Restoration of API Lambretta

[Ilangop]

I am the painter for this Lambi I am taking basic lessons & advice from our Paintshop (Paint sales shop) owner & executing the task. The engine rebuild is done by one of my friend's friend (He's a mechanic) as I am really not that good in that area.

Yes the P.U. paint will stick to the N.C.Coat (as advised the by the shop person). However I will keep an eye for those blisters. In case it happens what's the solution? Is it to scrap everything & start again?

The wiring junction box behind the head lamp, is it not seen in the picture or missing
I dont know about this part, can you please share a picture of this?

Center stand welding is done (it was cracked), yet to fix it & see if this is keeping the front wheel up.

Welcome to TAI (a little late though ).

Hi SS80,
Here is the picture of the junction box.
Source: http://www.ve-uk.com/product_images/le16074.jpg
Good that you are taking up the painting job. Actually I was interested in doing that too. But that was too much to handle along with the mechanicals and electricals. And hence out sourced it to professionals.
I think you can go with the words of your Painter guru regd the painting process.
Forgot to mention - Chrome plate the hick pedal as well. Do not chrome plate the rims. They tend to rust very soon. Let me know if you have problems with mechanicals / electricals or even sourcing parts.

I am not seeing the under seat Air scoop and the air filter bend pipe. Where are they, given for buffing?
-Ilango P

 

[Gemini]

Is the lamby painted ?
eager to see the final outcome.

For surface check , apply degreaser and watch it under a tube light for reflection , any irregularities , just use some putty , if its small , use the quick setting tube putty from dupond or standox.

Take you own time in painting , select proper paint and spray using a hvlp gun , that do add to fine painting.

Illango,

You are very knowledgeable about Vijai Super. I am interested to buy one VIJAI SUPER in Chennai. Do you have any contacts in Chennai?

 

[ss80]

SS80!! wow, this scooter was my first one, when I was learning the driving and I used for quite some time, it was really funny driving it and was very famous during my college days when some body has one !!
Eagerly waiting to see it after restoration !!

Thanks again.

ss80's another restoration job,all the best.

Thanks Srihari.

Hi SS80,
Here is the....................
I am not seeing the under seat Air scoop and the air filter bend pipe. Where are they, given for buffing?
-Ilango P

Thanks a lot for the pic as well as for all the info. I will certainly keep this in mind. For the rims, we will go ahead with painting. The air filter scoop & pipe must be cleaned first before giving for buffing. I will certainly contact you for sure (I have no doubt that I will get doubts )

Ilango (Speed Thirst): "................Take you own time in painting , select proper paint and spray using a hvlp gun , that do add to fine painting"

Thanks Ilango, that was very good input from you. How much does this degreaser cost? how to use it?

Last one week was very hectic and hardly any progress happened. We're starting again tomorrow and will update here the progress.

 

[sethumurugan]

Mr. ss80,

There is no updation in this thread for long time. We are waiting for the final output. Pls post some pics.

Sethu

 

[ss80]

Sorry for the late update,
Me & my friend are working hard to bring the Lambi's paint work to a higher level. In this process we (especially me) made enough mistakes & spoilt the finishing to some extent.

Last week I thought of giving up this restoration, as repeated attempts were failing & the end coat always had one or the other issue.

Sudden Twist:
My known Paintshop Owner (Mr.Jayram) who hails from the Auto Industry (Painter, Tinker, 4wheeler Mechanic experiences) came to our rescue. He visited my home (currently a room is used as Paintbooth) & gave us all this till now

1. Half hour training (demo + explaination + handholding) on
2. how to use the spray gun, cleaning it, maintaining it etc
3. Compressor do's & dont's
4. Basic knowledge on Mixing ratios of Paint + Thinner + Hardener
5. basic (yet very clear) guidance on How to paint - bare metal, repainting old surface (which has paint), how to paint on recently painted items etc
6. Types of paint used in Automotive painting works
7. Basic requirements in a paintbooth
8. How to apply clearcoat, Primer, Paint
9. How to apply N.C.Putty & most common goof ups by newbies like me
10. Free paint materials worth atleast 300 - 400Rs. (till date we purchased almost 1500 & rest is a complimentary (worth over 300!)
11. house visits to check our progress almost every alternative day

Thanks to this Gentleman (he truly loves painting & DIY guys) & my friends we have managed to finally bring the Lambi to a good extent (in painting works)

We have completed the Red portions yesterday, here are some pics.









