2 Steps Forward, 3 Back

Well, I've now made 3 trips to Scooters Originali in the past 2 days. Yesterday I went out with a big list of items that I'd need. I got fuel tank gaskets, cables, 2 stroke oil (FINALLY), carb gaskets, etc. When I got home, I realized that while I had all the internal carb gaskets for a rebuild, I didn't have the gasket that seats the carb on the engine. Back to Scooters O! I'm lucky that it's only about a 15 minute drive away.

Got home and cleaned up the carb really nice. Also cleaned the air filter with the carb cleaner. I put all the new rubber bits on, and added fuel. Oooh, this is exciting!

After many attempts, it actually DID start! The idle was way too high, however, due to a throttle cable that was too short. This meant I had to replace the cable, which wasn't too hard, really. As long as you're just doing the inner cables. With the new cable in place, I tried to start it up again, but with no luck. I've read that the condenser is often the problem in these situations, so it became time for trip #3 to Scooters O - to get a new condenser.

A few hours later, and I've got the condenser installed. First, I went to check the spark to see how much BRIGHTER it would be with the new condenser. Well, no spark at all now! I don't know what's going on, but I am packing it in for tonight. Maybe an evening off will make things fall into place?

If this keeps up, I'm going to quickly throw in the towel and have them fix it down at the shop.

Operation Running Vespa in Effect

Today is the first day of Vespa ownership, and I REALLY want to try and get it running ASAP. Since it hasn't been running for a while, I started off by draining the fuel tank and generally having a look at what's going on under the cowl. I also want some 2-stroke oil so I can get this thing going.

2-stroke oil

The first thing I discovered this morning is that all scooter or motorcycle shops are closed for the next 2 days! Autozone doesn't have much in the way of oil for scooters, so I guess I'll have to wait it out and see what else I can do in the meantime.

Carb Cleaning

Well, since I have time on my hands, I did buy a bunch of spray cleaners and lubricants and the like. Also picked up some new spark plugs, just to be on the safe side. I'll clean the carb when I get a chance.

After getting the fuel drained, we had to head out to Kate's parents' place. No more Vespa work for me today.

Vespa: Purchased!

Well, I finally got the Vespa I'd had my eye on for a while. It's a 1965 GL (Gran Lusso) and it's in pretty good shape. Well, except for the fact that it doesn't run.

I drove up to Boston on Saturday with a trailer from U-Haul and picked it up. The trailer was a complete piece of junk, but after 45 minutes to an hour of trying different configurations, I finally got the Vespa secured enough to make the drive back home to Jersey City. There was some very minor damage done in transit, but not much that can be seen.

Here's a picture of me going for my first "ride" on the scooter while in the back of the trailer.

My first goal is to get this thing running. I wanted a project, and we'll see how much of a project this Vespa really will be. I'm hoping to have it out on the road by the time the weather gets nice again. We'll see.