The Heinkel
While I'm concentrating on the Troll, I haven't really done very much with the Heinkel. It is currently wrapped and boxed up on my veranda. I have however been busily scouring the Internet for parts, which is both challenging and interesting.
Last week my membership to the Heinkel Club Deutschland came through. Membership costs E60 per annum and members are allowed to purchase spare parts directly through the club. Link: http://www.heinkel-shop.de/
The Troll
The Troll has been my priority since it arrived and I must admit I'm quite enamored with it. I'm amazed at the amount of spare parts available on the Internet. Here's a summary of all the parts I've sourced so far:
From Sausewind @ http://www.sausewind-shop.com/
Sausewind supply a wide range of parts for old East German vehicles. There website does not cater easily for non-European orders, however, I contacted them directly by email and they were prepared to ship parts overseas, although they did take quite a long time to respond, but more on that later. They are shipping:
1 set of ox-eye indicators (for handlebar ends)
A full set of brake, clutch and accelerator bowden cables, etc;
A set of hood rubber piping (new).
Total cost = E93
From TKM Racing @ http://www.tkm-racing.com/index.htm
TKM Racing supply a wide range of new and old scooter and motorcycle parts, including East German vehicles. They are shipping:
1 full set of electrical cabling for a Troll (they have kits for all IWL models)
Total cost = E45
From MT Superbikes (aka EMWService) @ http://www.ebay.de/
Selling a variety of East German new and used bike parts through German eBay. They are shipping:
1 x set of ox-eye indicators (a spare set)
1 x throttle kit
Total cost = E36
I've also managed to source several other parts, such as keys and lock mechanism for the glove box (currently broken).
None of the German vendors I've dealt with appear to get very much overseas business. Only one business accepted credit card for payment, which has meant it's a little difficult to send them the money. I'm currently sending it electronically direct to their bank accounts (seems a preferred method in Germany). So far the process has not been too difficult or expensive, but I've only transferred funds this way twice so far.
The general response to date to my queries has been incredulity. People just don't believe that there are IWL vehicles overseas - at least not in Australia. On one occasion the vendor refused to believe there were any Trolls in Australia, so I sent him a picture (not that he would be able to tell it was in Australia). This got me thinking - how many Trolls were in Australia? I spoke to Klaus and he knew of at least six. He owns two, he's sold two (one to me) and there were two imported in Adelaide. Although it's not conclusive, it certainly seems that the Troll is a rare machine in Australia. One of the sellers on eBay I had contacted asked me whether I'd bought the bike from him as he'd sold one to an Australian and he was very interested to find out how she was going.
Fun with Petrol
When I bought the Troll Klaus had warned that the petrol tank and carburetor needed to be thoroughly cleaned. On Saturday I added a little petrol tank and opened the petrol tap and sure enough nothing moved. So I removed and dismantled the fuel tap. It seemed every space within it was encrusted with lead and sludge.
After a damned good soaking I finally cleared the petrol tap. Underneath the tap (pictured above) is a rubber seal with three nipples through which the petrol flows. When I first viewed the seal I thought it was simply a flat seal as the nipples were completely filled with very solid black aggregate. I had to lever out the gunk with a very small screwdriver - carefully so as not to damage the rubber, which was in surprisingly good condition. The tap is now cleaned and fully functional. The Saturday I'll see if we can actually get the petrol to flow into the carburetor.
I installed the battery and tested the flow through the wiring. Despite the dodgy appearance of the wiring almost everything electrical seems to work, except of course the indicators, because they've been removed. The brake light too had been severed. All this wiring will be replaced when the wiring kit arrives.
