Headlight wiring

Pics for future reference.

Poor quality Indian light switches

I'm fed up with changing light switches on my Series 2 Lambretta, but it seems I can't buy one anywhere that isn't one of those crappy Indian ones. All the other Lambretta models seem to be catered for by more expensive and quality items, but not the Series 2. This week I tried to fit a new switch after my previous one failed, but it broke while I was fitting it - the purple wire fell out. Another hour wasted.

Silentblock wide bush engine mounts - limited space for carburettor

While I'm busy blogging I thought I'd share a picture of my engine mount and how it physically contacts both my Jetex 22mm carburettor and my fast flow fuel tap. There literally isn't any room to spare between them.

I've done over 1000km with this setup and my early concerns about whether engine movement might cause some problems have come to nothing. Of course the carb moves with the engine and its mounts, but the fuel tap obviously doesn't.

Replacing inlet manifold gasket

The most frustrating thing about replacing the inlet manifold gasket on a Lambretta (or mine at least) is that you have to drop the engine off its mount in order to take the manifold off its studs. Another 5mm and we'd be clear. Alas, this lack of space makes what could be a 15 minute job into at least an hour job fraught with potential complications.

On the bright side, we don't need much of a drop so there's no need to disconnect any cables or electrics. Once my engine was removed my engine still sat happily in place and could be cajoled most easily by dragging the scooter from side to side by grabbing the footboard mount. When pulling the frame this way toward the carb side it makes the engine drop enough so that the manifold can just be squeezed over the longer stud.

During all this I did have a trolley jack placed just beneath the cowl in case it decided to drop some more. This was also going to help me move the engine back into place when finished.

I scraped the old gasket off the manifold and the cylinder, being very careful indeed not to drop anything into the cylinder. With the new one in place I squeezed the manifold back over its studs. Previously I'd been using spring washers but after some reading and observation I figured that a crinkle (wavy) washer would be better due to limited space on the studs protruding above the manifold. I didn't have the right size crinkle washer so I made my own! I just took a normal washer and hammered it while held in a vice. Not pretty, but effective.

Jetex carburettor - sticking float

After fixing my inlet manifold gasket I stumbled into another problem. The engine wouldn't start, and then I noticed fuel flooding out of the carb onto the floor. The problem was an apparently commonplace sticking float. It wasn't sticking on the housing, but simply wasn't moving very freely on the pivot pin.

I considered removing the pin and float and sanding the float a little on the hinged faces, as per some ideas on the Lambretta forums. First of all though I though I'd get some WD40 into it and let it stand for a while. This did the trick - the float now falls freely under gravity and rises with the 'tide'.

Inlet manifold worked loose, gasket fail

So I've been using the scoot happily for a long time now with little bother, typically once a week getting to work in Bristol. It must be over two years of reliable starting and riding in all weathers - hot, cold, wet and dry. The only thing I've been having to stay on top of is a very slow loss of air from the rear wheel and regular disintegration of my air hose regardless of whether I buy Indian or Italian. Regular oil checks have revealed no noticeable oil loss through leak or burn. MOT's have gone without a hitch.

All good then, until a few weeks ago when midway through my journey home from work it started running rough - not idling without throttle, and low on power. A test ride the next day revealed that the engine would race frighteningly fast with choke on, and die without it. This is symptomatic of air getting into the cylinder not via the carb.

Then it went cold. Then it snowed:

Finally today the snow has gone and basking in 8 degrees warmth I was able to take a look at what's going on. The inlet manifold has become loose and part of the gasket disintegrated, allowing air ingress. With the choke on this had the effect of a wide open throttle.

So now I need to drop the engine by a few cm's (again) to get the manifold off, replace the gasket, and fit it back with some nylock nuts and wavy washers. Tight. And hopefully this time it'll stay on!

Crash!

Came off this morning in the wet. Was filtering slowly in Bristol centre when someone decided to switch lanes without checking their mirrors. I had to brake hard to avoid a collision, but unfortunately I was on wet painted lines, so lost the front end and ended up on the floor.

