Piaggio X9 500 Restoration and mods

Recently Purchase a Piaggio X9 500cc from a former scooter hobbiest/enthusiast. The scooter was in a condition to travel within the neighborhood, the travel from Bulacan to Manila, was a bit of a challenge.

The X9 suffered over-heating and the front brakes were jammed (during the evening travel the rotor discs were glowing red hot) The following day, work began on the X9 and the road to restoration began.

Sample pictures:





FB Link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3274082863568.142728.1612338954&type=3

It is a working progress and will provide additional pictures as the build continues. :-)

One of the best scoots i've ridden (x9 amalfi though).  Goodluck!

Thanks Lex. :-)

Your input in the on-going build will be much appreciated. :-)

In case the FB link fails, I will continue to post pictures of the build. Again, any sort of input will be appreciated.

Vital parts were rusting, paint faded and inside the panels were tiny pebbles, mud, grass and a lot of spiders!

Photos of the build:

I owned an X9 Amalfi 180 also and, Lex is right, it is a very good scooter (except for the gauge cluster). I would suggest that you bring the scoot to 2211Works para matingnan ng magi. Good luck! Hope that you can bring it back to its full riding glory!

*Direkyey. Thanks for the advice, visited 2211 and purchased parts needed for the build from the usual maintenance replacement to the less important. I was able to speak with both Simon and Nani and its a wealth of information that is useful in the restoration process.


View from below, the CVT cover is in good condition, the many years exposed to the elements faded the lower most exposed portion, while the rest of the lower area as seen is well corroded and deteriorated, some of the parts will have to be replaced others cleaned, painted or chromed.


Both the side portion of the scoot and tank area are completely filled with dirt, mud, grass and each time we open a panel we have all sorts of insect jumping out from the nook and cranny of the scoot.


We dismantled every part attached to the chassis, so that a detailed cleaning and painting of the frame and parts could be achieved (bringing the build to its what was mentioned "former glory" ) Work on the bike often extended to the unholy hours of the night.




 

It wasnt easy to remove the engine from the frame, we used a Cherry Picker to suspend the bike to allow a bit of leverage to remove the heavy bolts holding the two major parts.


View of the uncovered CVT which will require replacement of belt and other parts.


The engine unhook from the chassis and immediately we dismantled the engine to replace gaskets and seals. This also include check of all clearances/gaps.


Essentially this is a backyard/garage project within the confines of my home. :-) I do not have any prior experience in working on bikes in this manner or scale, just relying on the years of racing and building race cars for both Slalom and Autocross. :-)

Nice! Keep us posted! Remember that patience is a virtue!

As yey have said, the scooter is perfect except for the speedo panel. It's magnetic, sirain yan.

Was the scoot flooded?

Thanks Yey, often I pray to God to give me patience...now would be a good time. :-)

*Lex. Yes, the scoot was flooded but this did not reach ECU, a visible waterline around the radiator gives us a more or less idea on what portions of the scoot were submerged in flood waters. It was my primary reason to strip the scoot done to its bare-bone to reveal rusted areas to be cleaned and painted. Thanks for the input, I removed the digital panel and filled the gaps with sealant, and will be extra careful with the gauge clusters.

To add little "bling" to the scoot, we decided to chrome particular parts (fully aware not to over-do or choose brittle parts for chroming).

Photos:


Both the bar end and levers received chroming to accent the upper portion of the scoot.


Chromed were the sidestand and centerstand, this was more of a necessity, often times my pet dog wizzes on the wheels and stand. Painting would be a good option, except when the stands are retracted it exposes the awful contact pegs.


The Caliper brackets were also chromed to balance the over-all look of the bike. Tri-balance concept is to accent 3 major areas of the scoot, top, front and rear.


The rear shocks were replaced and its mounting brackets were chromed. The rims were also painted, and resulted in a bronze non-glossy finish. The scoot received a set of Pirelli Diablo. It was a bit of an eye-sore seeing the two tyres were of different brands and tread pattern.


View from the side, with the harness installed, most of the electrical were restored to its original form, except for a few mods. Replaced the high-tension wire with the MSD 8.8 and added a positive line powering both the headlights and Stebel Horn. As for the centerstand, we abandoned the old circuit and installed a separate system with active sensors. Press of button, this will instantly activate the hydraulic motor without the long wait and ofter times fails to stand the bike.

Nice project chief...im enjoying the matching story behind the pictures...do keep us posted on your progress...good luck

Good thing you came along to rescue this ride.

*James Bond. Thank you, will continue to update the thread and storyline. :-)

*Johos. The scoot was rescued in the nick of time, prior to the purchase, it was carrying sacks of rice and I think at one point, doubled as a tractor in the farm. When the bottom panel was removed it was laden with a lot of mud and grass.

Work continued on the scoot. After the curing period of both the epoxy and plastic primer, I continued with the layers of base paint.


After the base color of coarse cosmic silver, this was layered with clear, then followed by the layers of Lime yellow with a pinch of green. The colors are custom not straight from the can, the hue was adjusted to meet my intended color.


Layers of clear topcoat with silver dust were added and the layers were capped with pure clearcoat. Between coats were Dupont G2 and capped with the 3800 slow drying clear.


This resulted to what appears to be both yellow and green at different angles of exposure to light. What you see here is the final capped layer of pure clear coat, without any sort of sanding.


This is quick drying clear and is best between layers of color to give it depth. At one point prior to the pure clear, a bit of Lime yellow green was added to the clear coat then followed by the slow drying clear.


For better appreciation of the process, prior to the layer of lime yellow/green, this was started with the base color of straight silver, then coarse cosmic silver. Finishing putty was applied to areas where indentations were found, then painted over with silver and this is a continuing cycle until we have clear and straight surface.


The windscreen received several stages of sanding and buffing. (Photo of before the backache) :-)


To complete this job: 1. Orbital sander with 3M polishing pad; 2. Mirca Sandpaper, grit 600 and 2000; 3. (3) Stage buffing process (what looks like bottles of swarma sauce) :-) 4. And patience.


This is after the serious back pain that lasted until the next following day. :-(

 

Very detailed restoration! Keep 'em coming bro! TFS