One Word.... Ambitious

[Hugoagogo]

Hi everyone. I'm a big time follower of the forum and have been looking forward to offering up my own thread on my current project. I started this just over a couple of years ago when I bought a Primavera from Ebay. Had so much fun riding it around town, that is until MOT time.... And from the list of failures I'm pretty sure all previous MOT's were well dodgy. Basically what I had was a recent Italian import that had been knocked around a bit, badly repaired, smeared in filler and then lazily spray bombed to make it look saleable. In some ways I didn't care, the engine ran great and while the MOT was good, I was happy. The scoot was by no means knackered, but gave me a great opportunity to undertake my first ever project. I had lots of ideas and wanted to use it as an experiment to learn every skill required for a full custom i.e. Engine rebuild, tuning, bodywork, welding etc. I could have gone for a full resto, but couldn't resist doing something different. Unbelievably an eye for detail took over and this is what happened.... Pictures to follow.

[Hugoagogo]

This is what I started with





It actually looks pretty good in these pictures, but just didn't look right as you got closer.

[Hugoagogo]

No going back

[Hugoagogo]

Wobbly body work, poorly prepared

[Hugoagogo]

Frame Jigged and straightened (Thanks to Vespa Frame Jig) and box section welded in to hold it all in place. Gutted I lost those pics though.

Next. Floor and leg shields removed, and then thought fuck it. Removed the entire right hand side.

[Hugoagogo]

Starting to make progress... I used 0.6mm copper strip to line the underside of the frame and held it in place with welding grips... Definitely once of my better ideas. Worked pretty well.

[jacques]

Good work there fella! Loosk like you're giving it 100%. This primmy didn't come from Wales by any chance? I bid on a white one a few years ago, almost exactly the same...though that scoot was "original paint".

[Hugoagogo]

Some nice welding.... and some proper progress









That'll do for now. More to follow...

[Hugoagogo]

Cheers Jacques. Not from Wales. Strangely enough I had spent months looking for one and this came up not more than half a mile away from me. Can't remember if they quoted the pain(t) as "original', but can remember peeling it back with my nail and finding the original Blue underneath.

[vinrouge]

Very impressive for a first attempt, what happens to the copper strip after you finished welding does it just fall away. Last but one of the photos seems to show the inside of the frame at the rear and it seems to be lined up great

[marco64]

I salute your courage skills and determination!!!
In other words... Bloody hell I would never have had the courage to sort that out... I do not have the skills.

Keep going, I look forward to seeing the finished article!!!

[jacques]

Copper sheet is usually just used as a soaker to take some of the heat from the weld so it doesn't all go into the frame. It also helps to provide a ground point for the arc.

[ttscshaggy]

Wow, you set yourself back a lot of work there fella.
Personally I think it was a bit Ott. It wouldn't of taken much to beat them parts back it to shape

[bikegrim]

very f###ing ambitious. well done that man

[madmax]

Nice work, you must be a welder then.

[scotia]

Jesus!!! your mad hugo!! very brave indeed!guess you ,ll know its solid. still got the old tin lying around?? inbox me

[vespaframejig]

i might still have some pics on the jig,email me and i will see if i can find them for you.
well done by the way.
vespaframejig

[Rhys135]

Looking good! Have you decided on a color?

[Hugoagogo]

Time I think for a long overdue update. First of all just wanted to say thanks for all the kind words of support. Projects like this are fun, but also a headache at times... and coming on here is a good incentive to carry on. Sorry I've not been around lately, but had my time taken up by a few other things and as always, I changed the plan a few times too.

Just thought I would get back to a couple of questions first too

vinrouge - Yep the copper just dropped away when the clamps were removed. It was 0.6mm strip that is generally used for roofing. It was thin enough to have the needed flex to match the curves and just thick enough to soak up some of the heat. I used a portable digital TIG in the end. Dead handy for fine tuning the amps to minimise blow-through. The clamps left small enough holes on the frame that a fresh bit of copper could be propped against the frame and filled in. One of the positives of this method is that it forces you to weld in alternate sections and minimises heat distortion as a result. It worked well on the back end, but working with the angles on the front was a bit of a bugger. Overall I'm pretty pleased with it. Btw I'm not a welder by trade and strictly amateur, but did this as a team effort with a mate who is a proper guru.

@rhys135 - Still not 100% on the colour but thinking Ford Monster Green on a white base. Paint is still a long way off at the moment.

[Hugoagogo]

So after the back end was finished and the welds were dressed down. I started to look at sorting the front. A major concern was the state of the front left side of the loop at the top end where the seat bolts to the frame. This is quite a compact space to knock into shape as you can see from the pics. There were also some big old dents and a lot of ripples where it had been 'repaired' in the past.





Ideally, and in line with an emerging theme, I wanted to cut out the knackered section and replace this with new metal. The only problem was that replacement panels aren't made for the lefthand side. The only choice then was old metal and because it was an unusual section, I reckoned there would be someone with some frame scraps from their own custom project. After a long search I found this... and just wanted to pass on thanks to knowledge for passing this critical piece of frame onto me. In fact I remember you saying that you could't quite work out how I was going to do this and a few times I thought the same.



With the help of tailor's measure and some cardboard templates, I marked out matching sections on both frame. This wasn't straight forward due to the lack of reference points and the fact that the frames were likely not identical.










and then...







Deep breath... and metal out



Clamps in





The result was surprisingly good. Once the welds were dressed down, it took a lot of hammer and dolly work and heat shrinking to get it near to what I wanted. This was a really good learning opportunity as I have never rated my skills as a panel beater.