Phase 2 begins

In the garage at 7am. 
Engine out and on the bench by 8am.
In the office to start work by 8.30 am.

Phase 2 begins.
It occurs to me that regardless of how nice (or not) my welding is, how neatly ive fitted the floor runners, or how well ive chosen the colour scheme - this bike is rubbish if it cant run properly - and by properly, i mean smoothly and reliably.  I am sure i could get it to run around town as it is now, but it would be rubbish - and so Ive decided I'm going to strip the engine and overhaul it.
With the engine on my makeshift engine bench, i dont see this being a major hassle (major cost? not sure yet)

Having read through the Haynes manual chapter on engine overhaul, they suggest that big-ends and cranks need to be done by a specialist with presses and special tools, and so Ive just phoned GranSport scooters to enquire.
His first question to me was "why are you rebuilding the crankshaft and not buying a new one?"
My first thought was "this could mean one of 3 things"
1. A sign of the throw away times we live in? I cant believe that piaggio himself would have created a component to be expendable - in fact I am rather surprised that the big-end and crankshaft cant be serviced by the average Italian waiter on his way to work on the side of the road with nothing more than 3 spanners and a hammer.
2. Maybe Gransport are just a boutique, interested in only in selling chrome mirror bars and stickers.
3. Maybe he is genuinely giving me some sound advice based on his experience and simple economics.
I pressed him further to explain his first question.  He told me that his 'engineer' charges about 60 quid to do the labour of splitting the crank and pressing it back again with a new big-end bearing (that sounds reasonable - 2 hours work?) but I would also have to buy the bearing and maybe con-rod - could be about 40 quid (Im not sure why he doesnt know these prices exactly).  However a brand new crankshaft and conrod will cost about the same at £100ish.
He suggested I got the engine apart, brought the crankshaft into them to have a look at and then work out what to do from there.
So I am getting my head into gear now to spend another £100 plus another £100? for seals, gaskets, rings? etc? - lets call it another £250.  A lot of money.  But not a bank-breaker and it would at least give me a complete and reliable scooter.  I shall let that number linger in my mind, so that it wont be so painful when I have to pay it out.
My plan now is it do an hour before breakfast and an hour after tea each day - shouldn't take me too long i don't suppose