Raptor

That is simply awesome. I really marvel at what you guys get done with hard work and knowledge. Does it look as clean up close as it does in the pix? Were the drain holes plugged? or simply non-existent?

dcdude

I was going to recommend chemical stripping. Love the bare shell. Fortunately it's a metal Vespa. I think most others are plastic. Can you sell her on Riviera Blue?

NineMeister

I must admit that I picked the Vespa over the Aprilia due to the all metal construction, although at the time I did not appreciate the complete lack of rust-proofing carried out at the factory. Kinda reminds me of an old Alfa or Lancia. I'm also really pleased that I bought a low mileage Dec 2006 bike to start with, if this is what three years can do to the internal seams goodness knows what you would find on a 2002 model with 15k on the clock? More to follow later, I've just finished another job on the frame so I'm now off home for my dinner.....

NineMeister

....so now suitably refreshed, here's the continuing story of the bodyshell.

In retrospect, I definitely should have planned ahead and organised a third party to acid dip & e-coat the shell (as Graham's 9m93 Speedster) or got someone in to soda blast it. As it was I did neither, thinking that I could easily flat off the outside and sort out the minor rust on the inner seams with our spot blast kit, hence saving myself some cash which I could then put towards new parts. Yeah, right.

What followed started off as a fairly straightforward rubbing down job of the outer painted panelwork, using the orbital DA to prep the paint down to the factory primer. There were some areas that I had to take further due to there being deep cuts in the silver paint where the macking tape had been trimmed for the painting of the "artwork", but other than this it was plain sailing and I easily finished off the job by going over the panels with a fine scotchbrite pad. Easy.

Then came the inside. I got myself geared up to do this last Saturday by taking the shell outside into the spring sunshine, laid out a foam mat and a shop airline, then set to work with our recirculating mini-blaster. An hour later I realised I was wasting my time as the mini was just not up to the job. A bit of improvisation followed and by pulling the nozzle out of our bead-blast cabinet, sticking the pick up in a bucket of waste grit and rigging up a blow-off gun to the nozzle with a length of rubber heater pipe I had an instant outdoor blast kit. Suitably masked & shielded, four hours later I had fully blasted all the seams, knocked out the dents and welded up the holes in the legshield.

Half an hour to clean up the dust, another half to jetwash the dust off my car and the van, followed by an hour in the shower to get the dust out of my skin & hair. Never again!

NineMeister

Remember that this was supposed to be a joint project? Whilst I was tied up getting all down & dirty with the chassis, JJ had been busy with the plastic trim panels preparing them for primer. After spending a day in the bodyshop with the lads to supervise her work, the panels were eventually ready and she left with a new found respect for manual work, declaring that it was "soooo boorrrinnnggg!!!".

First up of the photos is the front mudguard with "chrome" removed; the legshield inner panel with silver paint half washed off with thinners; followed by the panels freshly prepped by JJ for ready for primer.

coltj

When do you start CMCing the 9M billet heads? Can't wait to see how you're going to "stuff" those under the bonnet, but if anyone can do it, I know you can!!!

NineMeister

With the rust eliminated by the grit blasting, we blew out the residue & dust with an airline, then cleaned & degreased the entire chassis with our steam cleaner. The water was blow off with the airline again, then we sneaked the shell into the booth on hangers and ran it through a paint bake cycle to thoroughly dry it out.

On the now dry and clean shell, the weld repairs and dings were stopper filled & flatted off, then we gave the entire shell another hit with scotchbrite before hanging it up again for the primer process. All the bare metal areas & seams were dosed with etch primer first, once this dried the whole body was levelled with grey base two-pack primer.

Interestingly it was after the primer was applied that we noted a slight crease in the top right edge of the legshield, so this was quickly straightened out by Marc & primered again whilst it was in the booth.

NineMeister

Here is the damage on the legshield before it was repaired. Obviously all the other parts were treated to a flash coat of primer whilst the gun was out.

When the original horn cover was prepped by JJ we noticed the damage on the panel line in the centre, so rather than spend time filling & repairing it I bought another one off Ebay for £20. Of course, this did not go down well with JJ who had spent 2 hours removing all the red paint. Life's tough at the bottom of the food chain.

NineMeister

Here's the before & after of the wheels & tyres, another long session with thinners easily sorted out the crusty whitewall tyre paint. I'm thinking of painting the wheels in a classic Fuchs style satin black with silver rim, as standard on the new Vespa GTS.

ppashley

This is a great thread Colin. I had the same vespa a few years back. Very economical!

H.H.Chinn

Colin, Excellent work as usual. I have a 2001 Vespa here that could use your services.

NineMeister

Maybe I should think about a business offshoot, 9mV perhaps? Gotta be less stressful than working on Porsches and definitely a faster turnaround on a project.

NineMeister

Thanks for that, I was beginning to think everyone was getting bored with the details....

CAHRERA

Colin, Love the wheels they look like mini Fuchs. I can't wait to see the final project. What color is it going to be? GT3RS Green or GT3RS Orange perhaps?

dcdude

Scooter parts ****....nice! I'll bet they don't have it this good on the Vespa forums. She better not let this thing out of her sight with all of the love going in, but I do understand that the journey itself is a big part of the fun.

Ooh, I forgot about those two! Pulling for Rivi Blue as well, so now she has 3 choices...