Still Busy, Busy, Busy!

The second anniversary of me getting the Lambretta is getting close. I had in my head that it would be all finished by now, but sadly , it isn't. So, what else have I done?

I needed to get the fuel tank, the airbox and the toolbox in, so that was the next job. A load of fiddling to make sure I didn't scratch that lovely orange paint, but it was all relatively straightforward. And it looks excellent.

I need to fit the legshields and the mudguard and the horn casting. And get all of the rubber bits of trim in the right places, so off I went. The paint work suffered a few scratches while trying to get the leggies in, which I was very pissed off about. I even masked up all the points of contact, so that this could be avoided, but the leggies just ploughed the paint. Very annoying, but it's only a scooter...


Legshields in, I fitted the stainless runners prior to the mudguard and horncasting ... Just can't wait! The reason for fitting this trim first is that some of the bolts for the runners hold on the mudguard. But other bolts need to sit under the trim, so it all gets a bit confusing. Oh, and I put in those little rubber anti-vibration thingies too... How fiddly are those? I put the legshield trim on too. The original polished legshield trim clasp I bought shattered, so a quick trip up to Scootlife, and I had a new (and better) set in my hands.

Mudguard and horncasting, next, and what a pain in the arse those were. You have really limited access to get to things, so I had to enlist Carol and her unfeasably small hands to do up some of the nuts. And taht trim for the horncasting just wouldn't stay put at all. You'd do one side, then the other would pop out (or pop in). That was very annoying. But, it's all finally in and looking absolutely sweet! It looks like a scooter now.

April stuff... Busy busy busy!

Went to New York again with work, which was nice. It's a beautiful city, and I was on the lookout for a New York numberplate for my workshop. Sadly, I didn't get one as I felt that an arrest for stealing a vehicle part would be detrimental to my career.

The Easter Break is a very productive time... Did a few small bits to the engine, like fitted the new side casing and a few internal bits, like the kickstart bumpstop, kickstart oild seal, etc. and loosely fitted the casing to the engine. Still a few bits in there to sort out, so it's pointless ratcheting it all up. And while I had the engine nearly done, I decided to fit it in the scooter. This was a tricky job, as I was on my own for pretty much all of it. I have a small car jack and a couple of axle stands, so a bit of jimmying and a few swearwords later, it was in! And it looks really good, too. Also fitted the toolbox door, which required a bit of fabrication to get a decent hinge mechanism. Speaking of hinges, I need to fettle that petrol flap, too...

That rear bulb holder turned into a bigger job. It ended up costing me £22 for a decent bulb unit, which I then butchered to put into the alloy unit fitted on the scooter. It is a bit annoying, but I want the thing to be right, so it needs to be done. I got the rear bulb holder from Pete Merchant's shop over in Rochdale. While there, I had a chat with the famous Harry Barlow. He is doing Ange's engine for her and so we are in a bit of a biker build off. He is a top bloke, and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, so I quite enjoyed going over and having a chat. Got a few bits from the nice people at Lambretta Cottage Restorations while on my travels. I thoroughly recommend these nice Yorkshire folk - Very knowledgeable and they will tell you which bits are shit and which aren't, even if they sell them! Not everyone is like that, I can tell you!

Gave the workshop a coat of paint, too, while dodging the rain, and sealed off the edges of the roof, so it's now nice and watertight.

Little jobs

There are a few little jobs that need sorting on the scooter, so I'm going to spend a bit of time doing those to ease myself back in to the rebuild. Things like changing the rear bulb holder on the new back light unit (because the one that's on looks as though it is made of cheese), polishing the brake pedal (because, despite hints, it doesn't look like I'm about to get a new billet pedal with matching kickstart) and allsorts of little niggly things which aren't expensive to sort but all take time.

So, typing this ain't getting no stuff done...

I have light, now for the heat!

My brother gave me a wood burning stove, and he came over yesterday to help me to fit it. I cleaned the stove thoroughly (wearing out 3 wire brush attachments in the process), to get it back to bare metalIt took about 15 hours to get it all done, as it was quite rusty in some places. And Cath at work supplied the chimney... Well, her dad did. Thanks for that, Cath's dad!

So, we cut a big hole in the roof, installed a collar (meant for barges, incidentally), manhandled the stove into position, then put the chimney in. A load of fire cement later, and we were ready for the test... Fired up the stove, and the job, as they say, is a good one!

The shot shows the back of my workshop, while the other shot below shows the front (the door end). The final shot is the window wall which contains my workbenches and drill station.

