Tools

Update: Well work and my knee have been keeping me quite busy the last week or so and nothing has been done with the Tessy. Last weekend I did however make some needed upgrades to my workshop, these will be a big help in scooter restoration. I bought a sandblasting cabinet, a HVLP paint gun and a bigger compressor than I had to power them. Now I can get some work done!!!

So Close

Well a week ago today, I gassed up the Tessy for the first time and started her up (2nd kick) I had to shut her down after only a few seconds as gas was pouring out the top of the carb. I had thought I would ride her that day. Well a 2nd teardown of the carb and I found the float had a small hole in it. I contacted Bing and they sent me a new float. Last night I pulled the carb apart again and replaced the float.


This morning I awoke with this thought on my mind... "Today will be the day". We were meeting friends for brunch about an hour from here so my morning was booked. Upon arriving home the temps were in the low 50's (best in weeks) and the sun was shining! Again the voice in my head... "Today will be the day"

I pulled the Tessy out in to the sun. I put air in the tires, and gas in the tank. Then it was time "Today will be the day" the voice said again "you will ride the Tessy today". A huge smile was on my face. Now to kick start her.




This probibly was a really bad idea, as last week I had a nasty fall on wet stairs and dislocated my right kneecap. I am wearing a brace on it, but I am sure kick starting a scooter is not reccomended. Well one kick and I knew I would have to try to start it with the other foot. It is not easy to operate the throttle and kick with the wrong foot.

Well she did not start on the second kick, or the third, or forth , or tenth. Finally after about thirteen tries she fired up ran a few seconds and died. More tries, several times I started her but she kept pooping out after a few seconds of running. I tried pop starting her as I am on a hill. I was able to get up enough speed just sitting on her and coasting. Again though she would run for at most 20 seconds and then sputter and die

Finally I gave up my knee killing me from the one attempt to kick it over. I will have to pull the carb again and see if I can see whats going on. Stay tuned I will keep you posted.....

Click on photos to enlarge.

The Beast

Off The Scooter Topic

Back in 1998 I was looking for an old Willys jeep, well they were getting a bit hard to find. Driving home one day I spotted a 1953 Dodge M37 US Army 3/4 ton pick up. It was in sad shape but I knew I could bring her back.



Well I struck a deal, and drove her home a few days later, It was not an easy ride as the right rear axel was broken and she would only drive in 4wd. I did all the work on her myself with occasional assistance from a friend. I replaces the axel, replaced a lot of missing pieces, repaired the wiring. replaced the oil pump, and stripped and repainted.

I was the first person to ever register the truck. It went from the US army to a local City for use as a plow truck at the Airport, they owned it for about 40 years then I bought it.

This was a great truck for the years I owned it, it was not fast (limited to 45mph) but could bull ANYTHING!!! and climb over ANYTHING!!! I sold it when gas prices started to get prohibitive, I miss it but I sold it at the right time.

Last part on my list

On my original list of things needed was a complete headlight assembley. The original was lost over time. Well It took a long time to find it, it wound up dribbling in over time . clamshell bottom, new lenz and reflector. Then after a year or so the clamshell top. More time goes by and a bulbholder is located.

The bezel was hard and desperatly needed it is a functional piece as well as a decorative one.
I sent messages to every tessy owner I knew of, I asked a number of odd scoot folks, nothing. Many people knew I was looking, I could think of no stone un-turned. Well after three years an email from Anna put a huge smile on my face. She had a bezel for me!!! Did I want her to mail it? I asked her to hold on to it as I knew I would soon be down that way.

I took delivery on my lovley original bezel while I was there for the cable adjustment. It is in very nice condition. So now it is time to put the headlight back together. The only thing still needed was a gasket, So I decided to make a cork one.

Tessy Runs Again!!!

This weekend I was planning to go visit my Mother who only lives about an Hour from Anna & Tom, So I took the opportunity to stop by work with Anna to make the needed changes to the new cables she made me. I sent her my originals to use as patterns for all future Tessy cables, however over the years my originals had stretched, so my replacements were to long and her patterns were incorrect. So we worked together to find the correct lengths. Now anyone who buys Tessy cables from Anna will be assured there cables will work perfectly out of the box. I also asked Anna to repair my damaged fuel tap while I was there as she has all the parts on hand to do the work. She did an outstanding job of it, and I am indebted to her for staying up till the wee hours of the morning to get it done while I was there.

Although it was very late and we all wanted to sleep, before I loaded the Tessy up we decided to give it its first start up since rebuild. We used starter spray and it ran twice for a few seconds but it ran for the first time in a long while.

