Engine rebuild

First step was dismantling which was quite hard as most of the parts were tight as a lock. The nut securing the fly wheel is reversed thread and the woodruff key holding both the flywheel and magneto on the crank must be removed from both sides before removal. The rest of the tear down is very straightforwards. Upon inspection I noticed the connecting rod and piston were both trashed as were all of the bearings. The primary chain is a duplex and needed to be replaced and I used http://www.sprocketsunlimited.com to get a new one. Buying all new SKF bearings for the engine (6203,6204 and one other size), engine gaskets from ebay.de, I began to put the engine together. With a bent connecting rod, I had to buy a used DBK 250 engine off ebay.de just to get the rod. The piston was shot so I had a new one made from http://www.oldtimer-ersatzteile-gk.de. The magneto was sent off to be tested but the shop could not test this type according to them so ordering a new contact from http://www.motorrad-stemler.de 

The assembly was very straightforward, no tricks or issues along the way.

After bead blasting the engine cases.

 Cylinder painted, head blasted.

Frame and metal painting

 With the frame broken down I took the parts to the local Stavanger jail where blasted, primed, and powder coated with a gloss black.

From the beginning...

Scouring the classifieds in Norway I came upon a gem recently. A 1939 Zundapp DBK-250 which had been in Norway since April 1939 when the local police department had it imported. This bike is the epitome of "art deco" styling with it's exposed pressed steel frame, geometric styling, low profile, and swept back features.

Jostein Gudmestad when he began restoring in 2002

The bike belonged to an old man named Jostein Gudmestad who died recently so it was up to his grandson to sell it. Looking at the bike in mid-March, 2012, I was skeptical at first due to the condition, having sat in a cold damp garage for many years. It was apparent from the start this would be a frame off restoration due to the fact the restoration in 2005 included painting by hand, aftermarket non-Zundapp parts, and engine barely starting to name a few. Seeing as how this bike is rare with few few parts available and that is mostly through ebay.de, I knew it would be a challenge and an expensive one at that. Deciding against my better judgement, I went ahead and bought the bike with the explicit purpose of bring it back to its former glory. And now the journey begins...

The bike the day I went to look at it. 

April 1st 2012, purchase day.

Lucky for me, the grandson Jostein had a van to bring the motorcycle to my place.

Unloading the bike, putting it in my garage, all the was left was to do was pay the man.

Frame teardown

The Germans mad things easy with this bike as 95% of all bolts are M10 and M13. I started with stripping down all external cables, lights, bolts, chain guard, etc. The only hard part was figuring out the handlebars as the brake levers are attached with a screw that needs a very wide head to back out buy anything that big will have a shaft to big to fit in, took some fudging with a smaller head, luckily they were not too tight. Once this backs out it makes the expander inside release allowing for the whole brake lever assembly to come out. Next came the tank cover and tank, carb, shifter, etc.

Removing the exhaust was a bit tricky as the flange was rusted onto the cylinder. With the help of a massive vice grip and some penetrating liquid, they came right off. Take the rear tire off is as simple as taking the bolts off each side, pulling the axle through, and rolling the tire out. With the rear tire out, all that was left was the front end and the engine. Almost there!

Engine Removal

Taking the engine out was fairly straight forward. 2 bolts on the rear attaching it to the  brackets and then the from. Note, you have to take out the bolts that attach to the frame, not the ones that attach to the block unless you take off the magneto first. I left it on so I had to do it the hard way. Bolts out of the frame, engine supported by a strap to the frame, then lift, turn to a 45 degree angle so the from bracket clears the frame, then out she comes.

Bolts attaching engine to frame

Bloody heavy thing to lug up to your workshop