1962 Lambretta li125 scooter restoration log!

[Triton]

To get everybody up to speed, this is my mini restoration log for the '62 lambretta LI 125 series III pre mod scooter that me and my dad bought for 400$ with the plans to "clean it up, get it running and sell it" as my dad said! but to be more accurate i will be completely disassembling the scooter and cleaning every nook and cranny, nut and bolt of the thing, To give you an idea of what i'm up against (and break up the wall of text lol) here are a few pictures of the scooter





i'm on the fence about if i want to paint it or as my dad suggests just primering everything that i would have painted and leaving it to the next owner to decide the color. personally i am considering saving as much of the original paint as i can. I've found out that the DIY soda blaster i made works pretty good at removing all the crud and the orange and black spray paint while leaving the original paint underneath fairly intact. so i will try to remove all the rust without hurting the paint, then just cleaning the ever loving crap out of everything and coating or waxing it to keep it from rusting. As far as i can tell it needs at most 150-175$ in parts, including some pieces that are missing (fan cover, airbox duct, clutch lever &etc) or damaged (floorboard rubber and other trim, taillight) If i do decide to paint it i would paint it the original color which was Celeste Iseo (Sky Blue) but with certain items painted different colors than stock like the rims and brakes, forks, etc. I will continue to post as i make progress on the scooter, i'll have new pics to upload probably tomorrow evening! any questions or comments post em up

also One good thing i did find out today is the gas tank is clean as a whistle on the inside! no rust at all! this makes me very happy and is a good sign

[Snow_Cat]

I'm not much of a mechanic, but I'm happy to hear about this.

I don't see the indicator's, will you be adding a pair of turn signals made from scratch or adapting generic parts?

[bicostp]

Does it have a 6 or 12 volt electrical system? (My guess is 6 considering the age...)

@Snow_Cat: I think it's small enough that it doesn't need indicators; you'd use hand signals instead.

[Metallica Man X]

Even if you don't use hand signals, it's old enough so that it probably doesn't need to have them. Kinda like how when you're driving in an old car, seat belts are optional (especially if the car doesn't even have them lol). I dunno if that's just a WI thing or not, but that's how it is here

[Triton]

as far as i know motorcycles only NEED to have a brake light, turn signals are optional unless they came equipped with them from the factory, in which case they are required, just like seatbelts on pre 1967 cars. i could be wrong about that tho, they might be entirely optional on motorcycles

[Triton]

Lambretta scooter: Now with 90% less filth!

BEFORE:

AFTER






As you can see, the scooter is starting to show its true colors, that just happen to be iseo celeste (sky blue) lol. Now i'll show you some of the tools i have been using to work on the scooter! to do the bulk of the cleaning i used concentrated degreaser, purple power or something like that, it comes in gallon jugs for 5$ at dollar general and along with that i used my neighbors wimpy 1500psi electric power washer, which worked fairly well and has an adjustable tip which was nice. I dont have pictures of those items, but here is another handy tool i rigged up

This is a soda blaster, very similar to a sand blaster but it uses baking soda instead of sand, hence the name. Baking soda is much less abrasive and works in a slightly different way than sand and works pretty well for removing crud while leaving soft metals like brass and aluminum untouched. another handy tool is an ultrasonic cleaner. Mine is being used with a combination of purple power degreaser, hot water, and oxyclean in the picture below to clean the scooters carburetor. which is in overall pretty good shape, just need to order the kit to replace the gaskets and a few other minor wear parts.

and probably the most useful thing is this:


the full lambretta li125 series 3 parts catalog! which lists every single part on the scooter, with detailed exploded view diagrams showing where everything goes. i love having a laser printer at home

[Triton]

SWEET MOTHER OF PROGRESS! wall of pictures incoming! Had a fairly productive day on the scooter today. i got it even further dissasembled, and will probably be as good as done on teardown tomorrow or the next day. depends on how busy i am with other things. the non disassembly progress that was made today was cleaning the engine shroud, which looks about 100% better now, still rough but i think it adds character. the whole scooter will be VERY clean, but unrestored, just clean original. but enough of that here are more pictures!

[Rekarp]

looking good triton~!

[Metallica Man X]

Sharp! Those coils in there look surprisingly shiny when compared to the rest

[Triton]

woo more progress today! unfortunately i didnt have access to the camera while i was working so we have to settle for crappy nighttime pics i cleaned up a bunch of parts, powerwashed the engine and drivetrain, wire wheeled the exhaust and painted it with high temp paint and so on. pretty productive day

[thewise1]

This looks really nice. Awesome job on the cleaning.

Are you going to give it a new color when painting?

[Triton]

I Think i have decided on a course of action. all of the parts that have been spraypainted will be stripped and repainted in the original color after doing some bodywork on em (pound out a few dents and a skim coat of bondo) and anything that wasnt rattlebombed (the gas tank, airbox, glove box, motor shroud, rear fender) will be cleaned up and left alone. i think having a little originality left will give the scooter some character!

[AdumUp]

Looking really cool so far, excellent progress sir, I can't wait to see his this turns out

[Triton]

i've gotten quite a bit more cleaning, rust removal, and that sort of thing done, the "interior" parts (rear fender, fuel tank, airbox, and glovebox) have been treated with a rust remover/inhibitor and then waxed to add a further layer of protection. If this were a full ground up restoration all those parts would be stripped and painted but i wanted to keep a modicum of originality on the bike so i figure, these parts wont bee seen unless the side covers are off, so it should be fine. sill left to do on the disassembly is removing the leg shield, horn cast, front fender, seats, all the wiring and cables, and the front forks and handlebars. then i can fully strip and paint the body/frame. after i get one spot welded where there is a crack, that is. so basically TL;DR progress is continuing apace and i'm on track to get the scooter stripped and starting on paint this month. the motor should be running once i get the electrical system checked out and the carb kit ordered and installed. will post up some pics as soon as i upload and resize them!

[Mario]

Woo! I'm enjoying this worklog. Old stuff makes me happy.