Putting the engine back in

When restoring something, especially an engine or something very old the parts needed are usually either reproductions or you may want to upgrade a few parts.

I decided to upgrade my manifold and carb to a Race Polini 16mm. SOunds imressive eh women ;) I bet you love it when a man comes up to you and says he has a 16mm manifold.

Anyways. Due to this new purchase a few problems occured. Firstly, because they were both new parts there was no way I could fit the manifold to the carb without hammering it in place. Obviously this meant I had to do it outside of the bike.

Also, because of this and the way that the manifold was modelled I would have to do a bit of re jigging. which basically meant taking apart the manifold. Not the usual done thing. See below:



As you can see the carb is attached to one half of the manifold (on the left) and the other half of the manifold on the right. The reason I had to take them apart was because of this. As you can see the middle of the manifold is square in shape and I had to fit it through this:



It is literally fitting a square into a round hole, ha ha ha

Hence I had to take it apart.

So I had one half attache to the carb and the other half of the manifold attached to the engine, See below:



So it was then just a simple (well not so simple as I dont have fingers the size of tooth picks) case of lifting the engine up and screwing the two parts of the manifold together, voila



Done, well not quite as I totally forgot to put the cylinder cover on so I had to unscrew the manifold again, lower the engine, put on the cylinder cover, cut a bit off it as the new manifold is a different shape to the old one, lift the engine up again, attach the manifold again and then do it all over once again as I found a loose screw on the cylinder and was paranoid that I had forgotten to tighten the others, which I had not forgotten.

My god,

Next... attach cables to gears and fit kickstarter.

Cables

So then, the next job was to replace all the cables. As the old ones were pretty dirty and had frayed quite a bit, always best to change these as basically the make your scoot go and the also stop it from running into walls.

This was actually pretty easy to do. A pic below shows how it was done:



Basically you just tape your new cable outer to the old one and pull it through. SImple as pie. Here is a picture of the new cables running through the bottom of the body.



I still have to replace the front brake cable but its the same process so I will not bore you with that one ;)

Fuel tank and tap

Unfortunately due to this job being a bloody nightmare, I decided to leave my camera upstairs just incase the stress got to me and it was used as a baseball. So I have no pictures, so please, read the text, and after close your eyes for a moment and picture the scene.

1 new petrol tank, 1 new fuel tap, one fuel tap, one fuel tap tool

In order to screw in the new fuel tap you have to use the special fuel tap tool, see below:




As you can see its like a long screwdriver, basically all you need to do is open up the fuel tank lid and then slide in the tool.




So then, pretty simple you may think, and here in lies the problems. Firstly, because these tools a reproductions and made for a number of different scooter models, this one was too big to fit in the hole, so a little bit of grinding was required in order to fit in the hole. Next was the problem of actually screwing the fuel tap in, this was basically done blindfolded as you needed to bolt a screw over the fule tap at the bottom of the tank and then whislt doing so, screwing the other side of the screwpat on the other side of the tank. Basically, it took fricking ages.

But anyway all went pretty well and I now have a new tank and tap all ready to be fitted.

Nothing to do this week so here is a fill in

SO then, as the title mentions, I had nothing to do this week on me scoot, waiting for some important parts, so in the mean time, with the cold winter stockholm nights drawing in upon me I am delving into the finest English cuisine. On the menu today a classic from the past, a dish, inspired by the classic from my childhood, from when money was short and most were eating plaster from the walls, my mum, sacrificing her bingo money, used to treat me and my sisters to this warming plate of delishness.

To me and my sisters it can only be one thing, a blast form the past, a rumble in the flitwick jungle, heavy and hearty, nobbly and nibbly...

the Chicken Cobbler.

ahhh I hear you smile, what the f**k I hear some of you say. For those of you who are thinking the latter, I recommend this meal to all, in the days my mum managed to feed us and a small orphanage on only one chicken and a few leaves from the garden, (she told us it was basil).

As time passes and as our world becomes more modern I have adapted the recipe a little. But the base remains the same and if it wasnt for my mum it would not exist, SO here we go.

Here is what we are aiming for...




Recipe: (will make 4 pretty large portions)

For the base:
One free range chicken

1 leek
500g assorted muchrooms (stay away from button mushrooms, no flavour, go for Oyster, Portabello, chantarelles, shitake etc etc depending on your budget)
2 tbls butter
2 shots brandy
Juice of one lemon
Salt pepper
Bechamel sauce


For the White sauce (bechamel sauce):
2 tbls butter
3/4 coffee cup of plain flour
500ml milk



For the cobbles:
This is a basic scone recipe so change the indredients to what you like but I find that these work well with the lemon.

450g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Salt, pepper
125g butter
200g parmesan, (grated)
big bunch of parsley finely chopped
Rind of 2 lemons
Milk
1 egg


Ok so here we go.

The Base:

To cook the chicken, take out of packaging and whack in oven and roast it as you would any chicken, making sure to season the skin well. Remove from oven and let cool, remove all meat and set aside. As a litle extra, you can take the skin, and fry it until brown, dry it off with a little paper towel and leave until crispy, and then munch on it. Lovely.

Chop the leek finely and the muchrooms thinly and fry in the oil at a low temp until cooked and soft. Add the brandy and lemon juice and reduce until half. Set aside.

to cook the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook off for around 5 mins until the raw taste has gone in the flour. Heat the milk until it starts to froth and then add to the roux (flour and butter mix) and whisk well until smooth. You may have to add a bit more milk if it is too think, you are looking for a cheese sauce consistency. Add the chicken, mushrooms and leeks to the sauce, give it a mix, season, taste and spoon into an oven proof dish about an inch think.


