Hello Floyd,

Regarding the various exhaust gaskets available — I’ve used the Piaggio OEM version as well as the much less expensive ones I’ve purchased on eBay. I’ve been told the less expensive ones are Yamaha parts that are the same size as the Piaggio ones.

Just looking at the two products you can see the Piaggio version appears to be manufactured better. Everything is smooth and clean. The less expensive ones look a little “rougher” on the edges. In use though, I’ve not found a great difference between the two. I’ve had both eventually burn through. Haven’t kept track of mileage though.

A friend stopped by on his Vespa GTS300 a couple days ago and I told him it sounded as if his exhaust gasket was failing. He didn’t know what that was and still had the original in place after 22K miles. We started the scooter and crawled underneath so I could show him where the exhaust was escaping. Fortunately it was venting downward and away from anything mechanical. I had an extra gasket on hand and sent him home with it and the expansion tool so he could replace his first gasket.

I used to change mine almost every time I pulled the muffler. That was recommended by Piaggio back then. Not sure what the recommendation is now. Regardless, I only change the gasket if it appears damaged or I begin to hear the failure.

I’ll be buying more gaskets and will most likely purchase the less expensive non-OEM ones.

Not sure if this helps but good luck with your maintenance!

Thanks for your wonderful blog, Steve. I check my inbox daily and it always makes my morning whenever I see something arrive from SITS.

Cheers!

It’s a strange commercial. Hard to imagine Lou selling the rights to “Walk on the Wild Side” to Honda. You can see the commercial on YouTube.

Lou Reed? Advertising for Honda? Now that would be interesting. His music certainly brings back some memories…

I have a torque wrench and use it from time to time. Not on this job though. Lazy I guess. I can’t answer whether it’s necessary or not for the kind of parts I wrenching on. Bearings, cylinder heads and such I would say yes it matters. But I really don’t know. Probably should do as I’m told by the manual though. Thanks for the reminder.

I repainted my stock muffler every year until I broke down and bought a replacement on eBay when the corrosion burned through muffler. I got what appeared to be a brand new (used) muffler for $75. Cheap compared to the loud aftermarket ones. I had considered sending it to JET HOT to have a ceramic coating put on it but I decided I didn’t care enough or want to spend the money to have a shiny muffler. And I did have the underside of the Vespa repainted last year. The salt was beginning to take a toll and I wanted to forestall any unfortunate rust through on the body. A bargain at $275.

Moving forward I’m anxious to see how much repair work and wrenching I can handle.

My experience with it was the same as yours. The noise did creep up slowly and had me wondering if I was imagining things.

I did purchase a gasket on eBay in the past. I think it is a Yamaha gasket but identical to the Piaggio one. And it was less than ten dollars. I’ll look for another to have a backup.

I hope and expect to find the same satisfaction in fiddling with the Vespa that you do Jim. I remember how relaxing it was to while away time in the garage when I was a teenager. Perhaps I’ll find a similar place now.

Congratulations on your acquisition of a Honda Elite scooter. Bombproof machines. Even my wife knows of them from an old Honda scooter commercial featuring Lou Reed as spokesman.

I’ll check out the book by Thomas Martin Smith. A quick check on Amazon shows him to be an interesting character.