Restore a Vintage Moped

I have always thought things with motors were cool. When I was 14 or so I built a motorized bike from a kit and I learned loads about small engines, since that bike wasn't very reliable.

Anyway, I saw this old moped for sale locally for $100, and I couldn't pass it up. I actually gave the seller $150 since he delivered it.

It didn't run. And it was very rusty. So here we are...

I will now do my best to teach you how to restore an old moped.

Tools:

1. All the regular household tools
2. I used an angle grinder with a wire brush on the rusty parts.
3. you might need a power drill.

Of course, what tools you need will depend on your situation. That^^ is what I used. Depending on the bike you might even need a welder.

Supplies:

1. You will need an old beat up moped.
2. replacement of anything that isn't good anymore, that you can't fix, like shocks.
3. Oil for the crankcase
4. Spark plug and fuel line
5. sandpaper, a wire brush
6. primer, paint, clear coat
7. Stretchy vinyl, for re-upholstery

NOTE: I recommend buying parts on treatland.tv . They have most of what you will need.

Obviously this could vary greatly in difficulty, BUT: Remember that a moped needs a few basic things to run. Spark, fuel, air, compression. Not too much, not to little of each thing. (Well ok, except spark..can't really have too much of that).

My bike didn't have spark. I replaced the condenser, and sanded the points, and that did the trick. Cool, now it sparks.

Next up, I cleaned the carburetor. It's always a good idea to do. Poke a fine wire through the jets to make sure they are clear.

After that, it fired up fine! I rode around the neighborhood. Now it's time to move on to an actual restoration.

So, here's a little list of stuff for You to try.

1. Remove spark plug from cylinder and trash it and get a new one.
2. Stick the plug into the spark plug boot, and hold the other end against the cylinder.
3. kick the engine over
4. do you see sparks? If so that's good. If not, that's not good.
5. IF NO SPARK: start by sticking a small piece of sandpaper between the points. Sand the surface of the points to clean off rust.
6. Then replace the condenser.
7. Time the ignition as per the manual

Checking for fuel:

1. After trying to start the bike for a while, pull out the plug and see if it is moist.
2. That's all, haha

Cool. now you *should* be set. Sorry, I didn't have a picture for this step.

The extent to which this is necessary will vary based on the condition of your bike.

So if your bike is super rust like mine, you wanna just take off what you gotta take off. I took off the seat, side cover, rack, and handlebars. These will get repainted. Well ok, not the seat. That would be weird, painting a seat? who does that? Oh wait, I did that one time.

Anyway, moving on.

If you encounter any stuck screws, try using an impact driver (the kind you hit with a hammer). It's such a worth it tool to have.

Wait!! Before you start!! Take some pictures first!! This will make it way easier to re-assemble.

Here are things you should check, and potentially fix.

1. Bearings: make sure there isn't any slop in the steering or wheels, and that everything turns freely that's supposed to.
2. Suspension: make sure it works (duh) and make sure the forks don't have wobbliness (with the front brake engaged, rock the bike forwards and backwards.)
3. Tires: check for tread wear and dry rot, and make sure tubes hold air.
4. Brakes: make sure they, y'know, like, work, and stuff.
5. chain: check for rust and stuff.
6. Other stuff: Visually check for rust, check sprockets, spokes, fuel line, etc.

My bike had frozen shocks and bad tires. I replaced them.

Cosmetically, the bike is pretty rough. We'll deal with that later.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO:

• Oil change
• Replace the spark plug
• Drain the old gas
• Replace the fuel line--It's probably dried out.

I hate painting! unless it goes well...and it didn't, exactly, this time.

Here's what you wanna do:

1. Remove all the rust and loose paint as you can
2. Clean the surface
3. Use some body filler as necessary
4. Then spray sand-able primer (Note: Do not expect this to fill any divots or cracks bigger than a hair)
5. Sand the primer to smooth it out
6. Paint, in light coats
7. Clear coat--I used 2K clear coat, since it's gasoline proof.

My plan was Duplicolor primer, then Duplicolor paint, then 2K clear coat. Just make sure the paints and supplies you get will be compatible.

Orange peeling happened on the tank. Yuck. I had to buy an extra can of paint, and some body filler.

Then I repainted...and the surface was rough and uneven in a couple places. Oh well, I'll just get a couple stickers to hide it.

That's why it's important to leave plenty of time for the primer to dry before you move on to painting. And remember that the paint will only be as smooth as the surface you're putting it on.

For parts that wont get painted, like the chrome rack: I took some 0000 steel wool to it.

Add decals as desired. Decals for my bike weren't available to buy anywhere, so I got a file from somebody, and had them printed.

With luck, you will be able to find decals for your bike. Check at https://www.treatland.tv/ .

Amazon is also full of cool stickers, if you want some. I used stickers to cover up a couple mistakes in my paint.

Put the bike back together! Hopefully you took some pictures like I told you to. Follow your pictures to reassemble the bike. There's not really much more for me to say about this step.

Oh, if you disassembled the engine, you should replace any gaskets that you come across. This will prevent any leaks that would happen if you reused the old gaskets.

And remember...some extra parts at the end means you engineered it better!

The moped is slow; it maybe goes 30 mph with a tailwind. Let's fix that.

A good pipe and bigger carb is usually a good place to start. So I put on a people's pipe and Dellorto 15.15.

Important: Your carb will NEED to be re-jetted after you change the carb or pipe. Buy a good range of jets. Start by checking what jet your carb has already.

REMEMBER: Smaller jet number means leaner. Larger means richer. See the picture for tuning.

In order for the carb to clamp to the intake I needed to shim it. I used a milk jug.

After doing this, the moped is noticeably faster and has better acceleration.

Here's what you want to do.

1. Rip off all the old seat cover material
2. Get some new material: Look for "Flexible motorcycle seat cover vinyl DIY" on Amazon
3. Load up your staple gun
4. Stretch the material front to back on the seat, stapling underneath (as pictured).
5. Then you can stretch the material to the sides of the seat. Staple underneath again.

My seat had a lot of curves to work with that made it difficult. The foam was a little beat up, so the finished product is slightly lumpy. It's just like painting; You can't rely on the seat cover to hide imperfections.

That's all. I hope this Instructable was useful!

Bye now, I'm off to ride my moped!