A December to Dismember

It’s amazing what you discover when you tear apart engines

I couldn’t resist riffing off of the Lexus commercials we have ad nauseam in the US this time of year! In my case I’m working on engines.

I've decided to restore my other Heinkel car (known charitably around here as "the rusty hulk"), which you’ll be hearing about over the coming months.  Related to the process I'm rebuilding or majorly repairing five engines this winter: 

1. I'll fix a pesky oil leak on my scooter;
2. I'll construct and insert an aluminum cylinder base gasket to lower the compression on my car engine ( I skimmed a lot off the head and too high compression could cause overheating);
3. I'll finish constructing  a “Franken-Engine” spare 200cc motor from parts;
4. I'll  complete a  rebuild of a 175cc engine for my second car;
5. And I'll rebuild another 175cc engine.

Since Christmas is a time of surprises I thought I’d share some of the best ones from these teardowns:

Flakey Gasket (as in Corn Flakey):

Why buy a clutch cover gasket when you can use a corn flakes box?

Kelloggs Heinkel Gasket

No Place Like Home:

Any parts in this engine case have been replaced by mice!

Mouse Nest in Heinkel Engine Case

Evil Clutches:

I don’t even know how this clutch worked. Whoever reassembled it put the clutch actuator behind one of the plates, and still managed to assemble it. Luckily nothing seems to be wrong with it (that I can tell yet).

Heinkel Clutch Actuator Behind the Incorrect Plate

Roll Your Own Muffler:

You can’t get a round muffler, so this was a pretty good fix. The tailpipe “bends” are mitered quite nicely.

Makeshift Muffler for Heinkel Car Model 150

Ill Fitting Fans:

I knew the fans had different part numbers, but I counted the number fins and lined up the mounting holes and thought I was in the clear. Wrong! One fan is taller than the other, and correspond with a  lower profile magneto side engine case cover. A tall fan can't turn inside a short cover. I learned that except for the housing portion all of the other key measurements seem to be exactly the same.

Fan Heights are Different, But Critical Dimensions are the Same

Hub Repairs:

This hub is crusty, and I didn’t notice until I took it off that someone had made an elegant hub repair. The steel center (portion with the splines) was removed and replaced. Nice job!

This Rusty Plate is a Well Done Repair

Repair From the Rear

Push Rod Problems:

Sometimes pushrods are slightly worn from rubbing on the cylinder head. Usually you can fix this by shimming the rocker arm at the front, thereby pushing it slightly backwards. 

Heinkel Pushrod- Worn or Sanded?

This next set has a lot of mystery wear. More than corners were cut here, most likely because they were they were trying to line up these pushrods with the wrong rocker arms (200 cc rocker arms are several millimeters shorter).

Not a Pipe Organ Part- A Heinkel Pushrod!

Flag Holder?:

This was on one of my wheels. I posted a photo on Facebook and got a number of responses. Best answer? Flag holder for the back of a Heinkel scooter. Yeah, I can see that!

Heinkel Flag Holder

Merry Christmas everyone!