DKW Meisterklasse restoration update

Following the importation and asbestos saga in March 2017 (see story here:  http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/personal-vehicle-import-warning-new.html )  I have made only slow progress with the DKW Meisterklasse. I gave the car a quick once over when the car was port-side and realised that it was in worse condition than I had been led to believe. It was a disappointment but that's the luck of the draw when you're importing a car.

We had to pull the head off the engine at the port. That was a hard enough task. The engine itself is seized and will need to rebuilt. I already expected it to need rebuilding but it being seized just makes it a little worse. I've had diesel sitting in the cylinders since April and the engine is still stuck fast.The water channels were blocked with calcium build up. These have been flushed. The gearbox and radiator seem fine. All the pipes and all the electrics were rotten. I've got replacements for all rubber and tubing from  http://autokultur.eshop.t-online.de

There is rust in the boot which was covered by a layer of mastic. I assume the rust has come from an internal leak as the rust goes from the inside out. There are several patch welds over earlier rust holes. The condition of the boot floor is pretty bad and will probably need to be entirely replaced.

I have spent several weekends working up a sweat with a wire brush, scraper and Goof-off to remove the mastic. It's pretty much down to the bare metal now.

The front sills and floor where it meets the firewall are badly rusted. The floor had previously been cut and welded earlier - and then lathered in mastic (my word they loved their mastic!). The drivers side sill is not too bad but will need to be replaced.

The passenger side floor and sills are worse than the drivers side.

You can see here the passenger sill has lost its structural integrity and begun to collapse. I have a quote for the floor rust work and it's very reasonable. After the Tatra is finished (and the bills paid) I'll get this sorted out. Very pleasingly the BODY is extremely sound. There is no rust in any of the doors, panels or wheel arches.

The chrome bumper trim is extremely poor condition. The metal is very poor quality pot metal, not like the stainless steel trims of the later F93. The difference in build quality and quality of the materials between 1953 and 1959 is striking.

The headlight trim had lots of marks and pocks.

But a couple of hours with WD40 and aluminum foil and they look pretty damned good. Yes, the aluminum foil trick does work.

The upholstery is in very good nick. It was one of the selling points of the car. There was minor surface rust under the rear seat and on the rear floor.

After sanding down and treating with a rust converter.



This is how I envisage the car will look when finished.

DKW Panel Beating 2013

The DKW

Oh dear!!

They put the warning "do not drive or operate heavy machinery" on drugs for a reason. For a couple of weeks in August was laid low with a dose of the flu. In fact, this winter the flu has taken me down three times. On one of my days, wallowing around in man-flu misery, I had to move the DKW out of the driveway and, in my stupor backed straight into the fence. Great!!! Actually I said something quite else. So, the baby had to go for some medical attention.

I took the car to Karson at K-Paz Spray Painting, who did a great job repairing the damage. The panel looks fantastic and he was able to match the paint perfectly.

While the car was in the shop I asked Karson to look at the front wing. When I bought the car there were two small bubbles in the paintwork, both about the size of a ten cent piece. The front bubble cracked open shortly after the car arrived allowing moisture to get in, causing the bubbles to run. By this time the two bubbles had become one long cracked bubble, almost a foot long. The panel was removed, stripped back and repainted. Fortunately there wasn't really any rust under the bubble.

The bubble as it originally was. It got much worse!

And is now gone!

I am very happy to recommend his work. He can be contacted here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/K-Paz-Automotive-Spraypainting/128098420553883?fref=ts

New windscreen

About six months ago I bought a repro windshield from Draganfly. I was surprised to find that not one of the fixing holes in the windshield actually aligned to the bolts in the front shield so I abandoned the idea, at least temporarily. Over Easter I pulled the windshield out again and recut all the holes. Once recut the windshield slipped in quite easily. I couldn't get the upper fixing bolts secured however and had to make do with a temporary fix.

The bike had a come with a small, custom windshield. It vibrated alot when riding and didn't really serve much of a purpose. I didn't really expect too much of the new windshield either, except for appearances sake. In fact, the first thing I found when I took the bike out was that the windshield is really quite restrictive on the bike's turning circle, especially when turning right. There is very little clearance between clutch lever and the windshield. It has already cut into the perspex. But despite this inconvenience I was surprised to find that the windshield actually works. It creates a slipstream that sweeps up over the windscreen over the rider. I found that I could actually ride without my helmet visor down and not be blown away.

And here are a couple of shots of a nice BSA that I found while riding around. This bike was clearly being ridden as a daily rider. It wasn't fancy or over restored. The paint job was by hand. It's good to see an old machine ridden as the maker intended.

The Vespa is Back!

After some six weeks in the shop the Vespa is back in action. I picked it up from the Scooter Centre on Monday and took it for a spin around the neighborhood. It was great to drive it again after for so long. I must admit I was just a little apprehensive after the accident. I've been constantly picturing all the things that might go wrong out on the road, how the brakes might not bite as quickly as I would like (always a problem with vintage bikes), how the accelerator might lock up again.... It doesn't bear thinking about. I took it for a very slow circuit around the block to get the feeling back, to get my confidence back. Sam has done an excellent job with the steering. I've always said had I not had the accident that day I would have called that week anyway to look at the steering. Perhaps it was an omen.

So what did he find? The initial diagnosis was a sheered shock absorber arm and slightly bent front mudguard. Troubling, but scarcely catastrophic. So the mudguard came off and the shock absorber replaced, then the problems really began. With each repair another problem would be revealed. Eventually the whole steering column and front fork needed to replaced. Some of the damage was from the accident of course, but it was compounded by use of old, worn and often ill fitting parts. And yes, he did come across the oft reported tin can shims used to fill spaces around the steering column, a likely cause of the vibration I'd felt when traveling at only 50 kph.

Disappointingly the battery has now failed - obviously another second hand piece of junk cleaned up in Indonesia - so I'm off to Battery World in Saturday. They have a replacement in stock. They also have 3 x 6volt batteries on order for me for the Heinkel and Troll.

A final word on Vietnamese made reproduction accessories - beware. A lot of scooter vendors on eBay, regardless of where they are situated, simply move Vietnamese made repro parts. Whilst not all are poor quality, you can end up with something less than you expected.