Sunday 22 April 2012

We have been working a little more on 'Stacey' my son's 1971 motovespa 125 super restoration; the one where we know nothing about scooters but decided to give it a try anyway!
Below is a short film of her as she is at the moment and some questions. If anyone has the answers, please let us know via the comment box below. We hope we are doing her justice!

Steve

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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous23 April 2012 at 11:50

    Hey guys, great job - it'll all be worth it when your blasting along at full throttle. Your head set is seriously loose - there should barely be any play at all - noe really - so yours is miles out. I'm not sure why.

    Re hub nuts - there is a page of torque settings for smallframe fasteners here

    http://modernvespa.com/pix/uploads/sframe_torque_values_552.pdf

    It shows front hub nut as 66-81 lb/ft. Elsewhere I had previously found it to be about the middle of that range - 73lb/ft. That's very tight. They show the back hub nut as the same, but I'd found it somewhere else to be a bit less - 54-65lb/ft.

    If you don't have a torque wrench, at least be aware that some nuts need loads of torque and others very little. N/b there are also values shown for the steering column.

    As I said, you may find a variety of values in different sources - do some googling! But be aware of the measurement system - be it lb/ft or nM or others, and be sure to use the correct calibration on your torque wrench.

    I just use a very basic flexible arm torque wrench - cheap as chips - you don't need a clicking one - the flexi arm never needs to be recalibrated.
    Pete.

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  2. steve23 April 2012 at 16:07

    pete - we owe you - that is really helpful - we have no idea why it is so seriously loose - we've put everything back as per the diagrams - so something must be missing or our new bearing races are wrong.

    we'll play about with it and see what we can do

    thanks for the advice - very much appreciated

    steve

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  3. Anonymous24 April 2012 at 00:02

    No worries. Ideally you would have kept the old bearings/races to compare with whatever new parts you've sourced.

    Re the torque thing again - I really think it's worth checking the tightness of all fasteners against the specs - to ensure they are tight, but not too tight, and to minimise the chance of anything vibrating loose. also it's worth rechecking them after a running in period and retorquing back to spec if needed.

    My torque wrench is like one shown on youtube under a diy video "How to apply a torque wrench"

    The front and rear hubs take a hell of a lot of force - best way is to have someone sit on the scooter with the brakes applied, to stop the wheel moving.

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  4. Anonymous24 April 2012 at 00:11

    Oh and I just took a look at the gap between the front guard and leg shield on my scooter - it's half an inch (that's a ss90 so different model to yours, but I'd expect the gap to be similar).

    The Arwen looks fantasic - what a great project to build that - congratulations! I sail on a Etchells 22 down here on a lake in New Zealand.
    Pete

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  5. steve24 April 2012 at 17:33

    wow! i know a little of the south island as I have a brother living down that way

    thanks for all the advice Pete - greatly appreciated

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  6. Seth18 June 2012 at 19:49

    The thought occurs that the gap between the mudguard and kneeguard may increase when the looseness of the headset is corrected.

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Thanks for taking a look at my blog. All comments and advice are welcome - drop me a few lines. You can always find videos about Arwen at www.youtube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy. Look forward to hearing from you.
Steve