Almost effortlessly I was back on my feet shouting at the driver, part in anger and part in shock. He was very apologetic. I picked up the scooter and apart from the number plate falling off there was no damage done.

New panel flashes

Fitted these new panel flashes from ScootRS. Nice huh?

Also fitted yet another air hose. They don't seem to last long!

New stand

I've now fitted a new stand, completing the damage repairs from when it was knocked over in the street a few months ago. It's a stainless one from Scooter Republic. I had to seriously modify the stand brackets to fit the profile of my replacement cross member, using an angle grinder and trial-and error.

Photo to follow.

ScootRS tubeless rims - a safety warning about chrome rubber-type valves

Yesterday I received this email from ScootRS:

"> Hi. We are recommending that anyone using a CHROME rubber-type tubeless tire valve change it to a non-chrome (brass) valve. Over many years we have only seen a couple valves come apart at the stem, one with a non-standard cap, so it may just be random but they were CHROME rubber ones so possibly the chrome reacted to road salts, or some such thing. We included this type with some of our tubeless rims before, so we are sending this note to you. Of course the same recommendation applies to ones obtained elsewhere. This is ONLY about a valve of the following flexible rubber type AND ONLY if CHROME - not the brass color shown here: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1661 If you have a CHROME one: change it to the exact same type shown in the photo - brass color, non-chrome. These are standard valves available at any tire shop or from us. If you have a brass one already or different type: don't do anything. You should replace old valves when changing tires, or if leaving tires on for years, but if you haven't done so yet and you have a CHROME rubber valve on one of our tubeless rims, you can change it without removing your tire. Let the air out, push the tire over, and the valve can be replaced. It is much easier to let a tire shop handle it, but if you need a replacement valve, let us know and we can send you some. To avoid misinformation, please note: - this is NOT related to our tubeless rims at all. Our current v.3 design was released in 2006 and has earned a PERFECT record on both the road and track, greatly enhancing rider safety over regular rims by preventing blowouts. We have always included valves as an extra at no charge and simply included this chrome rubber type on some rims before. Our apologies if any actual problem has since appeared with that type. - there is NO problem at all with any other valves, especially the same rubber tubeless type but non-chrome. (Older bolt-in type valves are OK too, even if chrome. Do NOT change this chrome bolt-in type: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1189) Again, there may not be any problem at all with the CHROME rubber valves either, this is a very rare occurrence we've seen, but we are recommending you change them to non-chrome. Cheers. Customer service~ http://scootRS.com"

Allow me to translate. If you've got one of these (see below) in chrome then change it. Brass ones are ok. Chrome bolt-in ones are ok.

While we're on the subject, I should add that after 500km my rims have proved great. The only small problem I had was slow deflation on the rear tyre. This was due to the valve core not being fully screwed in, probably by the tyre fitter. I bought one of these cheap valve core tools and tightened it up, and it's been fine ever since:

New fibreglass front mudguard

Since the recent parking collision (at which I wasn't present) the front mudguard has been precariously partially tethered with strong cable ties. Its replacement arrived this weekend from http://www.fibreglassparts.com/ and I'm very pleased with it. It fits well and it has the metal brackets to the rear moulded into the structure, although I did have to buy longer M5 set screws to attach these.

I was lucky enough to have dry weather which gave me enough time to sand, wash with turps, and then give it a coat of primer, and then a couple of top coats of my near-match beige.

 The new one is on the right :)

Snow & ice

Spot the scooter. It sat there unused for three weeks :(

Knocked over in the street

Got to my scoot yesterday, chained to the lamppost opposite my house, to find that the weatherproof cover had pools of neat fuel hanging down like incendiary saddle bags. The bike had also moved. And what's this? The side panel was loose, and the front mudguard was dented and hanging off.

Conclusion - some arse knocked it over while parking. I suspect it was a van as the mudguard dent is too high and square for it be a car. I guess they (or somebody else) picked it up, which is a relief as it would have just lay there leaking fuel.

The stand has also bent which means when I kick start the lever hits the floor. Total damage, if I were to get it done properly, runs into hundreds.

