on the cable sheath and by then we had destroyed the cable trying to figure out the adjustments and why it wasn't working and that wasn't even the problem. Luckily I had my old inner cable and we managed to make it work but by then it was raining and 11 pm.
Then today when we were going to Durham (about an hour ride) my bike siezed up because I have the wrong jet in there and it was running with too much oxygen and got really hot. I was going about 55 mph in the middle of three lanes with busy traffic. Pulled in the clutch right as the rear wheel was locking and avoided complete disaster. Managed to pull over and then went and got Starr's truck and came back to save her. Luckily we were headed to the local incriminator's meeting and they were having a tech session so we took it over there and they diagnosed the problems and I am ordering new jets.
Whew! It feels really good though and from here I just have some minor issues. A small gas leak out of the fuel tap, some jetting issues, and the kick start. At this point that works for me.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Almost there!
Well a lot has happened! I got the body and assorted parts back from the painter on thursday and pretty much since then I have been full throttle getting her back together. Sorry if I didn't really take pictures of the putting back together but I was really really focused on finishing it up as quickly as possible.
Here's some pics for your enjoyment, ok mostly mine:
So as you can see I have it all put back together except the mounting of the engine. Ever since the flywheel nut disaster I've had some problems getting the engine back together. Mostly the damn clutch nut keeps stripping. I'm waiting on a new one from Dave at scootermercato.com so I can put it all back together again and install it on this beauty.
Here's what I learned from putting this thing back together.
1. When installing the legshield trim use masking tape (or painter's tape) to cover up the new paint job, otherwise you will end up with some good scratches like I did, that now need to be touched up.
2. The leg shield trim is not that hard to do, just follow the instructions in the shop manuals. Although I couldn't find one specific to the 150 Super I did read the one for the PX which was very useful for all sorts of maintanence questions. An absolute must read.
3. When installing the wiring, I had three bundles of three wires each which made it much easier. Make sure to install two of the bundles on the throttle side of the headset. The clutch side is rather congested with 2 gear cables and the clutch cable. I made it work on that side with two bundles but it wasn't worth the hassle. I was too far along to change it.
4. Give yourself tons of extra wire! I had to solder on some lenghts to the headset to reach the ignition switch terminals. Not a big deal but a little bit of a hassle.
5. Tell your paint guy to cover up half of the rear brake pedal arm. Also tell him to cover up the headset pieces for the front fork.
6. Go ahead and install the clutch and throttle tubes on the headset first before installing the headset on the body. Make sure you have the tubes on there facing the right direction. Not a big deal on the clutch side because it's obvious but on the throttle side it is easy to get the holes for the cables on the wrong side.
Otherwise everything else was real straight forward for me and I really didn't have any major problems putting it all back together. Now for the engine and too see if my electic system works. Yikes.
Here's some pics for your enjoyment, ok mostly mine:
So as you can see I have it all put back together except the mounting of the engine. Ever since the flywheel nut disaster I've had some problems getting the engine back together. Mostly the damn clutch nut keeps stripping. I'm waiting on a new one from Dave at scootermercato.com so I can put it all back together again and install it on this beauty.
Here's what I learned from putting this thing back together.
1. When installing the legshield trim use masking tape (or painter's tape) to cover up the new paint job, otherwise you will end up with some good scratches like I did, that now need to be touched up.
2. The leg shield trim is not that hard to do, just follow the instructions in the shop manuals. Although I couldn't find one specific to the 150 Super I did read the one for the PX which was very useful for all sorts of maintanence questions. An absolute must read.
3. When installing the wiring, I had three bundles of three wires each which made it much easier. Make sure to install two of the bundles on the throttle side of the headset. The clutch side is rather congested with 2 gear cables and the clutch cable. I made it work on that side with two bundles but it wasn't worth the hassle. I was too far along to change it.
4. Give yourself tons of extra wire! I had to solder on some lenghts to the headset to reach the ignition switch terminals. Not a big deal but a little bit of a hassle.
5. Tell your paint guy to cover up half of the rear brake pedal arm. Also tell him to cover up the headset pieces for the front fork.
6. Go ahead and install the clutch and throttle tubes on the headset first before installing the headset on the body. Make sure you have the tubes on there facing the right direction. Not a big deal on the clutch side because it's obvious but on the throttle side it is easy to get the holes for the cables on the wrong side.
Otherwise everything else was real straight forward for me and I really didn't have any major problems putting it all back together. Now for the engine and too see if my electic system works. Yikes.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
It's alive!!!!!
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't fucking believe it. I decided to go ahead and try to start my engine today. She started up first kick!
Here's how I did it while still on the stand. Installed the muffler, otherwise things would be pretty damn loud and smokey. Second, I fitted a barb fitting on the gas line (tank side) and another adaptor to give me a bigger opening. I am going to fit this to a big plastic cup or small bucket later so I can have more fuel. I hooked up my old choke cable and throttle cable so I could pull on those. In the video above you can see the gas in a plastic jar There is a barb with O-rings and a "nut" on the bottom of that jar. The barb fit perfectly in between the holes on that table so I was able to feed the gas and leave the jar on the table.
For the electrics I have the 5 wire euro stator. The blue is power for the lights so I just capped that with black tape. Don't need it. Took the black wire and grounded that to one of my engine stand posts. Took the red, white, and green wires and connected those to their respective positions on the CDI. I did not bother with the remaining green wire on the CDI because that is just a kill switch connected to your ignition switch.
That was literally it. Poured some gas into the fuel line. You may want to turn the stator or pull down on the kickstand as that will cause the compression in the engine to pull down some fuel into the crankshaft. Pulled on the choke cable and held it in place with a fourth hand tool and then just stepped on the kick start. Started right up! I thought I was having problems with the flywheel and stator but apparently not. I had a strobe and degree wheel all ready to fix things but I didn't need to do any of that. I didn't pull on the throttle really until I was fired up. Throttled her up and down a bit just to see how she revs and she sounded wonderful.
btw I modified the engine stand and I think the modifications are much better than the original stand and should be almost the same costs. I'll post pics later and instructions.
If you look closely at my old engine stand you will see that it had 3 T's. Two tee's up front and one in back. I used to have a 1/2" threaded rod holding up the front end that was passed through those rods. Problem was the T's didn't allow for the piston chamber to come on and off while on the stand. I had to pass the rod through every time and hold up the engine. Kind of a pain in the ass.
The t in back didn't make me happy because you had the back part of the engine resting on a bolt that was under lots of stress. The position of the T also hit my rear hub and would interfere with a spinning drum. So I wanted to create a mount that looked like the rear shock mount but in reverse.
Here are the changes that I made.
I bought 3 pipe reducer couplings. Going from 3/4" to 1/2". These replaced the T's. and now the posts are UNDER the engine and not on the side of the mounts. Next I found in the lumber yard an A24 angle and bought two of those. This would be for the rear mount. In the electrical section I found 2" conduit support. They have a specific name and they are hard to find. Lowe's had them inside the store but not on their website. I'll look at my receipts when I get home and give you a specific item number. What it looks like is a 2" clamp with one side having bolts. On the bottom is a lag head screw that actually will unscrew from the assembly. This is important.
For the rear support I took the angles and found a 1 1/2" long 3/8" bolt and nut. Put the bolt through the angles, put the nut into the reducer coupling and then tightened up the nut and bolt. The reducer coupling acts as a fairly good washer and I was able to get it it nice and tight. You will need to measure your mounting holes on the engine because you will have to drill a 3/8" hole into the angles for your support bolt to go through. Once you figure that out all you do is mount the coupling on your steel tube. The reducer coupling gives you more height so I would use an 8" post in the back instead of the 10". They way I built mine, all I did was remove the mounting block that I had used before and I got rid of a couple of inches.
The front end was a little easier, mostly you just have to move your posts to go under the engine as opposed to on the sides. Take the conduit clamps and remove the lags head screw. You need two carriage 1/2" bolts about 2" long with nuts and a washer. Put the carriage screw through the opening where the lag head screw used to be, and feed it into the reducer. Put the washer and the nut on the bolt and tighten everything up. Then just figure out the placement under the engine and reset your screws.
The advantages of this are that now when you mount the engine you can just rest it on the c-clamps. No need to be trying to hold the engine and feeding the rod through, a real pain in the ass both while taking the engine on and off for various reasons. No interference with the piston or the rear drum.
Now to install the engine on the body and work out the electrics.
Here's how I did it while still on the stand. Installed the muffler, otherwise things would be pretty damn loud and smokey. Second, I fitted a barb fitting on the gas line (tank side) and another adaptor to give me a bigger opening. I am going to fit this to a big plastic cup or small bucket later so I can have more fuel. I hooked up my old choke cable and throttle cable so I could pull on those. In the video above you can see the gas in a plastic jar There is a barb with O-rings and a "nut" on the bottom of that jar. The barb fit perfectly in between the holes on that table so I was able to feed the gas and leave the jar on the table.
For the electrics I have the 5 wire euro stator. The blue is power for the lights so I just capped that with black tape. Don't need it. Took the black wire and grounded that to one of my engine stand posts. Took the red, white, and green wires and connected those to their respective positions on the CDI. I did not bother with the remaining green wire on the CDI because that is just a kill switch connected to your ignition switch.
That was literally it. Poured some gas into the fuel line. You may want to turn the stator or pull down on the kickstand as that will cause the compression in the engine to pull down some fuel into the crankshaft. Pulled on the choke cable and held it in place with a fourth hand tool and then just stepped on the kick start. Started right up! I thought I was having problems with the flywheel and stator but apparently not. I had a strobe and degree wheel all ready to fix things but I didn't need to do any of that. I didn't pull on the throttle really until I was fired up. Throttled her up and down a bit just to see how she revs and she sounded wonderful.
btw I modified the engine stand and I think the modifications are much better than the original stand and should be almost the same costs. I'll post pics later and instructions.
