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.