Looks like my decision to 'keep it shabby' has paid off. I'll bend the mudguard back, and re-attach it as it's dangerously loose. Not sure about the stand though, that might need a little more work :(

I guess I'm lucky there's no snapped levers, broken lights etc.

mylicenceplate.co.uk - very poor indeed

I know there was somebody there at mylicenceplate for the following reasons:

• they took my money
• I have their fingerprints permanently on my number plate

I know there's still somebody there at mylicenceplate.co.uk, because despite them ignoring all my emails and telephone calls, they recently had the tenacity to send me a marketing email.

This came somewhat as a surprise to me because I'd actually decided that they must have gone out of business. I thought this because a few weeks ago I was trying to contact them about said fingerprints. And here they are:

Nice huh? These prominent and indelible marks passed their non-existent quality control and actually got sent to me.

So I emailed them a polite email informing them of my problem, with this picture attached. No reply. I emailed them again. No reply. I emailed another email address. No reply.

Then I phoned. No answer. I phoned another number. No answer. And another number. No answer. And then I phoned them all again on a different day just to make sure. No answer.

Then I used their contact form on the website. No reply.

So, after using their website, and after three unanswered emails to two different addresses, and six unanswered phonecalls to 3 different numbers, all over a period of about 3 weeks, I decided they must have gone out of business. Well they haven't, as last week they sent me a marketing email. It's now clear they just don't care.

My advice? Whether you're looking for number plates, decals, stripes, sunstrips, graphics, then go somewhere else. If you buy from mylicenceplate.co.uk you'll be met with a wall of silence if you need any help.

Lambrettas everywhere

A Friday off work and it's a beautiful September day, so it was high time I took the scoot for a fast run up the Long Ashton bypass to check that everything is working as it should be. I had to fill her up with fuel first and here's where I made a mistake. I expected to be putting in 6 litres of fuel so I dropped in 250ml of oil prior to filling. Unfortunately the tank was full after 5 litres, so I'd miscalculated, and now had an incorrect fuel/oil mix of nearly 5%. I figured this shouldn't matter too much so carried on with my ride.

I sped along the bypass and it ran really well, keeping up with the traffic probably at around 55 or 60mph, although with my kph speedo and non-standard tyres it's difficult to tell.

But then, pulling off at the first junction the engine died while coasting, so I bailed out to the central reservation and started poking around. Compression was ok, and everything sounded ok, but it wouldn't start. The only tools I'd bought with me were some pliers, crimpers, meter and screwdriver - I was planning only to tweak the erratic rear light!

I'd been there 3 mins max when out of the blue a chap called Geoff pulled up on his S3 to lend a hand.

He had a spark plug spanner, so we removed the plug, gave it a wipe, cranked the engine a few times with no plug, and then refitted it. Geoff had the honour of trying to restart it - and start it did, with Geoff's 'full throttle' technique. Although I did have to increase the idle speed to keep it going, and my theory is that my problems were down to the fuel mix. Thanks to Geoff who turned up at just the right time!

Geoff went on his way and just as I was about leave, another Lambretta rider turns up. This time it's a chap called Ian:

It turns out he lives just down the road from Geoff, but they don't know each other. Ian was tentatively running in his GP and had only a few weeks ago suffered a seizure on this same stretch of road.

So if you want to meet other Lambretta riders, break down on the Long Ashton bypass on a sunny Friday morning. From now on I'll be carrying 200ml of oil for a 4.8 litre fill-up, giving me my target 4% ratio.

Jetex carb air mixture screw

The setting for the Jetex air mixture screw is different to that of a Dell'orto, so don't blindly follow advice for the wrong carb. For a Dellorto SH carb we are told to start off about 1 ½ turns and go from there. For a Jetex however, there's a label on the side that clearly states we shouldn't be going more than ¾ turns out.

To set the mixture properly, first warm up your engine. Then set the throttle idle screw (no. 26 in the diagram above) so that it holds the throttle open with the engine slightly fast. Now we need to set the mixture screw (no. 13) so that the engine is smooth and regular. Turning the screw in will make the mixture leaner, and out will richen it. When you have the smoothest tickover try opening the throttle. If the engine splutters or stops then a little more adjustment, probably to make it richer, is needed to eliminate this.

