Starting on the Heinkel

It has taken me many months, but I've finally gotten around to starting work on the Heinkel. Making use of the Christmas holiday break, I dragged the boxes of parts out under the shade of the Robinia tree and with a couple of litres of degreaser and a wire brush started the clean up. Apart from the chassis and body work, there were four boxes of parts for the Heinkel. One contained the wheels and two spare tyres, in surprisingly good condition. One box contained most of an engine, one contained miscellaneous parts, largely related to the dashboard and controls, and there was a box of miscellaneous engine parts. I pulled out all the parts, categorized them, photographed them and then, where appropriate began cleaning them up to determine if they were salvageable. It was clear as I worked through the boxes that this machine has been cannibalized for spare parts as some integral parts were missing, such as the rocker arms for the engine (but the valves were all still in place). It also became apparent that I had parts from two different models - likely my 102-a1 and a 103-a1. This became quite obvious when I placed the two swing arms (drive chains) beside each other. They are noticeably different sizes. This is because Heinkel increased the wheel size from 8inch to 10inch when they released the 103-a1.

What I now know I have is:

• One full engine, minus all the mechanics at the top end
• One full set of engine seals
  
• Two spare cylinders and a spare head
  
• About quarter of a second engine (but with almost all the working parts removed)
• Two complete swing arms (for a 102 & a 103)
• Two full clutch sets and third set of clutch discs
• Two dashboards (one very badly battered)
• One hand brake control
• One foot brake
  
• One lights control
• Two wheels
• One brake drum (fully functional)
• One intact petrol tap
• Two Pallas carburetters (one missing about half its parts)
• Two engine mounting braces
  
• One petrol tank (but rusted)
  
• One complete chassis, footplate, and body work (minus seat)
• One complete headlamp
• Part of a set of indicators and rear light assembly
  
• One Heinkel flying wing symbol
  
• An assortment of other miscellaneous bits and pieces.

So, what do I need? Thanks to the good folk at the Heinkel-Club Deutschland I have a full schematic and list of available parts for the 102-A1. I've since taken several passes through the catalogue and produced a list of parts I require. It's quite long and, when it's all added up, quite expensive. In summary, the parts I need:

• Engine top end
• Exhaust and air filter
• Bike stand
• Rear shock absorber and fender
• Front brake drum
• Seat
• All handlebar controls
• Bowden cables
• Wiring harness, electrics, etc
• And some miscellaneous stuff.

Some of the items I'm sourcing from ebay.de at the moment because they can be found cheaper, although this is a bit hit and miss. Most parts from ebay are second hand and some occasionally prove to be in no better condition than the parts I'm replacing. It's all part of the fun.

The fruits of summer

It's been ages since I've published anything on this blog. Partly it's because I've been busy but also because I start writing something, then things change and I go back and start re-editing. This time however I'm just going to publish and correct the out of date stuff with another post. Here goes:

The Troll

After sourcing most of the parts I needed I set about trying to carry out some of the repairs myself. As I reported last time, this had somewhat mixed results. At the end of the day I couldn't complete the rewiring, fix the accelerator or remove the rear brake cable (which had rusted right into the brake housing. Ivo and Roberto from the Vespa Shop had agreed to look the Troll over for me and assist so I ended up dropping it off to them. After they'd had an opportunity to give it the once over we caught up to discuss the next steps. I'd originally intended to just undertake the basic repairs on the Troll, to get it roadworthy but not restore it. After a lengthy discussion though we agreed that it will pretty much be a basic restoration, including a complete repaint. I'm quite excited. One of the things that prompted me to do this now was finding this German website detailing the restoration of a Troll and Berlin. I'm expecting my Troll to look just like this: http://emw340-2.com/

I've also been in contact with a guy - James - in the UK who is repairing a Troll. His site is:

http://www.trollscoot.co.uk/

Due to the Christmas and New Year breaks, when many businesses shut down for weeks, the Troll probably won't be ready before March 2009. I can hardly wait.

The Heinkel

The Heinkel is now resident in my new shed. I really didn't have room to store any of my scooters. The Vespa was always parked on the veranda at the front of the house - not an entirely secure location while the Heinkel and Troll were both wrapped up under tarps on my back porch, much to the delight of my wife. So, in the interests of domestic harmony it was essential that they be found an appropriate home. We had a small 2.5 by 2.5 metre shed in the corner of the garden. That had to go. As did a rather scrappy small tree. We now have a 4.3 metre long shed that can happily accommodate all three scooters and my kayak. Hurrah! That all said, unfortunately, I just haven't had the time yet to do anything with the Heinkel, but I am planning on starting work on it shortly.

The Vespa

I hadn't ridden the Vespa much in the past couple of months, but after getting back from Melbourne in mid November I've taken it on a run every weekend. I took it into Fremantle a couple of Sundays ago and she rode like a dream. It felt great to finally get to use the scooter as I intended. Unfortunately, not having used it much over the preceding months I'd neglected to check exactly how much petrol was in the tank. I mean, hey, it's not like I'd used it much so it's gotta be pretty full, doesn't it? Funnily enough I was almost home when this thought crossed my mind and I thought perhaps I should take this opportunity to swing by the nearest petrol station. And with that thought the engine suddenly went "pop!" and I was dead in the water. Oops! I was only about a kilometre from home so it wasn't a biggie. Just a little embarrassing.

More embarrassing however was that I had to push the Vespa past a group of young ladies who were sitting on their front lawn, overlooking the river, and having a few drinks. They'd waved when I drove past them on my way to Freo so I felt a little humiliated now having to walk the bike past them. Sure enough they laughed and called out but were surprisingly sympathetic. "Looks like you could use a drink!", one of them called, and indeed I could. And I did. I ended up joining their little soiree for a few bottles of champagne so it didn't end too badly after all! But I now know exactly how far I can drive on one tank of petrol.