Telling you whether a restoration is easy or hard is quite difficult. If you take your time, do each job step by step, then a restoration can be rewarding and fairly simple. How ever, and here is the debating point, to "restore" a scooter correctly takes time, patience and know how. To get the exact details correct can be very tricky. You can of course rebuild a Lambretta to your own and personal specification, and thus the attention to detail is probably not as important.
Correct routing of the contols, cables, wiring loom, etc is probably the most important factor when rebuilding your Lambretta, get this wrong and your scooter will not be nice to ride. Of course it goes without saying, a good reliable engine is also the key to enjoying your Lambretta


Scope

The restoration topic is huge and wide, I have often thought of making a page covering the restoration of a scooter. The biggest problem is the difference between models; many people have many different views on how this should be done. There are only a handful of experts around the world that can build factory authentic restored Lambrettas, many of us think we can, but believe me I we can't. That is not to say we cannot build or have built for us a close enough example to not even worry about the small imperfections or mistakes. In time I may well try to build up this page into its own mini site and guide of how to restore a Lambretta, but until then you will have to make do with a brief outline of what order you should carry out your rebuild. Please note that the engine does have its own page, a complete build of an engine, the rest will follow as and when time allows.

With this list we would presume you have built your engine, forks, and wheels as a separate unit ready to install. Through the technical help pages we have come to the conclusion that you should not throw any thing away at all until you have repaired, re furbished or replaced the part. The use of the parts catalogues currently available is also in valuable when rebuilding your Lambretta

I would like to add that there are may many helps and tricks when rebuilding your scooter, I hope with time to build this article up, until then take extreme care, time and patience, if in doubt ask, don't bodge, the end result will be more worth while. I would also like to add as a final foot note even though we have not began! I work in a scooter shop, bay far the most popular request we get is to finish off restoration rebuilds. PLEASE take your time, ask before if you are not sure, it will cost you a hell of a lot more if your local dealer has to undo your wrong doings, to correct your scooter. This is harsh on most people, but take your time, make sure you enjoy rebuilding your scooter; as if you don't the end result will never be what you want it to be.

1. Fit the bearing tracks and protection covers on the top and bottom of the fork tube, including the chrome headset support ring if your model has one.

2. Fit the stand and splash plate assembly on to the frame, this allows the frame work to be stood up while fitting up occurs

3. Loosely position cables on frame, if needed affix roughly in position with plastic cable ties which can be cut off later.

4. Do the same with the wiring loom on frame.

5. Fit the rear light unit

6. Fit the rear frame badge and holder or grille dependant on your model

7. Fit the rear mudguard

8 Fit the seat or seats, including the catch. The seat does not have to have the cover on at this stage, but if you do fit it, try to cover it for protection

9. Build and install glove box door with buffers

10. Fit the rubber to the glove box, and then install the glove box

11. Fit the fuel tank, with all rubbers and straps, fit the fuel lever and frame grommet.

12. Fit the air box and air scoop

13. Install forks and front wheel assembly

14. Install rear brake switch and connect up

15. Install horn and connect up

16. Fit the engine unit complete with rear hub and wheel.

17. Put on the leg shields loose ready for alignment; do not use any fixings at this stage.

18. Fit the headset base in position.

19. You now need to roughly fit in position the leg shields and rear running boards to make sure you have correct alignment of every thing. This includes the headset and leg shields not touching, and equal gaps between the leg shields and rear floor boards. At this stage you can still make any adjustments needed. Do not affix tightly at this stage.

20. This is a debatable stage! Some people would not agree with me and carry on building the scooter in any case, here is what I do and why. Firstly I always like to take off all the body work now that I am happy it aligns nicely. The reason this is done is so that you can then cable and wire every thing up. You can run and check the scooter for correct adjustments and running of the engine, lights, petrol, ignition, and every aspect of your scooters running operation. The reason I take the body work up is to set the cables and wiring loom up for both correct operation and correct fitting. When you are happy every thing is all OK, you can now apply the correct alloy ties in the correct positions to secure all cables and wiring looms, remembering to cut off the temporary plastic ties you used.

21. Correctly fit the leg shields, using the rubber buffers the shields have underneath them, all alloy channels and rubber trims etc.

22. Build the horn casting and front mudguard as one unit; don't forget the horn cast base unit.

23. Fit the horn casting/mudguard as one unit, if you need help keeping the rubber gaskets in position, a small dab of grease will help. Tighten these up while positioning the rubbers for correct and equal fitting.

24. All you have left to do now is to fit the rear floorboards back on, fit the side panels.

25 Finally after you have re checked every thing, you can apply the badges and appropriate warning transfers where needed. Wash the scooter down with a mild car shampoo, and admire your hard work. It should be noted that on fresh new paint work the use of polish is not recommended for at least a few weeks until the paint has cured properly, but please consult your paint shop for further instructions.