Workshop

Do it yourself - workshop tips

Details: Category: Copies and replicas of parts; By estensu; 24.Jan; Parent Category: Workshop; 24 January 2024; Last Updated: 25 January 2024; Hits: 284

Each restauration project has some parts that can’t be restored to original or are economically unreasonable to restore. In most cases we are talking about the exhaust system. Original systems tend to be bent, dented, rusted and covered with thick soot. Basically, the only option we, pre-1945 NSU owners, have is to buy a reproduction exhaust set. When it comes down to reproduction parts, restores, who are after high originality on their motorcycles, prefer reproductions that are really close to originals. These kind of reproduction parts are usually expensive. But is the most expensive part out there the best and the most similar to the original? Are you able to compare when you don’t own the corresponding original part? That’s the question I tend to ask each time I buy reproduction parts.
This is how I found myself in need of the low-situated exhaust system with later styled exhaust mufflers for my 1937 501 OSL.

Details: Category: Motorcycle premieres; By Spiker; 23.May; Parent Category: Workshop; 23 May 2023; Last Updated: 29 June 2023; Hits: 489

Jacek from Minsk's "Magnet" has been collecting NSU motorcycles for a long time, which are a springboard for him from faster riding on slightly younger motorcycles. This time he presented the newly completed 251 OS WH project. Previously, he had already restored another copy of the same model, but it was "from one piece", which was a great help. This time he undertook a more demanding reconstruction of a less complete copy of the "military quarter" (0.25l) from 1941. He did not avoid buying replicas of some parts, e.g. fenders. As it happens with replicas, it took a lot of time to fit them with the rest of the motorcycle. The carburetor was regenerated in a well-known NSU workshop in Lublin, so there is no problem with idle speed or regulation (to quote Jacek: "it runs like gold"). The motorcycle represents the war series, but still with aluminum casings of the drive unit and a typical Bosch lamp with an integrated ignition switch, but with a rocking seat (the popular "catapult"). However, the painting reflects a slightly later standard, i.e. a sandy color known as Dunkelgelb (in force since 1943 and according to some sources even since 1942). There is no mistake here, because vehicles from earlier years were successively repainted into new colors during the war, provided they survived the front conditions of course.

Details: Category: Making missing elements; By Spiker; 16.Sep; Parent Category: Workshop; 16 September 2022; Last Updated: 05 July 2023; Hits: 206

IMG 20220915 WA0002 The cable holder for the handlebar stem (Ger. Kabelhalter an der Lenkerbefestigung) with the number 56 388 is present in the parts catalog of each "large OSL" model, i.e. in the 351/501/601 S/OS/OSL/OS WH models throughout the entire production period. So it should be a popular and common element in surviving copies of such motorcycles, ... and yet practically none of the owners of NSU motorcycles I know have seen anything like it or even seen it with their own eyes. So it's time to change it, because it so happens that I managed to buy such original elements together with a complete upper suspension shelf. So I took photos and a drawing that allows you to make such parts on your own, especially since it is not a big challenge. I think that complementing your motorcycles with such seemingly insignificant "flavors" distinguishes "true gourmets" of historic motoring.