TV175 S2 barn find
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 11:27 am
Firstly I'd like to thank you for this great forum. I had a thread running on the previous forum before it was lost 10 years ago, when I started stripping down my TV175 in preparation for a restoration.
The background is that while buying a small country house in Italy I was informed by the elderly vendors that there was an old scooter in the shed which belonged to their father and I was welcome to have. Under a collapsed roof (but still in the dry) and various items of junk I found a nearly complete (missing just its carb) TV175 series 2 with confirmed matching numbers. I couldn't quite believe my luck. I guess the owner who kept the house as a holiday home in the hills an hour from the city, had ridden up there and had issues with his carb meaning he took the carb back to be adjusted/repaired and never got round to fixing it.
I put air in the tyres and was towed with a rope the 5 miles back to where we were staying. I retuned the bike to the uk in the back of my estate where I proceeded to strip the bike, meticulously logging items as I went (with a lot of help from this forum). I then had a child, renovated a house, moved, renovated again, had 2 more children and then moved back to Italy. I am nearing the end of a house renovation here and have the space to start rebuilding my Lambretta. She has been stored in the dry and with plenty of oil in the sealed engine, ready for the inevitable day that I have the time and money for the rebuild.
I have been trying to work out exactly what it is that I want to achieve with the rebuild. I would like something at the end of the day that is very reliable and useable 2 up for pottering to town and back and the occasional longer trip. We live up a steep hill a few miles from town and the area is very hilly. With that in mind, I am happy to keep the exterior and bodywork as standard as possible, but make a few tweaks with the engine- for reliability and low down grunt.
I would like to strip and rebuild the engine renewing everything, but for it to be resilient, reliable and useable for many years of use as I have no intention of ever selling it and I want to only do this once. With this in mind I don't want to make massive changes, instead focusing on reliability and useable power. I intend to fit a casa 185 kit and new crank to give a bit more grunt and bullet proof reliability for two up touring and round the hills. Along with this a new casa clutch for improved reliability and resilience. I will need a new exhaust (clubman style?) and carb anyway as these were missing. With upgraded 12v electrics and quality fittings throughout I hope to produce a bike that will give me years of pleasure.
I happen to regularly pass within a few minutes drive of Casa Lambretta as I fly out of Milan frequently to work in the uk. This is why I am looking at using mostly Casa supplies- along with the legal restrictions of modifying vehicles out here. I intend to take things slowly but do it right, so I don't have to do it again!
As for relevant skills, I've done maintenance work on vehicles most of my life and tinkered as a teenager swapping engines and porting out my 50s and motor cross bikes. I was also worked servicing and repairing boilers in a former life meaning I have some practical skills. This however is a rather different kettle of fish. I've bought most of the tools I need specific to this that I don't already have and have read Sticky's guide cover to cover and back (including the latest version). Where my knowledge and skills run out I will turn to you to ask all these 'silly questions'. This will be a slow burner, but be easy on me and hopefully it won't take another 10 years...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/159377264@N04/9f2Fgm
Sorry for the link. I had read the forum guide and had them all in photobucket ready, but have just found out that I cannot link to this without paying. I've just set up a new Flickr account and transferred the picture but my iPad is struggling to copy and paste the image URL. I will try and get this sorted asap. In the meantime the link has the photos on it. Sorry.
The background is that while buying a small country house in Italy I was informed by the elderly vendors that there was an old scooter in the shed which belonged to their father and I was welcome to have. Under a collapsed roof (but still in the dry) and various items of junk I found a nearly complete (missing just its carb) TV175 series 2 with confirmed matching numbers. I couldn't quite believe my luck. I guess the owner who kept the house as a holiday home in the hills an hour from the city, had ridden up there and had issues with his carb meaning he took the carb back to be adjusted/repaired and never got round to fixing it.
I put air in the tyres and was towed with a rope the 5 miles back to where we were staying. I retuned the bike to the uk in the back of my estate where I proceeded to strip the bike, meticulously logging items as I went (with a lot of help from this forum). I then had a child, renovated a house, moved, renovated again, had 2 more children and then moved back to Italy. I am nearing the end of a house renovation here and have the space to start rebuilding my Lambretta. She has been stored in the dry and with plenty of oil in the sealed engine, ready for the inevitable day that I have the time and money for the rebuild.
I have been trying to work out exactly what it is that I want to achieve with the rebuild. I would like something at the end of the day that is very reliable and useable 2 up for pottering to town and back and the occasional longer trip. We live up a steep hill a few miles from town and the area is very hilly. With that in mind, I am happy to keep the exterior and bodywork as standard as possible, but make a few tweaks with the engine- for reliability and low down grunt.
I would like to strip and rebuild the engine renewing everything, but for it to be resilient, reliable and useable for many years of use as I have no intention of ever selling it and I want to only do this once. With this in mind I don't want to make massive changes, instead focusing on reliability and useable power. I intend to fit a casa 185 kit and new crank to give a bit more grunt and bullet proof reliability for two up touring and round the hills. Along with this a new casa clutch for improved reliability and resilience. I will need a new exhaust (clubman style?) and carb anyway as these were missing. With upgraded 12v electrics and quality fittings throughout I hope to produce a bike that will give me years of pleasure.
I happen to regularly pass within a few minutes drive of Casa Lambretta as I fly out of Milan frequently to work in the uk. This is why I am looking at using mostly Casa supplies- along with the legal restrictions of modifying vehicles out here. I intend to take things slowly but do it right, so I don't have to do it again!
As for relevant skills, I've done maintenance work on vehicles most of my life and tinkered as a teenager swapping engines and porting out my 50s and motor cross bikes. I was also worked servicing and repairing boilers in a former life meaning I have some practical skills. This however is a rather different kettle of fish. I've bought most of the tools I need specific to this that I don't already have and have read Sticky's guide cover to cover and back (including the latest version). Where my knowledge and skills run out I will turn to you to ask all these 'silly questions'. This will be a slow burner, but be easy on me and hopefully it won't take another 10 years...
https://www.flickr.com/gp/159377264@N04/9f2Fgm
Sorry for the link. I had read the forum guide and had them all in photobucket ready, but have just found out that I cannot link to this without paying. I've just set up a new Flickr account and transferred the picture but my iPad is struggling to copy and paste the image URL. I will try and get this sorted asap. In the meantime the link has the photos on it. Sorry.