On March 15, 2007 Lisa (my wife and owner of this VSC) went in to K&K Auto Body & Paint in Enola, PA to approve the color. K&K is an easy and good shop to work with. They have painted 20 or so scoots. Lisa's SS180 will be painted Jaguar British Racing Green, which has a blue tint to it as opposed to the yellow tint used in the Truimph British Racing Green. Lisa took the glove box outside under the natural light and approved the color. The bike will be done very soon, says Karl at K&K.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Paint: Color Approval
On March 15, 2007 Lisa (my wife and owner of this VSC) went in to K&K Auto Body & Paint in Enola, PA to approve the color. K&K is an easy and good shop to work with. They have painted 20 or so scoots. Lisa's SS180 will be painted Jaguar British Racing Green, which has a blue tint to it as opposed to the yellow tint used in the Truimph British Racing Green. Lisa took the glove box outside under the natural light and approved the color. The bike will be done very soon, says Karl at K&K.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Update: Feb. 28, 2007
Some great news to share:
1) Recently reived a call from my paint guy. He said they are "very close to completion." I fear the cowl louvre work will be $400 - $700 and I pray it's not the latter.
2) Still need to pick up the engine and photograph and video it for you all, but it is 100% complete.
3) I am rebuilding the front and rear shock. The fork will be baum painted and the shock housings and hub area will be powder coated the stock color (opting for the durability of powder coat). Pictures of disassembly to come soon. I know it is odd to rebuild a rear shock since they are available new, but I am doing what I can to stay original here and there. I am also considering replacing the spring with Clauss Studio's upgrade spring (need to research that more). Repro front shocks suck from what I hear.
4) Rims were stripped and my powder coat guy is looking at them. One may be salvagable, which I would use as the spare. Per my earlier post, I honestly did not think that any rim could be saved for my needs. The bike will have a showroom quality paint job and to powder coat pitted rims would do a disservice to the completely restored bike's appearance. In the end this is my wife's bike and I want it to meet her requirements and be the bike she envisions.
5) I was requested to photograph the inside of the rusted muffler before I throw it out. I'll talk to Christopher Markley to see if he has a way of opening it up and then I will photograph it; although some guy on YouTube commented he wants to buy it and it is in perfectly good shape. Who knows?! I haven't heard from him since I commented back to visit my blog to contact me.
** Note: and can you believe I am doing all of this at the same time as completely remodeling my kitchen? Posts have slowed down due to this big demand.
1) Recently reived a call from my paint guy. He said they are "very close to completion." I fear the cowl louvre work will be $400 - $700 and I pray it's not the latter.
2) Still need to pick up the engine and photograph and video it for you all, but it is 100% complete.
3) I am rebuilding the front and rear shock. The fork will be baum painted and the shock housings and hub area will be powder coated the stock color (opting for the durability of powder coat). Pictures of disassembly to come soon. I know it is odd to rebuild a rear shock since they are available new, but I am doing what I can to stay original here and there. I am also considering replacing the spring with Clauss Studio's upgrade spring (need to research that more). Repro front shocks suck from what I hear.
4) Rims were stripped and my powder coat guy is looking at them. One may be salvagable, which I would use as the spare. Per my earlier post, I honestly did not think that any rim could be saved for my needs. The bike will have a showroom quality paint job and to powder coat pitted rims would do a disservice to the completely restored bike's appearance. In the end this is my wife's bike and I want it to meet her requirements and be the bike she envisions.
5) I was requested to photograph the inside of the rusted muffler before I throw it out. I'll talk to Christopher Markley to see if he has a way of opening it up and then I will photograph it; although some guy on YouTube commented he wants to buy it and it is in perfectly good shape. Who knows?! I haven't heard from him since I commented back to visit my blog to contact me.
** Note: and can you believe I am doing all of this at the same time as completely remodeling my kitchen? Posts have slowed down due to this big demand.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Restoration: Rims
Pit for the pits?
