Christmas in the Garage

[Millhouse76]

Seasons Greetings all!

 

I joined this forum a while back ago perhaps maybe a year or so when I thought that I had won a 1960 Dnepr off ebay.de. It turned out to be a scam and I never received the bike. So I kept searching and finally found one down in Austria. It was advertised with "no papers" but it did have a letter from the Austrian Polizei stating the motorcycle was not stolen. Nice! So I took a drive down and after a brief chat began to pack it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The papers say its a 1959 Dnepr I havent had time to translate all the paperwork that came with it but lets just say its had a few owners and by the time it got to me its seen better days.

 

 

 

My biggest question is how good is the craftsmanship on these things? What I mean is as I have been looking it over I see the welding is extremely poor. From some of the reading I have been doing I see that there are a lot of back and forth in regards to the quality of these motorcycles but most of it is about the motors not the construction itself. Check out the pictures below to see what I mean. There is some obvious signs of the previous owners " mechanical intuition but the welds are what are amazingly sloppy.

 

 

 

 

So far aside from getting it legally registered I figure wiring and the engine are going to be the biggest problems for me. The motor isnt complete and the wiring is shameful! I plan on painting the whole things in POR-15 but thats after me and the wire wheel meet up with the frame!

 

Im really excited about this project I hope it works for the best

 

Thanks for reading

 

Cheers

 

and Merry Christmas

 

Ryan

[SafetyBob]

Ryan,

I own 3 Dneprs. Two of mine are late model and one is a gumbo mix of several years parts. They are what you make them. They come to you in need of final fitting and finishing. The welds lack final grinding and polish. Take your time, and you'll be rewarded with a fine machine.

 

It is worth your time and trouble to rebuild it correctly. You will be rewarded.

Thanks,

SB#3

[Ken Ulrich]

While the welds look like a bird perched there for the job, they are seemingly adaquate for the Job, I have never seen a serious crack or break. A methodical approach to rebuilding is needed, do the wheels, brakes, the cables, and paint, check and repack all the bearings, get it up to a rolling chassis, check the finial drive, then rewire the entire bike, new wire harness are available for not that much money, them rebuild the engine and transmission, again check all the bearings in the engine and tranmission...Don't be afraid to ask for help!!! I see a flathead engine, highly rebuildable. If you feel it is more than you wish to do, find a good shop to do it, the work you do and the money you spend, will pretty much add the same value to the bike, In other words, it a pretty good investment. After that, work out the bugs, and you will have a fine ride, good luck, and never give up......Ken......Oh, I have five Dneprs, and enuff parts to build a couple more....Ken :thumbsup!:

[Iron Mike]

Helpfull hint......... They never came with Honda VFR fairings .

 

 

 

Seroiusly, it looks like a fairly complete basket case that will provide hours of fun if you're a wrench turner and will yield a cool rig when your done ! :thumbsup!:

 

 

This site and dneprheads have some very knowlegeable guys more than willing to help get you through the rough spots.

[gspell68]

I've seen worse.

 

http://www.russianiron.com/forums/index.ph...t=0&start=0

 

(And yes, of course to my wife's great enjoyment, it's mine.)

 

Had I have known you were in search of a rig in Germany, I would've hooked you up with a real upstanding guy in Poland that could've gotten you something a little better and cheaper. Austria is not one of the first places that pop into mind for Ruskie iron. Looks like a Dnepr frame, K-750 tank, and a Ural front end.

 

Go ahead and get it registered with a bill of sale on post as "INOP" so that you have a USAREUR Title/Registration Certificate. An "INOP" registration doesn't require insurance or inspection, so nobody has to know it's just a pile of parts. But, an inop registration is only good for 6 months, so it's best to wait until you are in the 6 month window for a PCS (unless of course you think you'll get it all put together before then). That's what I did with one of the two K-750's I bought in Germany. Then I used the USAREUR INOP registration to get it registered for the road in Texas. No problems.

[Millhouse76]

I've seen worse.

 

http://www.russianiron.com/forums/index.ph...t=0&start=0

 

 

Go ahead and get it registered with a bill of sale on post as "INOP" so that you have a USAREUR Title/Registration Certificate. An "INOP" registration doesn't require insurance or inspection, so nobody has to know it's just a pile of parts. But, an inop registration is only good for 6 months, so it's best to wait until you are in the 6 month window for a PCS (unless of course you think you'll get it all put together before then). That's what I did with one of the two K-750's I bought in Germany. Then I used the USAREUR INOP registration to get it registered for the road in Texas. No problems.

 

Gspell68...great story on a great find! All I found was junked MIG's in the junkyard on Speicher.

Feel free to pass your friend in Polands info my way. I would love to have another contact. Also if you are looking for cheep parts Im sure it wouldnt be to hard for him to send them my way and then for me to MPS them to you. Thanks Uncle Sam! Besides I think Im going to need a few pieces as well and Id rather pay in Zloty than Euro!

 

Right now USAREUR is / has cracked down on "non op" registration. They only let it go for 30 days. Then you can extend an additional 30 days but if its not ready to pass inspection you will need a letter from your Battalion Commander to get 30 more days. Its super lame and the people in there know me by first and last name. If you want to get a year non op for a restoration you have to have the garrison commander sign thats a two star General...you would think with all he has to worry about someone would all BS on that. Oh well... Hopefully by the spring it will be close.