If you look closely at my old engine stand you will see that it had 3 T's. Two tee's up front and one in back. I used to have a 1/2" threaded rod holding up the front end that was passed through those rods. Problem was the T's didn't allow for the piston chamber to come on and off while on the stand. I had to pass the rod through every time and hold up the engine. Kind of a pain in the ass.
The t in back didn't make me happy because you had the back part of the engine resting on a bolt that was under lots of stress. The position of the T also hit my rear hub and would interfere with a spinning drum. So I wanted to create a mount that looked like the rear shock mount but in reverse.
Here are the changes that I made.
I bought 3 pipe reducer couplings. Going from 3/4" to 1/2". These replaced the T's. and now the posts are UNDER the engine and not on the side of the mounts. Next I found in the lumber yard an A24 angle and bought two of those. This would be for the rear mount. In the electrical section I found 2" conduit support. They have a specific name and they are hard to find. Lowe's had them inside the store but not on their website. I'll look at my receipts when I get home and give you a specific item number. What it looks like is a 2" clamp with one side having bolts. On the bottom is a lag head screw that actually will unscrew from the assembly. This is important.
For the rear support I took the angles and found a 1 1/2" long 3/8" bolt and nut. Put the bolt through the angles, put the nut into the reducer coupling and then tightened up the nut and bolt. The reducer coupling acts as a fairly good washer and I was able to get it it nice and tight. You will need to measure your mounting holes on the engine because you will have to drill a 3/8" hole into the angles for your support bolt to go through. Once you figure that out all you do is mount the coupling on your steel tube. The reducer coupling gives you more height so I would use an 8" post in the back instead of the 10". They way I built mine, all I did was remove the mounting block that I had used before and I got rid of a couple of inches.
The front end was a little easier, mostly you just have to move your posts to go under the engine as opposed to on the sides. Take the conduit clamps and remove the lags head screw. You need two carriage 1/2" bolts about 2" long with nuts and a washer. Put the carriage screw through the opening where the lag head screw used to be, and feed it into the reducer. Put the washer and the nut on the bolt and tighten everything up. Then just figure out the placement under the engine and reset your screws.
The advantages of this are that now when you mount the engine you can just rest it on the c-clamps. No need to be trying to hold the engine and feeding the rod through, a real pain in the ass both while taking the engine on and off for various reasons. No interference with the piston or the rear drum.
Now to install the engine on the body and work out the electrics.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
It's starting to actually look real
Well I am starting to get that wow feeling. I've been looking at lots of the old photos as I am putting things back together and trying to figure out where things go. The engine looks a ton better and I can't even begin to believe I am using the same front swingarm/fork as the one I started with. It is just night and day. Here's the swing arm before and after. There is also another picture of the swing arm below.
And here's the engine before and after:
I went ahead and installed the rear brake & drum, the piston & chamber, the stator & flywheel, as well as the spark plug and most of the engine wiring. I also started rebuilding my front fork, well at least the front axle & brakes and everything else I could do without the fork.
Here's what I learned on this part of the rebuild.
1. The rear brake actuator is your key to making the rear brake install easier. Start with the brake pads with the spring on. The brake actuator should not be all the way slid in. Put the ends of the brake shoes with the metal pads around the actuator. As you slide the actuator in you can slide the brake shoes on to their posts.
Here comes the hard part. At the same time you are doing this find someone to help you slide the brake lever and spring on to the actuator as it slides down.
That was the easiest way I found to do the rear brakes. Otherwise you are fighting that spring trying to lever your brakes on. This also works the same way on the front brake but is actually a lot easier as you don't have to worry about sliding all those parts on there right away as you have a much more open and unobstructed area.
Don't forget to grease up the actuator.
2. Don't drive your piston engine studs too far into the case. Otherwise you might not have room for the washers & nut. This is especially true for the one stud that also has the long nut used to hold the piston cover. Otherwise my piston install went real smooth. I did heat up the actual piston with the hair dryer and put the wrist pin in the freezer for a little bit. It slid right in without any real fuss. I also lubed up my piston chamber with 2 stroke oil.
3. The front fork is almost equally frustrating putting it back together. Here's my tips on that. Heat up the swing arm on the big bearing side. Drop the bearing in and use the old bearing as a punch. Tap it in with the rubber mallet. Shouldn't be too hard. Next install the seal and next install the axle from the hub side. This should be obvious as the axle wouldn't be able to go in any other way. Be sure to add some grease to the seal as well as the axle itself.
The smaller bearing is a real bitch to install. DO NOT try to tap it in. There is a much easier way to do this bearing. With the axle all ready in flip over the swing arm and drop in the small bearing. Now take the washer and slip it on and take the nut and start to tighten it. You will need to put the hub, woodruff key, and castle nut on to the axle because you don't want the axle to spin as you tighten the nut. As you tighten the nut it should push in the bearing. Just keep doing this until you figure out the bearing is in all the way.
You may need to position the axle with a few taps. This might not make sense but when you tighten the nut against the smaller bearing it also pulls the axle as well. If you pull to far the axle really digs into the seal and gives lots of resistance. Your front axle will have some resistance because of that seal but it shouldn't be too bad. You want the axle to be a little bit out from the seal.
3. Putting the swing arm back together proved a little perplexing. Somehow I ended up with a couple of bags that just said front fork bits. That wasn't good. I wish I had done a better job of bagging and also taking pictures. It took me a while to figure out exactly where each part went. I would strongly suggest you pay particular attention to where the suspension spring meets the pivot rod. There are a couple of very specific washers that go in a particular order that you will need to be absolutely sure you get right. This was a real bitch to figure out and put back together. The spacing is very very tight, as it should be. Take lots of pictures as you pull that section apart. Again make sure you lube everything up as you are sliding that rod through.
And here's the engine before and after:
I went ahead and installed the rear brake & drum, the piston & chamber, the stator & flywheel, as well as the spark plug and most of the engine wiring. I also started rebuilding my front fork, well at least the front axle & brakes and everything else I could do without the fork.
Here's what I learned on this part of the rebuild.
1. The rear brake actuator is your key to making the rear brake install easier. Start with the brake pads with the spring on. The brake actuator should not be all the way slid in. Put the ends of the brake shoes with the metal pads around the actuator. As you slide the actuator in you can slide the brake shoes on to their posts.
Here comes the hard part. At the same time you are doing this find someone to help you slide the brake lever and spring on to the actuator as it slides down.
That was the easiest way I found to do the rear brakes. Otherwise you are fighting that spring trying to lever your brakes on. This also works the same way on the front brake but is actually a lot easier as you don't have to worry about sliding all those parts on there right away as you have a much more open and unobstructed area.
Don't forget to grease up the actuator.
2. Don't drive your piston engine studs too far into the case. Otherwise you might not have room for the washers & nut. This is especially true for the one stud that also has the long nut used to hold the piston cover. Otherwise my piston install went real smooth. I did heat up the actual piston with the hair dryer and put the wrist pin in the freezer for a little bit. It slid right in without any real fuss. I also lubed up my piston chamber with 2 stroke oil.
3. The front fork is almost equally frustrating putting it back together. Here's my tips on that. Heat up the swing arm on the big bearing side. Drop the bearing in and use the old bearing as a punch. Tap it in with the rubber mallet. Shouldn't be too hard. Next install the seal and next install the axle from the hub side. This should be obvious as the axle wouldn't be able to go in any other way. Be sure to add some grease to the seal as well as the axle itself.
The smaller bearing is a real bitch to install. DO NOT try to tap it in. There is a much easier way to do this bearing. With the axle all ready in flip over the swing arm and drop in the small bearing. Now take the washer and slip it on and take the nut and start to tighten it. You will need to put the hub, woodruff key, and castle nut on to the axle because you don't want the axle to spin as you tighten the nut. As you tighten the nut it should push in the bearing. Just keep doing this until you figure out the bearing is in all the way.
You may need to position the axle with a few taps. This might not make sense but when you tighten the nut against the smaller bearing it also pulls the axle as well. If you pull to far the axle really digs into the seal and gives lots of resistance. Your front axle will have some resistance because of that seal but it shouldn't be too bad. You want the axle to be a little bit out from the seal.
3. Putting the swing arm back together proved a little perplexing. Somehow I ended up with a couple of bags that just said front fork bits. That wasn't good. I wish I had done a better job of bagging and also taking pictures. It took me a while to figure out exactly where each part went. I would strongly suggest you pay particular attention to where the suspension spring meets the pivot rod. There are a couple of very specific washers that go in a particular order that you will need to be absolutely sure you get right. This was a real bitch to figure out and put back together. The spacing is very very tight, as it should be. Take lots of pictures as you pull that section apart. Again make sure you lube everything up as you are sliding that rod through.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Putting the engine back together
Started the process of putting the engine back together. I've gotten lazy about taking pictures. It's hard to stop when you have the gloves on and you are working alone. Hopefully I am describing things with enough detail. Here's a list of things to look out for:
1. Putting the christmas tree back together: First, heat the big end of the christmas tree, where your new bearing will go. BTW I used an open bearing here because oil will be going in and out. Next, put the spindle/axle in, and then mount the bearing and the retaining clip. If you have problems getting the bearing to go all the way in, what I did was use the old bearing as a punch. In other words, just put the old bearing on top of the new one and hit it with a rubber mallet. Drops right in.
The heavy grease, I am using Ray's, really works to keep the loose needle pin bearings packed on there. This was a lot easier than I had anticipated. Just put the loose needle pin bearings in after you mount the christmas tree into the case. Put a bowl underneath in case you drop one.
