Old Vespa

[oldskool]

Hello guys! I need your help, dont know if this the right place where to post, however, i own an old vespa those with gears and rust you know? Well i need someone who could please tell me where and how much it would cost me to take my vespa to sandblast the rusty parts. Do you have any proper body workshop here in Helsinki? I mean not just a mechanical (like Vespisti) but someone that takes care of the body of the vehicles. If this is not the right place  i'll be happy to be redirected where i can find some help, Kiitos!

[Coastside]

Don't sandblast those parts. It's too rouch tool to do that work. The Glass and soda plasting  is the more appropriate methods. Glass is goog to engine parts and soda to painted parts.
For Workshops, you can search using the words: lasikuulapuhallus or soodapuhallus. Using e-mail they will tell more.

This is right place for vespa.

[oldskool]

Thanks for replying but probably i didnt explain myself correctly, i meant: where do you take an old vespa with body problems? Only to Piaggio and/or to Vespisti? Is there any workshop who repairs body parts, including sandblasting, painting etc? Probably sandblasting is not the correct translation for "sabbiatura" that is that process of stripping the body completely from its paint, leaving the steel naked as it is, ready to be re-painted, (after spreading some primer and anti-rust on it). It's a process made with an appropriated machine. It's used by everyone who wants to restore an old Vespa not made of plastic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uQp5b0h7hQ

[Coastside]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbQ-xe12c1o

That stuff is great paint remover.

[Plom]

There can be found more information http://peltiskootteri.net/

[oldskool]

 yes that's the "sabbiatrice" aka the sand-machine:D Do you know anyone who has that machine and does this kind of job on a decent price? I mean restoring professionally? I dont have neither a garage nor that machine.  If so let me know.

[Coastside]

Sabbiatrice is Italian and means sand-blasting machine. Why do you want to just  that? The same work can be done in a multitude of devices, Depending on what is used for each.

[oldskool]

Sabbiatrice is Italian and means sand-blasting machine. Why do you want to just  that? The same work can be done in a multitude of devices, Depending on what is used for each.

yeah i know sabbiatrice is italian  isnt what you posted before a sabbiatrice? Anyway what yuo said is true, it can be done in a multitude of devices. I need someone who does the sanding, pass the anti rust and the primer and repaint it all. Practically someone who restores my Vespa for a decent price. Maybe not all the Vespa needs to be restored maybe it can be "refreshed" only in some parts. Anyway i need it to be seen by someone who knows these things here in or around helsinki and can give me his opinion. I need an expert or an enthusiast with some experience cause i have no tools, no garage and no experience in restoration.

[Coastside]

To paint the parts, you could ask from Estonia, where the work is done at lower cost than here in Finland. There is not a professional restorer. The engine and rebuild scooter can be done with  to many amateur and reproduction spesial (heatlight, sattle, chrome, etc.) parts made somewhere.

Before you start, the project seems simple but it is very complicated and expensive if you use professionals to help you.

To start you need photos, stock accounts and  packaging system otherwise components  would lost while you handling them often and with other persons.

[Partanen]

If you want real professional, you could ask Triangle Motor Co. http://www.trianglemotor.com/uk/ukpalvelu.htm They usually do better job than it was when vehicle left from factory. Price is not cheap. Nor it's not cheap in any paint shop here in finland.

As already told, do not take sand plast. It bad for thin sheet metal.

[oldskool]

If you want real professional, you could ask Triangle Motor Co. http://www.trianglemotor.com/uk/ukpalvelu.htm They usually do better job than it was when vehicle left from factory. Price is not cheap. Nor it's not cheap in any paint shop here in finland.

As already told, do not take sand plast. It bad for thin sheet metal.

Thanks for the tip mate, appreciated. I'll check that out. Do you have a classic Vespa?

[oldskool]

To paint the parts, you could ask from Estonia, where the work is done at lower cost than here in Finland. There is not a professional restorer. The engine and rebuild scooter can be done with  to many amateur and reproduction spesial (heatlight, sattle, chrome, etc.) parts made somewhere.

Before you start, the project seems simple but it is very complicated and expensive if you use professionals to help you.

To start you need photos, stock accounts and  packaging system otherwise components  would lost while you handling them often and with other persons.

Thanks for your help. In Italy we have this professionals called "carrozzieri", they work exclusively on the bodies of the machines, and restoring in not so expensive.  I was asking if you have someone like that here as well but now i have a clearer picture of the whole situation thanks to your comments guys. To be continued uh? 

[Partanen]

Do you have a classic Vespa?

No I don't, but I would like to have some day. I have same problem than you, I don't have proper place to store and maintain it. I had some thoughts to buy one last summer. Or maybe new PX 150 and upgrade it to 200cc. Even if I don't know if there is 200cc cylinder kit for this new PX 150. New PX 150 costs same as good old Vespa, about 4000 euros. But you may never know how good old really is until you buy it.

Then I trade my GTS 250 to new GTS 300. To me GTS is more Vespa, than LML Star 4 stroke, which you mentioned in other topic. But I will keep rights to change my mind. 

[oldskool]

Do you have a classic Vespa?

No I don't, but I would like to have some day. I have same problem than you, I don't have proper place to store and maintain it. I had some thoughts to buy one last summer. Or maybe new PX 150 and upgrade it to 200cc. Even if I don't know if there is 200cc cylinder kit for this new PX 150. New PX 150 costs same as good old Vespa, about 4000 euros. But you may never know how good old really is until you buy it.

Then I trade my GTS 250 to new GTS 300. To me GTS is more Vespa, than LML Star 4 stroke, which you mentioned in other topic. But I will keep rights to change my mind. 

Gts is an automatic scooter (better known in Italy as "frullatore" ), like Sfera, like Grillo, like Scatto and many others that Piaggio made (im listing those i owned or i had driven in the early 90's when i was a teenager). Vespa is that legendary machine with gears and pedal rear brake, made in metal, instead. Star is a PX exactly like Mini Innocenti was like Mini made by BMC. Only the badges (and few other things) are different. The 4 strokes is a plus not a minus, for the simple fact that no 4 strokes = no Vespa. In Italy in many towns, it's illegal to circulate with 2 strokes due to the EU pollution restrictions. Two strokes Vespas are like smoking in bars or restaurants, just to make you an example and they will disappear. They already made a "PX last series" in 2008 and if it wasn't for the LML Star big success they wouldnt ever made it again. Then again if piaggio would  have worked on a PX 4strokes like LML did (instead of coming up with that ridiculous euro 3 exhaust on the new PX, which couldnt be put on a 200cc for the same restrictions i mentioned above), we wouldnt be here talking about restoring an old PX 200cc arcobaleno from the 80's (my case) or putting a 200cc engine on a 2011 PX model (your case). That's a fact. Of course im ready to take all these words back when Piaggio will release on the market a brand new 200cc 4strokes euro 4 (or 5 or 6 or whatever they want...!) 

[Partanen]

I like 2-stroke sound and its technical simplicity. Smoke is not bad, if there is right amount of oil. I do not believe that environmental problems are large, if 2-stroke engine is used occasionally. 1000-4000 km/year.

To me LML is like pasta carbonara made in India. With too much boiled pasta. There is nothing Italian on it. 

I don't know for sure where my GTS is made. Maybe it's better that I don't know. But it still have sheet metal body, and real "Vespa" badges.