You'll probably end up somewhere between ½ and ¾ turns out.

Making a Lambretta exhaust quieter

I have a KBA exhaust, and it's pretty noisy. I have a theory that disrupting the air-flow near the exit point, and making it more turbulent, might reduce the 'pop' which is I think is the source of a lot of the noise. I also reckon this will have no impact on performance.

Now this is just an experiment at this stage, but I've dropped a discreet pop-rivet into the end of the exhaust to create the turbulence. I'll let you know a later date if it seems to have worked or not!



If it doesn't work then I'll have experiment with a baffle of some sort.

Gear oil change

While it was off the road I though it might be a good time to drain and change the gear oil. This hasn't done many miles but I was keen to see if I was getting any fuel contamination (indicating a leak via the drive-side bearing) or there was any alarming debris in there. I was relieved to see and smell everything was normal.



My oil-draining technique is a funnel and a plastic milk carton.

Lost compression

After about 50km of gentle commuting over a couple of weeks I noticed that the Lambretta had become difficult to start, and I'd had to adjust the idle setting and the mixture screw quite a few times in trying to get it all to work properly. So yesterday I decided to have poke around to see what was wrong.

My suspicion was aroused by what looked like oil on the fins where the head meets the cylinder. A check underneath revealed oil dripping from this area; this was pointing to a leak around the head gasket. So I did a compression test, and got a reading of 70psi. But what should it be?

Don't you remember Boyle's Law that tells us at a constant temperature 'PV = constant' where 'P is pressure and V is volume? So if you're compression ratio is supposed to be 7:1, then you're decreasing the volume of the gas in your cylinder (at atmospheric pressure, say 14.7psi) by a multiple of 7, which means the pressure reading at TDC should be a multiple of 7 higher than atmospheric, about 100psi.

Clearly I had a problem, and no wonder I was having to bump start the thing every day.



So I decided to remove the head and cyclinder with the engine almost in situ. By placing a trolley jack beneath it and removing the exhaust, inlet manifold and carb (just leave it dangling on the air hose), and then the engine bar you can lower the engine just enough to completely remove the top end. This is without having to undo any cables or wires, and I managed to leave my footboards in situ too (althoug I don't have a precious paint job!). Here's a pic of the oily fins after I removed the cowl. You can see all the others are clean but the top of the cylinder is clearly more oily:



Alarmingly, ny head nuts didn't offer much resistance when undoing, and although the head gasket wasn't damaged the cylinder base gasket had virtually disappeared:



I've no idea why my head nuts were loose. They either worked themselves loose (and I did notice that my wavy washers weren't very wavy at all), or perhaps I forgot to torque them up properly? I guess I'll never know, but when rebuilding it I cleaned all my gasket faces and this time used some sealant on the new base gasket but left the head gasket dry. I also made my wavy head nut washers more wavy in an effort to keep them tight.

After a long morning's work it was finished and back together, and to my amazement it started on the first kick! Time to take it out and do some plug chops.

With hindsight there was another symptom that should have alerted me to this problem earlier, but I'd simply made a mental note to 'keep an eye on it' - that was I seemed to get through a tank of fuel a lot quicker than I should have. Now I know why!

Note to self: Always have a spare set of gaskets for last-minute rebuilds.

Throttle return spring

The throttle handle on Lambrettas is returned to its stationary position by the slide return spring in the carb. In my opinion this is a big ask, and this became a problem when I fitted my new light switch. The cables for the switch were chunkier than the one I replaced, and I couldn't stop them interfering with the rotation of the throttle handle. It wasn't noticeable other than the throttle not returning when letting go, meaning a hairy moment when I forgot this on my first ride with the new switch.

To overcome this I fitted a spring from the end of the junction block to a nail inserted into the pin holding the nylon throttle wheel in place. The picture below shows the new switch wires and the spring in the foreground.



Not pretty to look at, but it works a treat, giving that extra bit of help to bring the throttle back to the closed position.