Monday 12 May 2014

Following a rather lengthy break for one reason and another that I won't bore you with, the last of the hold ups preventing me from getting on with the next project is scheduled to be completed later this year. We are having our home extended.

Because of this, there is limited space to work and limited time to do it.

However, I promise that as soon as possible, work will begin on my SX150 as previously hinted at. This will be a full strip and restoration with some very intersting (hopefully) custom add-ons.

Please stay tuned for more helpfull tips and advice from the LCGB.

Paul Slack

Thursday 24 January 2013

Next Project - Lambretta SX150

Coming up from March 2013 will be the next installment of the Lambretta Club Great Britain Restoration Blog. This time, something a little bit different from the standard restoration of the previous scooter. The basis for this project will be a 1967 Lambretta SX150 in Apple Green (Verde Mela). When I say a little different, it's actually going to be quite a bit different.

There are all kinds of changes going to be made to the scooter to make it very special indeed and hopefully give it a lot more "SX Appeal". For a start, a stock of genuine vintage parts are already waiting to be added, such as a set of genuine Lucas Pathfinder lights, Race Seat (not giving too much away), engine upgrade, braking upgrade and a DC conversion to run all kinds of trick goodies.

All will be revealed in time. This one is going to be a proper head turner.

Keep checking back.

Paul

















Sunday 15 January 2012

For Sale. One restored Lambretta

Well, just to keep everyone up to date with the story.

My father and I went in to the garage at 10am this morning to finalise a few bits and bobs on our restoration project. First job was to ensure we snagged her properly, so we went over the earth fixings and made sure they were correct. Then, we added our new rear seat catch, which I collected the previous day. Then, it was time to fire her up. She started on the second kick.

However, when running, we had no headlight or speedo light. This was fixed because I'd pushed the bullet connectors in the headset at the wrong sides of the main bulb connections and forgotten an earth to the headlight rim. With these issues addressed, everything worked perfectly.

I took the scooter for a short run in the freezing cold and she ran well, with all the brakes working perfectly as well as selecting gears properly.

This stunning Lambretta was complete. We spent the next few minutes giving her a final polish and congratulating ourselves.

Once again, I'd like to thank my dad, who has turned up almost every week to help complete this restoration.

Here are a couple of pics of him on our finished Lambretta:
















I will be calling Armandos Scooters in Sheffield, to arrange for them to collect the scooter next weekend, where it will be given a final check at the shop. She will also get her number plate and MOT Test Certificate.

Remember, that this scooter has been restored almost with money no object. Almost all of the parts are factory original and in many cases are vary rare indeed. The engine internals are brand new and all the nuts and bolts have been replaced with exact, or very good match for those that would have been put there by Innocenti. The scooter will come with a warranty to back up our assurance that this is a quality machine.

We are convinced that the new owner will enjoy many, many happy years of ownership. The purchasor will also be given the certificate of proof this is the restoration scooter as we will sign it off with them on collection.


This Lambretta is SOLD.





















This is not the end of the restoration blog.

Keep your bookmark if you are interested in the restoration of Lambretta Scooters as we will be taking on further projects.

Thank you for reading all these months. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Paul Slack - LCGB

Sunday 8 January 2012

Just about finished...















Well, it's the first day for a while that it hasn't been raining or sleeting. So I figured that as the scooter is so close to being done, I might as well get her out of the garage and take a few nice shots of her.

Next week, the plan is to do a good, overall check of the work to make sure I didn't forget anything, get her up and running and play around with the gear selectros to make sure she runs well and goes through teh gears ok. I'll also check the brakes and everything is tight before giving this Lambretta a final clean and polish.

After that, the scooter will be winging its way back to Armandos in the back of their van and at that point, it will be given a full MOT Test and get its number plate from DVLA. so whoever is fortunate enough to buy this scooter will simply have to bring along a helmet.

Enjoy looking at her for now. More to follow next week.


























And just to prove she is a genuine 1963 Italian stallion, here's the letter of authentication.

















In the next few posts for this scooter, I will be advertising the price for her and hopefully showing her off to her new owner. As promised, the new owner will get a certificate for the scooter to proove it was the genuine restoration blog model and it will be signed by all connected to the build.

Look out for that.

An advert for the scooter will be posted midweek, with the price. however, if you want to contact me in the meantime, feel free if you are serious about owning this scooter. There is a £250 discount for any LCGB current member.

Discussions are also underway for the next project. Whatch this space...

Fitting headset top, headlight

Here is our ultra rare Carello unit we described earlier.
















And he original block for the wiring. This is inserted in to the rear of the headlamp unit bulb first.
















And then clip it in place with the wire clip as shown.
















On the underside of the headset top, you can see the previously installed, NOS speedomoter. There are two holes, one for the speedo bulb and the threaded one for the speedo cable.
















The speedo is held in place with the retaining clamp and three screws with washers.
















Insert the speedo bulb...
















...now insert the speedo cable. You may need to remove the cable from the retainer on the foks in order to get enough cable space to have room to get your hand in there.
















Here are the correct bolts and washers to join the two headset halves.
















With the headset fastened together, push over the rim carefully, and fasten with the correct screws and washers. I use cup washers here for a nice, neat finish.
















Now add the bolt to the underside of the headset through the slot for the beam adjustment. Use a flat washer.
















Here is is completed.


Adding the horncasting and grille

We are getting down to the last few bits now.
















Tap out all the threads in the grille and casting to ensure they are free of paint.
















Fasten on the grille to the horncasting and then place the lower rubber on top of the mudguard. Offer the horcasting up to the scooter inserting the TOP edge first. The, push in the bottom ensuring is fits snugly on the lover rubber beading. With it in place but not secured with bolts, place the side strip rubbers in to position.

It can be a bit fiddly, and it is worth stopping and checking when tightening everything up, that none of the beading rubbers have moved. I fasten the top two fittings first, using to bolts with 8mm heads and washers. Make sure you use the correct10mm length bolts as loger ones will break the casting lugs if you tighten them too much to get the fit right.
















Next, I fasten the badge plate and casting to the steering bracket on the frame using the correct allen headed bolts as shown.
















Here it is done. You can see the mouth of the clip, in to which the badge sits.
















Here is the lug on the rear of the badge that goes in to the clip.
















And fitted!
















Now you can continue to add the fastening bolts but keep checking to make sure you have nice, tight fitting beading.
















Don't forget the two 8mm headed bolts and washers that go under the mudguard in to the horncasting.
















And finally, the bolts with slotted, bevel heads and cup washers to finish off the inside of the legshields neatly.
















Horncasting is completed.


Adding lights switch, headset wiring, horn wiring

Here is our quality replacement light switch.
















Along with the two screws to attach it to the handlebars.
















The wires behind the switch need to be fed through the apperture in the housing, if you cannot get them to go, you will need to slacken off teh brake, undo the housing bolts and remove the throttle roller in order to pull away the housing a little to get all the wires through. Do NOT pull on the wires.

With the wires through, fasten the switch to the housing using the bolts in the kit.
















The switch wiring is fed as shown in to the headset.
















And secured under the alloy clip.
















The two wires for the horn brach off and go down as shown in the picture below.
















Feed them down behind the legshield bracket.
















And insert in to the horn connectors. It doesn't matter which way round they go.
















Now connect all the wires from your switch to the headset block floowing the wiring diagram posted earlier. Notice the loom wires are already in from a previous post.