Thursday, June 28, 2007

Reassembly slated to begin

Well the Vespa was moved to, my buddy's, Ted Witmer's, shop for reassembly. This is the first time either of us have put a Vespa back together. Heck, I didn't even take it apart as I bought in pieces. Ted has rebuilt the front end for me, including the shock and the engine was rebuilt by Christopher Markley and body painted by K&K. So all that is left is putting the beast together. I have one more big order to place and I am working on a final parts list. I suspect I have about $400-800 more in parts to finish the bike.

My family and I are going home for the summer (I'm from S.F. and my wife from Portland, OR) and won't be back until September; therefore the project will begin in the early Fall. Plus my wife freelances so it all depends on what our income when we return as we may need close to a $1,000 to finish this bike up. My goal is to have the bike road ready before Spring starts. Also, I really want to get started on restoring my 1962 Lambretta TV175, which I will rebuild the engine on first and build another blog.

Here's the general outline for reassembly flow, per recommendation from Christopher Markley:

-- Set up two sawhorses and cover them with towels. Put frame on sawhorses.
-- Install fork.
-- Install cables.
-- Install centerstand.
-- Install rear shock top mount, and let bottom dangle.
-- Put scooter on floor, with auto jack stand
under rear end. Slide engine under frame, have assistant steady the frame.
-- Install engine swing arm to frame.
-- Pivot engine up and attach shock to rear
engine mount.
-- Install tire-mounted rim to hub.
-- Lower frame so scoot sits on its two tires.
-- Proceed with rest of job.
-- Voila!

I will post an updated "budget" to what we've spent so far and when I get my final parts list together I will post that too.

I hope this blog continues to be interesting and helpful for you.

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