First Parts Order Arrives

I ordered a set of gaskets, seals, o-rings, and a carb rebuild kit from Scooter Works last week and it all arrived last night. I was nervous that the gasket might not fit as its for a P125, but it fits great.

I'm actually looking forward to the carb rebuild. Its small and will be like working on a puzzle.

Vespa back from sandblasting

Blast Tech is awesome. They sandblasted all my parts for around $175 and had them back to me in 2 days. The scooter looks great. It's amazing how much surface rust there was, but there really isn't much real damage, just a few spots here and there that need attention. Now the body is going to go off for some metal work while I continue working on the engine.

Vespa on Blast

I dropped most of the body pieces off at Blast Tech this morning. They are a sandblasting company in Denver that comes highly recommended. I need to get everything sandblasted so a buddy of mine can do the metal work. I was a little worried that it was going to cost an arm and a leg to have the paint stripped but Blast Tech quoted around $150-200. Not bad. The gas tank will have to go on a separate trip, as I don't have the tool to remove the petcock. My girlfriend wants to fabricate her own tool to extract it, and I have no doubt that she will. I should have the parts back in 3 days, hopefully before the weekend.

Engine Tear Down

With the help of a great web tutorial, I've managed to almost fully disassemble the engine. I'm a little concerned about the case seal, as we had to pry a little to get the case to split. I also had to grind through a little post that was seized so badly that it wouldn't budge (even after a soak in Liquid Wrench.) I'm going to get a second opinion on the case edge before I proceed much farther. It may end up being cheaper to buy a new engine rather than try to fix this one. I'm already estimating around $500 to get this one going again. If I can salvage the cylinder, I will save a lot of money, but a Polini 177cc performance cylinder is very appealing.

I haven't got the crank removed yet, as the main bearings are stuck on pretty good. I've read that adding some heat will help free them.

Up next, disassemble the clutch.

Bucket of Bolts

I bought this Vespa 125 TS off of Craigslist more than a couple years ago. It came disassembled in a bunch of boxes, but all the parts appeared to be there. It sat around in the garage for a long time, but I've finally gotten off my butt and started the rebuild process.

I know little to nothing about engines, and thought that working on a simple 2-stroke would be a good way to learn. I don't think this will be a complete restoration, as the bike is in bad shape and parts aren't readily available. The 125 TS is was only sold in Europe, apparently has a top speed around 60, and shares the same body as the Rally 200.

Wish me luck.