Finally a breakdown

Finally the Rally broke down. The clutch wire had been stubborn after last weeks rideout, and the cable finally broke.

This is the first "incident" that I have with this bike after returning from Vespa World Days in Gjøvik, and I must say I'm pretty amazed with how it keeps providing me with trouble free scootering.

The cable was swiched in half an hour. Note to myself: Get a new cable kit for backup.

Vespa World Days 2011 Gjøvik

Vespa World Days 2011. 7 Roughnecks. 7 Vespas. 1 Rally. 

I'd driven the Rally for one single day before driving 800kms to Gjøvik, and the scooter behaved all the way. Beat that!  

 On our way towards Hjelmeland - Haukeli - Notodden. It rained heavily & constantly for 11 hours and 45 mins the first day towards Notodden. The remaining 15 mins of the 12 hour trip, it rained only slightly. But everybody was well dressed; Gloves were a returning nightmare...

 Next day near Hokksund, towards Gjøvik: Teamed up with the Rivals from Kristiansand. Much better weather.

 The Rally behaved very well on its trip to Gjøvik, but a minimal oil leakage from rear axle and forecast of rain on my way home; I changed the sim.ring before it would make any trouble.

Out with tank, rest the old lady on her side in the grass, remove tire and drum... Easy fix.

Telltale of defect simring; oil stains coming from axle spinning out. 

Notice to myself regarding tubeless: Use weak thread lock on bolts... 

Sim-ring removed, 47-27-6 if I remember correctly. The sim-ring looked undamaged, and afterwards I suspect that a too loose axle bolt might have caused the leakage, allowing too much radial play. The simring was reused on DC's 1958 model with same issue, only more severe...

No other problems detected, possibly a small leakage from exhaust. 

 Roughnecks, me second to right.  

 I ended up driving Gjøvik - Stavanger all alone on my way home. The backup truck started 2 hours behind me, and passed me first on Suleskaret, near home. 

Except for running out of gas some kms before Notodden, the scooter would have behaved all the way home. But from Seljord and on, I experienced 6-8 motor stops, and several hundreds of hickups. Every time, just choking and starting the bike again would cure it. I suspect the 4 liter window cleanser can I used as an emergency gas can when running out of fuel still contained some window cleansing liquid... 

Motorstop @ Suleskaret. It was just like there was a "layer" of water in the tank. Shaking the tank helped a lot, and hickups went a way for a while... But I made it home!

Registration 2.0

Short story: Friday 13th the Rally was approved, thanks to my father who helped me while me being in Cyprus on holiday.

Some minor prepping of the scooter remained before I could join in on VWD 2011 Gjøvik the 18th, so when I got back from holidays I added a new petrol filter (Short story: New tank lacquer didn't handle petrol... ) and added tubeless rims and new wheels to the scooter. Ready for 18th!

Registration & approval day

Finally, the day had come!

08:00 sharp I went to "Statens Vegvesen" to get the bike approved and registered.

08:10 they found out that an important piece of paper was missing. F**k. When importing the scooter from Sweden I paid VAT at the customs office at Ørje, but they failed to give me the correct form which Statens Vegvesen needs for even starting the approval. F**k. How could I know that the form I got was not the correct one? F**k!!!

After a telephone call and a visit to the local customs office in Stavanger, I actually managed to obtain a copy of the missing document, and returned to Statens vegvesen around 09:30. But I was out of luck, they didn't have time to help me.

New appointment is scheduled for May 13th. Only problem is that I am on Cyprus then... But one problem at a time.

I need to get the bike registered before May 18th, we leave for Vespa World Days in Gjøvik then. This is going to be a close call...

Painting tank

Todays work: Spraypainted the new tank and some other small details. Lacking a proper place to spray paint, the work was done outside. The spray paint nozzle provided with the paint produced a very wide spray conus compared to an ordinary spray can.  Except for that the spray was easily distributed, and the result looks OK. Some dust was to be expected when spraying outside.