Don't tighten it all the way just yet as you will probably be loosening it and fiddling with it as you install the clutch plate cover and also try to align the slot on the spindle with the tab on the funky washer that drops into the slot to keep the spindle from moving. I thought this slot on the spindle was for a woodruf key but figured out it was for the tab on the funky washer.
2. Reinstalling the crankshaft: Freeze that thing! Seriously. I have a vacuum sealer that I use for food storage and such, so I stuffed my crankcase inside a food saver bag and vacuum packed it. This reduces condensation but does not completely eliminate it. I also sprayed the crankshaft with white lithium grease to help keep of condensation. Let it freeze for at least a couple of hours. Then take a blow torch or hair dryer and really heat up that bearing that is in the case. It should pop right in. If it does not, DO NOT force it or hammer it, just take it out, re-freeze and try to heat it even more. My first time didn't work, but the second time it literally just popped right in.
I had a little bit of play but that was gone when I finally put the cases back together.
3. Putting the gears back on: Really straight forward as well. Again, heat the bearing, apply some grease to the seal, and just shove it in there. Put your cruxiform at 4th gear (the little one, I might have that backwards, it may be 1st, but I mean the smallest circumference gear), take your spark plug socket, put the socket OVER the spindle and against the cruciform "cage." Take your rubber mallet and tap it in.
Again there was some up and down play, but the important part is that the gears match up with the corresponding gears on the christmas tree. It's a pretty close fit so it should be pretty obvious. Everything tightens up when the cases go back together.
4. Use heavy grease to keep things like the clutch "nut" on the clutch cover plate in place, as well as the kick start spring as you are putting things back together. I put the clutch cover plate back on before I put the cases back together so I could see if the brass nut fell off and could get it without having to pull the cases apart again just to get that piece. I didn't drop it.
5. Putting the cases back together: I had taken all my engine studs off and I replaced them. I went ahead and put those in (except for the piston chamber) and added a little lock-tite (blue). I also pre-mounted the engine case bolts in their respective holes. I added a little grease around the edges of the case for the gasket. My gasket had one extra hole on it but that was ok. Slowly work the gasket down the 4 studs pointing towards the flywheel. and then press the gasket into the grease. From here I also pushed the pre-mounted bolts a little through the gasket to help keep the gasket in place.
Next, just slowly start pushing the case back together. You will need to put your kickstart on for a second. Drop the kick start and put the cases slowly together. I had to take a screwdriver and give a small nudge to the gears to get them to set right into the gear selector box. When everything is lined up you'll feel it start to allow you to put the cases together. At some point you will be able to get a nut onto the engine studs. Use this to your advantage. Go ahead and put a nut on one or two of the studs. Preferably ones that are diagonally across from each other. SLOWLY tighten them. As you are doing so, try to see if you can get some of the engine bolts through far enough to put a nut (no washer should fit yet) on one of them and start to tighten that nut. This should start pulling the cases together and allow you to start putting the washer, lock washer, and nuts on the other bolts and studs. Tighten everything slowly and in a sort of zig-zag pattern so things tighten up evenly across the engine. This was a lot easier than I thought.
Check your work. Push the kick start and see if your gears and crankshaft move. Pretty satisfying to hear and watch it happen. Especially now that you know how it all works in there.
From here make sure you cover up the holes leading into the engine, ie the carb hole and the piston. I went ahead and mounted my rebuilt carb but I haven't done the piston yet. Probably going to do that later today, along with starting to work out the wiring for my stator.
1. Putting the christmas tree back together: First, heat the big end of the christmas tree, where your new bearing will go. BTW I used an open bearing here because oil will be going in and out. Next, put the spindle/axle in, and then mount the bearing and the retaining clip. If you have problems getting the bearing to go all the way in, what I did was use the old bearing as a punch. In other words, just put the old bearing on top of the new one and hit it with a rubber mallet. Drops right in.
The heavy grease, I am using Ray's, really works to keep the loose needle pin bearings packed on there. This was a lot easier than I had anticipated. Just put the loose needle pin bearings in after you mount the christmas tree into the case. Put a bowl underneath in case you drop one.
Don't tighten it all the way just yet as you will probably be loosening it and fiddling with it as you install the clutch plate cover and also try to align the slot on the spindle with the tab on the funky washer that drops into the slot to keep the spindle from moving. I thought this slot on the spindle was for a woodruf key but figured out it was for the tab on the funky washer.
2. Reinstalling the crankshaft: Freeze that thing! Seriously. I have a vacuum sealer that I use for food storage and such, so I stuffed my crankcase inside a food saver bag and vacuum packed it. This reduces condensation but does not completely eliminate it. I also sprayed the crankshaft with white lithium grease to help keep of condensation. Let it freeze for at least a couple of hours. Then take a blow torch or hair dryer and really heat up that bearing that is in the case. It should pop right in. If it does not, DO NOT force it or hammer it, just take it out, re-freeze and try to heat it even more. My first time didn't work, but the second time it literally just popped right in.
I had a little bit of play but that was gone when I finally put the cases back together.
3. Putting the gears back on: Really straight forward as well. Again, heat the bearing, apply some grease to the seal, and just shove it in there. Put your cruxiform at 4th gear (the little one, I might have that backwards, it may be 1st, but I mean the smallest circumference gear), take your spark plug socket, put the socket OVER the spindle and against the cruciform "cage." Take your rubber mallet and tap it in.
Again there was some up and down play, but the important part is that the gears match up with the corresponding gears on the christmas tree. It's a pretty close fit so it should be pretty obvious. Everything tightens up when the cases go back together.
4. Use heavy grease to keep things like the clutch "nut" on the clutch cover plate in place, as well as the kick start spring as you are putting things back together. I put the clutch cover plate back on before I put the cases back together so I could see if the brass nut fell off and could get it without having to pull the cases apart again just to get that piece. I didn't drop it.
5. Putting the cases back together: I had taken all my engine studs off and I replaced them. I went ahead and put those in (except for the piston chamber) and added a little lock-tite (blue). I also pre-mounted the engine case bolts in their respective holes. I added a little grease around the edges of the case for the gasket. My gasket had one extra hole on it but that was ok. Slowly work the gasket down the 4 studs pointing towards the flywheel. and then press the gasket into the grease. From here I also pushed the pre-mounted bolts a little through the gasket to help keep the gasket in place.
Next, just slowly start pushing the case back together. You will need to put your kickstart on for a second. Drop the kick start and put the cases slowly together. I had to take a screwdriver and give a small nudge to the gears to get them to set right into the gear selector box. When everything is lined up you'll feel it start to allow you to put the cases together. At some point you will be able to get a nut onto the engine studs. Use this to your advantage. Go ahead and put a nut on one or two of the studs. Preferably ones that are diagonally across from each other. SLOWLY tighten them. As you are doing so, try to see if you can get some of the engine bolts through far enough to put a nut (no washer should fit yet) on one of them and start to tighten that nut. This should start pulling the cases together and allow you to start putting the washer, lock washer, and nuts on the other bolts and studs. Tighten everything slowly and in a sort of zig-zag pattern so things tighten up evenly across the engine. This was a lot easier than I thought.
Check your work. Push the kick start and see if your gears and crankshaft move. Pretty satisfying to hear and watch it happen. Especially now that you know how it all works in there.
From here make sure you cover up the holes leading into the engine, ie the carb hole and the piston. I went ahead and mounted my rebuilt carb but I haven't done the piston yet. Probably going to do that later today, along with starting to work out the wiring for my stator.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Engine updates
Well not much has happened but a lot has happened. I was able to recover from the Easy-Off disaster. I bought a polishing wheel to go on the end of my drill and just kind of went crazy with that. The engine is all nice and shiny! It's not pristine, but it sure looks a hell of a lot better than it used to.Whatever you are throwing on your engine make sure you read the label. Even some alleged engine cleaners say on the back to check what it does to aluminum.
I would stay away from that completely. Not even worth it. Also my friend used CRC Lectra-Motive to clean his motor and he said it was amazing, except for it does in deed affect rubber and plastics. Make sure you have that stuff covered up or removed.What have I learned taking apart the engine?
1. You can remove the gears/rear axle by hitting the axle from the tire side with a rubber mallet WITHOUT taking the gears apart.
A couple of things to point out when doing so. First, take the castellated nut and flip it around (so the castle faces the case) and screw it on until it is flush with the lip of the axle. They talk about this in the instructions on vespa maintenance. This is so you don't hurt the pin hole on the axle. Second, make sure you reach around to grab the axle/gears when you whack so they don't just drop out. I'd put a little grease on the seal so it doesn't rip the seal (unless you are replacing all that). Go ahead and give it a good whack with the rubber mallet.
Now that the gears are out, you can just keep that as one big piece and work on it separately.
2. My VBC has some differences that aren't easily learned about. The first of those is that my cruxiform set up is actually easier than most. My cruxiform is flat and all sides are even. That means the cruxiform can go in in any direction. That's great for not being able to fuck things up! But not so great if you don't know that and are trying to find a ready answer. I only learned this from a post on Scooterbbs. The parts book calls for part #94944 but I really need part #223225. You can see the differences on scooter mercato. That will make replacing the whole spindle very interesting if I ever need to because I am not sure what to follow.
My gear spacing is different. The gear spacing is actually way more uniform without the big gap between 1st and 2nd for neutral. Take pictures of your gears before you take them apart!.That way you can see the spacing for yourself. Get a real up close picture of the gaps. This helps a ton because if you get it wrong you will clearly see the difference in the gaps. Gears 1 and 4 are really easy to get right. They have a smooth surface that faces out. In other words if you have your gears still mounted like I do below. First gear is on the inside facing the wheel so it will be smooth on that side and fourth will be the same on the other side of the spindle. This is very obvious when you see it and will help you make sure you don't screw up at least those two. From there if you are in doubt you only have two gears to work out the combinations until you get the gaps looking like your original photo.
