Vespa 100 Sport

I’m rebuilding a 1980 Vespa 100 Sport for my brother. I’ve been tinking with it in my garage for like a year, but I haven’t made much time to do anything with it until recently.

The ugly camoflage one is the 100 sport. The blue one belongs to a friend. I took this picture when I first bought it last august. It had spark, but no cables, no battery or engine doors, no front fender, and no seat cover. Then there’s the ugly paint…

I took these pictures after I cleaned the carb, put some new cables in, and replaced the seat cover. I tried to see if Janice would ride it, but girls don’t seem to like manual transmission scooters. She prefers the Honda Spree.

I couple of weeks ago I decided to take off that unsightly camo paint. I used stuff called “graphiti remover” from Ace. I got most of it off, but there are  a few spots left. The steering was pulling a little to the right. That means that somebody crashed this bike, especially since the fender was gone. I wasn’t feeling the cost of a new fork, so I took the one I have to a guy in town that bent it back with a pnuematic press. It isn’t exact, but it’s a lot better than it was and the fender doesn’t rub.

The picture on the top is the fuel lever. I bought a used one that is built for this model, but the plastic gears inside it were too worn to turn the lever. So I used a lever I had sitting around and drilled a hole in a piece of sheet metal to cover the giant hole left by the old fuel lever. The middle picture is my battery door. I wasn’t feeling the $150 cost of a new one, so instead I fabricated one out of sheet metal with tin snips and my hammer and dolly set (body work tools). I bought the engine side door, which is much more common, for $35 from American Scooter Center. I think you’ll agree that the bike looks MUCH nicer.

IT’S ALIVE!

Watch the Video!

I can’t believe it. I popped that carb float in there and it fired up the second kick!

BEHOLD!

I’d been waiting for ANY store to get a carb float. Casa Lambretta says that they are no longer made. West Coast Lambretta Works says they won’t be getting any in for months. Scooters Originali says they found a place in Europe that is going to start making them, but they won’t be ready for a while. I had almost lost hope of finding one.

Then I went to the Scooter Lounge in Orem, Utah while I was in town. I asked Dave, the owner, for some cables and stuff and said, “Oh by the way, if you happen to have a carb float for a Del Lorto SH1/18 carb, you would save my life. I’ve looked everywhere.”

He said, “You know what, I think I might.”

He happened to have a used carb sitting around and he sold me the float for $5! I couldn’t believe he had one. It’s a dream come true.

I’ve been working on details and little things for a while, like painting the rims…

I put in the correct mounting hardware for the horncast and mudguard.

I bought a used horncast grill, stripped it, and shined it up.

 

And I touched up the rear rack and put it back on.

New Shipment!

I got a package today. But sadly, it didn’t include the float. I tried sealing the one I have with “Seal All.” That didn’t work at all. It didn’t even last long enough to not flood the engine while I tried kicking it over. I don’t really get it, but that just means I have to break down and buy the float.

The sad part is that nobody actually has it in stock. I called five shops. West Coast lambretta Works has the part listed on their site, but they won’t get it for THREE MONTHS! One place, Scooters Originali, said they will have some in a few weeks. The big unveiling will have to wait until then.

That gives me some time to work through cosmetic issues. For example, I got new tubes and tires and am going to paint the rims, which are rusted so bad the tire won’t even come off. I also replaced all my cables. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while and it makes me feel better about trying to ride the bike around.

I had a chance to mount my new horncast, and my horncast grill is soaking in a solution that will take off the paint. I got to give a shout out to Casa Lambretta on that one. $20 for the grill. Those guys are awesome. If you do anything with a lambretta scooter, those are the people to talk to. Suzi will take good care of you.

Here’s a picture of the mounted horncast. BEHOLD:

 

On a side note, my clutch cable went out on the Stella while I was doing 40 on 3rd Street (Laramie). I had to drive home in 1st, 2nd, and neutral. Anyway, I bought a $3 part from Casa Lambretta (they deal in Vespa stuff also) and got it back on the road the same day.  The replacement took like 15 minutes. Now that I know what I’m doing, it would take less than 5. I only mention this because I was looking at a Stella a long time ago that a guy was selling for $1500, which is a bargain. He was selling it way below normal asking prices because his clutch cable went out. He was having trouble getting it sold too. For $3 and a little grease on his hands, he’d easily get $2000. (Here’s where I extol the virtues of Handymen) Because he was selling a broken bike, he’d have to wait for somebody to show up with enough balls to just try to fix it; somebody who isn’t afraid to. I think a handyman isn’t somebody who is good with machines. I think he’s somebody who isn’t afraid of them.

That lack of fear, or what the french call a certain I-don’t-know-what, is quite a money saver. How about $500 more for that bike or saving the $100 for having a scooter shop do it.

The Ceremonial First Kick

So the carb is cleaned, it’s all hooked up, and we’re ready to go! It’s almost the culminating event of the summer. It’s so full of mystery. Will it start? Will it not? Will it catch on fire? It’s exciting.

Here we go:

Ok. So it didn’t start. I’m not surprised or dissapointed. In the course of doing this, I found out some important things.

1. It is getting spark. At first it was weak, but I adjusted the ground and my little tester lit up bright. This is crucial because I was worried I didn’t have it wired right. I put it back the way I found it and there was no telling if it was hooked up right in the first place. But I had to guess where the ground went because none of that was hooked up.

2. The carburetor was leaking like a sieve. The “float” is supposed to close the fuel line off when the carburetor is full of fuel. But it was filling up with fuel, wouldn’t float, and wouldn’t raise the needle to close the chamber. The chamber floods and then the engine floods. 

I called Casa Lambretta and they said they don’t have any new floats. They also said that most replacements are not a good fit. I’m not sure I wanted to pay $20 for a new one anyway. I’m going to try to seal it with some stuff I borrowed from a friend. It may just be a temporary fix…

Now I have to wait for the float to dry out. It’s been 4 days already and it still has fuel in it. Just a waiting game…