Small parts also sprayed.

Also took the opportunity to paint over some bruises on the Rally itself with a pencil.  The color I chose is very close to the original color, but not 100%. Will have to check again when it has dried up, and in broad daylight. 

Now I just hope the tank will be dry and hardened enough before tomorrow night, so that I can install it before the Approval on Wednesday. 

Rally colors part 2 + some electric diagnostics

This is my struggle. No match. I'm leaning towards the Lacquer Red.

On the next picture, I've added the swatched with tape and no white just right from the spare wheel (the tubeless tire by the way, had to check if the 2,5" rim fitted, which it does), where the white line is. Still no match in broad daylight.

Over to option 2. The guy from VespaPaintCodes.com has emailed me back, and we've struck a deal for some red color codes translated from the Max Meyer codes. Off to the local paint shop.

But: The local paint shop couldn't mix the codes, even if they supply Dupont paint. They've obviously got another Dupont system. Dah. Running out of options here. When explaining my frustration to the paint shop clerk, he showed me a suitcase of red swatches, which they didn't show me the last time I was there. I was possibly saved!

Out of the suitcase I found the closest match in the red - orange flavour, and got a spraycan mixed.

This was a few days ago. Today, the tank lid was taken from the original tank and sandblasted in it's atomic parts, and both the lid and new tank got a fresh primer layer.  

The handlebar covers and some blind plugs received same treatment. As soon as the weather permits it, the parts will be painted. Hopefully tomorrow, as the parts must dry properly before installing them in the Rally again.

ELECTRIC UPDATE.

The electrics on the Rally confuses me. Since it's a battery model, the horn is 6V AC while the rest of the lights are 6V DC.

Up until now, the lights have in some way functioned, but the horn didn't. And there was no way of turning off the lights completely.

Short version: I've not been successful in finding the correct Rally wiring diagram. Several wiring diagrams exist, but not correspond to the one I have for some reason.

I've done some testing with the the wiring above, testing the functions by swapping the cables around.

The result so far: Switching the two cables providing the horn signal gave much better light, but the functions are not quite right yet. I'm not able to turn off the light. The speedo light is only working in one position; the wrong one by the way. The horn still doesn't work, when I've previously got it to work in one position etc.

I've ordered some new light control panels, as I think this unit might have been replaced with a wrong unit.

But: As far as getting the bike approved, this will hopefully only provide a punch which has to be corrected at a later stage. Only a couple of days left now...

Rally colors

It's getting close to registration of the Rally, and I am still struggling to find the right color the scooter was painted in. This is important, as I need to install a new tank which needs to be sprayed in the right color.

Going to the local lacquer shop and looking through all the color maps available did not prove useful, the nearest match to a orange red was either a Suzuki color (which was a hint to brown) and a Kia color (which was too yellow). All other reds lacked the orange flavour.

Searching the net and forums, and asking the scooter community for advice brought me a bit closer:

Scooterhelp provided Max Meyer Vespa Paint codes.

According to this, the Rally has been delivered in the following colors, possible colors bolded by me.

Vespa Rally 200(VSE1T)

• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Metallic Moon White" 2.268.0108
• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Racing Red" 1.298.5806
• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Lacquer Red" 1.298.5895
• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Katmandu Red" 1.298.5875
• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Polaris Grey" 1.268.8200
• Max Meyer Paint Code: "Coral Red" 1.298.5880

OK, I've got four red colors to work out from. First step: Find out how they look.

A buddy in our local club, Roughnecks, tipped me that the Scooter Center catalogue provides color samples in the back. The catalogue proved useful in eliminating Katmandu red, as this is way too maroon.

The 3 colors to go are however more tricky. I tried to compare them to the original lacquer on the bike, but did not get an obvious match on any of them. Three things come to mind: 1) The paint is obviously faded and is not as it was back in 1975 and 2), the reproduction of the colors in the catalogue is not 100% accurate. 3), Doing this at night in the garage under ambient lighting might not be the best idea.