The next big thing that was different was my cylinder head has a copper gasket between the head and the bore. That was a really hard piece to find. If you have this it probably means you have an indian piston set-up. Shout out goes to David at scootermercato.com for finding this piece for me and figuring it out.
BTW I am now doing almost all of my ordering through Dave. He's in GA so shipping to me in NC is much faster, his prices are great, and he has been great on the phone with helping me find stuff, really knows his shit. Check him out and just give him a call. Lots of stuff he has that is not on his website, although he is trying to put it on there. I've had way better luck with him in finding stuff than anyone else so far. If you call him, tell him Jim sent you.
It also turns out that whomever put my clutch on last time got rid of the castellated nut and installed another type of bolt. I have seen this bolt in the online catalogues and now I've seen it in person. Seems to work well.
3. When taking things apart from inside the engine keep them bathed in oil. For parts from the main case use motor oil, for parts coming from the crankshaft use 2-stroke oil (crankshaft, piston, chamber, head). This will prevent them from rusting. I also spray wd-40 to keep things lubed and rust free while I wait to put this thing back together this coming week.
4. Getting the crankshaft off took a good whack and a decent size punch. Being a newbie I thought that inside the crankshaft spindle there may have been some sort of release pin so I wasn't sure what the punch was for. There is no such pin or anything. The recess hole described on vespa maintenance is specifically for the punch to go in to knock out the crankshaft from the bearings. I used a nice rounded phillips screwdriver that I had lying around. Make sure someone is on the other side to support the crankshaft when it pops out. And now that I look at other axles, almost all of them have a recess where a punch could go in to knock them out. I will probably invest in a set of punches for the winter.
5. The crankshaft is very important and you do not want it warped or out of tune. The crankshaft has a few main parts: The webs are the big round pieces, the connecting rod (connects the rod to the piston), and a rod bearing that allows the connecting rod to move smoothly inside the webs. My connecting rod got stuck probably due to something getting inside the rod bearing and although I was able to get it loose it is likely a shot crankshaft because whatever was in there before is likely still in there now and could seize up my motor while I am riding. grrrr.
6. Bearings. This was one of the better things I learned and mostly due to my impatience. The bearings used in a Vespa, and in almost all situations, are universal sized. That means you can order them from anywhere. It also means that you can likely buy them from a local shop as opposed to waiting all that time for shipping. It also means you have choices, lots and lots of choices and can likely get a much better bearing than the one the scooter shops are selling you for about the same price if not cheaper. You can get the same one they sell you for half the price. I just did a google search for "bearings raleigh" and found a couple of places close by with great selection.
In addition, based on my long history with mtn bikes, road bikes, and other bikes I am going to also purchase sealed bearings. They last a lot longer, run smoother, are cleaner, and easier to maintain. I am only doing sealed bearings in my front axle. I don't think it makes sense anywhere else as the bearings are going to be bathed in either motor oil or two stroke oil/gas mixture.
The bearing sizes for the front axle are 6201 (smaller bearing) and 6203 (larger bearing on wheel side). The bearing for the christmas tree is 6302. If you give those sizes to your bearing supplier they will know exactly what you are talking about. For example you could visit my local suppliers website and type in 6201 in the search field and see all the 6201 options. All of these bearings will have the following dimensions: ID 12mmx OD32mmxW10mm. 6203 is ID 17mmx OD40mmx W12mm. You just get to choose manufacture and what kind of seal if any you want.
I am not going to replace all of my bearings this time around, but I will in the winter. When I do that I will post all of the bearing sizes as I find them.
7. O-Rings. Small O-rings you can just buy and replace at carquest. Not sure about the other automotive stores. At carquest they had a box full of metric sized o-rings and I was able to replace all of my smaller o-rings for much cheaper than the scooter shops and again without waiting. I recommend this over my local ACE hardware store because they did not have metric and it is slightly off. Can't really have that where seals are involved and possible leaky stuff.
8. You can also get circle clips from your local ACE hardware store. I am sure the big stores have them as well. I just happen to have an ACE hardware a couple of blocks away and they have a great nuts and bolts section, although I don't use it much since I bought that bolt kit which has just amazing stuff. Discovered it had the engine mounting studs, the clutch pressure plate and spring, engine case bolts, and other fantastic stuff, just order the kit all ready.
Speaking of circle clips. Buy a snap ring plier set to remove the circle clips and you're life will be so much better. I broke down and paid $15 for internal and external pliers. My life has been so much better. Wish I had them earlier.
9. Just do a carb rebuild, now. It was so easy and I can't believe how dirty my carb was. It really is very easy. Just follow the instructions and you won't have any problems. Order a carb rebuild kit and go crazy. The one thing I would make sure you always order that doesn't necessarily come in the kit is a replacement gas filter and air filter. You almost always need one and they aren't that expensive. Also make sure you have the gaskets for the carb to box, and box to case. The box to case gasket should be in your engine gasket set but the carb to box may not be. This will make sense when you read the instructions and start doing it.
I actually had a carb rebuild party with Brett who is a little bit further behind me in his engine work. Was very handy having someone else around doing the exact same thing to spot check each other.10. When taking off the clutch there is a thrust washer that is behind the clutch. Take this off and take a good look at it. One side is beveled. Mark it one side BEFORE you take it off. This will save you a ton of headache later. It's hard to tell it's beveled until you look at it real close.
Whew lots of stuff. I hope I got it all.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Engine work
Well I screwed up, just not sure how bad. I sprayed my engine with easy-off oven cleaner and apparently the chemical in easy-off likes to eat aluminum, which is what the engine is made of. Not good, although varying opinion on how bad. I made a mistake reading one of the restoration books and thought it said to use it for grease removal, and while it did in fact say that, it meant it for the cowls and undercarriage of the bike, NOT the engine. grrrr. So now my engine is all mottled white from what looks like left over easy-off remnants. Trying to figure out how to remove it. Here's what it looks like now.
Not much I can do about it now until I figure out a solution. CRC Lectra-Motive seems to be the recommended product, although there are plenty of other suggestions on scooterbbs, just search for engine cleaning and you'll get plenty of opinion.
Well regardless of the engine cleaning I went ahead and started taking apart the engine. Before you get started I highly recommend you read the vespa maintenance website. It goes in to much greater detail the do's and don'ts of taking apart your engine. You want to be particularly careful with your carb and piston, as you don't want random parts falling into your engine.
About the only thing I can add to what he says on the website is in regards to the circle clips on the piston. I wasn't able to get at them with needle nose pliers. There is a small hole on the ends of the circle clips. I was able to get a paperclip through the hole and then with needle nose pliers I was able to pull out the circle clip. I lost one of the clips because when it sprang out it went flying off the paperclip. I guess you could twist the paperclip around itself before trying to pull them out. I have new circlips all ready so I wasn't that worried about it.
That is all for now with the engine. Still deciding if I am going to crack her open. Probably will just to replace seals, and do a general looky loo. I mean I have the engine on the stand and pretty much taken apart at this point. I am probably also going to do a carb overhaul now that it is off.
My dog is puking so I need to go take care of him.
Not much I can do about it now until I figure out a solution. CRC Lectra-Motive seems to be the recommended product, although there are plenty of other suggestions on scooterbbs, just search for engine cleaning and you'll get plenty of opinion.
Well regardless of the engine cleaning I went ahead and started taking apart the engine. Before you get started I highly recommend you read the vespa maintenance website. It goes in to much greater detail the do's and don'ts of taking apart your engine. You want to be particularly careful with your carb and piston, as you don't want random parts falling into your engine.
About the only thing I can add to what he says on the website is in regards to the circle clips on the piston. I wasn't able to get at them with needle nose pliers. There is a small hole on the ends of the circle clips. I was able to get a paperclip through the hole and then with needle nose pliers I was able to pull out the circle clip. I lost one of the clips because when it sprang out it went flying off the paperclip. I guess you could twist the paperclip around itself before trying to pull them out. I have new circlips all ready so I wasn't that worried about it.
That is all for now with the engine. Still deciding if I am going to crack her open. Probably will just to replace seals, and do a general looky loo. I mean I have the engine on the stand and pretty much taken apart at this point. I am probably also going to do a carb overhaul now that it is off.
My dog is puking so I need to go take care of him.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Engine Stand DIY
Still waiting around so I figured, hey, why not start fucking around with my engine. Did some searching and came up with the following DIY engine stand. I made some modifications and I am going to post all of my instructions so it's easier for you than the bbs history shows, although it's pretty easy to figure it out.
Parts:
2x6's (I used random scrap wood from a construction site)
3 3/4" floor flanges
3 3/4" x 10" galvanized pipe
3 3/4" T's for pipe
1 1/2 x 24" threaded rod. Ask for where the random steel rods and metal are, it is usually close to the nuts and bolts but not always. You really only need 16" but they only sold it in 1' or 2' sections at my local hardware store. This is for the front mount
1 3/8 x 5" Bolt. For the rear mount
5 Fender washers
2 regular 3/8 washers
2 1/2 nuts
1" Deck Screws.
I went with 10" because I wanted to be able to have the kickstand go all the way down and it sounded like for some 8" wasn't enough.
You want the wood to be cut up as follows:
2 20x6x2
2 16x6x2
Go ahead and make a frame out of the four pieces with the 16" pieces on top. The floor flanges will be mounted on the 16" pieces. On one 16" piece, mark the center and then measure out 5 3/8 from the center of the piece. This is dead center of the flanges. Go ahead and screw the flanges down. This is easier without the pipes in.
