Well, time to slow down a bit

My weekend plans are kinda screwed. Well, not terribly.

I was supposed to have the frame and a few of the body pieces media blasted this morning and then spend the rest of the weekend prepping the body so that I could spend the week priming/sanding and paint next weekend.

I showed up to the paint strippers this morning at 10 as I was told to. A guy helped me unload all of the pieces and place them into the facility. Then the guy tells me that he will try to get it done by the end of this next week. A few days ago, I was told it would be done when I brought them and the parts would be in and out in about an hour.

I was kinda pissed, but I wasn't about to try to take my parts somewhere else. I just kinda brushed it off and kept my mouth shut.

So it looks like the weekend will be entirely spent on engine work. Which I suppose isn't a bad thing, but I just don't have all of the gaskets here to put it all back together when I'm done. So I was kinda hoping to do all of that throughout the week in between primer coats.

Oh well, tomorrow will begin with a little bit of (actual) work. I have to go to a customer's house at 10am cause I gotta make that money when I can! Then after that, it's time to get down to business with that piston. Wish me luck.

Ciao.

Let me rephrase myself a little...

To avoid confusion, in my previous post, I wasn't talking about any high-end, essential parts. I was talking about tid-bits that add up to be expensive. Like gaskets, gromits, rubber, trim, junctions, etc. As Jeremy stated in a comment on my previous entry, try to get as many authentic italian made parts as possible. Don't settle for run of the mill reproductions on complex parts. But as for 12v upgrades, asian/indian made is the only option. When you buy these CDI upgrade kits, even from scomo or scooterworks, you are getting parts that were sold to them by scootrs. But the same is true with a whole lot of those little rubber bits and pieces and hardware.

Word to the wise.

Straight from the folks at scootrichmond.com, I found out that most of their parts and scooterworks' come from scootrs.com

I had never even heard of the place until the Scootrichmond folks told me about them.

Well, they are CHEAP. I wouldn't necessarily trust them with heavy mechanical or quality concerning parts just to be safe. But I got everything I needed from them, including shipping for about half the price it would have cost from an American company that resells their parts.

That's scootrs.com. Bookmark it.

Ciao.

Scoot.net Ads

Yesterday, I posted an ad on scoot.net looking for a 12v upgrade stator and flywheel. This morning, I had 3 e-mails from people who thought my Vespa was for sell. So I checked the ad to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't, it all checked out fine.

Read what you're trying to buy gooberheads!

Ciao.

Mild progress today

So, I work for myself. It is nice because since I am also a full time student, I can still have plenty of time for my family. Well, today was my wife's first day of college. I was excited because A) I'm proud of her, and B) For her to go to school, I can't work on Wednesdays. Instead, I need to stay home with the baby. (The older of the two goes to day care, and to preschool in the fall). I thought to myself "Hot damn! The baby normally takes about 4 hours worth of naps throughout the day, that means on Wednesdays I can have a little dedicated Vespa time!" Especially because it is normally 2 naps of 2 hours, so I can have a couple good working blocks. Not today. Oh no no no. The baby was cranky. So all that I got done was taking her on a field trip to pick up the paint. After talking to a few bike owners and from what I remember of my old pal Tim (Custom painter at Big Dog Motorcycles), it is best to use a single stage paint on any sort of every day rider that doesn't have custom paint jobs (designs, flames, what have you) because it is much more durable and chip resistant. With custom jobs, you really don't have much of a choice. I was told a 2 stage (paint coat, top coat) is also good, especially for show quality, it's just a little better for an every day rider to have a single stage. I'm going with a seafoam green.

After school tonight, I squeezed in a good hour to finish getting everything rounded up for the big media blast on Friday. I decided I would just let them handle the Fender and fork, and finish up the little specs I left on the rims. I think if I never use chemical stripper again, it will be too soon. I started taping up parts that are already down to bare metal. So far, the pieces completely ready for priming are the engine cowl, the head, the lever attachments, and the gas tank. While disassembling the fork, found I will need a new shock, though. No biggie.

Ciao.

Parts update.

The last 3 days, I have thrown down a lot of money to get the most expensive parts out of the way. Really, the bike was pretty complete when I got it and some new parts had been purchased by one of the previous owners. By the time I got it, it had all new cables, a new wiring harness, a new center floormat, and rear brake rubber.

