Spring Repairs

After the worst winter ever in the Boston area (As we approach Memorial Day we still have large piles in snow farms around town!) I finally got my car out of the shed. When I put it away there were a few things I wanted to do. And of course there were some surprises!

Brakes:  

Last fall I ordered new wheel brake cylinders from the German club.  I’m glad I did as over the winter one of the wheel seals leaked fluid and damaged my wheel paint.

See the corrosion below the leaking Heinkel wheel cylinder

The new cylinders are quite nice, are custom made for the club by Bendix, and like a lot of parts they almost fit.

New Heinkel wheel cylinder (left) and old (right)

To make them fit you need to elongate the mounting holes in the backing plate by about 2mm. Unless you are going to disassemble the front end you just have to do the best you can with a cordless drill. Since you are changing the mounting angle slightly, elongating the holes affects the installation angle of the shoes.  I found that the new angle made one brake shoe drag on the wheel and could not be adjusted.

Replacement Heinkel wheel cylinder test fit

So, now that the wheel is on I have slight drag, but I’ll drive around until the shoes wear and I can make the proper adjustment.  

The car stops much better though, even in its unadjusted state.

Carbs:

If you have a Heinkel car or have read my blog then you know that parts aren’t available for the original  Pallas Carbs.  My problem this time was a stripped carb top causing an air leak, which manifested itself in a poor idle.

Upper carb hole was stripped

I ended up having to tap the holes in the throttle body and use 4mm 70 pitch screws, 12mm in length. 

Used 4mm screws to fix holes

Seems to work so far.

Engine:

Not content to leave well enough alone, I decided to install a spare 200cc engine in my car. The other one leaked so I rationalized the reasons for removing it.  Once you install an engine you go must go through the obligatory break-in and adjustment period. I drove about 15 miles on a few occasions, so I deemed that Sunday was time for our first proper outing. Apparently I was premature. A few miles into the ride (with my wife and dogs in the car)  I lost power and the engine died.

It turns out the intake valve rocker arm fell off of the pushrod. I must not have tightened the retaining nut enough. I had to wait over an hour for the engine to cool off to even attempt a fix. After waiting by the side of the road and having a number of pleasant conversations with passersby I got it back together, made a rough adjustment, and limped home.  Final valve adjustments must be done on a cold engine, so I’ll get to that some evening this week. 

I’m determined to make this the summer of trouble-free Heinkel scooter riding and car driving. I’m lucky that technically it’s not summer yet!