I pulled the pin early today, the boys are in daycare, missus at work, I've got a cold so I thought bugger it. After lunch i rolled the SPV out into the sun and gave her one more looking over, I finally sorted a light so I could have a good look into the tank, with the help of the sun, it all looked ok, not new but ok. I diconnected the gear cables and gave the selector ( not sure what the real name is, they call it a bat wing on the Modern Vespa website, which btw has a vintage section which is really informative) a good clean and greased it up good re-connected the cables and adjusted them according to advice I read on said website. I stood back and thought "well its gotta happen sooner or later" so I added 5lt of fuel and the oil, mineral 2T @ 4% as recommended by Greg at Planet Vespa, at least until 1000kms. Put in my little key and switched it to ignition, fuel tap on, I saw the fuel run down the fuel hose, choke out, neutral. deep breath...kick, no....kick, no....kick, no mmmm is it going to work, kick putt putt ting putt ting ting ting ting she was away, I let it idle for about five minutes, it wasnt an even idle by any means but I didn't need to apply throttle to keep it going, the smoke smelt like you'd expect it to and if anything looked a little dark to me, (disclaimer, I know it should be a nice blueish colour but am going to pick my mums boyfriends mind tomorrow, he has been tinkering with engines of all varieties for most of his life) but hey she's running!
Ok next I check the lights, they work, back light works, just thought I didn't check the brake light, put that on the list, that light on the headset above the speedo doesn't do anything, on any setting, put that on the list too. So I wheel her out the front, still idling, I get some shoes and put my helmet and sunnies on, hop on and a nice smooth clunk into first, clutch out, it grabbed at a nice distanceand a few revs and away i go.
I live in a cul de sac, about half way along and its approx. 500-600 metres, so I do 4 laps and the gear changes are smooth, especially for someone with five minutes geared scooter riding, I notice that the 4th gear jumps in and out and is way beyond the "4" mark in the headset, 1st is right, N is right, 2nd seems to be half way between 2nd and 3rd. add that to the list too.
I park up in the driveway, the SPV is still idling but a bit better now, I get off have a look over and under to see if there are any leaks or anything else that is obviously not right and it all looks ok, I will need to get some little gasket washers for the oil sump bolts, the drain plug looks a little wetish ( is that even a word) I jump back on and decide to venture out into the real world, being on the edge of a largish country town I think I'm going to be ok, Off I go around a few blocks, top speed 30-40, dont want to push the new engine too much and I notice the half a dozen cars I do see are all having a good look, a double take, wtf was that. The 4th gear was still jumping in and out and the handling was not that flash as the front tyre needs a fair bit of air, all tyres do, but the front especially, will do that on my expedition on Sunday. More tomorrow.
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