As she doesn't have a battery, you have to run the vespa to check the electrics, and it really is a delight to kickstart her - starts everytime, first kick (though I did have a panic at one stage where she died and refused to be kicked back into life.... until i realised that I'd switched the fuel tap to "chiuso" Doh!)
There was a fair amount of smoke at one stage - I had a look at the plug - yes it is a bit damp but not gunky. The recommendation for a health plug (and consequently engine) is that the insulator should be a 'chocolate brown' - I really do need to get out for a run to see how the engine settles.
So I ran her up and went through all the lights - after a quick bit of sandpaper on one corroded lightbulb terminal, and a clean up of the ingenious demountable rear panel electrical terminals, all (well nearly all) was perfect - the headlamp seems to be in alignment, and all the 'dashboard' warning lights work - perfect.

The only non-working bit was the rear brake light - operated by the foot pedal. So to get to the switch you have to drop out the foot pedal which is bolted underneath the floor pan. This was the first time that ive had to get close to the chassis.... which I have to admit, I'd been turning a bit of a blind eye to up until now. The chassis is a bit rusty. Someone at sometime in the past has done me the great favor of not messing up engine settings or original electrics...... they have however had a go at covering up some of the rust in the floor pan. And I guess, in an ideal world I would love to get my hands on the chassis sometime, and reweld new panels in, But for the time being I am trying to not think about the rust and just get it up an running. However, today I could deny it no longer.... thats pretty rusty down there. And the dreaded thought is..... is it an MOT failure? My opinion is that structurally its still strong, and the health of the floor pan (which is not so bad up top) is passable. I really hope so because I think I need to put a hundred or so miles on the clock before I will know if I want to keep and rebuild her [ooh heres a thought! maybe I should book her in for an MOT in Aberdeen]
So anyway - here are some pics with the foot pedal removed.
Needless to say, a quick clean up of the pedal switch terminals, and all the electrics are sound. I could in theory take her right now for an MOT (if only i had CBT and insurance)

I think im falling in love

I love this scooter. Not only am I constantly thinking about it, but I'm starting to care for it too... I worry about its rust and exhaust smoke and I dab it and fiddle with it gently hoping not to make it any worse.
I didnt go out looking for her.. She just happened one day. It was fun to start with, but now its starting to get serious.
For the moment I seem to be getting away with sneeking a little bit of time with her here and there (whilst the wife and kids are out shopping or watching the telly) - But I dont think this is going to be enough. Somehow I am going to have to pluck up the courage and tell my wife what my true feelings and intentions are for this new love in my life.

Rear brake assembly

Im not sure why I'm blogging this really. Its all terribly dull, but I feel a need to record the journey - if for no other reason, it might be useful to show some of the pics to an MOT inspector - he could at least see the quality of the brake linings, or perhaps this might be useful to show a prospective buyer of the scooter should i sell it - again it would be useful, I think, if you could see some of the internals when looking to buy a second hand machine.
So here is another picture. This time of the rear brake assembly. Again, it only took me half an hour to do the inspection, adjustment and clean up - all looks good in there again and the wheel bearings are fine. I don't see any troubles there for an MOT.

CBT

Wahoo! how exciting - I've just booked my CBT (compulsory basic training) motorcycle test
£110 for a day with 1st Motorcycle Training in Kings Heath Birmingham.
CBT is good for bikes up to 125cc, and lasts for 2 years. You still have to ride with L plates (unless youre on a 50cc or less machine) and you cant carry pillion - all sounds good to me!
I told the wife last night about this - and she was horrified! I think she and I had different views of what I was going to do with this old scooter - So just for my own benefit here is some clarification as to why I'm going to spend £110 on a CBT.....
1. Scooter aside - I rather like new experiences and interesting courses. A day out learning how to ride a motorbike sounds like fun to me (as interesting and as fun as the day workshop I went on make an optical theremin) All these workshops, courses, experiences are what make life so rich and colourful. And I make my living from telling people to do more collecting of different perspectives - so I ought to be practicing what I preach
2. If I am going to get the scooter through an MOT, Ive got to get it to the MOT center, which means riding it there, which mean I need a licence and insurance....... which means I need a CBT
3. If I am going to prolong my life - I would be foolish not to get some expert training about riding a motorcycle on the road

So wife, as to whether I want to keep the vespa as a useful vehicle? - I have no idea or plan.

Helmets

I asked Hugh what he thought about Helmets - Ive never owned one, and only ever put one on once - about 30 years ago!. And I'm going to need one just to get the bike to the MOT center. His answer?.....

"I can't offer much personal advice on helmets. The general advice has always been that you should pay the maximum and get the best you can afford. Sounds like advice from a helmet manufacturer to me.
If I was you I would head down to somewhere like J&S Accessories in Digbeth, Bikers World in Coleshill or Hein Gericke somewhere in Brum but I'm not sure where now. All have a good range.
You might want to think in advance about whether you want an "open face" or enclosed helmet cos they'll probably start by asking you that question. And whether it will match the look and colour scheme of the Vespa....."

