Speedo restoration

I am a huge fan of the unmolested speedo on a fully restored bike. I purposedly left a couple "aged" items on the bike to show its history, and the speedo is the most noticable one.



I have a Rally 180 (VSD) style headset, which was produced on the latter USA released SS180s.

In the slideshow above I show you how to replace a broken face plate and seal your speedo up again.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Purchase a new bezel and face plate.  I purchased NOS from Scooter Shop.

2) The bezel is folded over the back of the speedo.  It seals it very well and compresses the gasket inside.  Without a doubt, the internals of the speedo were spotless and the cleanest part on my bike.

3) I used a tiny flat head screw driver to elevate the locking lip of the bezel.  If I had to reuse my original bezel this would have been a major pain in the butt, because the bezel was misshaped afterwards.

4) With the small screw driver break apart the old black gasket between the face place and metal speedo.

5) Now release the plate.

6) Clean ONLY the external and the area where the new seal will go. Use a mildly abrasive pad without chemicals.

7) Put a new seal on.

8) Clean and then put on the new face plate.

9) I chose not to fold over the brand new bezel, because I was scared I could damage it.  Instead I used a "gasket maker silicone" and sprayed it around the seal.  I then pressed the bezel back down over the top of it and put a heavy weight on it to compress it.  It sat for 24 hours.

10) Finally, I used the gasket maker again and sealed the gap between the lip of the bezel and the speedo itself.  Don't stress . . . you can wipe the silicone off with your thumb AFTER it dries for clean up. Let it dry - don't mess with it wet.

Remember that this is all facing downward, so if it rains or the bike gets washed I am more than safe since the bezel is filled with silicone.

If you would like a SPECIFIC picture from the slide show posted so you can view it as high resolution and HUGE on your screen, please leave me a comment and I will post it.

VSC Speedo

On the later American released SS 180s the headset featured the round headlight that was also used for the Rally 180/200. They did not use the clamshell speedo.

I made a mistake by ordering using the part numbers from the VSB/VSC parts manual as you can see above and below.
I am working on exchanging these parts for the correct ones. I am replacing the glass and seals and aim to reuse the bezel and speedo plate -- to pay homage to the original bike.

Grommet Order Placed

Yesterday, I placed the following order along with these prices for my wife's 31st birthday (seeing as the VSC is her bike). We were lucky enough to receive cash from family. We hope to get more . . . we probably need about $200 more.

When possible, I got NOS (and paid for it) and I requested only Italian or German rubber -- no Indian-made. When packaging it, the scooter shop will check everything and replace or not ship/not charge Indian parts. I will pay for the quality. Of course, with 40 year NOS parts, it's possible the lives will not be another 40 years.

Here's the order:

1. Centerstand spring (Part: 47872). New $8.95

2. Seat Buffers (Part: 56730). NOS $5.00 each

3. Fuel rod grommet (Part: 47460). New $2.00

4. Fuel line grommet (Part: 84262). New $2.50

5. Fuel line to airbox rubber. New $2.50

6. Grommet for electrical harness and spark plug wire. Using a Vespa PX HT coil. NOS $2.00

7. Grommet to frame wiring. New $2.00

8. Cable grommet for HT coil wires (Part: 48171). New $4.95

9. Cable Hose (Part: 90541). NOS $5.00

10. Throttle and choke cable grommet. Fits 60s to 80s Vespas. New $2.50

11. Grommet for clutch gears and rear brake. New $3.00

12. Cowl hook grommet (Qty: 2). White nice $3.00

13. Cowl peg buffer (Part: 87488) (Qty:2). White new $6.96/each

14. Fuel line grommet for more most 60s and 70s Vespas. New $3.95

15. Gas Tank Cap Gasket for large frames (Part: 56678). New $2.50

16. Seal for the fuel assembly – goes beneath the sediment bowl (Part: 26042). NOS $2.00

17. Fuel assembly gasket for inside gas tank. New $2.00

18. 4 hole gasket for fuel cock assembly. Fits GS and Super Sport (Part: 13836). New $3.95

19. Gasket for air bellow connection (Part: 97493). Quality/New $15.00

20. Brake pedal rubber in BLACK. Italian new $4.50

21. Brake switch gasket (Part: 82783). New grey $3.95

22. Brake Bellow for most 60s and 70s Vespas (Part: 57321). New $4.50

23. Clamshell Speedo glass (Part: 84803). New $15.00

24. Clamshell Speedo gasket inside glass (Part: 84804) New $5.00

25. Clamshell Speedo gasket (Part: 49458?) New grey $4.50

26. Piaggio Speedo cable. New $14.99

27. Rubber grommet fits around steering lock. New $3.00

The order should arrive a week from Monday at the latest.

Disassembly: Part 2

Come back tomorrow and I will have another slide-show for you. I expect to have two or three more after this one.
In this slide-show Eric continues to:
(1) review the bike
(2) remove the speedo
(3) remove the headset

I will post the next slide-show of disassembly this weekend -- maybe tomorrow. I expect I have one to two more slide-shows to make.

You can also play the slide show at Google Video as a larger image.

Note to readers:If you want/need to see a specific photo or two in this slide-show post a comment and I will upload the photos requested to this blog entry.