Lambretta Restoration: December 2010

This is quite a big job, as it means stripping dow quite a few parts before the headset bottom can be removed from the frame. Take plenty of reference photos, so that later, when re-building, you can see where everything goes.

You can take off the wiring block by disconnecting any wires attached to it with bullet connectors etc. Inspect the block for damage to any of the connection holes. If it is in good shape, you should have no problem re-using this item.

At this point, you may want to do a drawing of the wiring to the block, although, it is probably not going to be much use. You will be having to replace the wiring loom, maybe the switch as well, so the chances are, some of the wiring colours will change because they are different on your new purchases and any reference drawings may only serve to confuse you when re-assembling.

Wiring this standard machine however, is very simply and I will illustrate how it is done, along with a diagram as we put the scooter back together.

The block is marked:

CEV 015 5346

With the wires from the switch out of the way, we can now see the wire from the kill button, two coming up from the horn and the rest, from the loom.

Remove the cut-out switch (or kill button) by undoing the bolt at the rear, which passes through the bracket holding it in place. The kill button can only be fitted one way due to the slot running along the top edge. Again, this item should be able to be re-used with a little time spent cleaning it up. Ensure the single green wire that comes out of it is properly attached and in decent condition.

In preparation for freeing up the cables in the headset, you will need to remove the front brake cable from the arm at the wheel. either unfasten it, or cut it off. You will be replacing it with a new one anyway. Do not attempts to pull out the outer cable. Just free it from any guides and leave it loose.

Once the inner cable is free from the arm, you can take the outer cable from the housing at the wheel. It is held in place with a 'top hat'. Don't lose this. You can see it in the pic below. It should slide out but if it required a bit of persuasion, BE CAREFUL as the housing it is seated in will break if you are too heavy handed and then you are in for an expensive repair or replacement.

Now free the clutch cable from the engine block. Label it clearly.

To do this, push the clutch arm forward using a block of wood or hammer shaft and slip out the inner cable and trunnion out of the clasp. If you cannot undo the trunnion, don't worry, you can simply cut it off with wire cutters. You'll be needing new cables all round.

While you are there, you can also label up the gear cables and free them too.

The cable for 1st gear is the one toward the centre of the scooter, nearest the frame. To free the inner cable, you hold the trunnion in place with a spanner and use an Allen key to loosen the trunnion grub screw.

You can now slip the outer cable from its housing. Remember, just leave free the cables from their housing and then just leave them where they are for the time being.

To remove the brake lever, remove the pivot bolt (see below) and because the inner cable is free at the wheel end, you can pull the lever outward and remove it from its location within the lever housing.

Both levers should display the Innocenti logo.

Now you can strip out the inner cable only from the front brake.

Removal of the clutch lever is achieved by following exactly the same procedure as you used for the brake lever.

Although mine are easy to identify because one is black, both the clutch and brake cables should be grey on this model, so it is a good idea to label them up at the headset top end as well.

Pull the clutch and brake outer cables from their locating position within the headset bottom housing.

Remove the switch from the throttle housing by undoing the two screws you can see here.

Damn. Mine fell apart. New ones of a very high quality are easy to get hold of.

Once you have removed your bolts, the switch unit complete should pull away from the housing. Behind it and entering the back of the switch, you will find a loom of wires enclosed in a grey sheath that pass through the handle bar. In order to remove the switch, you need to withdraw the wiring as well. If it is too hard, try removing the two screws securing the throttle housing to see of that allows you a little more freedom.

These two bolts hold the throttle housing to the handlebar column on the headset bottom. You need to remove these to take off the housing. If your housing is in good order, it will need to be cleaned and polished to a shine finish for the project to look its best. The same applies to the housing on the clutch side.

Now take off the gear roller setup. Firstly, remove the slotted bolt holding the roller to the twist rod.

And simply pull the rod out of the brass roller by pulling on the handlebar at the clutch side of the scooter.

You can now extract the whole twist rod from the headset itself.

And then remove the inner rod from the outer hand grip portion. You can see I had to cut off the handle bar grip to get at it. the grip was very badly worn and damaged and is going to be replaced anyway. Under the grip, you might notice a substance which is VERY sticky. This is something applied at the factory to prevent the rubber grip from spinning on the shaft while you changed gear or twisted the throttle. I wish I knew what it was because it is still doing its job after all these years and is still very tacky to the touch.

Don't forget to remove the spacer shim from the gear side housing. This shim and an additional thin washer are on the throttle side too.

Now ease out the inner cables from the roller itself.

And here we have an original Innocenti gear change roller. In perfect condition.

You can now take off the roller rod guide by undoing the two bolts holding it to the housing. Note that the bolt toward the rear of the scooter is also holding the cable guide wire.

You can see that the control rod guide passed through a nylon ring which is flat on one side but has a distinct 'lip' on the other. The side with the lip faces the roller and acts as both a spacer and washer. Very clever.

The procedure above, for removing the gear change roller is almost identical to that for removing the throttle side. You will need to remove that also. I admit, that my throttle roller is a little hard to get at due to the throttle being seized with access to the bolt restricted. I'll be able to get at mine a little easier with the headset completely off.

To lift the headset, use an Allen key to undo the main bolt on the fork clamp. These are normally quite tight, so they usually take a little persuasion to get them started. Use a copper or plastic mallet. It removes anti-clockwise.

The bolt must be extracted FULLY as it passes through a groove in the fork stem and prevents the clamp from coming off. With the bolt out, lift the headset bottom and pass through any wires or cables so you can fully remove the headset bottom.

Here is the clamp, held in place by three nuts and bolts. You will need a 10mm spanner and socket to remove the clamp.

With all three bolts undone, lift away the clamp. Notice it fits INSIDE the headset bottom.

Here is the clamp assembly complete. The twisted aluminium around one of the bolts is a double retainer clip for the wiring loom and helps hold it all in a tidy fashion and prevents chafing when the scooter is in use. I'll replace that with a new one when assembling.

To remove the steering lock, undo the grub screw indicated below. Remember, if you do not have a key for your steering lock, which is normally a serviceable part on old machines, you can have reputable dealers cut you a new one by quoting the number you will find stamped on the face of the lock itself. Much like we saw on the toolbox door lock.

Above the lock is a aluminium cover, which protects the mechanism from dirt. I use a centre punch to pierce this thin cover and then lift it out.

Now because you have removed the grub screw, the whole barrel of the lock will turn. Turn it with a screwdriver (or key if you have one) and look down the chamber. When you can see the lug is half rotated to it's side, you can insert a screwdriver blade to push/slide out the whole mechanism.