Today after returning home I gassed it up and ran it again in hopes of riding it for the first time it has been ridden in a lot of years. However the carb kept overflowing, time and energy prevented me from tearing int the carb again, but I will soon. It may be a stuck float or perhaps the float is leaking. Time will tell.

Can't say no to an OddScoot

As I mentioned before I went down to New York for the 2008 Bagel Brunch and Oddscoot Classic, with My Tessy. For the Brunch volunteers help Tom and Anna pull their extensive collection of oddscoots out onto the lawn and driveway, and give them all a quick clean and shine. Many of the guests bring their Oddscoots. Along with food, the fellowship of great people and lots of cool scooters to look at. Many Scoots are available for rides.


At this event you see scooters you may never see anywhere else unless you are very lucky.





As you can see in the first photo Zundapp Bellas make me smile! and at the '08 BB there were 4 Bellas. 3 of them were in very nice condition, one of them was in need of paint, but otherwise very nice.



So I came home Saturday after the Bagel Brunch, having had a FANTASTIC time. That Monday I logged on to scoot net. To see a photo of the Bella from Saturday in the classifides. MY new (old) Bella R153

And as Bellas go the price was quite reasonable. It belonged to Anna & Tom and they were selling! I immediatly emailed Anna and a deal was struck. So 2 Saturday's in a row I found myself Driving the 200+ miles each way to New York, but this time I was bringing home a scooter I had not left with.

Odd Trailer

From the very beginnings of my knowlege of OddScoots I was aware of a rare Cezch one wheel trailer (PAV 40 or PAV 41). Very rare in the USA and not made since the early '70's. Finding one was extreamly high on my wish list. As I said they are rare in the USA, honestly the are fairly rare everywhere. But most of those I have seen for sale were in Germany. Well as luck would have it Anna went to Germany to visit family around the Christmas holidays and picked up two lovley little Pav 40's. She got them home and offered them up for sale. One of them had to be mine. With the laws of supply and demand these trailers have become quite pricey over the years. But we cut a deal we could both be happy with and the Little 1971 PAV 40 became mine. I have fabricated a hitch for the Vespa VNB but have yet to make one for the Tessy. The PAV is in nice condition, I have uncovered a bit of the original red paint under the terrible blue rattle can paint job, a full restoration is to come for the PAV.

Photo post trouble

Ok well I don't know why I can't get the silver Pigeon photo to work properly but if you click on the photo you can see the whole thing.

Another Odd Scoot

Well I got a chance to pick up another odd scoot, so I jumped at it a 1959 Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon C-76

Tail Light fix

When I got the Tessy one thing that was missing was the tail light lens.

Talking with people I discovered the Super and the Luxus used different tail lights, and the no one was making a replacment lens for the Luxus. My best bet would be to buy one for an old Allstate and "cut it down to fit" . Well that was fine, I would add one to my next order as it would not really be worth the shiping cost for just that one item. Then one day I was at my local auto parts store, and I spotted a package of "stick on reflectors" that looked to be about the right size and at under $2.00 for two of them it was worth a shot. When I got home I removed the backing from one of the reflectors and test fit it in the tail light housing.

It was about 1/4" to long and perfect in height. I filed aout 1/8" off each end and test fit it again...

It fit very well. :-) A bit of clean up on the housing and some paint and it is as good as new. All in all I am very happy with this soloution and for the cost differnce I could have bought about 8 of these lenses.

Trash in the tank

With the original gas cap lost to the ages, I guess a kid must have had some fun dropping odds and ends into the tank. This is what I found...

A local Heinkel Tourist owner hooked me up with a cap that fit's pretty well, but I would still like to find the correct one. The fuel tap was rebuilt.

Over a period of time with a lot of help from Anna all the missing part's have been found. The engine has been out torn down and put back together by Anna, with me assisting and learning. The Tessy has been reassembled, and was back together enough to attend Tom and Anna's 2008 Bagel Brunch & Oddscoot Classic. An event that is a "Must Do" for many Oddscoot enthusasts east of the Mississippi. I loaded the Tessy in my truck and drove down for the event. It was so cool to see 3 Tessys all parked in a row (Jay H. brought his Tessy Super project along).

This week I hope (weather permitting) to take the Tessy back to Anna to help me solve a problem I am having with shifting, I hope it is just an issue with the cables. With a bit of Luck I hope to be able to fire it up and ride it very soon.

Tessy Clean Up

Well as you can see the Tessy was grimey and before I could do much else a good cleaning was in order.