With our last post with the VS4 for sale. I have heard from some amazing people. My Good buddy Mike Hanyi I credit for helping me start my scooter shop over 16 years ago. He taught me all the basics about turning wrenches.
When the time came I convinced him to buy a scooter. Ofcourse with my Large collection of SS 180's / GS 150's / GS 160's he wanted only the best. I was not going to budge. He said to me - "Find me a Vespa SS 180 that runs for $100 bucks". I DID see below! It was down hill ever since. Mike now lives in Findand where he has found the joy of wooden boat building. Lately he has been sailing around from on one large cruise ship to another fixing sprinkler systems. What a life on the sea. Work during the day- kick back on the cruise at night. One country to the next. Ofcourse no time for scooters. He told me it had been 5 years since he last scooted. Sounds like he should just donate his Vespa GS VS5 150cc to the shop. I'll put some miles on it for him.. Just don't let him know he might want me to pay him back with Open Pit Sandwich's from Chacoal Deli.
$100 Vespa Super Sport SS180 Running 1997
After with his GS VS5 150 in back round. He had sold the SS 180 back in 2000
How To Do - A/C Conversion On Your Vespa GS 150,
Writen by Mike Hayni 1998
I’ve always wanted a GS150 and finally one popped up. It was in sad shape but restoration is my specialty. If you’ve ever restored an older scooter (50’s) you will see your phone bills skyrocket and your hair turn grey looking for those missing or damaged bits. If the shops I purchased from had caller-ID they would stop picking up the phone! One impossible bit to find is a GS150 battery. My suppliers told stories from unavailable to maybe next spring. I did happen to find one NOS for $200 and a dead one for $75.
Since my bike was destined to be a piece of furniture and not a driver, it seems stupid to purchase a battery just to go dead sitting. So I decided to do whatever necessary to modify the electrical system to work without a battery. It seems easy, the 60’s bikes work great using A/C systems, all I have to do is install a 60’s stator plate in my bike and I’m done! No, not quite. Yes you need a 60’s or 70’s stator plate but you will also have to modify your loom. A five wire stator plate like from models 150, 125, GL, or others. You will also need an A/C horn that works, a brake switch for a GS160 or SS180 without a battery, or a Rally 180 (it’s normally in the closed position). The six volt bulbs you’ll need are as listed:
-10w brake
-10w tail
-.6w speedometer
-25/25w headlight
(pilot bulb removed)
-10w tail
-.6w speedometer
-25/25w headlight
(pilot bulb removed)
I advise to change the headlight socket to the newer style because bulbs are more readily available, and I believe cheaper. You will also need a soldering gun, solder, wire of various colours, heat shrink tubing, and wire terminals.
Start with removing the stator plate form the bike, mark the position so that timing will remain close to the same. Now move up to the work bench and turn on some tunes, this will take awhile. It is best to draw out what you are about to do before making a mistake.
First unsolder the coils from the junction board, and remove all three. You won’t need them anymore, so store them away for the parts jumble, but keep the screws! Next, remove the ignition coil and the lighting coil (yellow/blue). Before installing them this is a good time to install a new set of points and a condenser. Try to find new points with the screw instead of the nut & bolt arrangement, they’re the easiest to change on the side of the road. Now things get interesting.
The lighting coil wires (yellow/blue) get cut to proper length and are attached to the black leads. Before soldering, make sure to completely clean the copper wire of the epoxy coating otherwise the solder won’t flow. Mark the ends of the black leads B&Y so you will know later. Now before connecting up the ignition coil inspect your red lead. If it’s cracked or damaged you should replace it with a new strand. The red wire now goes to hi-tension coil terminal #2 and then route the existing red wire onward. The white wire stays the same but you must make another white wire from the hi-tension coil terminal #1 to the stator plate. Now install the headlight/horn coil, connect the green wire to the yellow lead and you’re done!
You can paint the dots the new colour if you’re a perfectionist. Install the newly wired stator plate in the bike and make sure all your wires are long enough and you have adjustment in the plate. Next you have to partially disassemble your scooter, the more parts you take off for access the easier it will be. Remove the saddle and fuel tank, both side cowls, brake switch, headlight, horn, tail light, speedo and ignition switch. Take off the cover of the voltage regulator and disconnect all the wires and remove the regulator. Remove the heat sink part and discard it. When re-installing, the stud gets turned around so that the nut will now tighten the Bakelite housing to the body. Remove the headset bolt and pull the headset up some so that you have room to pull the loom through. I removed the headset, but it works like this also.
You’re going to remove the loom from the bike by pulling it out the hole where it joins the engine loom. Before doing so attach a control cable to the wire to act as a mouse for reassembly. Push the brake switch lead into the body first, then grab the loom inside the body where it goes into the fuel tap area and carefully pull it out, making sure it doesn’t get snagged somewhere. If it does, pull on the cable to reposition it. Then pull out the remaining wires and pull it out the engine loom hole. Turn on some good tunes and move to the workbench. Lunch sounds good about now.
First clean the loom of all grease and accumulated dirt. Start by soldering on a meter of blue wire to the brake light end, then locate the regulator end. There should be two blacks and a green, where the branches out. Carefully cut open the cover and locate the blue wire (brake light). Pull it out pulling the new blue in. Cut the blue wires the same length as the black wire and install a wire terminal, not forgetting to use heatshrink over the solder. The green will connect with a black, the other black will attach to the blues, the black wires at the engine terminal can now be labeled B for blue brake and Y for the green (this will be connected to the yellow coil wire). Now locate the horn wires, should be a pink and two reds. Separate the two red wires, the one that comes from the brake switch solder on a new white wire and lead it into the loom to the ignition switch. I chose to change the speedo bulb lead to green for simplicity sake, I also removed the light blue wire to the head light because the yellow reaches the headlight. Now its time to reassemble the loom into the bike, If you know where I can get the loom grommet give me a call.
Install the new brake switch and the A/C horn, if you want to retain the ‘clamshell’ horn look you can. First grind off the rivets from the back of the horn and carefully remove the chrome face, next grind or file the edge off the A/C horn so the face fits over, you can paint the A/C horn black to deter negative comments. At the regulator box connect the wires as previously described using the old screws as the junction blocks. You could run the battery wires into the box from a new or emptied battery if the bike is for show. Next take the ignition switch and open it, you need to remove the contact points by bending them off, all but terminals #2,#4,#7,and the ‘bridge’. Connect the white leads,(3) to terminal #2, connect the red, the one from the ignition, to terminal #4, and the green, black and the speedo lead to #7. Connect the two pinks and now use any terminal as a junction terminal. The red from the horn connects to yellow and they both connect to the common H/L terminal, the one that used to be white. The pilot bulb is no longer used . Your loom and connections should be now be complete, now install the different bulbs now described. Before starting this is how it will work, with the switch in the middle position ign is grounded (off), switch to left speedo and tail are grounded (for day time driving), switch to the right the speedo and tail function (night time). The headlight works all the time and since the horn is connected parallel to it ,it can not be turned off, but having it on all the time is the law in U.S.A. and not a bad idea. Fire it up, if the tail and brake don’t work the blacks need to be switched. I found my H/L bright as the sun, maybe I need a 35/35. My tail and brake seemed unbelievable! The horn even sounded good!