Crikey! I hadnt thought about matching livery. That throws a whole new level of thinking into the project now - I can see sleepless nights ahead :-/

How do you eat an elephant?.... one slice at a time.

Im starting to realise why scooters are such fun - I haven't even driven one farther than the end of my road yet, and i'm already being seduced by the magic - they are so simple to work on. I think this is why the Trike has stalled for a bit - i need a large lump of time to get it over the next hump of building the chassis - its not a sort of job that you do a half hour here and half hour there on, and so progress is waiting for me to dedicate some serious time.
I have decided to get a press on and try the scooter though an MOT (regardless of cosmetics). So that means making sure brakes, bearings and suspension are good, all electrics work, and..... what else??
Im going to do a little bit as often as I can - in lunch break sized bits.
I started with the front brake today. And as I say - its all just so lovely to work on. Within an hour I had taken off the drum, inspected, cleaned, adjusted,replaced and washed my hands.
All looked good in there. Shoes have lots of life in them, no scoring or glazing. bearing looks fine.
I think I can be confident of that bit going through the MOT.
Tomorrow I'll have a look at the rear brake

Test drive

Well we already know that she starts well, so after a quick dash (not on the scooter - in the car!) to the petrol station with the scooter rear wheel in hand for a pump up (i wonder if thats a puncture?)
I quickly reassembled the wheel and pushed her out onto the road.
Kick start - easy
Engine - sweet
Smoke - of course, but not bad
Clutch in - feels good
First gear - nice
Gently release clutch - WheyHey! it bites well, whoops - bit of a wheelie - And we're off!
I know I shouldnt but our road is a cul-de-sac, it was a quiet time of day, and the sun was out - so perfect for a test run. Brakes work, goes through all gears, accelerates sharper than I was expecting - Sweet :-)
Thanks to Daisy for capturing a quick pic of the momentous occasion.
I did two runs up and down (I could have done more but there was paying work to get on with)
and parked her up very satisfied :-)
So what do I do now? I think Ive got to start getting it ready for an MOT - I wonder what that entails?

Stripping the clutch

Ive got to go away on business soon, so based on the fact that I will miss 2 weekends AND i didnt want to have the scooter in bits for too long (I'm worried I might get distracted by something else and it will simply turn into a basket case of bits ive taken apart) I decided that I would spend an hour investigating that clutch assembly.
As an assembly (which is under its natural spring tension) on the bench, there was nothing to suggest that the clutch was at fault - everything looked and felt as it should - which was a little disconcerting. However on dissembling it, all became clear. The cork lined friction plates had all become 'rusted' (if thats the right word for cork) to the transmission plates - I had to use a screwdriver to prise them apart. No wonder we couldnt get the clutch to free my rocking the bike back and forth in gear - these were practically welded together.
Once apart, they didn't seem to be in too bad a condition, and so some wet and dry sandpaper on the metal and some courser stuff on the cork, I managed to bring everything back to a reasonable condition for reassembly.
From there on it was perhaps another half hour and everything was back in place on the bike. Job done....... Now would it run?

Its got to be the clutch

I still couldnt remember exactly the symptoms that we'd experienced when Hugh and I tried to get her to drive. I even phoned Hugh to see if he could throw some light on my challenge - I wanted to be sure I was at least attempting to tackle the right problem; I mean, there would be no point stripping the clutch if in fact the symptoms indicated a busted gearbox etc.
I concluded that it must be the clutch and so in spite of what Haynes says, I decided to attempt the clutch removal without dropping the engine (Haynes says its possible, but easier on the bench) - and in conclusion I think I would agree with them - its not easy laying on the floor working upward inside the bodywork.... but it was possible.
The majority of my time was spent making a tool for removing the castle-ated retaining nut that sits deep inside the clutch housing. I had the genius idea of using polymorph as a way of creating a pattern of the nut for me to create my tool for - for those of you who havent got any polymorph, you really should get some. Its a fabulous material that is ply-able at about 65degC but goes hard as it cools - I thought that shoving some of it down the hole would give me a perfect pattern of the nut that lay at the bottom. In theory this was probably a genius idea, if it wasnt for the fact that 1. the polymorph got into every nook and cranny down that hole, and 2. the polymorph goes almost rock hard when cool - there was no way i could get the stuff out! I swore at myself (quite alot) as I chipped and carved that sodding plastic out for half an hour before getting back to square one!
In the end I used a lump of good old blu-tac and some engineering blue.
I would like to just take a moment here to thank TVR for pressing an engineering file into my hand at such a young age. I'm pretty good at filing, and better than that, I really quite enjoy it. So thank you TVR for giving me the gift of being able to file metal into useful shapes :-) It took me a fair while, as I had to keep going back and forth to the nut for the fine fitting, but once done and case hardened (I knew that industrial sized oxy-acetylene kit in my shed would come in useful eventually) I had a proper tool for removing that elusive nut - and it worked a treat :-)
So the clutch came off...... but was this the problem?

Will she run?

