Crank Setback

So in putting on the flywheel I torqued on the nut to the flywheel and the threaded fly side of the crank broke off. I couldn't figure it out for a sec or two I just looked at it like what happened then I took the run out the socket and it still had the crank end in it. So now I am set back a bit trying to get it all figured out. I hadn't even gone 2 miles on the crank so back it goes to American Scooter Center. I just not a new one in but I need to put a new bearing on the crank. I am happen to have found one at a bearing shop in town for 5 bucks vs the 68 they ask for at the scooterworks or other places. So it is all part of the process I guess.
I just want to have some summer riding time before it is back to the garage for winter. I should get it ridable soon but i have said that before

Jets

Fixing my jetting situation has been a nightmare and let me tell you that one of three things is happening
1. No one knows what to do.
2. No one wants to tell me what to do.
3. They all want me to spend stacks of cash

so i have had to do a lot of research
needless to say it is getting there. But not after a ton of time.


some things for me to reference.
http://www.smellofdeath.com/lloydy/jetting.htm
http://www.mypage.tsn.cc/rdd/TT/contents/CARB/dellorto/dellorto_3_1.html

Oring and spring

Here is the difference between the bike shifting like a proper pig and shifting like butter. I had to change it out. The thicker spring is a racing spring in the back axel that controls shifting the spring on the left is the stock spring.

The o ring on the left is worn and is causing the cases to leak a bit of oil. The o ring and the spring were the reason I tore down the engine. Had to get it right or else it was not safe.

Wiring

So I still haven't gotten all the electrics working but I have al the wiring done. I had to make an extension on the back cabling for the taillight. (seen above) I am going to have to get the motor back in and running before I can do the wiring work since the bike doesnt have a battery. But if feels like I am getting close.

Timing

So before I tore it down I went through the process of setting the timing. It was interesting. The whole process can be seen HERE But basically you have to find Top Dead Center (TDC)(where the piston stops to return down) You can stick something into the spark plug hole to see where the piston goes and comes back and you can mark the degrees it travels then find the midpoint and that is TDC. Each size top end has a degree Before TDC measurement (my polini 130 is 16 Degrees BTDC) where you have to turn your stator plate back. I used a timing strobe gun to check the measurement and then adjust. Good times.

It felt good

So I got back into the motor today and it was actually enjoyable, I thought it was going to be a real chore but it was good. It finally felt like I knew what the junk was going on and it looked like I knew what I was doing. Minus the whole scene where my friend brandon was over to help my take the motor out of the body, since doing it myself last time was not so fun. So we take out the mounting bolts and in all of my excitement I forgot to disconnect the cables and to drain the oil. Dang to excited. But in about 1 hour I had it down to this.

Put your left fender in put your left fender out.

So after some time with a hammer and dolly I have gotten the dents out of the shape of a truck bumper and more into the shape of a vespa.

Back on the Horse

So I got back on PK today for the first time since my accident. It was a bit scary. I got the clutch working however so it ran well. I am having to run it with the choke out and I need to tighten the gearing cables a bit tighter. I am so tempted to take it to a local dealer to get it timed just right and get things tightened, I have tried my best to tighten things the best I can. I am thinking about driving it to school to finish the body work and then taking it in after that. It was fun but a bit scary taking it out on the road for the first real time. I still have some electrical issues to work out but overall it it looking on the up and up.
I will post some pictures of the body work part two soon.

From Before

Here are some images Holly took before the "incident".

Die hard vespa

So I have had to take a break from working on PK but I saw this and had to post it.
This is die hard. Great tattoo. (for those who have never ridden a vespa on the left grip is the gear shift and this is exactly what is there on the shifter)

Small problem... big set back.

So I am a little down about the whole project today. I have learned lot through this and I am still learning about myself and what I need to become. So in the ongoing metaphor of PK as my internal rebuild that I have been going through for the past year...I have hit a major setback. As you can see in the photo something went wrong. I Took it out into the street and started it up and depressed the clutch and when i selected the gear (normally you would slowly let out the clutch lever and it would slide into gear) I didnt even release any pressure off of the clutch lever and it jumped into gear. The clutch would not disengage and the brake could only slow it down and not stop it from crashing into the back of my friends truck.
This comes at a time for me personally where I am having to deal with alot of internal situations that I originally got PK to work along side of the things I was fixing in myself. I however ended up concentrating more on PK than myself. So I think I dervered this in some round about way and I am learning that my personal restoration is not going to be in my timing but Gods and that it will be humbling at parts and triumphant at times but I cant give up. I tried to set deadlines and expectations that I now know are crippling. Anyhow I am going to take some time away from the vespa, and get the focus back where it should be and when the time is right I will finish PK. This is really tough for me however. It is all I can think about sometimes is getting it finished and getting it our of looking so painful. But if I start on it now I will get obsessed with it again and I will have not put into practice what I am learning.