So what do you think? I like it, and it is light, warm (or hot, most of the time) and it even has a disco ball in the middle of the ceiling!

More workshop details

The workshop is wired for Electricity, courtesy of Ady who pulled a blinder getting it all wired and correct. Cheers, mate!

I wanted to have loads of sockets and light in there, so I have got fourteen sockets, three flourescent tubes, plus a couple of tasklights and an external security light on there too. One of the tubes is set on the back wall, at waist level, so that any project can be viewed without difficulty on the turntable.

... I didn't mention the turntable, did I? As part of the deal for letting me work in the kitchen over the winter, Carol wanted a new dining room table, so being a cheapskate (and a bit skint), I re-used the old table to make a turntable. I routed out a groove on the floor, put a corresponding groove on the underside of the table, and filled the resulting channel with greased marbles... Hey presto! One turntable. Scooter goes in, work, work, work, turn and scooter goes out! The turntable has a retaining pin for safety, and this can be locked off at every quarter turn.

The floor and half of the interior walls came from Jimmy, who also played a blinder. Cheers mate!

So do you want to see more of the workshop?

OK... The workshop is (nearly) finished...

So, for the past few months I've been building the workshop so that I can carry on with the Lambretta rebuild. And I've reached the stage where I can move in, now. So this is what the workshop looks like from the outside...

As you can see, it needs a coat of paint, which I will do over Easter. It measures 16' by 8', and I built it myself from a big pile of wood. In total, the wood for the shed cost me about £1,200, but the ply is all exterior grade, and I treated all the timbers myself. I need to put a permanent roof on too, but for the moment it is weathertight.

The construction is double walled, which gave me space for the insulation, so the whole space is nice and warm and windproof. I was also lucky enough to get hold of some double glazed units (thanks, Hayley) which I fitted into the workshop. The original plan was to have a set of double doors to facilitate easy removal of scooters, but the single door is more than adequate, as it measures 1m x 2m... More than wide enough for even the fattest of Vespas!

And still building....

Still building... Getting hacked off with it now. It's still bloody cold...

Still Building...

Still building. And it's still cold...

The workshop build begins...

Started to build the workshop today. It was freezing. And I didn't get as much done as I wanted... It may be a while before it's completed...

I'm Building the Workshop!

Just ordered a big pile of wood, as Carol says that I can build my workshop! I'm going to make a well ace workshop which will enable me to carry on with the rebuild, so the scoot is on hold for a while until I get the accommodation sorted. Watch this space!

Away for the Winter

The rebuild has been put on hold over the Christmas period, as 'someone' wants the kitchen back for Christmas lunch... I mean, it's only a day, isn't it? We could eat in the lounge, instead of on the dining table, surely? 

Anyhow, I have wrapped the scooter up in a big tarp and put her on the deck. The scooter, that is...

Stoneguarding

This evening I have stoneguarded the inside of the side panels, the underside of the front mudguard and the interior of the toolbox. Loads of masking, loads of spraying and loads of black stoneguard paint everywhere. Not a glamourous job, but it needed doing, and it should offer a lot of protection when I get it out on the road. That's all.

Speedo

So one of the first things I bought for this rebuild is a new speedometer unit. I bought it from ebay about a week after I got the scooter, and it has been sat around ever since. Initially, I was a bit disappointed that the twenty or so quid I paid for it (may be less, may be more - it was a while ago) didn't buy me a Lambretta logo above the milometer bit, as most Lambretta speedos have this lettering. I was going to buy another unit with the logo, but then I got to thinking that this would be an ideal spot for a bit of extra customisation... I printed out the Alpha Industries logotype to the correct size and I was going to cut out a frisket using matt frisket film to do the airbrushing on the speedo face.

That was far too fiddly to do, however, so I found an alternative... And these are the results. Special or what?

In the meantime while waiting for the engine I have done a few other little bits and bobs... I went to the end of season scooter rally at Morecambe, and in the parts fair there, I picked up a bracket to mount my CDI and Regulator, some anti vibration rubbers, metal gear change and throttle wheels and assorted springs, clips and fixings that I was short of. I also got a new Ducati Regulator and and LML CDI unit from Lambretta Cottage Restorations. The bloke there was really sound, to the extent that he was doing himself out of a sale because he had no CDI Units in stock of the type I was looking for. I ordered the part from him, however, and it came through the post within a couple of days. Anyone after any parts for their rebuild (I have also bought one of their complete nylon lined cable sets too), I strongly recommend these people as they are honest, fair and supply good quality parts. Most of the above mentioned parts are now fitted, and waiting for the engine to arrive... As I am.

