BIG things in Portland Bay

Thursday 21st Feb 2008

For the last month or so Portland Bay has been the home to this massive oil rig called "The Ocean Patriot"

They moored outside the bay when they first arrived and to see it out there it was awesome..

But then they moved it closer.. This thing is HUGE!

It's apparently bought something like $40 million to the district with repairs, crew and family accomodation, supplies, contractor employment etc.

If you are anywhere nearby and want to see something massive, make it quick- it's taking off soon I think.

The Scootache begins again

February 2008

I am in desperate need of pulling my scooter off the road and changing the rear hub seal and both sets of brakes. She's not about to kill me or anything but I have the parts now and just can't seem to put her on blocks while the sun is shining. I am yet to take delivery of my new scooter so unlike some very lucky people I know in the scootering world, I don't have a spare! :( but I hope to change all that in about a month, I wonder if the new brakes can hold off til then? Hmmm? No-probably not. Bugger! I hate that feeling when the sun is out but the scooter is in!

Oh well, been scooting everywhere to make sure I get lots of exposure before the need arises.

Sunday I was up with the birds and set off on a lovely dawn scoot around the bay.

Took some great pictures before deciding to go and have a coffee on the foreshore and watch the sunrise but just as I pulled around the corner to pull up the throttle cable snapped and I was all of a sudden stranded. I suddenly felt a huge relief when I realised I had some spare cables and all the tools I'd need in the glovey so I set about finding the problem. The cable had come away from it's barrel ended seal in the headset, easy enough to fix I thought- done it before.

I pulled all the gear out of the glovey that was needed for the job and soon discovered I had every cable other than a throttle or clutch- which would have also worked in a pinch! Grrrr.

It's 7.02am on a sunday, what to do? I luckily remembered my purse this time so caught a taxi home and grabbed the right cables and drove my van down the street to either fix it there or bring it home. The drama was over within about 8 minutes and I decided to leave my van there and just keep on scooting!

So all in all it was a great day when I finally got going, picked my van up later in the day to pack it up for work and that was the end of another weekend.

A New Years Resolution that I finally kept!

I had a dream.

This year I wanted to buy another scooter so I could always have one in running order when one is off the road. I had been watching a restored and customised vespa pop up for sale on and off online over the last 12 months or so and made an offer recently that was somewhat surprisingly accepted.

So.......I am officially a scooter collector!

"My Stable"

LOLA- 1974 150 Super

& Introducing

Francesca (thanks Marco)

(formally and very briefly known as Arabella)

She was listed as a 1966 Super but according to her numbers she's a '78 150 Super under all the customisation-but she's wider, longer, curvier and has all the wrong bling but nothing that can't be fixed as I have all the parts already in stock.

Lucky I'm not a purist I suppose...

She was a BARGAIN with a capital B and I am still grinning- thanks Dave :)

Now.....where to find an old GS?

:)

41 degrees, does that mean summer is here?

Well, summer is finally here. It's been very very hot down here with days in excess of 40 degrees. Yuk. Real bushfire weather and even unpleasant for scooting.


She does love the warm weather though, she's been riding like a dream, starts easily and idles evenly all the time and the ride on the open road is effortless, powerful and seriously more emjoyable than ever before.


I have a goofy smile on my face by the time I reach 3rd gear every morning when leaving home. I love that feeling.


Although Lola has been running well there are a few things that still need doing and since the rebuild I have been too busy scooting to worry about pulling her apart again but it has to be done so will attempt it this week if not too hot in the shed.


Rear hub seals, brakes, fix horn and brake lights, realign front tyre (got a little wobble, think the rubber is on crooked) as well as a few little CDI jobs, add battery to rectifier and rewire rear brake to work in with system in reverse.

So it's time to head out for a scoot, theres a massive oil rig in our port at the moment which is about 20 storeys tall, an awesome sight indeed.

Fun stickers and T shirt Logos

A few of my own designs

The Scootache is over

There were days I thought this moment would never arrive.

It is finally engine day!

October 23rd 2007

Back bolt in-via rear suspension pivot

Feed all wiring through ready to see if joins are right

Back together again for the first time in nearly 8 weeks!

Temporary joins in wiring.

Let there be Spark! Pleeeeeaaassseeee!!!!

Yes!

Now for fuel...

I have to be more patient, I'm a Vespa owner!!

I'm a classic Aries and at a time like this it shows, I'm seriously impatient when I have a project on the go.

I have been scooterless for way too long and the endless list of vespa specific idiosyncracies I keep finding is making my head spin.I want to go for a scoot and I want to go now!! :)

I think it's a test!

There's been so much S#%@ that has had to be dealt with along the way to get where I need to be.... sitting on my scooter with helmet on ready to go for the maiden voyage!

