matt.toigo

GET EXCITED AND MAKE THINGS

Vespa Engine Rebuild

October 25th, 2012 wheels

It's now 7 weeks after the end of the Scooter Cannonball and I just finished a full engine rebuild on the P200 and took it for a couple of laps around Potomac Park in DC.

On the last day of the Cannonball I put a hole through my piston and decided rather than just install a new piston I would rebuild the whole engine just to make sure there weren't bits of piston down in the engine and I'm glad I did. After taking everything apart there was a very fine sludge/sand in the crank case and it was in the flywheel side bearing which caused it to make a wonderful grinding sound when it spun. Also someone had advanced the ignition timing on the bike and that's what probably caused the piston to blow. Very tempted to tear apart and rebuild any bike I buy at this point because you never know what the hell was done to it beforehand. And while I had the cases split and the engine off the bike here's everything that ended up getting replaced.

I'd estimate the total time it took me was about 40 hours or so and now I've got 470 miles of break in left since it's pretty much a new engine at this point so no whacking the throttle for a month. The bikes feels snappier, but I'll wait to really push it and find out how fast it actually is in the CORSA this fall.

Below are some photos from the rebuild.

Aaannnndd..... we're off!
Crank case with a new seal and all the piston gunk cleaned out
Left case half with the primary and secondary drive removed
Putting the case halves back together
Cases back together and about to put the clutch cover on
New piston and bored cylinder delivered at work. Notice the old piston in the background serving as perhaps the most kickass paperweight in my entire office
New piston on the connecting rod
Almost fully assembled engine waiting to go back on the bike.
Inaugural ride out to Hains Point

It's been fun riding the Ninja 250 around since it makes a great city bike, but it's damn good to have the Vespa back.