My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

If you own an NZ 350/350-1 bike please present it here

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cudaman82
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My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by cudaman82 » Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:45 pm

Tim Neumann
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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by Dirk » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:32 pm

Hi there,
Nice bike you have there!
Besides m nz 350 I also own a ww2 german fieldkichten, looking exactly
like the one on the background photo! do you have any more info on it?

Greetings, Dirk
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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by DARIVS » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:07 pm

Dirk wrote:Hi there,
Nice bike you have there!
Besides m nz 350 I also own a ww2 german fieldkichten, looking exactly
like the one on the background photo! do you have any more info on it?

Greetings, Dirk
Hello Dirk,

The field kitchen in owned by Todd Machin in southern Minnesota. I know nothing about its history. As for the history of my motorcycle, that I do know.

Tim Neumann sold his NZ 350-1 to me. I live in Minnesota, USA. This is the entire history of my bike as far as I have learned:

This is a list of the items replaced and work performed on the NZ 350/1 since I bought it from Tim Neumann in Fall of 2009 for $8400.00, plus $550.00 for shipping from Kentucky to Minnesota. Rob Henton owned the motorcycle before him, and he bought it from Investment Bikes in the Netherlands, where it was brought from Germany for initial restoration. The bike was about 80% restored and running when I got it. The frame number is 626787 and the engine serial number is 1500033, which makes the year built as 1944.

Mike Dunn California had this to say about my motorcycle's history: "When I was at Investment Bikes in Holland years ago (June 2002), I was sitting on that bike and I even started it. This particular bike and my DKW NZ 350-1 both came from Belgium, and they were restored from the same owner. Yours was in much better shape than mine was back than. So, Investment Bikes didn't rebuild your bike at all. Martin and John got those two bikes from a guy in Belgium. I am not 100% positive on who, but I have a very good guess. My guess is was Hans Devos, who occasionally sells motorcycles on the internet.

Anyway, It was me who convinced Ron Henton to buy the DKW, and then in turn, he sold it to Tim. Then Tim contact me and tried to sell it back to me, but at the time I had so much money in other bikes, so I just couldn't afford to buy another one. So then you came along and got the bike, its a nice machine."

Below is a list of what I did to restore the DKW.

1) Replaced Russian IZH49 kickstarter foldout foot piece with a home made replica fabricated on the lathe.

2) Replaced clutch cable, front brake cable, and choke cable, all of which were out of adjustment and worn.


3) Touched up the paint in most areas with spray paint, SEM "Bumper Coater" brand Dark Grey paint, SEM color #39193. The bike should be painted in sand color, since it was made in 1944, but I kept the gray because I liked it better.

4) Refurbished the entire rear fender, fabricating reproduction lower support rod mounts from sheet metal, new rear reflector, and also replaced the tail light with an original obtained from Germany and license plate which is a reproduction made by Mike Allen at Blitzbikes.com. The hinge on the rear fender was broken, so it was replaced. All holes in the fender were welded over, and holes places in the correct locations for the light, reflector and license plate. I suspect the rear fender is from a Russian IZH49.

5) The front brake shoes were cleaned, but still do not seem to grab as much as they should. The rear brake is stronger.

6) The headlight blackout cover was added. It was noted that the headlight belongs on an NZ 350, not a NZ 350/1. The difference is that the NZ 350/1 has a mount that looks like a slingshot. It is cruder, so I left the older style, nicer looking mount on the bike for now.

7) The fuel tank had micropitting and light rust inside, and five small leaks. The seams at the front and other pinhole leaks were seal welded, and the inside was cleaned and treated with KBS gas tank coating system, so it should really last and not rust any further.

8 ) The tires are not matching. The rear one is a German Metzler and and front is a Czeck Barum tire. Both are size 3.25x19 and the tread is similar to 1940's original tires. I bought two new condition Heidenau tires from Mike Dunn, but the existing tires will remain on the bike until they wear out.

9) The lower supports for the pannier boxes were missing, so new reproductions were fabricated and installed.

10) The lower chain guard was missing, so an exact reproduction was fabricated.

11) The 11th Panzer Division markings were painted on the rear fender, pannier box, and front fender. This includes the yellow circle with line (11th Pzr Div symbol), the screaming demon (unofficial 11th Pzr Div logo), and the front wheel load rating/distance between axles/rear wheel load rating numbers on the front fender.