Now go ahead and put two of the pipes in and their respective T's. Lining the t's up of course so the threaded rod can go through the engine mount. Find a friend for this next part. Grab your engine and line it up with the posts. Take the threaded rod and slide it through, starting from the rear tire side (NOT the kickstart lever side), make sure to put one of the fender washers and nuts on at the end you are not sliding through. As it goes through the first t but before it enters the engine mount put another fender washer. Push it through the engine. Before it enters the next t put another fender washer. As it comes out the other side put another fender washer and the last nut. Go ahead and tighten up the bolts a little. I took a hacksaw and this point and cut off the extra part of the rod I didn't need.
Now your engine is swinging on the front mount. From here put together the other pipe, t, and flange, prior to screwing it in. Swing up the engine. Line up the t with the rear mount. I put the t on the left side of the engine mount. This should be obvious because it won't fit on the right side. Push the 3/8 x 5 bolt through and put the nut on it. No need to tighten beyond hand tight at this point. Move the rear pipe and flange around until it looks straight and sits flat on your 2x6. Take a pen and draw a circle around the flange. Go ahead and pull out the bolt and let your engine swing back down. Take out the pipe and t and then put the flange back where you made your circle. Drill your screws and then redo. I did it this way because it was easier to screw the flange down with the pipe out of the way. You could of course do it after you have aligned everything with the engine and T.
I also mounted my flanges on top of a block on top of the 2x6. I did this because I wanted to use longer than 1" deck screws and figured 2 1/2" deck screws through 2 pieces of plywood would hold for sure. Probably overkill but when I first started this project I started out only with the 16" pieces and not the cross pieces. Kind of stupid. I would probably not do the blocks if I was to start this over.
This only cost me about $30 with the price of metal today.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Still Working on that Damn Fork -- Also my custom wiring harness
I figured since I have my fork completely apart I should do absolutely everything to it now before I put it back together so I don't have to go back and do this all over again! The front fork has been a real bitch and every little thing is an obstacle.
My front axle was a little rusty and also felt like it wasn't rolling at optimal rolling resistance. So I had to take the front axle assembly apart from the swing arm. I also want to polish the swing arm so it looks real shiny and the best way to do that is if it is completely apart. I need to do this now because getting the swing arm bare again would be a real pain in the ass.
Here's a pic of what I was dealing with. It looks like it should be straightforward, it was not.
This is the back of the front axle and the first "bolt" you have to get off. This is really just a dust cover. You need about a size 23 metric wrench or a 7/8 in US. I had been spraying this thing several times in liquid wrench and I finally put the swing arm in a vice (with a towel wrapped around the teeth) put the socket wrench in and gave it a good whack with a rubber mallet.
Underneath this another bolt that actually holds the axle and bearings in place. To get this bolt loose you have to put the hub back on. When you put the hub back on one of the bolts for the lug nuts on the tire will line up with the hole on the swing arm for the brake pivot. If you've gotten this far then you should know what I am talking about.
From there you can take a thick screwdriver and put it between the holes to hold the drum, and thus the axle, from spinning. Yes, you need to mount the drum with the woodruff key, castelated nut, and pin in place. Use your old ones. Then, again the vice, socket wrench, and the rubber mallet.
Underneath
are the bearings. To get the bearings out you need a blind bearing removal tool. I don't have one, but the Harley guy that is doing my paint job does. He's pulling these out for me now. That should be the end of my swing arm and thus front fork issues.
I did have another issue with corrosion on my front damper mounting bolt on the swing arm. Seen here:
As you can see the bolt is pretty rusty. That metal sleeve covering the bolt is actually a part of the front damper. It should not have come off when I took the damper off. I took a hydraulic press and applied some pressure and the bolt popped out once the rust "weld" was broken. I did soak this bolt in evapo-rust overnight and I was able to get rid of a lot of the rust. The sleeve then just popped off. The interesting thing is that I had a new sleeve in the packet of bolts I received and I am not so sure the sleeve was a part of the front damper, we'll find out when I get the new damper later this week.
Evapo-rust has been great btw. I have soaked all sorts of odds and ends here and there and it has done a wonderful job. I highly recommend you use it on things like your throttle tube, shift tube, really hard to find bolts and pieces.
Now back to the wiring harness! Now that I think more about it I don't think MikeH's electrical idea is the best way to go. You lose the color coding if you are doing anything beyond the most basic electrical outline and his system doesn't really take into account all the branches off the main wiring harness trunk. When I first started this I didn't think I would make my own harness because I thought I would be able to buy one that would work well as I have noted below. My big mistake was not taking measurements of the sections before I took mine apart to figure out where the wires were going and what they were doing. So now I have no measurements of the different sections. I did measure the individual wires when I had it apart so I could order replacement wires. I was smart enough to not just throw away my old harness.
If you pull your harness out take the following measurements before you even start fiddling.
1. Ignition switch to horn junction (where the wires to the horn will pop out to go to the horn)
2. Horn junction to horn
3. Horn junction to gas tank junction (where all the grounds are bundled together and also where the other junctions take off from)
4. Gas tank junction to rear brake pedal
5. Gas tank junction to stator and Ducati ignition
6. Gas tank junction to regulator (I have mine in left cowl)
7. Gas tank junction to rear brake
These measurements will come in very handy when you start building your wiring harness as you can put it together and do the shrink wrapping beforehand. Now I have to wait to get the body back and then take my measurements and do the shrink wrapping later. BTW check out waytekwire.com for some good prices on double wall shrink wrap. I would recommend buying the following lengths, widths and amounts:
1. 1 4' length of 1". This stuff shrinks 3/1
2. 5-6 4' lenghts of 1/2"
At my head tube I have a grand total of 9 wires coming towards the headset. 3 of those are for an LED rear blinker system I am going to install. Because they will be LED they should not draw significantly from my lighting system and should work quite well. I am going to install them much later but for now I want to install the wiring.
Because I am using mostly marine grade wiring, the wires are thicker than the stock wiring. I decided to break up the wire bundles as they get pulled up through the headset. Here is how I have arranged them:
1. One group wrapped in 1/2" tubing will be the 3 blinker wires, all 18g.
2. Second group is the wires going to the horn (2) and one of the 16g wires, thus 2 18g and 1 16g in that bundle, also in 1/2" tubing. This is purple, red, and I believe green.
3. Third group is the ground 18g wire and the 18g rear brake light wire with the other 16g wire, so same as the second group with 1/2" tubing. This should be yellow, black, and orange.
Thus I will have 3 bundles coming down to the horn junction from the headset. From here the harness becomes one big bundle and takes all the wires together from the horn junction to the gas tank junction. This will all get wrapped up in 1" tubing. This is the longest section for the harness and the main "trunk."
Under the gas tank I have five branches.
1. Two 18g wires going to the rear brake pedal. Red and blue
2. Two 16g wires and 1 18g ground wire going to the stator/cdi. Green, blue and black
3. 3 16g wires to the regulator (one of those is a 16g black grounding wire) and 1 18 wire for my future turn signal blinker. Black, yellow, blue, and white
4. 3 18g wires going to my rear brake. Black, orange, blue
4. 2 turn signal wires these will actually be separate but I am not doing anything with them right now so I am just going to bundle them up. brown and pink
Here is what this all looks like now while I am waiting to make sure the measurements are good when I finally get the body back:
You can see the three branches for the headset on the left. Then you'll see the three wires going to the horn, the horn junction. Next is the long thick trunk. Finally on the right side are the 5 branches coming from the gas tank junction. I have them coiled up just because it was easier to work with that way. It sure is pretty with all those colors.
I haven't done the shrink wrapping yet but I am hoping what I ordered will work. If it doesn't I'll let you know, but this should be the layout I use. I'll also take some measurements with some slack for mistakes so you have an idea of how to put one together yourself.
In regards to the blinkers it's more of an experiment and I wanted to use different colors so things don't get too mixed up. Marine west didn't have anymore colors so I went to my local audio store and they had way more colors to chose from, just not marine grade. That's ok because like I said it's an experiment and I won't be heart broken if it doesn't work or fails later. So now I have pink, brown, and white for the turn signals added to my wiring diagram listed in my previous post.
Body work is making progress so hopefully next week I'll actually get started.
My front axle was a little rusty and also felt like it wasn't rolling at optimal rolling resistance. So I had to take the front axle assembly apart from the swing arm. I also want to polish the swing arm so it looks real shiny and the best way to do that is if it is completely apart. I need to do this now because getting the swing arm bare again would be a real pain in the ass.
Here's a pic of what I was dealing with. It looks like it should be straightforward, it was not.
This is the back of the front axle and the first "bolt" you have to get off. This is really just a dust cover. You need about a size 23 metric wrench or a 7/8 in US. I had been spraying this thing several times in liquid wrench and I finally put the swing arm in a vice (with a towel wrapped around the teeth) put the socket wrench in and gave it a good whack with a rubber mallet.
Underneath this another bolt that actually holds the axle and bearings in place. To get this bolt loose you have to put the hub back on. When you put the hub back on one of the bolts for the lug nuts on the tire will line up with the hole on the swing arm for the brake pivot. If you've gotten this far then you should know what I am talking about.From there you can take a thick screwdriver and put it between the holes to hold the drum, and thus the axle, from spinning. Yes, you need to mount the drum with the woodruff key, castelated nut, and pin in place. Use your old ones. Then, again the vice, socket wrench, and the rubber mallet.
Underneath
are the bearings. To get the bearings out you need a blind bearing removal tool. I don't have one, but the Harley guy that is doing my paint job does. He's pulling these out for me now. That should be the end of my swing arm and thus front fork issues.I did have another issue with corrosion on my front damper mounting bolt on the swing arm. Seen here:
As you can see the bolt is pretty rusty. That metal sleeve covering the bolt is actually a part of the front damper. It should not have come off when I took the damper off. I took a hydraulic press and applied some pressure and the bolt popped out once the rust "weld" was broken. I did soak this bolt in evapo-rust overnight and I was able to get rid of a lot of the rust. The sleeve then just popped off. The interesting thing is that I had a new sleeve in the packet of bolts I received and I am not so sure the sleeve was a part of the front damper, we'll find out when I get the new damper later this week.Evapo-rust has been great btw. I have soaked all sorts of odds and ends here and there and it has done a wonderful job. I highly recommend you use it on things like your throttle tube, shift tube, really hard to find bolts and pieces.
