Gerry Goldberg's A2 Repair Journal
by Michael McWilliams
May 16, 2005
I ended the April 26th installment by mentioning that the flywheel cover needed to be installed and hoping to prevent leaks. This is a task that, in my current state, is easier said than done. I've assembled a handfull of Heinkels, but I am not overly confident about this next task.
Heinkel engines have a stud that extends from the LH engine case through the RH engine case. If you don't seal this stud with a liquid gasket product, you will have a very large leak. I consider this a terrible design, but what do I know?
I generally apply the gasket material around the stud and attempt to push a small amount into the stud hole. Once the flywheel cover is installed, I add a little more for good measure. The problem is, you won't know if you are successful until the engine is in the frame! What a pain.
After installing the clutch cover, I installed the piston, cylinder, rocker arms and head. There are no tricks here. I wanted to discuss the process of rebuilding the rocker arms. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures.
The rocker arms have two brass bushings pressed into them - one on either side. Once the bushings are pressed into place, the rocker bushings must be machined to allow the pin to slip into the bushings.
After installing the clutch cover, I installed the cylinder cooling shrouds. There is no trick here.
Now that the engine is fully rebuilt, I had a friend stop by to help lower it to the floor. I have a difficult time carrying these engines. They are considerably heavier than Vespa engines plus they are longer when you consider the swingarm.
The engine weight makes for an extremely difficult task of body installation if you attempt to do so without assistance.
I found a way to balance Heinkel engines on my floor jack. It is definitely the way to go! The floor jack allows you to roll the engine into place and raise and lower it as required.
There is really no trick in installing the engine. The engine is supported by three mounting points. Keep in mind that the front and RH side mounting points require that the bolt face upwards. If you attempt to install the bolt downwards, you will have a much more difficult time.
I typically don't fully tighten the engine mounting bolts until the floorboard is installed. I have found that you need to ensure that the engine does not rub on the floorboard. I am not ready for the floorboard yet, so that task will wait.