Exhaust problems

Ever try to find a metric nut that isn't a hex nut but is a square?

Monday I noticed my Vespa was a lot louder than normal. I also noticed the exhaust blew against the side of my leg instead of out the exhaust pipe. I knew I had a problem.

So I got down on the ground to check it out, and sure enough, the pipe leading into the expansion chamber had broken clean in two. Time for a new exhaust.

It's not a big deal because it's a super easy thing to fix. I called a guy I know who is a Vespa mechanic to see if he had any spare parts laying around he could sell and lucky me, he had an exhaust for a 1979 P-125X. He wanted 30 bucks for it. Awesome.

I went down to his shop and picked it up. He was missing a nut for it, but no big deal. I'll either use the one off my old muffler, or just pick up a new one at an auto parts store. He felt pretty bad about not having the nut and let me have the exhaust for 20 bucks. He's a super nice guy. It's why I always go back to him for stuff.

Anyway, I get home, get the broken muffler off. The nut I need is welded to the muffler. So I need to go get a new one.

How hard can it be to find a square head 10 1.5 metric nut?

I'll tell you how hard. It's impossible. I drove all over the city. Even went to the next county. Nobody had the right kind of nut. Not even the place that specializes in weird nuts. It was unbelievable. Most places didn't even have the size I needed at all. I bought all three, that's right, THREE nuts I found that were the right size but none of them were square heads. I got a hex nut, a hex nut with a vinyl lock in it and a wing nut. I just figured I'd see if one of them would work because I didn't have a lot of options.

Well, unfortunately I tried the one with the vinyl lock in it first. Everything was going just fine until the vinyl grabbed hold of the bolt. The nut started to spin and it's in such an awkward spot, you can't really do anything about it. I reversed the socket to pull the bolt back out, but it just spun that way too. Great. Now the bolt is locked into the nut and I can't tighten it up or get it loose to get the muffler off the bike.

By this time it was getting pretty late so the following morning I called a scooter parts place in Chicago to order some of the nuts.

They didn't have them either. Their mufflers all have the nut welded into place. It's better that way because the nut is so hard to find they just weld them on at the factory so people don't have to worry about it. I decided what the hell and just ordered a whole new muffler. That way all I have to do is get the current muffler off and I'll be golden. My Vespa is my main mode of transport. I really need it to get it going before I go back to work tomorrow so I paid out the nose to have the muffler overnighted to me.

This morning the muffler showed up but I still hadn't been able to get the other one off. That damn vinyl lock really did a number on me. I opened the box and of course checked the nut to make sure everything was fine. It wasn't fine. The nut is welded on in the wrong place. It was off center. Part of the hole is blocked. I couldn't get a bolt in it if I wanted too. Even if I drilled out the blockage, the nutt wouldn't line up with the holes on the scooter.

I called Chicago and explained what was going on. They're sending me a different muffler.

In the meantime I decided to go out back and see what I could do about the vinyl lock nut. I tried every combo of tools I could but nothing worked. Frustrated, I went to a nearby auto parts store and bought every type of tool that I thought might possibly help me out. I have all sorts of pliers now with weird angles and other odd shapes.

After a bunch of different attempts I was able to hold the nut in place and get the bolt off. The muffler is in my basement and hopefully tomorrow one with a properly welded nut will show up.

Replacing the muffler should have taken an hour tops. Instead I'm on my third day and I've spent close to $300.00 on parts, shipping and tools all because I didn't have one little nut.

That's life, eh?