To make the cobbles:
Sift the plain flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and rub into fine breadcrumb consistency. Add the lemon rind, parmesan and chopped parsley and mix it up. Then pour in the milk a little at a time until you get quite a stiff dough. Kneed for a short while, not too long.

Roll the dough out to about 1.5cm think and using a round cutter or small cup, cut out round scone like shapes.

Keep rolling and use up all the pastry to make scones. Place these scones on the chicken mixture until totally covered. Then simply brush the top of the scones with a whisked egg.

Place it a hot oven, around 220 degrees until the scones are goden and lovely.



And there you have it, a classic meal with a little twist.

Enjoy,

will hopefully have me parts soon so I wont have to bore you with another recipe,

Laters

BRAKE!!!

>
So then, next post, pretty boring this one, I took out my brakes pads, cleaned em, cleaned the brake pad backing and a bit behind that as well, another gasket needed. And then a bit of a clean up around the engine casing with a Georges toothbrush and some petrol.

george didnt sleep too well last night..., he kept farting and it sounded like a 2 stroke engine


Before


After

Twist, push, wiggle, shit, turn you git

No people, its not not my new dance,ha ha ha, its actually a sex technique the ancient vikings taught me many a year ago on how to woo your lady friend. I have modified it a little since then and added my own 'coffee', 'fag' and 'not now I am watching footy.'

But I guess one could relate it to the short relationship I had with a couple of my nuts. For those of you who have a child, you will know what this feels like once you do. But anyways, finally they came out, never thought something so tiny could be so stiff. (Oi oi, steady now)

Let me take a pause and introduce you to my friend, Marge the Mole Grip, A handy little lass, as with all females all they need to get them into action is a pinch on the arse, simple place Marge over the stuck nut, grab hold of her arse, and squeeze. Her claws will grab that nut as tight as a Scotsman would grab his last penny.



So with the nuts giving a little movement it was only a matter of seconds before all the screwing was over. Out my nuts popped. Time for a fag. (well if I smoked I would). So a slice of chocolate cake will have to do.

So with that out the way all that was left to do was to fit the new manifold. And here it is, in all its glory. I fitted the carb and air filter on just to make it look more impressive.

Not bad for a couple of days work, I only hope it doesnt last that long every time I have a problem with my nuts.

Quick clean

So then, the day has come, we are under starters orders, new carb has been delivered along with new manifold and new airbox. Tool box... check, gloves... check, rags.... check, what to do.... check, dad at hand so that there is at least someone present who knows what the pants they are doing.... check, take engine out to make room for carb removal, check. And... Cant even see the dam thing under 40 years or crap. So before anything, a quick call to the missus to clean the engine. (well I dont want to ruin my nails, i just got them done for the big Bond Premier).

So here are a couple of pics of the engine just to give you an idea of what we are up against. A little clean is all it needs right now just so that I can see what I am doing. The big clean comes later.

After the clean we were able to remove the old manifold. Off that came and in order to fit the new manifold we had to remove two stud nuts. Jesus, if god wanted to piss me off then he did a good job. I have met many stubborn things in my life, myself being one, my girlfriend being another, and a few suspect stains after a night long party in Catalunia a couple of years ago, (you know what I am on about Chris and Tim). Anyway, after trying a few methods and excerpting the power of the Squires they just wouldnt budge. Both men, well one man and my dad, tired, thirsty, no food for at least an hour, left for a long walk up the stairs of shame. Tomorrow we will try the MOLE GRIPS!!!

She aint no Mona

So here she is, this is how I bought her and she only cost me one lung, and as I am sure most of you know, its a great bargain as neither of them work properly. 

So let me tell you a bit about her. Given birth to in 1968 by an Italian Aprilian nun and bought up nothing but semi skimmed milk would answer the question to why she only has a 50cc engine. She packs as much power as an ant on Viagra. Her kick start snapped off, the foot panels have a couple of holes, the carburetor was buggered and the breaks are a little soft, everything you would expect for a woman of that age. But she does come with a bit of original makeup, some nice racks, and overall, with 8 pints of Stella and a couple of shots of Bourbon she looks like a top class model. 

I am told that the carb is the problem, basically ladies, to put it simply, this is your husbands wallet, and in order for you to get it to work you need to pump money through it, in this case the fuel. No money, no go. So that will be my first task. Laters.  

Wel cum wel cum wel cum

Hello and welcome all to my Vespa blog. Here you may share the trials and tribulations, the falls and the rise, the scratches and the sweat, the blood and the dust mites, the battle between man and machine, of one hero, one scooter, a newly purchased set of shiney tools, and the will of a hundred Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. A journey that will make Lord of the Rings look like a trip to the toilet after a Chicken Vindaloo, the passion, enough to spread throughout the land and bring England to its greater glory that once we knew, where knights were galant, where damsons were less ugly than the average girl from east London and where dragons were the tyrants we now know as Sunday Drivers. To finally arrive at my goal, a goal that far outweighs the success of the 1966 world cup, a goal that sees David not just kill, but absolutely batter the F***K out of Goliath, and goal, that is inevitably...... to get the damn thing started. 

Join me good people, and share my glory, TO ARMS my men, to sewing machines and dishwashers my women, .... hi ho silver.... AWAY!!!!