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.

Gaskets

I have cut out new gaskets out of cork gasket material in hopes of fixing the one side of the case having a small warp to it.  The owner before me used a thick paper and silicone gaskets material.  

The cork seems to do a great job swelling where needed and crushing where not.

Dots

I have chosen to cover all open screws for aesthetic purposes with plastic coverings.  Here are a few on the front fender. I think it looks rather sharp. 

Cush gear and Clutch basket

So when I took the motor down to bare bones I found that one of the springs on the back of the clutch basket was broken and I had two choices.  Option one: replace gear and basket (179 dollars) or Option two: Get replacement plates and springs (21 dollars) and do it myself.  Now they warned me this is one of the biggest pains to do.  I was willing.  It was a pain.  Here is the part in its original condition.

After I drilled out and ground out the old rivets and got the plates off I found that 2 of the springs had been sheared.  Here it is in all its glory.
Here is the cush gear, clutch basket, plates and springs.
New plates and springs.

Now to crush the rivets without a machine to do so properly I had to build a small tool.  This is it.  It took almost just as long it seemed to make this as it did to crush all the rivets.  It is a small piece of round stock rigged to fit into an anvil and so that I could heat the rivet while it was on this stand, slip the basket and all over this tool and strike the hot rivet... It didn't work anything like that.  I made the top just large enough to hold the head of the rivet while crushing it flush and true.  I didnt think that if the head of the rivet went on the lip it would crush the lip therefore defeat the purpose of it holding the rivet, this happened.  

I ended up throwing this guy away and just using a ball peen hammer and the corner of the anvil.  Once I gave up the tool it was a whole lot better.  If I had just crushed the junk out of the rivets on corner in the first place it would have taken me half as long and would have looked a little better.  But in the end it worked out.  below is the finished piece back in the motor.  

While I am waiting..

While I am waiting for some small things for engine work I have made a major decision. I have not found a floor rail kit or parts that i like so far and none that fit the outer curve in the floor board, so I am going to make my own. Here are the wax originals I am made in the garage. I used a piece of angle iron as a base then bent them to fit the body.




I will then transport the wax pieces to the shop and proceed to cast them out of aluminum to make my own rails. If this doesnt work out I can always melt the aluminum back down and use it for something else. And if I find something better along the way or afterwards then no real loss minus time.

Clutch plates

So I have gone about rebuilding the clutch with new plates and spring. You can see by the old plates below that they were burned out and in desperate need of replacement.


Now onto the clutch basket and cush gear.

So it starts again

It is now January and I am able to start back into getting PK up and running. I still have one part to fix, and I have to wait about a week for the things I need to get here to make that happen but in the meantime I have cut all new cork gaskets instead of the old paper ones, and i have been working on making a floor kit since I am not happy with any of the ones out there so far. I have high hopes for getting it running soon. My teaching schedule starts back up tomorrow and once that settles down I will have a little more time to get into putting all of PK back together again. It has been a little to cold to work in the garage and I have been trying to settle title stuff out and register it for this year rather than having to pay taxes and junk for last year when it wasnt even running. So hopefully this will be the home stretch... hopefully.