Scooterotica

Given the (very slight) interest in my dogbox PX rebuild I'm going to go through the trials and tribulations of my on going GP project. I hope you're sitting comfortably.

The tale start with my 1970 GP, originally rebuilt from my first GP as donor which had a rotten frame. This was done in 1990 by Cumbria Scooters in Carlisle. I bought the frame and body work as lot from them and used all the parts off my original one to rebuild it. The 'new' bodywork was already sprayed in T5 charcoal and a lot of the other parts were subsequently stove enamelled in a black / white theme to match.

It was rallied through to about 1996 when I got diverted by other pursuits. I never seriously thought of parting with it though.

Skip forward 15 years and it's been in my shed, a little neglected, it's been taken out and started a few times but not recently.

So I drag it out and it looks a little the worse for wear and now it's seized.





I decide it's time to put a stop to the rot and get it tidied up. This is the Summer of 2011...

I get the lump out.







It doesn't look too bad at this point.

As you can see I only have a small shed and have to work outdoors so weather is a factor. I live in Scotland and work away a lot (just getting my excuses in early).



This is the end of Day 1

So the engine is out, seized solid with sitting and quite corroded looking.

It's also not the engine I was expecting...

As I'm sure I've mentioned elsewhere the early 90's are a somewhat 'hazy' period for me, people from before then mostly know me as Roscoe, but from that period as Ganja...I don't think we need to go further with that...

Anyway as I said, not the engine I was expecting, it's a late Indian 200 block and does not match my registration document, but I do have a vague recollection that the endplate might have come loose and a knackered GP gearbox with a very worn looking Xmas tree. So that might explain that.



There's also brake inspection holes -



You can also see here how badly corroded the alloy is even under the stoving. On the steel parts it's perfect but on alloy it's coming off in chunks.

With the head off and some lube introduced it's time to start to move the barrel.







Nice large inlet port from a late 80's home tune...

With a little persuasion it starts to move





And it's off



The barrel has suffered too from the damp and sitting





Crank doesn't look too bad though -



That takes us up to the end of day 4 and enough for tonight.

Real down to earth story.

Plans? Or let it develop?

Good story so far, are you keeping it old school or bang up to date ?

strewth ! thats a lot of corrosion

Glad I got my Li from nice warm sunny Italy

Well its out of the shed now........... so start making some lists of parts and a plan of attack .....................and then put it back in the shed for another 15 years lol

I don't have the inclination for a full refresh it's more a conservation and some updates.

Next off is the chain case. It still looks quite tidy in here as it's been sat in oil all this time.

This pic shows that the front sprocket cap must have been rubbing at some point, though the bolt certainly wasn't loose and it had been abused a bit before by the look of it, so wasn't easy to shift!



The more observant will have noticed the Li style side case in the earlier pics, hence the clutch center also being the Li style. Again I think this was a compromise on the original build as I think this was an 'exchange' job but it was a long time ago.



Clutch out and this endplate still firmly attached and appears to be the original Italian one rather than a SIL one, though there only appears to be one dowel present.



Also has the old style nylon chain slipper on the top and regular bottom one, that's certainly been in there since 1990 I think it's possibly and original MB one but it's unmarked so not sure.



Front sprocket and chain guides removed.



Endplate off and the gearbox out, turns out to be a real GP one too, no disasters in here thankfully and no sign of the missing endplate dowel.



I said before I'm Scottish? I like home made tools An old rusty rim and a couple of bits of bar make a good hub holder. I went to the local skip to get the metal bar and found the workmate there too, my lucky day



Once I'd got the hub nut off I was a bit stuck as I could not find any M7 bolts for the puller and had to order some, which led to a bit of a delay and a good place to break off for now.

a free workmate ! now thats a result

Almost makes up for the missing dowel . Does it look like there was one in place before you stripped it ? or maybe missing when last put together.
I like your roof strap hub restraint tool , I'll have to rig one of those up myself

Anyhow ...how come its not raining where you are today ? its been pouring continully for a straight 5 hours down here

While I was waiting for the M7 bolts to arrive I'd stripped out the flywheel, stator, maghousing and crank. I also took out the old engine mounts.






The only unusual thing I turned up in this part was an oddball roller bearing in the flywheel side which I've never seen before -



Meanwhile the bolts turn up and another home made tool is employed to crack the hub from the splines. This one really shows how bad the corrosion on the alloy parts is under the coating.



With the hub of the layshaft, bearing and all the other steel has been removed from the casing.



At this point I decided I wanted to get the whole lot cleaned and blasted. I also knew I wanted to convert it back to a GP style side case and clutch so a Wanted ad was placed and an second hand GP side case obtained.

The whole lot goes off to be cleaned.

This gets me to the end of September 2011 and the weather on the turn the action moves indoors.

enjoying this