Bitter sweet...bitter

A 24 hour period of mixed emotions. Firstly I needed to change the drive belt on the GT200, an easy task, I got it all off no problems and then realised Piaggio had come through with its classic odd ball size specialty nut 19mm was too big and 11/16 was a bees dick too small, great so I had a choice leave it until tomorrow get the socket and finish the job, this is what I should've done, instead I though it's simple to put back together I can ride in to work get the socket, ride home after work and finish the job. Enter the torque wrench from hell, the same one that I used on my cylinder head nuts and threaded them all, I wasn't convinced it was working so I took it back and had it replaced, now its not a top of the range job and I had used the large one to torque the flywheel cover back on, this is a small 1/4 inch drive.Now I'm not blaming the tool for the stuff up but it seems to be the common denominator, I set it to the prescribed torque and proceeded to shear off one screw and almost another, except the second one rounded the nut off making it almost impossible to undo since it was done up so tight, now this is going to suck, but that's not the kicker, In my concern for getting the screws back in properly and making sure everything was where it should be, I realise that the clutch bell is still on the floor, now its the size of a small desert bowl and crucial for the bike to run, I cant even start it with out this in place. dejected and annoyed I hit that "oh fuck here we go, how am I going to fix this" button. I go and tell the missus and thought OK I will sleep on it.
I then go back to the fuel leak on the Sprint V, I  pulled the tank and reinstalled the tap, tested it for leaks, all good, I had bought some more fuel line since the one I ordered I had measured and cut to the old one and I had a world of pain trying to get it on the fuel tap because it was too short. That installed and clamped up that too, now I found it impossible to fit the old tap with the hole through it so I though what I'll do is use the new one that wont stay in place, It can be like my anti theft device, fuel off tap handle in the pocket, at least until I can come up with a solution. seat on tank fixed down, after 10pm that's it I'll kick it in the morning.
So the wife is getting ready and getting the kids sorted in case she needs to drop me at work while I go out and move the bike into the middle of the floor. Choke out, one kick, two kicks away she goes, lights all working, well except the brake light, high beam is good, no speedo light and no horn, but the lights are working, I was pretty happy, I took her for a squirt up and down the street to check the gears and brakes, kissed the mob bye and headed into work, aaahhhhh it was good to be back, she felt good sounded great I might go the long way, mistake, I get a fair way from work and ping, gear cable snaps, as usual I had put every thing in the tool box except cables, I saw the humour in it as you need to, I god my hands all greasy getting it back into neutral and spent the next 25 minutes pushing it along the highway in peak hour traffic, I sort of expected a toot or two but I'm guessing nobody expected to see a Sprint V being pushed along the footpath at all.
A quick call to the wife to drop the cables in when she gets a chance, so gear cable replacement for lunch today. yay
Now how am I going to get this GT on the road again.

sideways step

I connected up the switch at the headset end and I was done, I cleaned up the bench, put the tools away, cleared the floor and thought "OK here we go" fuel in and gave her a couple of kicks, nothing, so I thought I'd roll er outside and bump start her I pushed the door button and as the door rolled up I turned back towards the scoot and saw this.....

I then proceeded to push the down button for the door, swore a bit, cleaned up the fuel, siphoned what was left in the tank, swore again, a bit louder this time, I grabbed a beer and turned off the light "fuck this" and went inside in no mood to continue today. or tomorrow.

I will calm down and attack it later in the week.

Edit. In response to Fanta's comments

It was through the frame, pretty sure it wasn't out of the exhaust and there was nothing from the carb so I think that can be ruled out, I'm going in again tonight and I will be putting hose clamps on the hose ends to be sure. I've got to get it back on the road as my belt on the GT200 has started slipping and I can't have both scoots off the road at the same time. fun fun



The finish line

Well I'm please to say that Gloria is all but put back together, everything and had One of the boys not been sick at daycare, I'd have had a go at kicking her over. The last thing is hooking up the switch. Today I took a few hours off work to get a bit of work done. I fixed the stator plate lube strip, tidied up the scoring on the flywheel, changed out the screws to shorter ones with smaller heads to ensure it wouldn't happen again. put the junction box back together, all the guards and the cylinder cowl, cleaned the plug, put the tank in which proved to be a pain in the A, whoever designed the new tap set up needs a smack, I ended up using the original fuel tap, I blocked off the hole where the ignition was with a tapered socket bolt, seat back on, a general clean up inside and out then I had to go. I'll get the switch connected, fill the tank, check the oil, take a deep breath and give her a kick, after no less than 3 months off the road, here's hoping she roars into life, lights shining, horn honking......don't for a second think that this is what I actually think will happen, but one can hope.

Pic one. me so hoooorrny, a new horn with a shell cover.
Pic. two. the wires all hanging out waiting patiently.
Pic. three. Planting the seed, My two boys with their new scooters.
Pic four and five. the new felt about to be riveted to the old holder, I ordered a new one but got one for a proper Sprint V stator not a P range like mine. it will do the trick.
Pic six. the junction box, took a lot longer than I thought it would.
Pic seven. the bodge standard under seat ignition replaced
Pic eight. the regulator, its not a vespa one it is a Sym, If and when it shits itself I will be getting a real one.
Pic nine. My bike looks different, hey wait that's because its in one piece.