Spoke to Jonsey about the engine today... It is coming on apace now. The crank is fitted, and the top end has been rebuilt and put back on. The Gears will be the next bits to be given the Grimspeed treatment, and then it should be a matter of putting in the new bearings and seals and throwing the thing back together... I hope!

More Headset

So the headset saga continues... The job I have been putting off is the wiring. To me, it is a nightmare - my brain can't cope with it at all.

I was up at Scootlife, my local scooter shop run by Taff, buying some bits when Ady called in for some stuff for his T5. I explained my lack of progress with the rebuild being down to my reluctance to start the wiring, and Ady kindly offered to come down and give me a lift with the wiring. He arrived next day and we (or rather he) set to work. I was right about it being a nightmare... I tried to follow what was going on, but failed after about a minute. Anyhow, 30 Maplins Bullet connectors, five brews, a few biscuits and umpteen fags later, and we were done. We had a working scooter. We tested the wiring using a battery charger to give us some power instead of the engine (Ady is a qualified electrician, so don't try this unless you know what you are doing) and the Halogen light conversion (from Sparkrite Technologies), the horn, the brake light and tail light all work! Fantastic! And that's with a dodgy switch I bought from ScootRS (should have been 3 position, not 2 - typical!).

We put in a load of extra earths as well - apparently, you can't have enough of them - so hopefully, the scooter will be a good runner, electrically. I am going to do myself a wiring diagram as soon as I get the engine back from Jonsey and get it all wired up, so that if I have to disassemble it, I have a chance of putting it all back together again. Incidentally, the blue wire (not the correct colour, I know... It's all we had) is the feed for the switch on my front brake light. The other wire is in there somewhere too.

Gear Selector

Matt from the Pogue Mahone Scooter Club had my Gear Selector cover polished. And it is beautiful. Continuing the theme of breen and orange, I decided to paint in the numbers in Humbrol Enamel Flourescent Gloss Fire Orange. I think it looks good, although I will probably have to do another coat later.

Headset in detail

So when you start your rebuild, no matter how thorough you are, you will always forget to buy something... I have forgotton loads of stuff for my rebuild and it is only because I have good local suppliers on hand that I can progress.

This week, I have been looking at the headset. The Lambretta headset is the hub of all the scooter... Most of the control cables terminate there and the nightmare that is wiring goes on beneath the speedo dial. I started by looking at my control rods... they were horrible. I tried to refurbish them, but then I noticed that a lot of the nylon parts were looking worse for wear. A quick scout on the interweb later, I came accross the website of Scooter Restorations based in Nottingham. Their site is excellent, and it has exploded diagrams for almost all areas of the scooter with links to the products in the diagram, so you can look at a drawing, guess which bit it is then click on the link to find out what the part is really called ('Can I have three plastic wiggly bits please?') and order directly. I needed a load of plastic bits, and while I was at it, I thought that I'd order new control rods too... Clicked and ordered at 4.45 pm, but I needed the bits then, so I gave them a call. The man on the other end of the phone was really helpful, and he said he would try to get the parts out as soon as possible. True to his wrd, they were with me by 2pm the following day. That is excellent service, so I left a testimonial on their website and called to thank them. The whole order was £50 (I also bought some Lambretta specific tools too), so the value for money aspect is also good. I'll put them in and see how they look.

I intended to put brass type control wheels in the scooter, as the nylon ones can be a bit prone to wear, but closer inspection revealed that the brass bits I had bought were for star ended control rods... I had to go with the nylon ones for the time being, but I will replace these with better quality ones soon.

The Rebuild underway

The rebuild couldn't start early yesterday, because I needed a part. To be precise, I needed a Lower Frame Cone Cover. A small piece of pressed steel which goes between the Frame and the Frame cone... It costs £2.50, and I didn't have one. Anyway, a few phone calls later and I was heading over to Preston to buy the aforementioned article from Frank Sanderson at Lambretta Innovations. And what a nice chap Frank is... He showed me round his workshop and I saw some really excellent Lambretta conversions going on. He is a superstar in the scootering world, but he is a down to earth bloke like the rest of us - a real unassuming northerner, and a top bloke. My next scooter may well be one of Frank's wonderful creations.
So, part in hand, I returned home to begin the rebuild. Only I couldn't... I had to Waxoyl and Stone Chip Guard the area behind the rear numberplate, and that involves taking the scooter outside to spray it - As it was bloody freezing yesterday, I decided to do the spraying in the nice warm kitchen, on account of the paint needing to be warm enough, you understand. So I set up a makeshift spraybooth using an old sheet and the maiden, masked off the bits I didn't want spraying and proceeded to apply liberally. I think I got away with it!