1) I need to find a non-faded part for best comparison.

2) Reproduction. For comparison, I just "happen" to have a spare (most likely 180) Rally headset in a more orange color:

If my reasoning is right, the 180 Rally headset is "Gelb Orange" 1.298.2916, but on comparison it actually looks more like the "Korallen-Rot" 200 Rally color. None of the colors are "close enough" to say it's a match. This troubles me.

3) I obviously should repeat this in broad daylight, and scissor out the samples to see how they blend on a large surface. This is on my todo list. 

Now to the second issue: 

Trouble with the Max Meyer codes is that no lacquer shop can mix these codes.  Entering the Max Meyer to PPG codes. This page translates some (but not all) colors to mixable (hopefully?) PPG code colors.

Just my luck. NONE of the Rally Max Meyer reds are even mentioned, although Rosso Corallo is mentioned, and has been translated to PPG 870.

So now I'm a bit stuck, but not completely. I've emailed this guy on Vespa Paint Codes to see whether he can help. Then I at least have the option of getting multiple colors blended to find the match.

Not a cost efficient way to do it, but at the moment I don't have many options.

I'll do a last check in broad daylight and then wait for an answer from Vespa Paint Codes, to be continued...

A few parts from Ebay

Some Ebay parts arrived today:

Metal covers under the headset. You get these as plastic replacement from SIP, but you can be lucky and find some original parts on Ebay. Gotta love it.

Fits perfectly.

Some primer & paint will do the trick. To be painted together with the tank.

Speedo fix

New package from SIP arrived today. The long awaited speedometer for the Rally was here.

First off: Speedometer light. The bulb holder didn't come with the new speedo, so the old one was utilized. The cable had to be soldiered, the previous owner had disabled the light. 

The new Piaggio (or rather Veglia Borletti) OEM part looks right from top, but that is only skin deep. I must say I was discontent with the unit; The chrome ring around the speedometer is missing. The housing of the unit is made of plastic. The holes are not threaded, this has to be done manually. Last but not least, The bulb holder is not part of the package. Not impressed. 

I skipped changing the speedometer wire, but fixed the speedo setup on the front wheel. After some investigation, I found out that a part compressing the wire into place was missing. Fixed with new parts.

The old stands were replaced with new ones. 

The spare wheel was beyond washing, so it was treated with a full sand blast & etch primer job. Silver paint remains. 

So now the speedo works! The electrical setup however is faulty still, so no lights in the speedo yet. 

Some bodywork...

Did some minor body work today on the Rally.

The front fender has a dent on top...

And both sidecowls had some minor dents that easily could be fixed.

Of course; standard on all Vespas, the ventilation grill has been bent.  

A hammer, some counterweights and patience does the trick.

And voila! Ventilation grill is OK and the dent on the upper part of the cowl has been removed.

Same with left side. Notice this part is shining a bit more. The cowling was treated with a paint renovator, and it shines. Oh yes. Very pleased with the result!

Latest addition today was test fitting of a new spare tire cover. This part was missing from the bike when it was bought, new plastic part ordered from SIP.

The Rally is soon ready for approval & registration, will probably change tires just to be on the safe side, both for approval reasons as well as for safety when riding to Vespa World Days in Gjøvik (Approx 600kms from here).

Things on the todo list before registration:

• Fix electric bug; Horn only works when lights are off.
• Install new speedometer.
• Install new tank, which also needs a coat of paint.
• Acquire matching paint.
• Fix handlebars to non-turnsignal.

On Monday I will hopefully get a better date for registration than 10th of May. In addition to being awckwardly close to riding to Gjøvik, I'm also on vacation on Cyprus... I might have to go to Egersund (1 hour drive) for earlier appointment.

