Modern Buddy

Can any-1 tell me how involved this repair it would be?
Ive never had the gas tank out and the fuel tap looks weird.
Let me know if you can help with a walk thru.
Im handy on this, but have never done this before.. thanks..

Sounds like a leak at the sight glass gasket. Not a bad job to do.

That's a US spec fuel tap, the easiest one to deal with.

I usually siphon out any fuel from the tank. It can be a little awkward to handle so the lighter the easier for me. Also get as much 2T oil out as possible.

Take out the two screws holding on the lever and remove it.
Remove the seat
Remove the two rear tank bolts
Slowly start removing the tank by lifting from the rear. The sight glass will pull back into the frame through the rubber grommet.

You should be able to lift the tank, turn it and sit it on the frame and be able to change the glass gasket.

Now for the "as long as I'm in here" stuff I would replace the sight glass itself with the gasket, the fuel line (24-inches long...no more no less) and the oil injector line. Might want to rebuild the fuel tap too. If you haven't done it it's also a good time to replace the green kill switch wire. The insulation on the original wire is a well known problem.

Reinstall is the reverse. I usually put some tape around the glass so it doesn't get scratched along the frame. This is where the US fuel tap is nice...it will just line up, no fishing the lever through! Put the grommet on after the tank has been reinstalled.

It's one of those things that seems like a big job the first time. I've done it so many times that it's less than 5 mins to pull a tank.

Keep us updated!

thanks BuddyRaton... i will tackle this Monday or Tuesday. Im wondering if I can take the seal /gasket to the autoparts store and match it up. Believe it or not, I don't know if any shops here in town that stocks vespa parts.

It might be worth a shot to try a parts store but I really don't know. I'll take a look today and see if I have one laying around that came with a box of parts but I kinda doubt it. I have P motors in largeframes but they are all premix.

Do you have a copy of the Haynes red manual? Great information in there. even if you don't do a lot there is still a ton of stuff that will help you understand your scooter better!

Mine has a bunch of greasy pages...just the way I like it!

One other thing, be sure you don't tighten the new sight glass down too much, the tank is plastic and you don't want to split it at the seam.

Nobody, I sure don't have a manual. But I have changed out clutch cables and I have helped other friends do things to theirs but so far have never pulled the gas tank and the oil tank. Hey do I have to disconnect the gas hose and the oil hose at the bottoms of these tanks before I lift it out? And if I do have to disconnect the hoses, how do I access them from the engine side? Can I get my hands in there too disconnect them? Thanks.

You should be able to lift the tank with them attached but it might be tight. If your going to disconnect you can remove the fuel line from the banjo or the banjo from the carb and the oil line from outside the air box.

I would replace both if original.

thank you sir

One other thing I do when I pull a tank for the first time is put my name and date inside on the frame. I figure it will be fun for someone to see in the future. Plus if needed it's a pretty good way of identifying it as mine.

I got that from working on antique clocks. The cases often have names and dates for when they were serviced. It is pretty neat seeing that a clock was cleaned and serviced in like 1887. They used pencils back then...I use a sharpie on scooters.

ha yeah, like a time capsule. neat idea. You know when I bought my wife's wall clock, I thought it was pretty neat. That was a 1995. Little did I know that I have to pay $140 every 5 years to get that thing cleaned and oiled. And I bought a ship's clock about 8 years ago, and have had to pay that price two times already just to hear them ships bells ringing. Little do people know expensive maintenance is required or the things will eventually stop.
im sad.

That's where the term "clean your clock" comes form. To clean one you have to start by taking it all the way apart!