According to Sticky, the chassis rebuild has to go in a certain order, and I'm not about to argue, so I proceeded to fit the rear mudguard and the stand. The rear mudgard needed a new hole drilling, as the original one was about 20mm away from where it should be, and the stand was a real pain to fit because of the bloody spring. After much jiggling and on and offing, I eventually got the stand and the spring fitted, using a combination of brute force and the stand bolt to drag the stand in line. Then I remembered that I'd bought a stainless steel splash plate, so the whole thing had to come off and go back on again. Such is life!

Forks went in next, and these were really easy to do. Loads of grease, bearings, tab washers and bolts, and in it went. It looks really well, and the scooter is finally starting to have a feel of a scooter, rather than a load of components now!

The Theme Revealed...

OK... Some of you have been waiting for this, so I will finally reveal the theme for the scooter. Originally, I was going to do a 'Pressure Drop' themed scooter, after the excellent song by Toots and the Maytals, but I have seen a few scooters of the same name knocking around, so I decided against that one.

So that set me thinking... What shall I do with mine. A couple of days to go before the respray, I was wracking my brains wondering what to do when it hit me. I'll do a scooter based on an MA1 flight jacket - The ones which many scooterists (not mods) wear. And not just any MA1... The king of all flight jackets, Alpha Industries!

The colour I chose was a sage green colour specified for Skodas in the 70's and 80's which matched the colour of olive green used in Flight Jackets quite well. The thing about MA1's is that they have a reversible lining which is bright orange, so that a downed pilot can put the jacket on inside out to be more easily seen in an emergency. So all the scooter internals (the petrol tank, Airbox, airbox bellows and the toolbox) are painted in Ford Focus ST orange.

I have other plans for the scooter too; It's not just the colourway I have chosen... These will be revealed as I do them. So you'll want to see a photo now, I guess... Thanks for your patience.

Half Term - Don't you just love 'em?

Back from Bridlington and looking at a week off work, so I thought it was about time I did something with the GP... I got the front upper and lower bearing races two weeks ago, and they have been in the freezer since (note to self; don't put on tongue), and I picked up a pair of silent blocks plus a Mark Broadhurst rear wheel race bearing and a copper exhaust gasket from the parts fair in Brid, so we're good to go. On the subject of the parts fair, why do we get charged a fiver to go in to spend? It's wrong that we have to stump up this money... I don't mind a couple of quid, but a fiver? Come on! ) OK... End of rant.

Anyhow... The good news is that because of my lack of workshop, Carol has agreed to let me start the build in the kitchen, where the dining table used to be... What a result. A warm, light environment with clean floors and easy access to brews in which to put the scoot back together... It can't get better than that! I'm off to move the dining room table now, and get the frame prepped for the rebuild. May even post some pictures later today to show how much I've done...

The Engine

The alchemy that is Mechanicking is a real dark art to me. Don't get me wrong, I can get by with a Haynes Manual (or Sticky's book, in this case) and do basic maintenance, but when it comes to a full strip and rebuild, I would prefer to leave that to people who know what they are doing.

This is why I have just dropped my engine off at Jonsey's. Jonsey (or Grim as he is sometimes known) has been around Lambrettas for years. He is also in our club, and I knew him back in the day when we were kids too. He watched me take a hacksaw to my SX200 frame in Karl Parkinson's garage, and I recall him shaking his head sadly at my actions. Jonsey also still has every scooter he has ever owned, stored neatly in boxes in his Uncle's Loft. And I saw his garage, which some refer to as the El Dorado of the Scootering World... Original bits and bobs from allsorts of scooters are lying on shelves, or are stacked in nooks and crannies everywhere.

I had to ask Grim to take it easy on my engine... He is notorious for building things which shouldn't be built, so I told him to give mine a slight tune, but nothing which involved the removal of load bearing and or structural parts of the engine... I want a reliable scooter, not one which goes really quick until it goes bang. I want to be able to travel to Kelso or the Isle of Wight safe in the knowledge that I will arrive there and be able to get back again. A rare dream, I know, but one I am used to on the Vespa...

So, a few hundred quid lighter I gave the engine to Grim with a bag of bearings, seals, clips, tabs, washers etc. We'll see what comes back!