DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD: KEEPING LAMBRETTA COWLINGS SECURE

I'm pretty sure anyone who owns a Lambretta has had either the head or fan cowling come loose at one time or another, having to fix them any way possible to get home without one or the other falling off, and more importantly, making sure that the engine doesn't overheat due to lack of cooling. They work by both cowlings creating an enclosed space, allowing cool air from the fan to be forced around the barrel and head. If one does come loose, then the efficiency drops leading to a rise in engine temperature. A lot of the problems arise from the design created by Innocenti in the first place. Even on a standard machine, the small bolts are not secure enough and are prone to coming undone from vibration. Once they do, it has a knock-on effect.

Flywheel cowling

Starting from where the air is first created via the flywheel fan, the flywheel cowl serves two purposes. One is protection from the spinning blades, but equally important is the route for air to be sucked in before being forced outwards towards the head. Any Lambretta from the Series One onwards has a total of five 5mm bolts securing it.

Problems arise, in that they are only 1cm in thread length and can