Wednesday, 16 October 2013

The Finished Article

Tuesday 15th October 2013

Here's a few shots of the scooter now it's finished






Final Stages

Saturday October 12th 2013

On goes the horn casting and front mudguard


Time for a cuppa in the middle of fitting the leg-shield beading.


Oh no, tyre failure on the workbench, the scooter is getting heavy now. Just as well it's nearly done.


Front end more or less completed


Bit of bling for the front mudguard


Back view with ridiculous oversized number plate.

 
 
Innocenti horn cast badge fitted
 

First try out round the car park




Bodywork

Friday 11th October

I've managed quite a few hours on the re-build recently and my work is well ahead of this blog. So I'm throwing a lot of photos on to try and catch up.

Now it's time to get some of the bodywork out of the spare bedroom where it has been since it was sprayed, and get it bolted on.

 
 
That's the seat fitted
 


Rear footboards complete with new rubber strips

Mud flap

 
Here's the old speedo on the left, new on the right. They have different threads, of course they would have wouldn't they! So it was out with the speedo cable and fit the correct knurled nut, which luckily I had, and re-fit the cable.



New SX style speedo from Cambridge Lambretta (birthday present, thanks Jamie & Laura)

 


Here's the headlamp in place. Unfortunately the glass and metal parts of the bulb have parted company but weirdly it still works. New halogen bulb on the way.


The leg-shields are now back where they belong.


The trial fit of the side-panels was not so good as they foul on the new fuel tank. It must be wider than the old one.
 
 
Looking down from above, there is a fairly wide flange beyond the (crimped or welded not sure which) joint of the two halves of the tank. Do I risk grinding it off with the tank containing petrol. Hmmm.
 


Needless to say, tank removed, drained and vented. I gained about 7mm overall by grinding back both sides. Back on with the tank. Still a bit of trouble getting the RH panel on although it will go with a bit of persuasion. I may need to shift the tank as far left as possible to get the most clearance. Now I know why they call this model the slim-style.

 
The new laws for number plates insist on this size and it must have the month and date of first registration shown. It's about 40mm bigger overall than the old one but I suppose the law is the law.


 
 


 
 

 



 

 



Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Exhaust, Airbox & Filter

Tuesday 8th October

I had a few problems with the silencer as in a cracked bracket and a couple of stripped threads in the engine casing where it is mounted. This only came to light whilst fitting it.


So it's back off with it and a dab of weld applied.

I managed to recover one of the stripped mounting bolts by re-tapping the thread (tailpipe mount), putting in a new bolt and a dab of Loctite. Seems nice and tight.

The other stripped bolt (top mounting) has been cleaned out and the bolt loctite-ed in. It won't tighten properly but will do at this stage. There are more than enough mounting points to keep it secure. In the future, it will have to go oversize and a new thread cut. The other option is a wire thread insert, which is better done with the engine out and the chaincase removed. Pity I didn't know about the stripped thread a couple of weeks ago when the engine was still on the bench.

Anyway, the silencer is back in place now.


Moving on with the re-build, the air-box, air-filter and hose to carb are all back in place.


The air-box (between the fuel tank and the toolbox) only takes up half the width of the scooter. The other half is reserved for a tray and battery which as far as I can make out only serves a parking light. This was fitted for the UK market apparently but as it is a bit pointless here in Cyprus, I'm not going to bother with it.


That's the air scoop fitted. I wonder if that's going to get in the way of the back two seat mounting bolt, we'll see tomorrow!!




Sunday, 6 October 2013

First Engine Start

6th October 2013

The control cables are now routed correctly down to the back end.


As there's not much work about just now, I've been able to get on fairly quick with the rebuild. I would have been even further along if our hot water tank hadn't given up the ghost and needed replacing! That set me back a couple of days.


This shows me doing up the rear end connections of the control cables, clutch, gears and what have you. All quite fiddly and quite difficult to eliminate any backlash from the cables.


I remember from when I was 16yrs old, (that's some memory), having lots of problems with the little trunions and 3mm Allen grub screws that clamp the cables into their operating links.


The brass bit in the middle is the trunion. Having bought new ones, I find they come with a tiny steel disc about 3mm diameter that sits on top of the cable. This prevents the grub screw cutting or damaging it. Never heard of those in the 60's, no wonder we had so much trouble keeping cables tight.


Now where does this bit go? Oh hang on, it's the knackered hot water tank!!

 
 
 
Ok that's them all done up. I've since noticed one of the gear cable outers had slipped out of its housing in the headstock. No wonder I can't select 1st gear. Not to worry, I'll adjust it later, I'm too close to starting the engine to stop now.
 

Round t'other side that's the carb fitted and connected. I stripped the carb and cleaned the jets as it has been sat on the shelf for about 6 months. The new fast flow fuel tap seems OK and I've added an inline fuel filter just for good measure. With the new fuel tank, tap and filter I should get away with having to clear the fuel jets every five minutes as before.


That's the choke lever on the left, up for off down for on. The right hand one is the fuel tap, up for off, horizontal for on, fully down for reserve fuel.



Here's a not very interesting photo showing the choke cable (the top one) with it's stainless steel guide for keeping other cables away from the hot cylinder cowling.
 
Note the original aluminium cable tie round the frame. I thought I'd use these instead of modern plastic ones for a bit of authenticity. I bought 6 in accordance with the Scooter Restorations parts catalogue but find I need about 12.  OK so I now have a mix of the old and new.
 

Back on the deck. I wonder what I'll do with the mobile work stand when the scooter is finished?


After all the work and expense fitting the new kickstart shaft (and other K/S bits) it seems sensible to fit the kickstart lever. I have to say, it fits snugly onto the new splines.


I put a litre of juice in just to see if it will start. No sign of any leaks from the new fuel pipes or carb, it's getting close to engine start time now.


It took a while to get the fuel through but it sounds good with a nice even tick-over. I can't wait to get on the open road and let loose the whole 9.38 horse-power!!

Note: There should be a video of me starting the engine above here. It doesn't seen to play on Ipads or tablets but is OK on laptops and PC's for some reason.