Lambretta

I just scored a 1965 Lambretta TV200 in pieces. It's quite a distraction, but I'm holding off on the TV until I finish the GS. That's the plan anyway.

Front Shock

I have TWO front shocks that I'm rebuilding. I expected the one that came on the scoot to be blown so I got another one a while back that looked much nicer. When pulling both apart, I found out that the one from my scoot was not blown but the other one had a lot of leaking fluid. I pulled both apart and am replacing the main seal on both. They're both getting blasted and repainted with new seals and new oil. Then I'll pick the better one for my GS and either store or sell the other one.
I made a tool to spin open the top of the damper cartridge. Two 1/8" dowel pins in a steel block. Later I found out that a pin spanner also works well.

Bearings, clutch, etc

I pulled and replaced all the main bearings. The seals and bearings that I pulled out all appeared to be good, but the new ones are better :) The rear axle bearing was maybe starting to go so replacing it was definitely a good idea. I made a spanner for the rear axle nut. A cutoff wheel, some steel tube, and an hour was all it took to make a nice tool. I replaced the axle bearing with a sealed bearing . (Bearing # 6304 20x52x15) to prevent any oil getting into the rear brake area.

I heated the cases with a propane torch. A couple minutes with heat on the cases allowed the bearings to tap right out, and in.

The flywheel side main bearing is a roller bearing with a removable inner race. The old and new inner races have different outside diameters by around .040 so the race needs replacing along with the rest of the bearing. I didn't catch this at first so I'm getting a bearing splitter to pull the race off the crank. That's all I'm waiting for before engine reassembly.

I rebuilt the clutch. The steel plates were flat with no measurable dish when placed on a flat plate. Some say to orient the dished plates in a particular direction. Since mine were flat, I put them back in the same orientation they came out.

The cruciform was a little worn, but not too bad. I replaced it anyway while I'm in there.

Primer

I'm still working on the main body, but I've primed several of the other parts. The left cowl needs a lot more work before it's ready for paint. I smoothed it out a lot, but with the smooth primer coat, it's clear that it needs to be smoother. Here's a shot before priming. The spot filler covers a lot of the fender but it's very thin (.030 max)

Here's a shot with primer. In this photo it looks smooth, but in person, it still shows a lot of ripples plus some dents I couldn't see before. Butterfingers! I dropped the front fender when priming with the second coat. It was looking so good. I had noticed two dents that still needed attention before dropping the fender. Now the count is a bunch of scratches plus a couple brand new dents. At least they're small.

ADD

I’m focusing all over the place on the Vespa right now. The frame just came back from the media blaster. They use walnut shells or similar which takes all the paint off but none of the metal or rust. Mostly, the frame looks really good. There are a couple of heavier rust spots on the right floorboard under the rails, and the inside of the rear glovebox is rusty enough to have some pinholes. It’s hard to get in there to clean it out or even to see the rust. I’m using Rust Mort which has phosphoric acid to convert and stabilize the rust. Then it’s time to weld a couple of spots on the floorboard. The engine is apart. I need to heat up the case to remove the flywheel side main bearing. I bead blasted the outside of the cases after everything else I tried didn’t do anything to clean them up. They’re not perfect but look much better. They’ll absorb some oil this way but they’ll be much cleaner and consistent than before.
I’ve been filing and working the engine side cowel. It still needs more work to get the slits looking consistent. It’s just about ready to get touched up with glazing putty.

I’ve been polishing small aluminum and zinc parts. The aluminum parts polish well. Not so much with the zinc parts.

Deep into the engine

I've been digging deep into the engine and most everything is in great condition. It's getting new bearings, seals, cruciform, and clutch. The original bearings all look good except the rear hub bearing. The cruciform has a little wear.

It hit me how simple these motors are. The engine has so few moving parts and it's all packed so tightly.

Also, the body went to the media blaster today. I blasted all the other parts myself and have been doing the dent pounding and spot filling. Most of the parts except for the body are ready to prime.

Still need to pick a color.