A good way to start your day

To my surprise, Maggie my 1969 Squareback didn't want to start on Tuesday morning as I was getting ready to go to work. After doing some digging around I found out that it was most likely the starter. So with the help of one of my friends we tracked down a remanufactured starter from Autozone and swapped her out. It was a bit of a pain until I found out about the secret bolt that inside the engine compartment. Once that was replaced...it was smooth sailings and now my squareback is back on the road and she starts up better then ever. I used to think it took a bit to get her started because she was 37 years old, but it turns out it was just the starter going out. Now she starts up like a brand new ride.

Rainbow of Wires

So it appears that I might of found a "source" for some wires...freakin sweet. It's funny, wires are cheap as hell, but when you need 12 different color wires in about 5-7ft range it starts to add up since you have buy spools of each one. How can something so small need so many different freaking wires! So now if I can get the wires I'm going to try to build my own wiring harness. I think this will be a pretty cool thing to do, I'll know a lot more about the bike if I do this myself and maybe I can try to come up with a slightly less confusing way to do it. I haven't decided the best way to bundle them all together. I might go the fancy heat shrink wrap method or just zip ties...we'll see.

Wire Colors Needed:
1. Red
2. Brown
3. Green
4. Black
5. White
6. Purple
7. Pink
8. Light Blue
9. Dark Blue
10. Yellow
11. White/Red
12. White/Green

Shopping List aka What to buy me for my birthday

So here is my shopping list. I need around to drop around $185.95 to $151.95 on parts to finish out the Vespa. Not bad, if I end up get this all done I'm looking around around $500 total to get the Vespa back on the road with a new paint job. Unfortunately, we are trying to conserve cash for a bit so most likely the scooter project will be put on hold for around 1 month. BUT, this means I'm getting scooter parts for my birthday!



Continental Zippy Tire - $28 each - I need at least 2, but maybe 3 if I get one for my spare tire. My old tires all have tire rot from sitting in sheds for years.









Tire Tubes - $6 - I'll also need 2-3 of these bad boys.











4th Hand Tool - $14.95 - This tool seems awesome, it helps pull cables while you tighten the bolts at the same time.










Flywheel Puller - $10 - I need this bad boy so I can remove my flywheel and get to the stator. The stator is this spinning magnetic disk that powers the bike when the engine is running. It's pretty sweet but there is a broken wire coming off it, so I gotta take it out and replace the bad wire. Should be easy enough with the proper tool.







Wiring Harness -$59 - Hopefully this will the cure of my wiring insanity. The bike has tons of odd splices and broken wires so, I've given up and I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just buy a new harness.

WIRES!

So it appears that I need to get a new wire harness for my Vespa. I really tried to avoid buying one, but it seems that there is no other option. The existing wires are all jacked up and broken. I even thought about making one myself but it didn't make sense since it would only be maybe $10-20 cheaper than buying a premade one. So hopefully I'll order one on Monday and I'll be able to get back to work. I also have to pick up a flywheel removing tool. There is a frayed wire coming from my stator and I need to replace it.

Lounge Lizard

The vespa getting some rays before the wheels and engine were installed.

So so close

The Vespa is coming together really well. The engine was a serious bitch to get into the frame, but its in there now. I'm amazed that the bike is now able to be pushed around on its own wheels! Unfortunately the battery that I had was dead, but this was to be expected. It sat in different people's sheds for years and by the time we were ready to install the battery it was past 6pm so no go. Now I just need to get a new battery, some new tires and also a spark plug cable and she's going to be rocking. That is if we wired the wires right.

Progress!!

I almost gave up on putting my scooter together on my own. I even went as far as to put some posts out trying to find someone to do it for me....instead of getting offers though people kept telling me to stop being a loser and do it myself.

So I partially took their advice. I started working but I also enlisted some help from a good friend and now we are starting to get some progress done!!!

Travels

So to add some spice to my blogging world. I'm going to start blogging a bit about my travels. Nothing too exciting but if I do find a scooter or two I'll post some pics. One cool thing I found out was that in Hong Kong the Vespa is still a work horse. P series vespa's are all over the place acting as delivery vehicles.

"Blow"in in the wind

It's a wonderful feeling when a day that was horribly hot (near 100) and muggy can turn into a crisp cool ride that night.

A quick trip to drop off a movie, Blow, can turn into a nice ride. I do have to admit my wife looks pretty good sitting on my scooter. She's going to have to learn how to ride her one day...cuz come on what's sexier than a hot chick on a hot ride.

The joy

Sometimes I feel silly owning a scooter that I rarely get to ride anymore, I feel like a scooter poser which is pretty sad if you think of those two words...scooter and poser.

BUT, then I get a chance to ride again, even just a short ride down to a local coffee shop to do homework assignment after homework assignment...and I remember how free you feel on a scooter and how when you are riding you get to clear your mind of everything...there is only one thing on your mind and thats riding. Riding and of course not dying.

At my old job I loved my scooter rides home to and from work. Those rides were the only time during the day that I was unreachable...I couldn't pick up my cell phone, I couldn't answer questions that I've answered before. I just got to ride and smile.

Embrancing the new

So, I was discussing my little blog with my wife and she came up with a good idea. Since I can't devote a really large amount of time working on my Vespa I might as well also blog about the rides on my working modern scooter. So, along with the trials and tribulations of restoring my 1978 P200E, I'm also going to start logging my rides on my 2001 Aprila Mojito Custom 50. Strangely enough I haven't taken a pic of my ride so here is a stock photo of her, "The Mojito."

Wires!

Ok, so it's been over 6 months since last posted and 6 months since I've touched my P200E.

I finally got my paint right and I'm starting to run the old wires through the frame. This is a serious pain in the ass. The funny thing I did some googling on running wires and I end up finding my own blog and man was it not helpful.

So if you know anything about wiring and know of any good guides or wiring diagrams outside of the standard diagrams that require electrical engineering degrees let me know.

Hopefully I'll spend some more time on the scoot, but with work and school, it's going to be tough.

New Paint

Well...I got some of my scooter back from the paint shop...the smaller peices were still drying but here she is. Some people love the color...some people hate it. I personally love it and most people start to really like it after looking at it for a bit. Now just imagine her with all new black rubber and lots of chrome.

Carb Pic

Ok, I promised a pic of my carb work. Nothing fancy but it proves I'm really working on my scooter.

Brakesgiving

My paint is taking longer than expected to get done, which sucks but it does give me more time to work on my other rides.

My main goal for the holiday is to replace my rear wheel cylinder on my 1969 VW Squareback...right now is leaking brake fluid which is bad times. After that I might do a brake job on the VW Golf so it stops squeaking. Good times.

Shopping Spree

Today was a good day. American Scooter Center was having a Customer Appreciation Sale aka Drunk Sales. So I was able to pick up some parts for a great deal.

So I picked up:
- P200 Rubber Kit
- Cables
- Cowl Rubber
- Glove Box Rubber
- Shocks

I still need the following:
- Floor Rails (they were out)
- Chrome Leg Shield Trim (forgot to ask)
- Tires (I'm gonna wait till the very end for these)
- New Emblems
- Spark Plug
- Spark Plug Wire
- And of course, tons of crap I don't even know I need yet.