First Kick

So here is some much awaited video.
Here is the first kick after a long rebuild. I have been working on this since August of last year. I took it around the block and man does it scream.

I still have some work left to do (cable adjustments, floor rails, taillight, and minor electric work)

Sneak Peek

So here it almost done. It doesnt have the cowl covers on or grips or a proper taillight or the floorboards on...but this is how it is looking. When it is all done I will take some proper portraits not in the garage.

Back together

So here is the carburetor all back together. With a new choke cable, which after taking these images I tried to install and it is in my sophomoric opinion to tight so I put the old one back on. That is an easy install that can be done without removing the carburetor in its entirety if I need to redo it.

In all Glory

This is where the gas line comes in. I would say the filter is a little dirty. (i also say this because I had to fish out paint chips and calcium deposits from the inside.)
Here is the bowl off with the float assembly in view with one of the jets at its side.
Float assembly removed and all jets out, get to cleaning out all the green gunk.
So I think this is the smallest piece I have had to get down to in this whole project.


So here the carb is broken down into all of its parts. Including the choke cable assembly the float, bowl, o rings, filters, and all jets and bolts. Now to put it back together.

Fuel tap and carb out.

Here it is in all of its glory out of the bike. I had to fix the fuel tap and peck cock while I had the tank out and things all undone. That was just taking it apart and making some cleaning happen. Lucky the fuel tap assembly is ok that would have been another 25 bucks. It is a little hard to get to while riding however to change from on to reserve since it is at the bottom of the gas tank under the seat.
I ended up making my own fuel tap wrench saving 16 bucks. So here are images of that below.




Now that I have the carb out I need to research a bit on which screw does what in terms of tuning. These are the only two adjustments on the outside of the carb that I can find.

The carburetor adventure

So here is an image of where the carb sits in a small frame. Everything is designed to the T and in there tight. So tight that to remove the carburetor you have to remove the seat and the gas tank and be sitting on the bike to have it go up far enough into the frame for you to remove or tighten the hose clamps. So I am taking it out and apart to clean it all out. In all of my excitement I cleaned out what I could see and thought that i didnt want to mess with it right now I just needed to see it run. I should have done this while I had it out the first time. I am learning about expected deadlines of the self imposed nature.

Cables need to be banished

I am having more trouble with brake cables than I would have figured. First there is this little bear of a piece. While trying to install the cable through it. The cotter pin decides to throw in the towel and give up the ghost. It being 9pm on sunday. I make a cotter pin out of a bobby pin, which works fantastic with some filling and bending.
Then installing this was such a beast since I realized after taking this picture that I had to put the pin in place while it was on the bike. So I made TWO cotter pins out of bobby pins since I had to cut the first one off.

Motor Matters

So here is the finished motor on the bench and installed. I am super excited to kick it over. Its heavier than I remember. It is funny I have been moving it around in parts for so long. I used to pick the frame up by the seat area with one hand but now that everything is coming back together, I had just forgotten how heavy it was.

Tires and details.

So here are the white wall tires that are now on PK. I spent the time to detail the nuts and lock washers for mounting the tires. They are all white, I know it will not last forever but it looks good now.
I attached the front Horn Casting and that was a choir since I in my unknowing state didnt put it on before the front fork so I couldnt get a tool under it or my hand for that matter to attach it. I had to put a thin screwdriver through the front grill part and leave the nut visible rather than the screw head, but so be it.

The underside

So here is the foot stand in all of its restored glory. I know road grime and stuff is going to make it look oh so nasty in not so long but as of now I think it looks great. This also was a time when I wished I had taken better notes when I took everything apart. You know at the time I thought my notes were extensive enough and I didnt think I would have to take a 6 week break in the project. But I keep finding parts that i have to look at and think hmmm where did that come from and where does it go. Like on the foot stand there is a small L/J shaped piece that goes on a mounting bolt but which one?



Here is the final foot brake. I am loving the white and black details.

Foot brake

So here is the foot activated brake out of its place. I am having a bit of confusion since I cannot for the life of me find anywhere wires can come from to link to this.
I can see leads on the brake and in the diagram for the bike but those wires do not exist in the wiring harness I have. So...I dont know if a brake light even works on this model but there are wires to the brake light and I know it had one originally. So... I dont know.

Wires and Tigers and Bears

So I have fallen in love with the new heat shrink rubber sleeves I got. I dont know how I existed without them. Next time I break a limb or finger I know what I am going to use.
Above is a picture before and after the conditions of the undercarriage wiring. So much decay on the wires and so much old messy electrical tape.



Before and After of the brake cable housing. I thought I didnt have a new brake cable so I had to use the old one. I ended up having to cut the old housing to get a blockage out and then used the heat shrink sleeves to mend it. Of course after all of this and installing it. I find the new brake cable I thought I didnt have. So now I have a spare and next time I do any overhauling I will replace it.