Now back to the wiring harness! Now that I think more about it I don't think MikeH's electrical idea is the best way to go. You lose the color coding if you are doing anything beyond the most basic electrical outline and his system doesn't really take into account all the branches off the main wiring harness trunk. When I first started this I didn't think I would make my own harness because I thought I would be able to buy one that would work well as I have noted below. My big mistake was not taking measurements of the sections before I took mine apart to figure out where the wires were going and what they were doing. So now I have no measurements of the different sections. I did measure the individual wires when I had it apart so I could order replacement wires. I was smart enough to not just throw away my old harness.
If you pull your harness out take the following measurements before you even start fiddling.
1. Ignition switch to horn junction (where the wires to the horn will pop out to go to the horn)
2. Horn junction to horn
3. Horn junction to gas tank junction (where all the grounds are bundled together and also where the other junctions take off from)
4. Gas tank junction to rear brake pedal
5. Gas tank junction to stator and Ducati ignition
6. Gas tank junction to regulator (I have mine in left cowl)
7. Gas tank junction to rear brake
These measurements will come in very handy when you start building your wiring harness as you can put it together and do the shrink wrapping beforehand. Now I have to wait to get the body back and then take my measurements and do the shrink wrapping later. BTW check out waytekwire.com for some good prices on double wall shrink wrap. I would recommend buying the following lengths, widths and amounts:
1. 1 4' length of 1". This stuff shrinks 3/1
2. 5-6 4' lenghts of 1/2"
At my head tube I have a grand total of 9 wires coming towards the headset. 3 of those are for an LED rear blinker system I am going to install. Because they will be LED they should not draw significantly from my lighting system and should work quite well. I am going to install them much later but for now I want to install the wiring.
Because I am using mostly marine grade wiring, the wires are thicker than the stock wiring. I decided to break up the wire bundles as they get pulled up through the headset. Here is how I have arranged them:
1. One group wrapped in 1/2" tubing will be the 3 blinker wires, all 18g.
2. Second group is the wires going to the horn (2) and one of the 16g wires, thus 2 18g and 1 16g in that bundle, also in 1/2" tubing. This is purple, red, and I believe green.
3. Third group is the ground 18g wire and the 18g rear brake light wire with the other 16g wire, so same as the second group with 1/2" tubing. This should be yellow, black, and orange.
Thus I will have 3 bundles coming down to the horn junction from the headset. From here the harness becomes one big bundle and takes all the wires together from the horn junction to the gas tank junction. This will all get wrapped up in 1" tubing. This is the longest section for the harness and the main "trunk."
Under the gas tank I have five branches.
1. Two 18g wires going to the rear brake pedal. Red and blue
2. Two 16g wires and 1 18g ground wire going to the stator/cdi. Green, blue and black
3. 3 16g wires to the regulator (one of those is a 16g black grounding wire) and 1 18 wire for my future turn signal blinker. Black, yellow, blue, and white
4. 3 18g wires going to my rear brake. Black, orange, blue
4. 2 turn signal wires these will actually be separate but I am not doing anything with them right now so I am just going to bundle them up. brown and pink
Here is what this all looks like now while I am waiting to make sure the measurements are good when I finally get the body back:
You can see the three branches for the headset on the left. Then you'll see the three wires going to the horn, the horn junction. Next is the long thick trunk. Finally on the right side are the 5 branches coming from the gas tank junction. I have them coiled up just because it was easier to work with that way. It sure is pretty with all those colors.I haven't done the shrink wrapping yet but I am hoping what I ordered will work. If it doesn't I'll let you know, but this should be the layout I use. I'll also take some measurements with some slack for mistakes so you have an idea of how to put one together yourself.
In regards to the blinkers it's more of an experiment and I wanted to use different colors so things don't get too mixed up. Marine west didn't have anymore colors so I went to my local audio store and they had way more colors to chose from, just not marine grade. That's ok because like I said it's an experiment and I won't be heart broken if it doesn't work or fails later. So now I have pink, brown, and white for the turn signals added to my wiring diagram listed in my previous post.
Body work is making progress so hopefully next week I'll actually get started.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Getting Ready Tips & Tricks
Ok so I just had to pass a few things on to everyone. First, if you have old aluminum leg shield trim they do still make it and you can replace your beat up factory aluminum leg shield trim. I ordered mine from First Kick, where I first bought my scooter. You just have to get the tool. Next, if you are doing any kind of restoration work buy the following two kits:
The Rubber Kit and the Hardware Kit (Nuts & Bolts)
The bolt kit is particularily fantastic. It has the brake pivot bolts, the springs, engine mounting bolt, and all sorts of other fancy bolts and nuts that I would not have expected. I'll try to figure out what's missing and post that here, but for the price and total lack of headache of trying to match bolts at the hardware store or just ordering bits and pieces this makes very good sense to order and to do so early. Price wise it's amazing.
One other thing that I am not doing but would seriously consider if I was starting over and had read this post earlier is MikeH's electrical diagram recommendations. It seems to really simply the electrics and make it very servicable. He does seem very opinionated about it but I understand that when something works for you, you just want to everyone else to see the light.
Regardless here is his pretty good idea.
I've all ready spent money on marine wiring and don't want to bother trying to source marine grade multistrand wiring for this project and waiting to get the bits in the mail. I should start putting this thing together this week and I would rather not worry about this. Had I seen this earlier I probably would have gone this direction.
The Rubber Kit and the Hardware Kit (Nuts & Bolts)
The bolt kit is particularily fantastic. It has the brake pivot bolts, the springs, engine mounting bolt, and all sorts of other fancy bolts and nuts that I would not have expected. I'll try to figure out what's missing and post that here, but for the price and total lack of headache of trying to match bolts at the hardware store or just ordering bits and pieces this makes very good sense to order and to do so early. Price wise it's amazing.
One other thing that I am not doing but would seriously consider if I was starting over and had read this post earlier is MikeH's electrical diagram recommendations. It seems to really simply the electrics and make it very servicable. He does seem very opinionated about it but I understand that when something works for you, you just want to everyone else to see the light.
Regardless here is his pretty good idea.
I've all ready spent money on marine wiring and don't want to bother trying to source marine grade multistrand wiring for this project and waiting to get the bits in the mail. I should start putting this thing together this week and I would rather not worry about this. Had I seen this earlier I probably would have gone this direction.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Getting Ready -- Wiring and ordering bits
Starting to get the parts together to put my Vespa back on the road. I am following this diagram for my wiring and here is how I modified it for my own personal use:
I chose this because my scooter had it's electrics upgraded way back when I bought it. It has electronic ignition now and got rid of the battery setup. My old harness had all sorts of wires for the battery as well as the turn signals and a switch on the front brake lever to light up the rear brake light.
It is 12v now with the standard 5 wires coming out of the stator and an 8 pole ignition switch. The VBC apparently has a very unique 8 pole ignition switch that the other Vespa's don't. I am going to try to install the more common one and see what happens. All of the wiring diagrams seem to follow the other 8 pole switch so I have more diagrams to go off of. So it turns out the other 8 Pole switches simply won't work on the Super. If you changed the headset then yeah maybe. But I really like the round headlamp so I'm sticking with the super 8-pole switch as it is my only option. I just hope I never have problems with it.
Because of the wacky setup and the uniqueness of the VBC 8 pole switch I couldn't quite figure out a harness to purchase for this so I am going to make my own. Really hard to find a shop around here in Raleigh that carries multi-colored wires in 18g and 16g for what I needed (you can get lots of fun colors at a car stereo store, just not marine grade).
The web of course is the answer. It was highly recommended on scooterbbs to use marine primary wire as it is very abrasion and corrosion resistant. I found out I could order the majority of colors online at westmarine.com in 1 ft. increments, which saved me the expense of buying it by the spool. My total cost was $30 with shipping. I used 18g for most wires, except the following (based on the above pdf) and note also the color changes:
1. Yellow wire from regulator (says rectifier on the pdf) to ignition switch position 6
2. Green wire from ignition unit to ignition switch position 4
3. Blue wire from stator to regulator (unregulated power). I also did not use black here as per the diagram but kept the wire blue all the way from the stator to the regulator.
4. Black wire from ignition switch to rear brake is 18g Orange.
5. I also added 18g brown, pink, and white for turn signals. This is not on this diagram but I might draw one so you can see how I added LED turn signals. This is a future project but I am installing the wiring now. Basically I'll have 3 wires connected to the turn signal switch on my handlebar on the left side. The white will be the power coming from the turn signal flasher mounted by my regulator and the brown and pink will go to the respective turn signals I'll mount later.
I might use 18g for the ground coming out of the stator but that's for later and not that big of a deal.
Next I ordered all new brake, clutch, choke, and speedometer cables from scooterworks, as well as a new keyed ignition switch, new 12v regulator, brakes, and random clips and pins that needed replacing.
I also went through all my baggies and started degreasing and cleaning all of the random bits, screws, nuts, bolts, and random pieces to get them ready. I'll be replacing lots of rusty bolts and such and taking a trip to the hardware store to rifle through their bins to see if I can find everything I need. I am also preparing some rust treatment for parts that I am not replacing right now, such as my shift and throttle tubes, fork, kickstand, etc.
Hopefully I'll be ready to put everything back together with only a few random last minute orders and trips to the hardware store. After this is done I'll start to upgrade other things over time. White wall tires, new shocks, rims, kickstand, colored rubber trim and grommets, new brake and clutch levers, and other small bits and pieces to slowly put the finishing touches.