12) German 1950's (1940's style) padlocks were added to the pannier boxes.

13) The end of the right foot peg rubber was torn off and glued back on. The reproduction foot rubbers are not installed, since the old ones are still good, although worn.

14) The mufflers were replaced with Polish made reproductions from OldTimerGarage (http://www.oldtimergarage.eu/store/).

15) The drivers seat rubber was replaced with a reproduction Paguza seat from OldTimerGarage.

16) The cyclone air cleaner was replaces with a used original one that was in better condition. It was painted black (it really should be gray) and stenciled with the correct instructions for changing the dirt trap oil in the trap cups.

17) The instructions for mixing fuel with oil and which gear to use at which travel speed was stenciled onto the gas tank as it was originally. Thomas Willig in Germany provided the stencils, which are truly excellent.

18) The lead acid battery was worn out and not holding change, so to preserve the correct look of the battery case, the battery itself was hollowed out, and two 6V gel batteries were wired in parallel and installed inside the bakelite case.

19) Many loose and skinned and unprotected wires were corrected.

20) The horn is a Swiss made replica, and needs to be replaced with a proper 6V Hella company horn. (Done in step 33 below).

21) The engine was repainted.

22) The sheet metal strap supports for the exhaust pipes were missing, so new reproductions were made and attached in the correct place under the footpegs.

23) The pannier box rack was fabricated as a correct reproduction and installed.

24) An original, used side kickstand was installed. I hate using the center stand and got tired of crushing my toes.

25) The tire pump was missing, so a new one which is close in style to the original was installed.

26) The rear tire pump mount bracket was also missing and a new one fabricated on the mill and installed.

27) The piston rings were replaced with new ones obtained from Thomas Willig in Germany. The piston rings are 72.5 mm in diameter and 0.95 mm thick.

28) The gas cap was found to be a Russian IZH49 one, so it was replaced with a reproduction from OldTimerGarage. It has a stainless steel oil measuring cup instead of the original carbon steel cup, but at least it won't rust.

29) The cylinder decompression valve was re-lapped and seals better now.

30) The cylinder-to-engine casing gasket was leaking and was replaced.

31) The rear seat is from a Russian IZH49, so it needs to be replaced, but there are no originals in decent condition to be found or any reproductions made. A 1950's style Pagusa rear seat cover was installed, since it looks closer to original than the Russian seat.

32) A rear tail light mount gasket is on order from OldTimerGarage.

33) The modern Swiss made horn was replaced with a bakelite cased original horn provided by Werner Teufel in Austra. The original horn was rusty inside and was taken apart, cleaned, reassembled and tuned and sounds great.

34) Thomas Willig in Germany managed to send me a complete set of replacement internal parts for the carburetor from Faak Tillmans GMBH in Germany. Tillmans does not send parts to the USA.

35) I bought a couple spare 3.25x19" spare inner tubes, which are still a common item despite the age of the motorcycle.

36) I wired in a small modern plug to the battery to allow a trickle charger to be plugged in and charge the battery when the motorcycle is parked in the garage. This will prolong battery life and keep the machine ready to ride.

Most recent photos, taken just before the horn was replaced:

Image

Image

Image
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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by 19landser42 » Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:52 pm

Looks great Darvis! nice looking machine! Maybe someday we can all ride together. you,Aaron [1939 nz250] and myself [1939 nz250] at Lowell this coming spring?
Jeff
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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by thomas591 » Mon Sep 12, 2011 7:44 pm

..folks to make the tour complete, you should contact my friend Gerald Mlynek (see owners section of the homepage) he is a real reenactment "freak".


regards


Thomas
Best regards - freundlichste Grüße

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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by DARIVS » Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:17 am

19landser42 wrote:Looks great Darvis! nice looking machine! Maybe someday we can all ride together. you,Aaron [1939 nz250] and myself [1939 nz250] at Lowell this coming spring?
Jeff
I plan on being at the Rockford, Illinois event. I don't know about Lowell yet. Hope to meet you sometime soon!
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Re: My DKW 350-1 at recent WW2 reenactment

Post by ztitus713 » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:06 pm

Nice looking bike! Im in the beginning stages of restoring mine. I will be moving to Va here in the next couple of months. I will be at this upcoming FIG but doubt my bike will be up and running then.

Zack
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