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.

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!