New cables broken, new brakes don't fit the pivot, new D clips are binding up wiring for indicators-need to re-route, wiring for CDI is all over the shop, can't work it out, gear cable carrier is not holding cable end as it should, cables keep disappearing into steering column-have to figure out a way of anchoring them in the headset without hindering their operation? The headlight bulb won't work, rear brake switch needs to be reversed, Horn is A/C I think? and not working, will tap into an A/C wire if I can, junction box seems to be wired differently to most diagrams I have so will have to play around to find what's what. Stripped the clutch breather hole thread and the oil drain hole thread & had to get them helicoiled, the clutch cable was a severe pain to get into position but finally got it after lots of swearing. I couldn't get the front hub nut done up tight enough on my own to get the split pin through so had to call on some muscle for that one. This is just a small list of stuff that went wrong in the final stretch :(

So, back on with rear hub after fitting brakes and new clips, the metal brake backing plate was a bit bent up so needed a light panel beating, sorry for the sideways picture!

wheel back on with new tyres and tubes

new carby and all new seals

Lined up ready to be jacked up for the main 2 bolts, rear suspension bolt and main pivot.

Halfway there

It's IN!!!!!

Will it start???

The Rewiring Game

October 4th 2007

I had to make a wiring detour. I was going to ignore it and move on as it's working fine but my mate Higgo said it would be no worries at all to fix so I took a deep breath, snipped the indicator loom and pulled it out . Gulp! I found the wires I needed in the body so we could tap into them later and started with trying to figure out where to put everything.

wiring ready to tap into if needed

The local bike guys couldn't figure out how to get into the headset when installing my little bud indicators so glued the cable to the side of the headset and along the floorboard to the glovebox. Looked quite dodgey but was glued on hard and I was scared of taking off more of the elusive purple paint that I can't seem to have matched anywhere.

Joining new wires and rerouting rear lights through the proper hole instead of through a drilled hole!

So Higgo helped me reroute all the wiring back through the body and I spent a couple of hours rejoining and soldering in the headset to make it all rattle proof and an hour or so adding wires for the CDI unit. I went to the local auto electrician who helped me make a tiny unit for the old speedo as it was missing so now I'll see how fast I'm going at night

Now, what's that white one for again?? Trying to figure out what goes where...

Taping it all up for the dummy run.

So the new indicator wiring is done, CDI wiring done, new bulb for speedo, reroute back light wiring and a quick terminal exchange for everything in the headset. Next step, engine in! Finally.

The rain has stopped & the parts are here-Let's Go!

October 3rd 2007

My last (*crosses fingers*) box of parts arrived this morning in order for me to finish my scooter off, clutch cover, brake shoe clips, D clips, carby retaining bolts and some nice legshield trim as a treat. I bought a clutch cover from a shop in Melbourne and they have sent me a 2nd hand one when I thought I'd bought a new one? Anyhoo wasn't too peeved as it's an original Piaggio one and in way better nic than my old one, gave it a polish on Higgo's buffing wheel this morning.

It's like a mirror,

shame no-one will see it when it's on!!

I have some muscle coming to help with slipping the engine back in, then it's just the gear wires and CDI wiring and we'll almost be there. I'm hoping for the first kick over tonight maybe??

New Seals

New Clutch

Piston on and Crank back in

It's a good idea to wrap your piston to protect it from knocks at this point

By golly, I think we're ready.

Time for tyres

Make sure the inner area of the new tyre is clean from debris etc. Pump the new tube up a bit and ensure it fits snuggly within the tyre.

Ensure the valve stem is inserted s shown, turn over the tyre, add the other rim making sure you don't pinch the tube

Tighten all wheel nuts & do not add more air until this step is complete!!

Make sure the tyre is fitted properly as per the rubber fitting mark around the rim, the tyre should show the same gap or pattern all the way around on both sides. You can see the fitting mark in the picture above, it's a ridge of rubber forming a line, a few millimetres from the rim edge circling the whole tyre.

Almost, but not quite.

Just when you think you can see that dim light in the tunnel, it's a long way in the distance but at least you can see it, something comes along to snuff it out.

Last night I decided to get a head start on the clutch cable renewal. I needed to wait for the D clips to arrive the next day to put it back together but at least I could get a start on the process of getting into the headset. So I managed to remove the cut off roofing nails used to secure the handlebar rods,

and then as I removed the old clutch inner wire the outer tried to follow within in headset. I gave it another wiggle as I leaned over to look at the rear of the cable-no movement! Great! The outer is in 2 pieces and from what I can feel, the piece at the handlebar end isn't that long.
Replacing outers is my pet peeve, especially if there is no existing cable to use as a guide!! Grrr.
There was only one thing to do, the cable had to come out and I'd have to try to wriggle a new one in on its own. Time check, 11.23pm, time for bed. A job for tomorrow.

So I was up at the crack to get this job done and wait for the parts to arrive. The clutch cable just wouldn't bloody go where I wanted it to, I fiddled and poked it all morning. There's so much going on in the wiring and cable space it's all getting a bit bogged. There's a very specific hole for this cable to travel through and all I need to do it get it up the other side of the steering column and I'll be set.

.....Patience Grasshopper....

Doh!

whoo hoo!

Now to make sure it doesn't go down the steering column again...

Finally I get it to where it needs to go!