We have made a pattern (kind of red stripe in the middle of innerside) so to do that we have to mask the white areas & paint it red











You can see in this pic below the difference in colour of the Nose & the chassy. The reason why this happens is
1. Nose had only primer, no base coat (white colour) was applied so this red is much darker.
2. The chassy has Primer & on top of it we had the Base White paint & then we painted it red, so this red is much brighter

We had to redo the Nose to match the Colour on the Chassy & head


We have just finished the White portion final coat of paint. Will post pictures tomorrow with patterns complete.

 

[sethumurugan]

Sorry for the late update,
Me & my friend are working hard to bring the Lambi's paint work to a higher level. In this process we (especially me) made enough mistakes & spoilt the finishing to some extent.

Last week I thought of giving up this restoration, as repeated attempts were failing & the end coat always had one or the other issue.

Sudden Twist:
My known Paintshop Owner (Mr.Jayram) who hails from the Auto Industry (Painter, Tinker, 4wheeler Mechanic experiences) came to our rescue. He visited my home (currently a room is used as Paintbooth) & gave us all this till now
...
The reason why this happens is
1. Nose had only primer, no base coat (white colour) was applied so this red is much darker.
2. The chassy has Primer & on top of it we had the Base White paint & then we painted it red, so this red is much brighter

We had to redo the Nose to match the Colour on the Chassy & head
View attachment 63376

We have just finished the White portion final coat of paint. Will post pictures tomorrow with patterns complete.

SS80. Great work. Hope you are planing for different colors for the doors. Eager to see the final output.

 

[Gurrala74]

ss80

Oh !! some red and cream lamb is going to come soon it seems !! good work

 

[manjoo]

i think its is turning out to be red plus white combination, seems good to me.

 

[Varun560061]

Hi SS80 looks cool..

Please post the full pic, waiting for it.!!

 

[ss80]

Thanks everybody for the support.

We have completed all Painting works till now, we'll apply the Rubbing Compound tomorrow morning & will post final pics of the painted parts. However all this parts will go to our friends garage where it will be fit along with all other parts like engine, serviced suspension, gear mechanisms etc. This might take few more days atleast. however my task should be complete by tomorrow.

 

[Vishwas]

Eagerly waiting for this beauty to hit our city roads, an eye-catcher it will be with this color combination!!

 

[Sam Dinkar]

White 'n red with a handstitched brown leather saddle - that's the way to go. Add a clear perspex windscreen and complete the el classico de Italiano look!


P.s.: People are getting addicted to TAI. Just look at the time of Vishwas's post.

 

[ss80]

Thanks again Everyone,
Painting work is done & ready to be fit on chassis. Fitting might take sometime as it will be done at my friend's garage. New tyres, engine parts, cables etc will also be fit in a fortnight's time. Tomorrow all these items will be taken in a Palio to my friends garage, where the front windshield & floor board etc will be fit.

Here are the pictures after rubbing compound was applied.

 

[sethumurugan]

Cool SS80. I know it is going to look great when all assembled. Pls share the cost involved from the purchase of the vehicle. Let me look into it. Even if am not able to do it, I have a mechanic [Regular mechanic some 10 years back, lost touch with him and suddenly saw him opening a garage near my house]. Let me try with him.

 

[Gurrala74]

Cool SS80. I know it is going to look great when all assembled. Pls share the cost involved from the purchase of the vehicle. Let me look into it. Even if am not able to do it, I have a mechanic [Regular mechanic some 10 years back, lost touch with him and suddenly saw him opening a garage near my house]. Let me try with him.

Oh !! Sethu, I am just imagining this, Sethu on a lambretta, pillion RK with two short helmets like kareena kapoor in 3 Idiots