 

Anyway I took some more pictures. My computer took a serious dump at work today and since all of the personnel who are able to fix it are on leave I had ample time to read over Weav's super book. Im coming to terms that this bike is not going to be an original and Im fine with that. Besides I never enjoy a completely stock project anyway.

 

So my paper work says the Frame number is 182049 but I cant find it anywhere. I know what your thinking how could he buy a motorcycle and not look for the ID number well lets just say the "price was right". Anyway on the front shock tower the number 6208153. Im betting the papers were right that this is a K750. I dont think its anything else and the rubber bushings for the side car and the seat.

 

As for the fenders...there was no rear one and the front seems to match the side car one.

 

The tub is no frills. It came with the seat cushion but there was some crazy mold growing on the wooden back pieces so its currently outside.

 

I cant really tell what type of wheels these are. Im guessing the one on the far left was bought separately. The one in the middle is from the side car and the rear is MIA.

 

headlight...

 

After checking out the motor that came with it I found 3 numbers on it as you can see from the labels on the picture. Honestly I dont know what I have here...any help you be appreciated.

 

Here is another angle of the motor

 

It only came with one valve cover...lame. I have the starter but the front plate ( I dont know the official name) is missing.

 

Other than that Im just contemplating what to do with it. I still would like to strip all the metal down and paint it with POR-15. I want it to last forever...and if I had a change of heart I could coat it with POR-15's self etching primer and go wild.

 

Ok this is pretty lengthy so to save everyone from falling asleep at their computer desks and cut it off here

 

Thanks for listening!

 

Cheers

 

Ryan

[Serious Black]

You have a Dnepr K750. The mudgaurds look Ural. The round slide carbs suggest an M72 engine or they could be made in chine. Your frame number you will find on the top of the l/h upper shockabsorber mounting lug. The engine number is the lower one in the picture A(?)13539. The gearbox is a later reverse gear box. Mine is a similar mix of bits. I suspect the Russians have a favourite 'formula' for putting these together. I've put pictures of mine in this section, probably about 6 pages back if they havn't been deleted by now.

[gspell68]

I didn't think about the downside to my friend in Poland. He only speaks Polish and German.

 

Here's a couple easy links to some folks that can do English in your neck of the woods, though. Easy to pay through the post credit union or community bank.

 

http://www.ural-zentrale.de/

 

http://www.ural-hamburg.de

 

http://www.oldtimergarage.szn.pl/

 

You can find some cool stuff on German eBay, too.

 

http://fahrzeugteile.search.ebay.de/ural-d...gZ1QQsofocusZbs

 

On the registration thing, they usually don't give you grief about motorcycles, especially when garaged during the winter months. It's probably a different status than inop/non-op in reality. But do get the 30 day thing right before you leave, though, if you haven't gotten it registered otherwise (and you can ship 'em home in your household goods for free). Or try in Darmstadt where I did mine, or some other community.

 

And in the 1st or 2nd weekend in May (I think) there's the Motorama thing in Mannheim. Not to be missed. It's probably the biggest motorcycle parts fest in Europe.

[zach]

For visual reference for the frame number location........

[Bill]

"I have the starter "

 

I guess that means you have the kick starter arm because that is all it has!

 

I am happy for you! I bought my bikes in Kazakhstan. Mostly they were in that shape or worse. It is pretty rewarding to rebuild one yourself. They really are simple machines so dive right in. By the time you finish you will be an expert! Rewiring is really no big deal. I have rewired at least 10 Soviet bikes like this. It takes me about 1/2 hour to make a wiring harness and hook it up! It took a little longer the first time though!

 

Bill

[VWNate1]

Ryan ;

 

WELCOME to The FOIL !

 

This bike's engine is a flathead and so has NO VALVE COVERS ! . it does have simple cylinder heads tho' .

 

You'll find this to be a sturdy , well engineered machine , the cobby welds usualy have good penetration and so are safe , just a bit of grinding the slag to clean 'em up a bit is all you needs do .

 

Like ken and S.B. said , work carefully and methodically and you'll be rewarded with the most fun Moto you've ever had , I promise you this .

 

That bike is in pieces but looks pretty good compared to the junk I tend to drag home

 

Take some time to read back posts and begin printing out and saving a hommeade shop manual , looseleaf format as you will be needing and referring to it a lot .

[gspell68]

I don't get the feeling that the bike is a true K-750. The frame did come from KMZ but maybe a Dnepr MT-???. The upper shocktower doesn't look as re-inforced as much as a K-750. Maybe it's just the angle or lighting, though. Also the hack fender isn't rounded like a K-750 (the misplaced, downward pointing sidecar lamp is, though).

 

Good thing is that you got the cool Dnepr-matic transmission with reverse.

 

The "starter" you speak of is probably the 6 volt generator. The real starter is that dog-leg looking thing at the rear of the transmission!!!

 

The end plates for the heads can be had in 3 different styles.

[valicaddy]

To be sure what kind of engine you have ( I can't see in the pictures) lok at the following pictures: the engine case with cooling fins at the bottom is a K750 case, the other is IMZ M72

[valicaddy]

the number 72xxxx on the cylinder is actually the part number.