For my next dumb idea… a taste of Italy

Mailman said:
Again, top notch glass work! 😉 I’m really enjoying seeing how you do this.



That surprised me, I figured it would come from Italy, but digging into the history a little. It hasn’t been an Italian company for a long time and manufacturing for them has been done in many countries.
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Yeah not much comes from Italy. I think the majority of scooters were exported.

England and Germany are the two big producers of parts, at least quality ones anyways. India makes a ton of parts but they are mostly junk.
 
Picked up 1 of the two motors that came along with the deal.

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Legend has it, she was a runner…

The ol’ familiar stench of burnt cork plates and oil 😁
 
Been waiting for some paperwork to show up so I can get this thing registered, and in the mean time I’ve been chipping away at the body work and paint.

I decided to go a different offer too. Color wise with a more subtle contrast.

I had no intentions of painting the bike other than the front legshield and some other minor touch up, BUT, after looking it over there was all sorts of cracks in the paint which was caused by the previous painter cheating out on half the job and only using a 1k clear on the floorboards, which got gas/carb blowback spewed all over them from a poorly tuned carb.

The body work was also a lot more than I had suspected at first look.

So I got it all prepped and started painting.

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Only had one hiccup, came back out after spraying the front fender only to find it on the floor… ouch!!! Good thing I have one more item to shoot in grey so I can fix it and spray those together.

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Side panels came out to just what I wanted, so that’s nice.

Horn crest is good.

Just need to shoot the top of the headset grey, and fix the front fender.

Then I can paint the legshield and floorboards in the khaki

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WideAWAKE said:
Halfmile - that’s pretty cool. For me as a younger kid, 16, when I got my first scooter (a Vespa) it was just a part of the culture I grew up around. Worked at a few shops doing restoration/tuning work as a kid.

My old cut down Vespa - if you rode behind me, you were guaranteed a face full of oily smoke haha.

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And another Lambretta I built early on, next to a buddies Vespa SS180 grimsted (the cream of the crop).

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Adamc - that looks like a nice c or d model. Probably topped out around 35ish.

Below is an LD model (same as your bike but with cowling) I had a good part of building. Motor was built with every period mod possible. Topped out around 52.

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That photo of the LD and my bike was taken on a trip to Vancouver Island BC. A day without rain haha.
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Honeymoonered on Vancouver Island 1986. 2 days out of 6 were sunny, we didn't notice.
 
WideAWAKE said:
Been waiting for some paperwork to show up so I can get this thing registered, and in the mean time I’ve been chipping away at the body work and paint.

I decided to go a different offer too. Color wise with a more subtle contrast.

I had no intentions of painting the bike other than the front legshield and some other minor touch up, BUT, after looking it over there was all sorts of cracks in the paint which was caused by the previous painter cheating out on half the job and only using a 1k clear on the floorboards, which got gas/carb blowback spewed all over them from a poorly tuned carb.

The body work was also a lot more than I had suspected at first look.

So I got it all prepped and started painting.

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Only had one hiccup, came back out after spraying the front fender only to find it on the floor… ouch!!! Good thing I have one more item to shoot in grey so I can fix it and spray those together.

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Side panels came out to just what I wanted, so that’s nice.

Horn crest is good.

Just need to shoot the top of the headset grey, and fix the front fender.

Then I can paint the legshield and floorboards in the khaki

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Very nice subdued 2 tone. Nice and classy color choices. Did my wife help you with that?
 
Kevin Werner said:
Very nice subdued 2 tone. Nice and classy color choices. Did my wife help you with that?
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My initial thought was a red, but seemed to clash too much.

Finding something that worked with the khaki color was tough… I really didn’t want to repaint the frame and rear fender. Legshield, fender, horn crest, headset, front and rear hubs, fork and side panels are enough!
 
N
Jim said:
That an old DeVillebliss touchup gun you're using?
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No - just a $50 harbor freight gun. Needs a bigger tip to get a decent primer coat though. Had to wet sand mine.

Once I can make a decent space to paint, investing in some better paint equipment will be on the todo list.

I am however quite happy with the results I got spraying in a 5X7 metal shed, a dirt covered floor and no ventilation.

I did get a few nibs land in the clear but nothing a little wet sanding won’t get rid of.
 
I really hope this thing doesn’t kill me! Haha

Took 5 times to get the right side panel to match the left. I’m not sure what’s in this paint but each time you spray it, it comes out a bit different… one time my gun unhooked from my air line and blew sand all in the fresh clear! Ouch.

Nonetheless, I finally got it.

Same thing happened with the legshield, as I’m not spraying in the cleanest environment, there was something that landed in the clear and wouldn’t sand out and was gonna drive me crazy, I reshot one side and same thing.

The right side was reshot and a little yellow.
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Reshot both side and it matches now.

Shot the back sides of the panels and the fender and floor boards with rhino 2k bed liner. Tough stuff!

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Still need to finish wet sanding and polish it again but wanted to test fit trim and badges to make sure it all fit correctly before I went too far (I realize this photo looks off as only 1 side is wet sanded).

Parts have started to arrive - trim and badges, disc brake set up for the briny brake (the reason for the towel on the handlebar) and my exhaust showed to as well.

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Also started to pull the motors apart.

The one that was absolutely filthy and pristine on the inside so that was a plus! It had never been opened and has virtually no wear.

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Stuck the cases in a bucket of cleaner to soak for a day, we’ll see what they look like when they come out. I’m assuming they will be etched black and I’ll have to soda blast them but I planned on painting them so I’m ok with that. Easy cleaning is the goal.

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The PO of this bike crashed it going through a turn and hitting the front brake.

When I started pulling the bike apart it was quite apparent that it had a lot of nice parts, but was built very sloppy.

Just tapping the front brake would install lock up the front wheel, and the anti dive system was at full extension all the time leaving to room for ANY fork travel. Add to that the front dampers were in the highest setting, and the fork springs were two different lengths, a crash was almost certain.

While the spring length might not look like much, it causes the bike to dive to one side. It’s common depending on how they cut the spring. Often sets are slightly off.

Fixed with a machined spacer.



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(I didn’t actually machine the spacer in this set up, was just cleaning up the edge haha)

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Then I got everything squared away and test fit, when my rims and tires arrive tomorrow I should have a complete and properly functional front end again.

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I would have never sprung for these fancy dampers, but they were part of the deal. I’ve purchased running bikes for less than they cost haha.
 
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Kevin Werner said:
Do you water down the floor before painting?
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No, my problems don’t seem to come from the floor, so much as the outside winds blowing pieces of the surrounding trees in the booth or bugs flying in haha.

The county and engineers have been severely dragging their feet with my workshop build so I’ve been forced to make do as every good work space I have is crammed full of stuff to keep it out of the weather while the new shop is built. (Our old storage area was wiped out last winter during a storm)

I’ve been painting in a little 5x7 metal shed which basically lets me get the parts inside and I’m almost outside spraying. It could be worse so I’m thankful I got it this good.
 

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