So it started yesterday. Would it today? I wasnt planning on doing any more on this until maybe the weekend, but Hugh happened to be passing by and, well the temptation was too much.
We rolled it out onto the drive out side my house - and to my delight, she started perfectly.... every time. And with no more smoke than might be expected for a 20 year old 2-stroke.
I was just about to drive it off, when i noticed the real tyre was virtually flat - this was the first time id sat on the thing so hadn't noticed the tyre under any weight. Remind me to get a decent foot pump - mine is rubbish.
So we tried again. And this is where Ive got all confused. I can remember what happened, but it seems at odds with what in theory might happen :-/
Bottom line is - something in the clutch area appears to be stuck - I can put it in (and change) gear and the wheel runs freely, but i cant slip the clutch, so any attempt to try and drive it, simply results in a stall.
So it looks like a bit more tinkering to do -

Will she start?

Ive been quite busy with work recently (which I'm not complaining about) which has meant that I haven't had any 'me-time' to "mess with the ves". So it had been in my diary for 2 weeks that I would take Thursday morning off work to have a go at getting her started - bearing in mind that from what i understand from Ash, it hasnt been started for at least 2 years.
The excitement of Thursday morning had me out of bed and in the garage by 7.30 am - within the hour, id fitted the new ignition barrel - things were looking good.
The machine appeared to have a reasonable spark and compression, but i was worried about the fuel that might have gummed up the carb. On inspection, it appeared to be fairly fluid in there (and I didnt really want to strip it if i didnt need to) so I thought I'd give her a kick. Hmm, not so good. Everything kicks as it should do, but not a chance of a fire or splutter.
The plug was damp so i was happy that fuel was getting through the carb. However, the plug just didnt smell right - it wasnt 'petroly' enough. I guessed that there was still some stagnant petrol in the tank (despite me adding a little bit of fresh) so i decided to drain the tank.... which wasnt as easy as i'd imagined. Requiring me to remove the fuel tank and oil tank; requiring me to remove the petrol pipe to the carb which had to be cut off the banjo fitting; requiring me to go back to GranSportScooters for a 2 foot length of new fuel line (another £4). Eventually all was reassembled - though I think we should take a moment - while the fuel tank is out - of apreciation here for just how ingenious those hooks are for clamping down the side cowls :-)
Once refilled with fresh (and clearly more volatile and vapoury) petrol, I re-kicked.... and re-kicked - still nothing. I was about to give up for the day (i had some real work to get done) when one, almost accidental stomp on the kick-start and she fired into life!
Brilliant! Lots of smoke and noise... but with some twiddling of jets, I managed to stabilize her, and feel very chuffed with a good mornings work :-)

Costing me money already

Fortunately my wife will never read this - she is a fine woman, and she lets me enjoy my projects, but shes not so interested to ever want to read this - which means i can relatively safe in sharing details of expenditures!
Bearing in mind that this is an intermission project - just for fun - and I am only tinkering on it - just for fun - there shouldnt be any need to spend money on this........ except that the ignition key (and there was only one) was fractured and sure enough it broke off in the ignition barrel. So what was I to do? leave it at that and not ever know if the bike could run? No. I decided I would get a new ignition barrel - just to see if I could get it started.... but then do I buy a single barrel? or a set of 3 so that i could use the same key on ignition, toolbox and seat? Well, on the assumption that I might get it going to a point that I might ride the thing, and I didnt want to be messing with the crease of my mod suit by filling the pockets with a collection of keys, I went for the set.

Ive found a great scooter shop in Birmingham www.gransportscooters.com - theyve got some fab bikes there, all the parts i'd ever need and some helpful advise on how to, say..... remove a damaged ignition barrel. The 3 barrels cost £18 (but as I say, they were able to show me what the haynes manual couldnt) So with a few other nuts and bolts - Ive now spent a grand total of £24 on this bike

Oh Bugger

Hmm this isn't going to help get the trike on the road :-(

I didnt ask for it (though i have been reading about classic mobylettes - so I guess you really do have to be careful what you wish for) - it kinda just happened. Eldest daughter called me one afternoon and asked me if i wanted a Vespa..... there is only one answer to that...... then she said "OK, I'll tell him" rang off and the rest is history.
Turns out that Ashley's dad had told Ashley to 'get that thing out of my garage!' (it had been standing there for a couple of years) Daughter had overheard Ashley mention his dilemma, and being the darling that she is, she thought of me :-)
So with the help of Sams dad (come on keep up with the names!) and his Landrover and trailer, we all went round to Ashleys dads house and took it away. Ashley didnt want anything for it (turns out he only paid 20 for it 2 years ago), so all was cool with me.
It all seems to be there, turns over, got a spark - but probably needs a 2-stroke carb clean.
What am i going to do with it? Well certainly not let it dominate my money, time or trike space - but i reckon its worth investing a few hours to get going..... another few hours to get it through a MOT ...... and then think about what to do next. Do I fancy it for getting around? well I dont have a car, and fuel is expensive so maybe its a timely gift?