Assuming the body and paint work are done, I'll start this on the weekend and I'll post pictures of the process and any tips and tricks I learn.
Really worried about the legshield trim, of which I do have the original and hope to preserve it and install back on.
I chose this because my scooter had it's electrics upgraded way back when I bought it. It has electronic ignition now and got rid of the battery setup. My old harness had all sorts of wires for the battery as well as the turn signals and a switch on the front brake lever to light up the rear brake light.
It is 12v now with the standard 5 wires coming out of the stator and an 8 pole ignition switch. The VBC apparently has a very unique 8 pole ignition switch that the other Vespa's don't. I am going to try to install the more common one and see what happens. All of the wiring diagrams seem to follow the other 8 pole switch so I have more diagrams to go off of. So it turns out the other 8 Pole switches simply won't work on the Super. If you changed the headset then yeah maybe. But I really like the round headlamp so I'm sticking with the super 8-pole switch as it is my only option. I just hope I never have problems with it.
Because of the wacky setup and the uniqueness of the VBC 8 pole switch I couldn't quite figure out a harness to purchase for this so I am going to make my own. Really hard to find a shop around here in Raleigh that carries multi-colored wires in 18g and 16g for what I needed (you can get lots of fun colors at a car stereo store, just not marine grade).
The web of course is the answer. It was highly recommended on scooterbbs to use marine primary wire as it is very abrasion and corrosion resistant. I found out I could order the majority of colors online at westmarine.com in 1 ft. increments, which saved me the expense of buying it by the spool. My total cost was $30 with shipping. I used 18g for most wires, except the following (based on the above pdf) and note also the color changes:
1. Yellow wire from regulator (says rectifier on the pdf) to ignition switch position 6
2. Green wire from ignition unit to ignition switch position 4
3. Blue wire from stator to regulator (unregulated power). I also did not use black here as per the diagram but kept the wire blue all the way from the stator to the regulator.
4. Black wire from ignition switch to rear brake is 18g Orange.
5. I also added 18g brown, pink, and white for turn signals. This is not on this diagram but I might draw one so you can see how I added LED turn signals. This is a future project but I am installing the wiring now. Basically I'll have 3 wires connected to the turn signal switch on my handlebar on the left side. The white will be the power coming from the turn signal flasher mounted by my regulator and the brown and pink will go to the respective turn signals I'll mount later.
I might use 18g for the ground coming out of the stator but that's for later and not that big of a deal.
Next I ordered all new brake, clutch, choke, and speedometer cables from scooterworks, as well as a new keyed ignition switch, new 12v regulator, brakes, and random clips and pins that needed replacing.
I also went through all my baggies and started degreasing and cleaning all of the random bits, screws, nuts, bolts, and random pieces to get them ready. I'll be replacing lots of rusty bolts and such and taking a trip to the hardware store to rifle through their bins to see if I can find everything I need. I am also preparing some rust treatment for parts that I am not replacing right now, such as my shift and throttle tubes, fork, kickstand, etc.
Hopefully I'll be ready to put everything back together with only a few random last minute orders and trips to the hardware store. After this is done I'll start to upgrade other things over time. White wall tires, new shocks, rims, kickstand, colored rubber trim and grommets, new brake and clutch levers, and other small bits and pieces to slowly put the finishing touches.
Assuming the body and paint work are done, I'll start this on the weekend and I'll post pictures of the process and any tips and tricks I learn.
Really worried about the legshield trim, of which I do have the original and hope to preserve it and install back on.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
On to the actual restoration part
Well I finally got my shit together and now things should move forward quickly. I media blasted (glass beads) the frame and all the parts that I am going to have painted. There's quite a bit of body work to be done prior to the paint job so all of that needs to be done. I thought about doing all of this myself but given the seriousness of the body work, welding, dings, reinforcing, etc it just didn't seem practical.
The paint alone, had I bought it retail, was going to be around $300!! So I had a couple of local bike body shops and got some quotes. Turns out I was able to barter some of my services for a very drastic reduction in the price. So I have farmed it out and it should be back to me with a pristine body and paint job. I am going to go with a base/coat paint layers. Colors are going to be Green/White/Red. Probably going to add a little pearl and maybe some luster to make it shiny. Very excited about this.
From there I am going to install new wires, cables, and brakes first and then slowly start adding upgrades like white walls, new fork, new shocks, white trim & rubber, new exhaust, new kickstand, maybe a new stator and other none-such. Basically almost a complete rebuild except the engine. Just don't have the money to drop about $1000 in parts right now. Here's some pics of the "white" Vespa.
The paint alone, had I bought it retail, was going to be around $300!! So I had a couple of local bike body shops and got some quotes. Turns out I was able to barter some of my services for a very drastic reduction in the price. So I have farmed it out and it should be back to me with a pristine body and paint job. I am going to go with a base/coat paint layers. Colors are going to be Green/White/Red. Probably going to add a little pearl and maybe some luster to make it shiny. Very excited about this.
From there I am going to install new wires, cables, and brakes first and then slowly start adding upgrades like white walls, new fork, new shocks, white trim & rubber, new exhaust, new kickstand, maybe a new stator and other none-such. Basically almost a complete rebuild except the engine. Just don't have the money to drop about $1000 in parts right now. Here's some pics of the "white" Vespa.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Front Fork
Ok, things have been slowing down as I am getting ready for the next big push, body work, paint, and then the rebuild! I am still pondering between just polishing up my brake drums and current rims, or painting my brake drums white and getting chrome rims. I will be adding some chrome to the bike but just here and there. I don't want to go super-brit mod with the chrome. Just some accents here and there.
Anyway, I at least needed to get the drums off to look at the brake pads, remove rust off the front fork, and generally do a big clean up of parts, etc. Let me tell you, the front fork was a complete and total bitch! Granted I had some rust and who knows if anyone has looked at this fork since it rolled off the assembly line. Here are some tips and tricks (assuming you have the same type assembly).
1. Spray everything with liquid wrench, let it sit.
2. Brake Drum: The castle nut on the drum was real tight. It is the same size as your spark plug. Get your spark plug wrench out and use it with a hammer if you are having problems. It is six sided and gets a better fit around the whole nut. plus it all ready has a handy place for you to hammer.
3. Front Spring: Once you take off the nut on the bolt for the upper part of the spring, take a screwdriver and spin the piece inside the spring down the spring. It will pull out the bolt. It's just an aluminum piece that holds the bolt and it will spin up and down the spring. You may have to use two screwdrivers. One to pry the spring and the other one to spin the piece.
Once you take off the top bolt you can then just spin the spring itself and it will undo the bolt at the bottom of the spring. Sorry no pics of those pieces inside the spring but you can see them up close at the top and bottom of the springs inside.
4. Front Shock: The front shock was actually also really hard to remove. But I think that was mostly because my bolts were really old and rusty. I still haven't gotten the bolt off the assembly. I was able to get the nut off and then slide off the shock. So my only trick is, get the nut off and don't worry about the bolt, unless you really want to.
5. Holding Pins: The two pins with the notches. This turned out to be easy, scary, and would have been impossible without my friend Shane's dad having lots of crazy tools out on their farm. So Shane's dad had a hydraulic press, which I can't even imagine doing with out it. Here's the pins I am talking about (in the center of the pivot arm):
Here's how we did it, luckily Shane's dad uses the press quite a bit so he was able to figure it out rather quickly. He took a small 6 inch piece of 1' pipe put it under drum assembly (or whatever you want to call it after the drum is removed and where the brakes go). This would be so that as the rods are coming out they have somewhere to go and don't just hit the bench. Then he took a regular old bolt the same size as the rods and put it on top of the rods. The fork is sitting on its side kind of like this (this is NOT my picture but a picture I took from Jim Williams off the scooterbbs.com website while he was helping me trouble shoot this):
A few things about the pic. The first is that I had the fork turned upside down from this picture and I was driving the pins out the other way. I didn't want to push against the aluminum and bend anything. Although the disadvantage to my method is that you might run the risk of folding the "tabs" on the ends of the pins. We attempted to avoid that when we first applied pressure by only lining up the "push" bolt only with the thick part of the tabs. This way we could at least get things moving and hope that once we loosened it a little it would go easier.
The first bolt went no problem. We pushed off center until flush with the aluminum assembly. Then lined up on center and it pushed out no problem once things got moving. Just as we had thought. The tab was in great shape.
The second bolt was a little bit scarier. We had to exert more pressure and we had a definite "pop" when the bolt moved. Looked around, no holes in bodies, all the parts still on the press, big sigh of relief and from that moment on we were able to just push the bolt through real easy. Tab was also still ok.
Again I have no idea how this would work without a hydraulic press. Everyone else seems to recommend a blow torch for heating the aluminum and a brass tap. Tools i don't have readily available anyway and rounding those up turned out to be harder than finding someone with a hydraulic press. Ask at a local garage?
One other thing, when you take out those pins. Watch the one that connects the fork. Inside are grease packed bearings. Pull out the pin just enough to get the fork off but then put the pin back in asap. Also there are a few washers in the assembly watch for them falling off as you take the fork apart once the pins are pushed through.
The brake assembly and brake's themselves were rather easy to get off, just follow the manauals and you shouldn't have any problems.
Now that I know my friend Shane has an aircompressor and a big barn I am thinking of media blasting my Vespa all by myself to get rid of the paint and rust and getting it ready for body work. I'll keep you updated.
Anyway, I at least needed to get the drums off to look at the brake pads, remove rust off the front fork, and generally do a big clean up of parts, etc. Let me tell you, the front fork was a complete and total bitch! Granted I had some rust and who knows if anyone has looked at this fork since it rolled off the assembly line. Here are some tips and tricks (assuming you have the same type assembly).