Third base

Heat shrink went on a treat, I had to use a cable fed through the HS and taped the end of each leg of the harness, to shrink it I asked Mr Google to see how best to do it, a hair drier wouldn't be hot enough, a lighter is good for short lengths, a heat gun was out of the question as I wouldn't use it enough to warrant buying one, the solution was the gas stove top, slowly twirling it over the flame and moving it along it was done in about ten minutes. Easy.
Now the fun part, installation and the end connections. to beer or not to beer?? Might hold off until I get the harness in position. Nah bugger it....

home made goodness

I used the old harness as a measuring stick and cut each wire I would need in accordance with my wiring diagram, I just hope going back to basics, eliminating the ignition for simplicity will help. as I have a 12v P style points stator I have referenced both the original sprint wiring diagrams and a P as well and have created a system for THIS bike, fingers crossed.
The pics below show my workspace is the kitchen bench, my method was to put a little tag on each wire and write on the diagram the number and the actual colour I used. idiot proof I would have thought.

I am so glad I have taken so many photos as I've gone through this bike, having had it sit for a couple of months has had me forget something I did 10 weeks ago, I'd recommend taking pics if your doing anything like this.

Fast forward a few hours and it's all together, I only had to make one change because of the location of the regulator was further away from the junction box than I thought. Now to get the heat shrink on, never ever used it so it should be interesting, after that I'll be clocking up some serious crimping time and then FINALLY start putting this poor scooter back together.
Still fecking annoyed at myself for waiting so bloody long.....it was much easier than I thought it would be, I just hope it works.

Treading water

I've had some baby steps of progress of lately I cleaned up the inside of the headset, it had a 5mm layer of crap, caked in dust and grime sealed nicely with a coat of paint, I scraped it all out with a screwdriver and wiped it clean. When I replaced the gear cables I had reinstalled the bit that holds the cable ends to wrong way and the gears didn't feel right, so I pulled that out and re-greased everything and put it back in, I changed out the new cable anchors to the gear selector with the smaller ones so I could get the dust cover on, I adjusted the cables, cut and soldered the cable ends, greased it all up good and replaced the cover. Now rolling the scoot back and forth to check the selecting, it feels sloppy but until I can get it out and running I'll just leave that until later.

I have tested the newly installed fuel tap for leaks and to determine on and off position for when I reinstall that too.

One of the trademarks of a bodge is the ignition key under the seat, well I'm taking it out and I had some fun trying to find something to plug the hole. I did though and I have to tidy up the hole a little as it was crudely drilled to start with, then I will take a picture.

I also remade one of the handle bar dust covers, I wasn't completely happy with one of them, now I am.

By now you'll be guessing that I'm just about sick of waiting for this wiring....53 days since I ordered it. I don't blame the parts shop, it's on back order, so I am directing my impatience toward the suppliers, whoever they may be.....anyway this morning I sent off another email stating it wasn't good enough and I want out, given the time difference, they had approx. three hours to respond before they closed and I received no reply, nor did I get one from the email I sent earlier in the week. A little disappointing.

So in moving forward I'm going to go where I hadn't planned.

A guy that has helped me out with advice before just said "why don't you wire it up yourself? it will help you understand how it works better..."

So that's what I'm going to do, I have all the bits, with the exception of finding a better regulator, and running with the switches I have, all the lights are new anyway. just need to find some small wire, just over 1mm I believe.

Just writing this I am starting to get some excitement back, if I can get this working, I'll be pretty happy with myself. If I stuff it up, I'll concede and order a new one, from somewhere else.

Sitting back and looking at the bike sitting there all dusty and with bits scattered around the garage wasn't the plan I had for her. So watch this space on that.

Lastly the photos at the top are of a new stator I ordered, I believed that it would be a simple swap, I was wrong, I was looking at both of them trying to figure out how best to orientate the new one so the points would open at the same time. Something was wrong, then I found out what, the new one wouldn't fit into the flywheel, bugger, I felt that familiar wave of "for fuck's sake" and a head shake, I had a good look and thought maybe I could rebuild one to fit. Nope wasn't going to work. what else was there to do but grab a beer (after I was done, Fanta) and sat there, again, looking at the scooter and feeling sorry for myself.

So I contacted Paul, from Vespaspares.co.nz , who I ordered it from, and he was happy for me to return it, which I did.

The thing with treading water is the longer you do it the closer you are to the inevitable.

Ill fitting or wrong parts, waiting, breaking things, finding new problems, waiting, paying postage from all corners of the globe, every oddball nut/bolt size and shape, a string of bad luck and my own stupidity, oh and the waiting has almost broken my spirit.

Almost.....there's still a little bit of treading water left in me before I go under.

professional thumb twiddling.

I'm getting a bit tired of the waiting waiting waiting.
It's been at least six weeks since I ordered the wiring and since its on back order, all I can do is wait.
I've cleaned, greased, replaced all that I can without going into the engine and now I am just wanting to roll her out into the winter sunshine, incidently every Sunday since I took her off the road it has been a perfect sunny cool day and great for riding. I spoke to the scooter shop in the US last week just to make sure everything was ok and how long we were looking at, The guy I spoke to said he thought the back order would be a week or so and then the postage, which took two weeks last time......
On a personal note, My wife and I have decided to sell up and move across the state to be closer to family, I have been offered a fantastic career opportunity, our third baby is due in October, so we will be staying put until the end of the year, and then the new adventure begins.....
The move will have us about an hour and a half out of Melbourne, we are now nearly 4, My wife has family and friends she grew up with, so that will be good with three kids under four. Also I will be able to get into Melbourne and Geelong occasionally and catch up with a new club that I have been involved with from a distance,I have been on one overnight run with a handful of the members and had a ball. check them out the Vespa Club of Melbourne.
http://www.vespaclubmelbourne.com.au/

I hate waiting............I'm sure there is something I haven't cleaned.