Up with the big boys and girls.

 This driveway is a great way to start the day

 The Vespa Club of Melbourne-Geelong branch monthly breakfast. Rainbow.

 Picked up a few hitchhikers on the way.

The long and winding road home, it was here I realised I had no rear light, nor brake light.

On Sunday I rode down to Geelong to have breakfast with the guys, a nice quiet road in and back, after coffee we rode down the Bellarine Peninsula to Barwon Heads, for lunch, I left the bunch here and rode home, it had been a long ride on the SPV. By the time I got home I had raked up 280kms, 174 Miles, used 9.5 litres of fuel for a range of 29.5 kmpl, very happy with that. What was even better was on some sections the speed limit was 100kmph, being in a group of modern twisties, GTS 250 and 300cc, I was a bit nervous being the only old scooter, the group normally has a bigger contingent but not this day, second from the front so the pressure to maintain speed was on. The old girl did herself proud, sitting on 85-90 real kms over long distances and up hills, at least three riders complimented the performance, one said that she thought she'd have to slow down up the hills like when she's been behind other older scoots, but was surprised I went a bit quicker instead and apparently she doesn't smell as much either. That's nice to know. A flawless day in the saddle.
Project P is on the starting line, parts have been paid for and the case is clean, just waiting on the few things coming from overseas.
I checked both rear globes and neither had blown, so it will require some further exploration, 280kms of rattling and vibrating has loosened something.

Case has arrived.

 

My P200E case arrived yesterday, very clean and ready to go. My parts should start to arrive next week with a bit of luck, above is a picture of my two next projects, on the left is my spare Sprint Veloce cases and on the right the P cases, below is the P cases split, I'm going to enjoy this.

 

Off topic, the house we owned across the state has sold and we have bought a place in town, we move in on the 17th of next month, all of us are very excited, me especially because my workshop is 6 times bigger than the one I have now and I wont have to share it with any cars...

 



Flag counter

You might notice a new feature on my page, a flag counter, I wish I had of added one of these at the start, the page view count is about to top 10,000, with people from every corner of the globe.

	Australia 5260 United States 1237 Portugal 1186 United Kingdom 474 Indonesia 234 Malaysia 232 Russia 191 Vietnam 84 Germany 75 Romania 71
	Above is the snapshot of the top ten, but trust me there has been visitors from places I had to google to find out where they were.

update

For the first time ever I actually over took a vehicle today, snuck around him on a corner, dropped a gear and zipped past him giving him a cursory glance and a slight head nod as I past the drivers seat, what would have made it better was if it was a car or even better, a harley....The fact it was a fully loaded up loggging semi trailer making a 90 degree turn at no more than 30-40kmph made little difference to me...I showed him.
I also came within 5mm of lowering the property's chicken population to five, my track from the road is the main driveway, past the house and the chook pen and then on to the workshop, sometimes they are in, sometimes out, there is a massive hedge, from which the startled bird flew out of at speed toward the front wheel, only to change it's mind five times in a split second, I was all over the place and was sure I would have to bail, luckily for all involved there were no casualties, would have been a deconstructed roast chicken tomorrow though.
Now back on to the Project.

 

I had some "help" in the form of two of my boys, here they are trying to get it started. I then cleaned up and rejigged my engine stand, it was in two bits and swayed when you were doing anything, nothing some crudely bashed together brackets and some screws wouldn't fix. I sat the spare Sprint V case on it and she was solid, it was then when I noticed this...

 

The stud that goes through the case just above where the kickstart is, it's bent and the thread is all but worn to flat, not what I wanted to have to fix but...

And now I wait.



 

 

 

Ball is now rolling...

Th GT is gone and the wheels have been set in motion, the case is in transit and as far as I know the engine parts are being compiled. Yesterday I drilled out the engine mount rubbers on the SprintV case in prep for soda blasting, it was a lot more challenging than the first time when the rubber was more like shaped hard foam rubber and I had to cut the shaft out with an angle grinder. Clauss Studio engine mounts are on order. I hope to have two new running engines by the end of the month, depending on time wasted waiting on postage.

Project "P-Rocket"

In a few days time I will be embarking on the next exciting Vespa adventure, I have sold my beloved Vespa GT200 and will be parting ways with it on Saturday, it will be missed for sure, it has taken me over 20K kms and I loved every minute of it, but you can only ride one scooter at a time and after the love, effort, the sweat and blood, cash, the swearing and the satisfaction I have experienced with the Sprint V, I just couldn't give it up.
So the other side of the deal is I get in return for the GT, a handful of cold hard cash!
What am I going to do with it? I will pay some bills, buy the good wife a pair of shoes, maybe a much needed child free night out to dinner and a movie, my eldest son starts school next year, so he'll need uniforms and some other gear, the mortgage etc.
Then I will start the "Project"
I have a set of 1980 P200E cases on the way from the US, a big thanks along with a bottle of Australia's finest rum, Bundaberg of course, goes out to my Vespa sounding board and friend Porter for his assistance and the cases.
P-Rocket will be rebuild using the best NOS Piaggio parts I can find, everything will be brand new or top condition used and supplied by Carters Classic Scooters in South Australia.
Once up and running I'll drop the current engine and through it in for a good solid reliable ride, the current engine will be stripped down and I will rebuild a set of matching Aussie delivered Sprint V cases, 1974 I think from memory, I got these from another Vespa sounding board and friend Kelvin, of Kickstart Scooters in Brisbane, for this I will be using what I can from the engine and replacing some things I know need to be replaced, like rear axle, cush gear and a few odds and ends. I guess then I will decide if I need to find a frame for it or sell it?
All this will start as of Saturday and I hope to be kicking it over before Christmas, with the experience I have already gained with the SPV, A P range Haynes Manual and the 5 hr engine rebuild DVD from Scooter Techniques, this should be an easy and enjoyable build.