This is the story of my '64 Vespa 150 - how it became mine and how it has given me a new vespatude.  I'll be recording the neat places I visit, the different things I do to make the Vespa my own, and - oh yeah - those reactions I get from both friends and strangers.




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Saturday, April 22, 2006
Still only the pilot light...
I spent a good amount of time on Heebie today. Some other things came up so it ends up not being enough to get it done. I am kind of stumped.

Here is where things stand:

- I have all the wiring in.
- The bike starts on the third kick nearly every time I have a cold start and starts on the first kick on a warm start.
- The horn works.
- The kill switch works.
- The pilot light works when the light switch is pushed to the far left. It will not work in any other position.
- None of the other lights work at any time. I have checked the lights to make sure they work. I have double-checked the wiring diagram and looked for possible shorts. None have been found at this point.

So, why? I have tested the wiring with a meter. I get current through every wire. The only really wierd thing (and I don't know if this is just a Vespa thing or what) is that the ground wire and the light wire seem to be connected. In other words, I will touch the meter to the a terminated end of a ground wire and then go to a positive wire and touch there - the meter moves. Now, in any other electrical system, I would say that means I have a short somewhere. Can anybody tell me how it works on a Vespa?

What could be going on here?

Not only that, but I have another problem. The gasket on the fuel tank valve switch seems to be leaking. I think there is a little curved washer that pushes the gasket to form a seal. Well, when I try to get the tank in the body, it will sometimes pull on the stem and compress that washer to the point where it isn't asserting enough pressure. When I go to close the valve gas just pours into the frame of the bike.

I have to keep taking the tank out and putting the tension back in the washer. When I get it into the body without stressing the switch everything is okay. Problem is, you can't know every thing is okay until you start the thing up. I hate to buy a new valve because I just bought one.

Overall, things are doing well. This time I took the bike completely apart and had the opportunity to put it back together with knowledge of how things went last time. I was able to do a better job on some of those things. So, even though the wiring and the gas tank aren't where I want it, there was some success today.
Comments:

These fuel taps just do that. If you crank on it to hard, etc it may leak. One you have it in the tank if you have the fuel tap lined up right then it should not leak however. If you turn it to reserve or closed and it leaks consistently (not just if you torqued it to hard) then it's probably not aligned straight with the frame.

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