New cotter pins

Here is the back axel cotter pin. When I got PK the cotter pin was actually a nail cut in half. So I think this will work just fine.

clutch and nut

So one of the issues i ran into was finding a nut to fit the clutch side of the crank. So i found the right size nut but had to cut it in half so here in the final nut cleaned up.



Here is the clutch all installed and good to go. This was a beast due to my cheapness. I made a clutch compression tool out of a bolt, nut and washers. It kept expanding the clutch crooked by just a little and so when it came back together the plates would be off just enough to be super tight to get in. Finally after a while it finally clicked in and was set flush.

Overlooked

I had finished assembling the cases and placing the stator and was reaching for the flywheel when I saw this.  This is the flyside crank bearing... point is it is supposed to be in the cases.  On the crankshaft... which it was not.  So I had to remove the stator plate and wires. And re-split the cases and in the process tore the cork gasket so I now need to remake a main gasket as well as press on more bearing in place before continuing.  It was one of those moments where I counted 3 times then assembled cases but apparently my skills in pre case assembly were lacking.  

Stator plate and screws

So I replaced the screws for the stator plate, the old ones (seen above) I think were in need of being replaced.
I mounted the stator plate in and was going to start doing the stuff for timing the firing, when I looked over and saw something that made me quite upset.  

Throttle and carb

This morning while it was 9 degrees I was out in the garage putting together the carburetor (which was fun since I have no idea what went where)  But I got it all together and all put back where it was supposed to be.  I had to shorten the throttle cable and clean the choke assembly to get it all in its proper alignment.  

I did do something I thought was quite smart.  I drilled a 1/16 inch hole through the plastic cam so I could tension the throttle cable through the headset rather than under the carb.

So here is the engine on its way to being closed.  I am well along in terms of its reassembly.  I replaced the shift cross, the kickstart rubber, the kickstart gear, all of the oil seals and gaskets.  I reassembled the gears to the axle and pressed on all bearings to their places.  Below is an image of the new kickstart gear.

Here are both cases joined.  I was in need of one size nut for the crankshaft on the clutch side.  It took me an hour of driving to find one and that was at advanced auto and it was not even labeled and then ended up just giving it to me since we couldn't find the package it came from or where it belonged.  I tried Lowes, tractor supply, fastenal and grainger.  It was a 12 mm by 1.5 thread.  Everyone seemed to have 1.25 and 1.75 but not 1.5 so if you are looking for that nut good luck.  I still have to grind it down to the right thickness but it will work.  I am also in need of a woodruff key that is the right type for the clutch basket.  After this I have to just reassemble the wheels, magneto and flywheel, and exhaust.  If i get the time I think I can kickstart it within a month.  Pray it starts or else my wife might drop kick it.   Thank goodness we have had some serious ice and snow so that I can stay home and get some time in on it. 

Wiring

I have started doing the rewire of PK.  Here is the end of the wiring harness coming to the front.  I still have to do the underside and the taillight work.  I am considering making my own taillight.  We will see how it all goes.

Steering column lock

Here is the new steering column lock.  It is a far cry from where I found it...Not there.

Below is the original condition of the column lock and surrounding area.  I think it is a great improvement but it was not without struggle.  Refer to the next image.

So here is the story.  The hole on the right is supposed to be there the whole on the left...not so much.  I had already finished assembling the front fork and head casing and done all the cables and wiring when I realized that to do the steering column lock you have to have the fork out.  So i had to undo the headset and lower the fork to get it in.  Now mind you I have had to take on and off the headset what feels like 100 times, to get all of the wires in correct since they were not in there correctly when I got it.  And also I didnt take any pictures of how it was so when I put it back together from memory I did what looked familiar and then i realized it was not right so on and off on and off etc.  Anyhow I got the front fork off and slipped in the cam into the small pipe in the picture above.  I went to put in the column lock on the inside of the vespa and the spring it comes with is a little bit of a riddle and I cant figure it out.  Here is where I got stupid.  I put in the tumbler to see if it would even work.  I learn after hearing a little click that the tumbler is supposed to go in ONLY ONCE.  it has a little tab that slides in then clicks into place.  So now the tumbler is stuck without its housing and I cant get it out.  I thought no big deal I can just pull out the cam push the button and slide it out but I cant since I cant push out the cam with out getting the fork out and I cant get the fork out with the cam in.. grrrr.  

So I ended up drilling a hole in the pipe so I could reach in with a needle file and depress the button and slip out the tumbler.  It took about 1 and 1/2 hours to do it all.  So if you ever have questions about one of these locks let me know.  I have spent the time with it.  Everyone one I called didnt know how to install these and where does the spring go (not the coil spring, the sheet spring).  I learned my lesson on this one.