Degreasing

Finally some weather in Stavanger that allows for some outside activities; The Rally and Regine were both degreased and washed. And both needed it. 

A bit worried that the degreasing and water would make the Vespas hard to start again afterwards, but I was proven wrong. 

Stunningly good appearance for a 1975 model Rally!

Front...

and rear. 

Liftoff!

A couple of mods were done today. First off, I noticed petrol leaking from carb housing when fuel valve was open. As most of the gaskets in the carb was new, I suspected the petrol inlet gaskets to be the problem. (The petrol hose connects to a part which is screwed on to the carb, approx middle top in picture.

The large gasket was replaced with a plumber fairly same sized gasket, and the small one was just eliminated.

Second mod I did today was to shorten the petrol hose, approx 10 cm was cut off.

After rebuilding the carb and tank, the scooter was started. And yes! We have liftoff.

Rebuilding

Some parts for the Rally arrived from SIP today, read about it here.

The order contained a Rally gasket set, and I was pretty happy with finding most of the flat carb gaskets in there. So the carb and carb box was rebuilt with new gaskets. 

A new petrol hose was also installed.

The new tank misses tank lid, not very comfortable using the old lid as it contained a lot of rust. Probably have to put in another order for some small parts. Typical.

Spare wheel cover in plastic, as it should be on the Rally.

New grips, without the holes for the blinkers.

I've also ordered a fastflow fuel tap, not sure whether this will be needed on the Rally.


But back to the scooter: I managed to bolt the whole bike back together, and it started on the first kick, but died immediately.

Now the bike actually behaves more nervous than before; The scooter will work for a couple of seconds, then it feels like there is no more petrol left or no petrol getting to the cylinder. After a few minutes, the procedure can be repeated. Very peculiar.

I can try changing the tank to see if the actual tank is the problem. The petrol hose can probably be shortened a bit. I might just use the tank from the SS for test purpose, as the new tank will need paint before installation.

I'm running out of options here. Ignition timing remains to be checked. But I rather hope that the unoriginal fuel valve is causing all this, but don't understand how.

Carburettor, stubborn fuel hose & some electrical...

The investigation continues. First off today was to have a look at the cylinder for leakages.

Cylinder cowling was removed, got some issues with the old, hard petrol tube, but managed to get it off in one piece.

Cylinder head was removed without any problems, visible oil stains around.

Same with cylinder. Some petrol was used to clean surfaces.

Cylinder walls feel OK. Due to the state of the cylinder, I did not feel it was neccessary to remove the cylinder completely.

The tank was removed for access to the petrol hose, which turned out to be tampered with. Previous owner obviously used what he had inhouse to fix the scooter. The old hose going to the carburettor was very stiff and was squeezed between the chassis and the cylinder cowling. Hose was removed completely, will be replaced with new.

When removing the carburettor, the complete inlet housing felt wobbly. And bingo: the screw for fastening the hosing to the motor wasn't tight. This could definetely cause the oil leakage, but can it also be the reason the scooter fails on high revs?

When removing the housing completely it is pretty apparent where the leakages have come from. (Screw attached for reference)

Thick layer of oily gravel on the carb housing, only one thing to do: Degrease & clean.

Surfaces after cleaning, now I need new gaskets.

The carb was splitted as well and given a clean in a petrol bath.

BE3 venturi and 118 jet. Bog standard.

Well, I need to order some gaskets before I get on with the mechanical side. As the gaskets need renewal and the carb is out anyway, I might as well do the gaskets on the carb too.

Electrical investigation continues. Headlamp connectors seem original, apart from the yellow fix.

According to the el schematics found on Scooterhelp the ignition lock should feature 8 different connectors. Mine only has 4. But as far as I can tell, the cabling has not been tampered with.

Which leaves me to suspect the panel to be tampered with. The part looks new, but I am not sure whether it has been replaced. I need the bike running for investigating further on this.

Good night.