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Heinkel Kabine EV Conversion
I converted one of my cars to EV! If Ernst Heinkel had a viable electric option when he conceived the Kabine he would have chosen it. A modern electric powertrain is perfect for a 600 pound microcar designed for short trips and low cost operations. Instead he chose a scooter engine and the rest, as […]
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The Worst Restoration Task?
What do you think of when you hear the word “Restoration” applied to a vehicle project? Your answer may be different than mine, and that’s probably why some auction sites prohibit the use of the word. For me “restore” means complete disassembly, repair, component renovation/replacement, reinstallation and testing. What’s the worst restoration job? Cleaning! It […]
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Initial Assessment
Buying a scooter sight unseen means you get surprises. Pictures are good but don’t always make you aware of what you’re getting into, even when they show you obvious issues or things you should be really happy about. That’s the case with this Heinkel. The goal of the initial assessment is to highlight problem areas […]
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Emergency Brake Improvement
I installed a disk brake on the rear wheel as an emergency and parking brake. Because it’s hydraulic I couldn’t use the original Heinkel ratcheting lever, so I installed a motorcycle lever style activator. This presented another problem; how to keep the brake engaged while parking. Here’s the solution: Here it is in place: And […]
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Vespa 8″ Disk Brake
Is there finally a disk brake solution for 8″ Vespas?
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Vespa Engine Tuning
Once the engine is out of your scooter you’ve opened a Pandora’s Box of potential maintenance and upgrade projects
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1962 Heinkel 103-A2
I found this scooter on eBay, a guy in New York wanted to sell and said he would include delivery as part of the sale. How great is that? Delivery day also happened to be shopping day, but the seller said he wouldn’t be there until the afternoon so we felt fine leaving the kids […]
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Packing Battery Heat
If you have an EV and live in a cold climate you know the effect that winter weather can have on your vehicle’s range. In my case the Heinkel absolutely would not run below 50 degrees F (10C). There were telltale signs that something was amiss with my BMS too- one of the boards would […]
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Would the Postal Service be Proud?
I was looking for an alterative to fish paper for wrapping my LiFePo4 cells before reinserting them into my battery case. Why wrap cells? To keep them physically separate and prevent any errant electrical connections. The usual wrap is something called Fish Paper, which doesn’t have much to do with fish (as far as I […]
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Lambretta Li 150
This scooter was the start (and end!) of my 2 stoke tuning obsession. The stock 150 is pokey at best, so I thought I’d add some zip with tuning products that were just coming available in the early 2000’s. Here’s what I did: Engine Fuel and Exhaust System Brakes and Suspension Electrical System The end […]
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