This week, I have ordered:
A headlamp assembly
A taillight lense
New bulbs
The floor rail kit
A new chrome horn
A gasket replacement kit
New grips
A 12v flywheel
A 12v stator
12v junction boxes
A new speedometer assembly
A new exhaust
A buddy seat
A set of kickstand feet

Of course, as the restoration progresses, you will always find pieces that need replaced along the way that you hadn't planned. As of right now, the piston and cylinder are questionable (I previously mentioned, we are going to try and un-jam it this weekend). And I think that Ken has the know how to get the glovebox cowl back into shape so that the door will fit back on correctly. But as of now, here's the known parts that remain necessary:

Carb
1 Brake/Clutch lever
kickstarter
legshield trim
cowl trim
cowl rubber
helmet latch
emblems
mirrors (optional accesory)
rear rack/spare tire attachment (optional accesory)
3x 3.5" x 8" whitewall tires
3x 3.5" x 8" innertubes


So really, as of now, I've got most of the purchases out of the way. But again, I'm more than sure that I will find other things that need to be replaced. The engine casing isn't split yet. Once inside, there's a lot of common pieces that need to be replaced. Like oil seals, bearings, cruciforms, etc.

We'll see where things go once the engine is split open this weekend.

Ciao.

The next few weeks ahead...

So, here is how things have been going...

I have sanded and grinded and chemicaled myself out. I give up. I caved in this morning and decided to get the frame media blasted. So, I called a place called SoftStrip who said they can fit me in on Friday morning at 10am. It should take about an hour and cost about $90. Honestly, if I knew it was that cheap, I would have done that from the beginning instead of waste 20+ of my own labor hours toiling away. This is as far as all of that has done. The only thing that really kept me from wanting to media blast is that it seems that it will take away the body filler that had previously been applied. And although on the smaller pieces, they were over-bondo'ed into submission, it was used very wisely and responsibly on the frame. But fortunately, it was just applied to the front of the legshield, so it shouldn't be all that hard to recreate. Anyhow, Friday morning = Media blast. The rest of the weekend = body prep + what will be covered in the next paragraph.

3 Days of letting PB B'laster soak in, and the piston is still seized. I'm not surprised, I never really seem to get an easy break, so I imagined this would happen. Jeremy ended up using a hydrulic press and a hacksaw. I might have to go the same road, but my step-dad (Ken, he's helping me all weekend with body and mechanics.) and I might have a few different tricks up our sleeves beforehand. As the engine is coming apart, it really seems that the only thing terribly wrong with it is the seized piston. It is also cleaning up incredibly easy. Just a little de-greasing oven cleaner and a rag does wonders. I just can't get the damn casing to separate. I took a heat gun to the bearing under the stator, like other blogs suggested, but it still won't budge in the slightest bit. Again, maybe Ken will have something up his sleeve this weekend. He has much more experience with mechanics than I do(albeit, not Vespas, but old model cars).

So, I had a heated debate with myself about whether to keep true to the roots of the VBB and keep the 6v system, or drill a hole in the side of the frame, upgrade the stator/flywheel/junctions/wiring harness, and run off of a 12v battery system. A lot of people say that the old magneto set-up is just awful and it is worth the price and labor and actually adds desirability and value even though it takes away from the original state. Well, when disassembling the engine, the debate is over. I pulled the flywheel and noticed that a fin is chipped off. And one of the wires to the stator has a terribly damaged sheeth. So since those are really the two most expensive pieces of a 12v upgrade, I might as well do it since I have to anyway. I'm sure that I will be much happier with the outcome anyhow. A buddy of mine has a sprint with the original 6v system and is very unhappy. He is going to have me give him an upgrade too, so at least I will have the experience first.

To finish off today, I found a picture that my beautiful girlfriend, Danielle snapped of me right when the delivery truck door opened and I got a glimpse of my new toy last Friday. I think I look thrilled. Oh, by the way. Never set a deadline on your Vespa restoration project. But, I am hoping to have this done in time for our wedding. We are getting married on June 7th, and don't want a crappy limo. We want to ride off on a restored seafoam green '63 VBB 150! So, I'm not necessarily planning on it... just hoping I get lucky enough for the experience.

Ciao.