Engine Tear Down-July 31, 2010

I got the engine completely tore down and cleaned. There were some chunks of metal floating around and places where the gears were scraping against the engine case. Found some makeshift parts that were questionable from the previous rebuild, so I am guessing that might have been causing some of the problems. Also as expected, the corks in the clutch were completely dry. Soaked those in oil overnight and got the clutch rebuilt. Now to put it all back together and get the parts off of the basement floor.

Engine Rebuild-July 23, 2010

I got the clutch cover on the scooter and was hoping to make it down the street that night.  That didn't happen, so I got a chance to work on it the following morning.  I got the scooter to idle, but when I would put it in gear the scooter didn't have enough power to pull the bike.  After several tries, some strange sounds started coming from inside the cases.  Lots of grinding and some sounds of snapping metal.  Not good.  I also suspect some air leaks so time for an engine strip.  Not too bad though since I wanted to do this from the beginning.

Clutch Cover-July 22, 2010

Well I got all of the parts needed for the clutch cover.  This included a NOS clutch cover, clutch arm, spring, actuating pad, and actuating lever.

It's Alive...Ugly but Alive...July 12, 2010

Definitely not pretty but going in the right direction. Holy smokes! No adjustments yet. Also seems like smoke is coming out at the beginning of the exhaust and the cylinder. Had to use my smallframe tank, since I am waiting on a fuel tap wrench to clean the original tank. 

More Paint Cleaning

I got a chance to work more on stripping the paint. I decided to try my best at keeping the original paint. The best method so far has been wipe with Goof Off, sand with 150 grit, Goof Off, sand until silver pin dots show, and then GENTLY scape with a paint scraper. Then start again.

It's not perfect, but it looks way better.

Paint Cleaning-July 4, 2010

I worked on trying to get the crappy orange paint off today. First I tried mineral spirits, but that didn't work. Tried turpentine, but that also didn't work. Bought some "Goof Off" and that did the trick, but it really took a long time, so I am going to put cleaning the paint on the back burner. I've got some repairs to do to the body, so I may have it chemically stripped and repainted in the future.

Carb Cleaning-July 3, 2010

I worked on cleaning the carb. Fortunately, the carb came with the bike. These are hard to find and cost a small fortune. With the help of a toothbrush, gasoline, and carb cleaner, the gunk was cleaned out of the carb. It was missing the fuel banjo, with I ordered from the Scootershop. After tearing it apart, someone did a modification on the Needle Seating by soldering one of the holes shut. No idea why, so with some help of a propane torch, I removed the old solder.

Electrical Work-July 2, 2010

Before dumping a bunch of time and money into this, I wanted to see if the scooter would start and that the engine was running correctly. The previous owner had the engine rebuilt at Pride of Cleveland Scooters, but never got the bike running, so I am going to assume that the insides of the engine are in good working order. The scooter didn't come with a battery, so I picked up a 6v 12 amp hour battery at Batteries Plus for $27 dollars. The battery dimensions are different than the original, but good enough for a test. I spent the day wiring the battery, headlamp, ignition switch, junction box, coil, and spark plug wire. By the end of the day, all the lights worked and I was getting spark to the spark plug. A good sign. Below is what the engine looked like when I picked it up and what I worked on.

Removed Reflectors-July 1, 2010

The first thing that I did was remove the reflectors that were attached to the scooter. Unfortunately, they were screwed on and I will have to fill the holes in the future.

1961 GS 150 Vespa-July 29, 2010

I found a 1961 GS 150 for sale in Pittsburgh, PA via Craigslist. I've been wanting to work on a project bike. I really like the looks of the GS's, and after some negotiations on the price, it came home with me that day. The bike was missing some rare parts, like the airbox and original cylinder shroud, but the body was in great shape and almost everything else was there and in original form. Someone painted the bike orange, but that can come off. Also it didn't come with a title, but I had a friend run the VIN#'s and it didn't come back stolen. I also had to pick up a clutch actuating arm, which I ordered from the Scootershop.