Oh these rims . . . the tires, I swear they were fused together. I soaked the tires, I sawed the tires, I, I, I... The lip on the tire was so tight that only Christopher Markley could succeed with his tire remover.
Terribly rusted and pitted I posted the rims for sale and now I reach out to all those who read this to chime in ... are these rims salvageable? Or are they pits for the pits? Pictured here are the rims covered in aircraft gel stripper.
The paint came off easy, but the rust is a different story. The outside of the rims look clean. It's the insides that are bad.
I applied three coats of Naval Jelly and used a copper brush to scrub off the rust to determine how much pitting existed. I had begun to use a wire attachment on my drill and grind the pitting down, but luckily my battery died and I stopped before I did much of anything. Grinding will only hurt the rim and weaken its integrity.
Pictured here is the "worst" of the pitting, which I believe is not as bad as I expected. Note the difference of smoothness on the outside of the rim versus the inside. If this is the worst, are these rims salvageable?
New rims cost $40 each for stock color or $50 for chrome. My intention is always to stay original when it can be done without sacrificing functionality or significantly altering costs. I planned to powder coat these rims originally with a matt silver -- similar to factory stock in appearance. Looking at these rims, what do you think? Do they need a coat and sand of Bondo and then powder or what?
Post your comment please.
I have two interested buyers in the rims, but also have 2.5 hours invested in cleaning them up now so I can be fair with the buyers about what they are getting. Now I wonder if I should/can just finish off the restoration of these original SS180 rims.
Oh these rims . . . the tires, I swear they were fused together. I soaked the tires, I sawed the tires, I, I, I... The lip on the tire was so tight that only Christopher Markley could succeed with his tire remover.
Terribly rusted and pitted I posted the rims for sale and now I reach out to all those who read this to chime in ... are these rims salvageable? Or are they pits for the pits? Pictured here are the rims covered in aircraft gel stripper.
The paint came off easy, but the rust is a different story. The outside of the rims look clean. It's the insides that are bad.
I applied three coats of Naval Jelly and used a copper brush to scrub off the rust to determine how much pitting existed. I had begun to use a wire attachment on my drill and grind the pitting down, but luckily my battery died and I stopped before I did much of anything. Grinding will only hurt the rim and weaken its integrity.
Pictured here is the "worst" of the pitting, which I believe is not as bad as I expected. Note the difference of smoothness on the outside of the rim versus the inside. If this is the worst, are these rims salvageable?
New rims cost $40 each for stock color or $50 for chrome. My intention is always to stay original when it can be done without sacrificing functionality or significantly altering costs. I planned to powder coat these rims originally with a matt silver -- similar to factory stock in appearance. Looking at these rims, what do you think? Do they need a coat and sand of Bondo and then powder or what?Post your comment please.
I have two interested buyers in the rims, but also have 2.5 hours invested in cleaning them up now so I can be fair with the buyers about what they are getting. Now I wonder if I should/can just finish off the restoration of these original SS180 rims.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Rattle, Rattle, Rattle . . . Good Bye
Our poor rusted exhaust pipe has been replaced, but I thought it best to at least attempt to eternalize this piece of history online in an effort to pay my respects to the original SS180 we are bringing back to life -- without it.
VSC Parts for sale
For sale:
1) Matching engine cases. Bead blasted. TIG weld kickstart quadrant. Chip along seal -- possible to repair according to some. Note: using two non matching cases can result in a leak as they may not align perfectly. It's not a guarantee, but a possibility. The cases we replaced these with do NOT match. This engine is sold "as is".
2) Three original rims. Pitted. Need work. Sold "as is".
Make me an offer if interested.
1) Matching engine cases. Bead blasted. TIG weld kickstart quadrant. Chip along seal -- possible to repair according to some. Note: using two non matching cases can result in a leak as they may not align perfectly. It's not a guarantee, but a possibility. The cases we replaced these with do NOT match. This engine is sold "as is".
2) Three original rims. Pitted. Need work. Sold "as is".
Make me an offer if interested.
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