1. Spray everything with liquid wrench, let it sit.
2. Brake Drum: The castle nut on the drum was real tight. It is the same size as your spark plug. Get your spark plug wrench out and use it with a hammer if you are having problems. It is six sided and gets a better fit around the whole nut. plus it all ready has a handy place for you to hammer.
3. Front Spring: Once you take off the nut on the bolt for the upper part of the spring, take a screwdriver and spin the piece inside the spring down the spring. It will pull out the bolt. It's just an aluminum piece that holds the bolt and it will spin up and down the spring. You may have to use two screwdrivers. One to pry the spring and the other one to spin the piece.
Once you take off the top bolt you can then just spin the spring itself and it will undo the bolt at the bottom of the spring. Sorry no pics of those pieces inside the spring but you can see them up close at the top and bottom of the springs inside.
4. Front Shock: The front shock was actually also really hard to remove. But I think that was mostly because my bolts were really old and rusty. I still haven't gotten the bolt off the assembly. I was able to get the nut off and then slide off the shock. So my only trick is, get the nut off and don't worry about the bolt, unless you really want to.
5. Holding Pins: The two pins with the notches. This turned out to be easy, scary, and would have been impossible without my friend Shane's dad having lots of crazy tools out on their farm. So Shane's dad had a hydraulic press, which I can't even imagine doing with out it. Here's the pins I am talking about (in the center of the pivot arm):
Here's how we did it, luckily Shane's dad uses the press quite a bit so he was able to figure it out rather quickly. He took a small 6 inch piece of 1' pipe put it under drum assembly (or whatever you want to call it after the drum is removed and where the brakes go). This would be so that as the rods are coming out they have somewhere to go and don't just hit the bench. Then he took a regular old bolt the same size as the rods and put it on top of the rods. The fork is sitting on its side kind of like this (this is NOT my picture but a picture I took from Jim Williams off the scooterbbs.com website while he was helping me trouble shoot this):
A few things about the pic. The first is that I had the fork turned upside down from this picture and I was driving the pins out the other way. I didn't want to push against the aluminum and bend anything. Although the disadvantage to my method is that you might run the risk of folding the "tabs" on the ends of the pins. We attempted to avoid that when we first applied pressure by only lining up the "push" bolt only with the thick part of the tabs. This way we could at least get things moving and hope that once we loosened it a little it would go easier.The first bolt went no problem. We pushed off center until flush with the aluminum assembly. Then lined up on center and it pushed out no problem once things got moving. Just as we had thought. The tab was in great shape.
The second bolt was a little bit scarier. We had to exert more pressure and we had a definite "pop" when the bolt moved. Looked around, no holes in bodies, all the parts still on the press, big sigh of relief and from that moment on we were able to just push the bolt through real easy. Tab was also still ok.
Again I have no idea how this would work without a hydraulic press. Everyone else seems to recommend a blow torch for heating the aluminum and a brass tap. Tools i don't have readily available anyway and rounding those up turned out to be harder than finding someone with a hydraulic press. Ask at a local garage?
One other thing, when you take out those pins. Watch the one that connects the fork. Inside are grease packed bearings. Pull out the pin just enough to get the fork off but then put the pin back in asap. Also there are a few washers in the assembly watch for them falling off as you take the fork apart once the pins are pushed through.
The brake assembly and brake's themselves were rather easy to get off, just follow the manauals and you shouldn't have any problems.
Now that I know my friend Shane has an aircompressor and a big barn I am thinking of media blasting my Vespa all by myself to get rid of the paint and rust and getting it ready for body work. I'll keep you updated.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Horn Switch Removal
I had one thing left attached to my Vespa that I wasn't totally sure how to get off. The high-low and horn switch assembly located next to the throttle (right side).
This is the underside view. Here is how I got it off. It's pretty cold here now so I think I got an advantage. I took a lighter and ran it around the outside edge of the assembly. Then gently squeezing with my hands I tugged at the assembly. I was able to get a minuscule amount of separation at this point. Then, on the left hand side of the assembly there conveniently is a small flat head screwdriver size slot. Gently insert the flathead and pry up. You should get even more separation. Then just go around with the screwdriver or if you can use your hand. That's it.
This is the underside view. Here is how I got it off. It's pretty cold here now so I think I got an advantage. I took a lighter and ran it around the outside edge of the assembly. Then gently squeezing with my hands I tugged at the assembly. I was able to get a minuscule amount of separation at this point. Then, on the left hand side of the assembly there conveniently is a small flat head screwdriver size slot. Gently insert the flathead and pry up. You should get even more separation. Then just go around with the screwdriver or if you can use your hand. That's it.
Tips & Tricks
So taking apart the Vespa was actually very straightforward! Taking the engine off was real easy, especially if you have a friend helping. Here are the only real tips I would have to offer.
1. When taking off the headset push the Speedometer cable down into the head tube. You can push that cable as far as you want down the tube because you can just push it back up later. This is real important because as you try to take off the headset you can pinch the cable real easy. Luckily I noticed this and went back and pushed the cable down.
Here's a pic of the speedometer cable before it's off the speedometer itself.
Here's a pic after the headset was pulled off with the speedometer cable in the headtube. I would push it further down than what you see in this picture.
2. To get the Vespa logos, Floor rails, VIN badge and other trim off get a small chisel. You may need to flip over your vespa to get underneath it. This was the very last thing I did. Take the chisel to the small rivet heads sticking out. It won't seem like much when you run your fingers over the rivets but there is just enough there to chisel. Tap gently with a hammer on the chisel and these heads should chisel right off with out much effort. From there the rivets should pop out on the other side with a little leverage from a screw driver under the rails. I took a small nail and "punched" out the rivets from the underside if they gave me any trouble. They popped right out.
3. The brake pedal was actually rather easy for me. I've heard this has been a real problem for others. I took the brake pedal rubber off, sprayed the pin with a lot of Liquid Wrench, let it sit for a couple of hours and then the pin popped right up and I was able to grab it with some needle nose pliers. A really small allen wrench might also be real handy to help push up the pin. It did take me a while to figure out the pin was being pushed UP and it had a small head on it. The pin actually goes up and down as the break is used.
4. The gear cables (not the clutch cable) are behind the kick start in the gear box.
Here's a pic
at first I thought you could just unscrew the cables from that "gear box." But it appears that just makes adjusments. You have to take off the grey cover that you see in this picture. You only need to take the very bottom screw located about where you see the bolt removed in this picture. You can actually see the bolt sitting on top of the gearbox in the picture above.
From there you can open the gear box and unscrew the cables from inside the gearbox.
Make sure you keep track of which cable goes to which part of the gear shifter on your handlebars (well actually inside of your headset but on the end of the shifter tube).
5. Speaking of shifter tubes (and also throttle tube) there is a clip that keeps the tubes and the cable holders inside the headset together. Just pull out those pins and the tubes and the cable holders will pull apart real easy (well if they are a little rusty get a RUBBER mallet, some liquid wrench and then bang them apart).
Those are the only real problems I encountered when taking things off. Of course you have to make the decision if you want to take off any original trim and foot rails. Mine were stock and I went back and forth on whether I wanted to remove the leg shield trim and the foot rails. My final decision was based on the rust on my bike. I had a bit under the foot rails and I would rather have all the rust removed and a really good paint job done then fret over having "stock" rails.
1. When taking off the headset push the Speedometer cable down into the head tube. You can push that cable as far as you want down the tube because you can just push it back up later. This is real important because as you try to take off the headset you can pinch the cable real easy. Luckily I noticed this and went back and pushed the cable down.
Here's a pic of the speedometer cable before it's off the speedometer itself.
Here's a pic after the headset was pulled off with the speedometer cable in the headtube. I would push it further down than what you see in this picture.
2. To get the Vespa logos, Floor rails, VIN badge and other trim off get a small chisel. You may need to flip over your vespa to get underneath it. This was the very last thing I did. Take the chisel to the small rivet heads sticking out. It won't seem like much when you run your fingers over the rivets but there is just enough there to chisel. Tap gently with a hammer on the chisel and these heads should chisel right off with out much effort. From there the rivets should pop out on the other side with a little leverage from a screw driver under the rails. I took a small nail and "punched" out the rivets from the underside if they gave me any trouble. They popped right out.
3. The brake pedal was actually rather easy for me. I've heard this has been a real problem for others. I took the brake pedal rubber off, sprayed the pin with a lot of Liquid Wrench, let it sit for a couple of hours and then the pin popped right up and I was able to grab it with some needle nose pliers. A really small allen wrench might also be real handy to help push up the pin. It did take me a while to figure out the pin was being pushed UP and it had a small head on it. The pin actually goes up and down as the break is used.
4. The gear cables (not the clutch cable) are behind the kick start in the gear box.
Here's a pic
at first I thought you could just unscrew the cables from that "gear box." But it appears that just makes adjusments. You have to take off the grey cover that you see in this picture. You only need to take the very bottom screw located about where you see the bolt removed in this picture. You can actually see the bolt sitting on top of the gearbox in the picture above.
From there you can open the gear box and unscrew the cables from inside the gearbox.
Make sure you keep track of which cable goes to which part of the gear shifter on your handlebars (well actually inside of your headset but on the end of the shifter tube).
5. Speaking of shifter tubes (and also throttle tube) there is a clip that keeps the tubes and the cable holders inside the headset together. Just pull out those pins and the tubes and the cable holders will pull apart real easy (well if they are a little rusty get a RUBBER mallet, some liquid wrench and then bang them apart).
Those are the only real problems I encountered when taking things off. Of course you have to make the decision if you want to take off any original trim and foot rails. Mine were stock and I went back and forth on whether I wanted to remove the leg shield trim and the foot rails. My final decision was based on the rust on my bike. I had a bit under the foot rails and I would rather have all the rust removed and a really good paint job done then fret over having "stock" rails.
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