February has been a month of activity on the Meisterklasse. Over the course of weekend I removed the entire wiring loom.
I was careful to remove the loom intact so it can be used as template. I will be taking it to Auto Electrical and 4WD Accessories in Welshpool to source the wiring to make a new loom. www.ae4a.com.au
With the wiring out of the way I could get a clear view of the footplate and pedal box.
At some point in the past someone welded a piece of metal bar across the top of the pedal plate. This had been done to prevent the footplate being pushed through the firewall. Well, that had certainly worked as after the rust in the floor had been fixed the bar blocked the foot pedals entirely.
My panel beater friend, the Magnificent Ken, had pointed out the problem when he was working on the floor and came around to help out. It was time to get cutting!
There will be sparks!
This car has dozens of dodgy repairs in the past but this one was a doozy. The metal bar was very thick and solidly welded. It took a lot of grinding to get it off.
Ken took the foot plate away and gave it new bracing plus added a mortise joint at the top.
We did a pretty good job straightening the steel plate of the firewall with a hammer and dolly, so much so that the foot plate slotted right into place. Great work!
DKW trivia question - what is this? Answer - the starter button. It's mounted on the floor and operated by your foot. Quite a novel arrangement.
And just in case the original one doesn't work, I have a NOS one.
New shock absorbers arrive from DKW Hesse http://www.dkwhesse.de/
I pulled the petrol tank out for cleaning. I thought a bit of degreaser and a scrubbing brush would clean it up, but there was just too much built up grease and grime.
I used Septone paint stripper to remove the paint and take it back to the metal
http://www.septone.com.au/product/c/paint-strippers
It cleaned up pretty well over the weekend. There was evidence of many repairs of the years, pinholes and seams brazed over several times in the past. Still, it holds fluid very well.
A quick spray and it's looking fine. Now the gauge will need to come out for checking / repair.
The next update - https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2021/04/dkw-meisterklasse-project-update-april.html
The previous update - https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2021/01/dkw-meisterklasse-project-update.html
