Badges and Stainless runners

Now I have the new legshields, I can take the opportunity of fitting some of those tricky items which will damage the paintwork if (or more likely, when) I get it wrong. Ady said one of the most tricky jobs was fitting the stainless steel floor runners to the legshields, especially round the curve. So I figured I would give mine a dry fit before the paint went on. And I'm glad I did. The runners are well made, but they take a lot of jiggling (and therefore scratching) to get on. A few taps with a hammer and a screwdriver finally got the last runner in place, though... I like the way they look, however... Very special.

While damaging the legshields was on the cards, I decided to drill the holes for my fraudulent badges. The scooter is an Indian Vijay 150 Super, but I am putting Lambretta GP150 badges on it... How wrong is that? Like labelling Rola Cola as Coke... Anyway, it's my scooter, so I'm doing it. I have been taking loads of reference photographs of GP's to get the positioning of the badges right... Most of the GP's I have seen are Indian in origin anyway (there are a few telltale signs to spot 'em... It's a fun way to spend an afternoon on a rally, Indian spotting... I bored Carol senseless with that game at Cleethorpes). Anyway, I took an average of where other people put theirs and drilled the holes... I like it, anyway. I'm sure some anorak will tell me that they are in the wrong place, but it's an Indian GP... As far as I'm concerned, they look good where they are!

It doesn't fit...

Those of you who have done a few rebuilds will have undoubtedly used the words in the title of the post before... 'It doesn't fit' seems too echo from every forum in the scootering world. Now it's my turn to use the phrase.

I offered up the toolbox to the new legshield, and from above, it looks spot on... The PX toolbox was from ScootRS, and it has been shaped to fit a GP legshield.

Unfortunately, the person who shaped the toolbox has obviously never even seen a GP legshield in his (or her) life, before... I would need to take a bus between the legshield and the edge of the toolbox! It is a shame, because everything else I have got from the company looks to be of good quality... Plan B needs to come into action as soon as possible... Plan B is to put the PX toolbox on e-bay and see how much I can get for it... By the time I have trimmed the toolbox so that there is a nice, equal gap all around the edge, and I have ground off and repositioned the anchors inside the box, I may be able to fit a tissue inside. So it really is not worth having. So off it goes. *End of rant*

Forkin' nice!

Managed to get the front end rebuilt today and I think it looks really good... Had a few problems souring the locking nuts and the big washers, so I had to clean up the original ones that came of the scooter after raiding the big box of shite. Thank God I don't throw anything away!

The new stainless front shocks were a Christmas present from my mum, as I mentioned earlier, and the re-painted hub and forks have been documented before, so it was a question of getting the wheel and tyres fitted to the bits and making sure it was all safely bolted together.

The Nissin shock will need a little surgery - It scrapes against the wheel rim a little, so I reckon that I need to grind about a millimetre off the four lugs closest to the wheel... Shouldn't be too much of a problem, and I will do this at a later date.

The stainless cable guide looks well, but the big story is the tyres. These are Heidenau 'Racer' tyres and are 'K' rated to 81mph. Most scooter tyres are 'J' rated which means that they have been tested to 62mph. These are also tubeless, which means that in the event of a rapid air expulsion scenario, I have more chance of stopping without making a large, Mark shaped splat on the tarmac. I'm hoping not to test this theory out though, and I will fill the tyres with slime before test riding on them. The rims are Sterling Tubeless rims in chrome, as I have heard reports of the stainless type tubeless rims splitting. I got these from Rich Presley at last year's Cheeky Northern Monkey's weekender, but I forgot how much these were... I should have kept more accurate records...

New Leggies!

Went over to the Mod Shop and took the plunge... Bought a new set of GP legshields for a bargain price. Luckily, Jimmy Caz and Alex were there too, in their 4x4, so they took them home for me. Cheers, Chaps! At least while I have them, I can take the opportunity of dry fitting the stainless floor runners and the PX toolbox...

To the Sprayers

Took the Lammy to the sprayers today. It had already started to flash rust, so I decided to get it in as soon as possible... It should have a coat of primer by Saturday, so hopefully, it won't rot away too much.

The sprayer is a chap called Chris Timmins, and I was introduced to him by Ady, after he sprayed his scooter really well. And really cheaply. I say introduced... Chris was actually my next door neighbour when I was a kid, and he lived at 4 Brookside for a number of years before moving away. Small world, eh?

We talked colours (the scooter is going to be sprayed in one colour, but elements will be in another colour, to keep the suspense going for a while longer), and Chris said he could repair and re-weld the damaged bits, but I have been pricing up replacement legshields anyway, and for £90, I could have a new set with none of the hassle of being repaired... Not sure what to do yet.

Back from the dippers

So the big day has finally arrived...

The frame and panels and bits have just arrived back from the dippers and they look good. The total bill came to £120, which I thought was quite reasonable.

The entire scooter fits in the back of my hairdressers LandRover (a freelander), so I didn't have to mess around hiring a van. Carol had to go to work on her scooter though, which was a bit of a pain for her. Sorry! To make amends, I'm going over to meet her and I will buy her a nice coffee on the way back. It's the least I can do!

There is some work to do on the legshields, though... I have perforations where the rust has eaten through and another couple of spots where it has been welded up in the past by a nine year old Indian boy...

To be fair, though, he's a better welder than I am! The subframe has also had a touch of Indian welding behind the numberplate, so this section will need to be replaced before it goes to the painters as you can see daylight through some of the joins.

The top bearing race has taken a bit of a beating in the dipping process, but I was going to replace that anyway, and I will do the bottom one as well, even though it looks (and feels) OK.

Time is now of the essence... The longer it hangs around unprotected, the more likely it is to start to rust.

Unfortunately, I have not got too much spare cash lying around at the moment, so donations would be gratefully recieved... I had a car boot sale to raise some cash for the respray and we got £200 for some stuff out of the attic, which was nice... Still a way short for the full amount, though.

No, really... Fork off!

So the forks came back on the Friday all refurbished and welded up, thanks to the people at The Mod Shop... Strengthened rods and uprated springs, new rubbers and a new pair of fork links, all for £80... Not too bad at all! I spent the weekend carefully stripping the forks of paint. I have decided to Hammerite them in a brushed silver, which is how they leave the factory. And Hammerite covers a multitude of sins. I had a bit of a mishap with the new front hub last week, too... That got Hammerited in the same brushed silver too... Not too much of a biggie, as I was unsure of what colour to do the hubs anyway, as I had one white one (the new one from ScootRS) and one silver coloured new rear hub that I got from SP4Y at last year's Bridlington Parts Fair. So now, they are both going silver.

Last Thursday, I chose the paint, too... I was originally having the scooter done as 'Pressure Drop', but after seeing three or four of them on the scene, I've kind of gone off the idea. The new theme is going to be... You'll just have to wait and see! I've never seen one on the British scene before (or anywhere else for that matter), but it's going to be nice. I'm quite excited about it.

So... Back to the forks. After stripping with a really potent paintstripper, and lots of wire wooling, scraping, wire brushing (both by hand and with the drill) and a light sanding, they were ready for painting. And I've just put the second coat on now, with the help of Carol who is a painting goddess... Hammerite has a temperature range, by the way, which is how I cocked up the hub, requiring it to be stripped back to bare metal and repainting. So if it's above 25°C, the paint clogs like a cloggy thing and just sags before you get chance to move it around... And that's my tip of the day! Check the temperature before you start painting. Anyhow, the top photo is the forks after I'd stripped them (or if they are side by side, the one on the left), and the bottom one is the forks after the second coat... Look OK, don't they?