Winter project 2021

goblin59

So starting my 2021 winter project a little earlier this year, a 1981 BMW R100rs (with S fairing)

I'm hoping to have this finished for next summer to take across Germany through switzerland and then down to france.

So my Dad bought this bike in 1986 and its always been kept outside and hasn't ran since 2001 as he got a Yamaha Diversion and was using that for a bit and then a K75.

So a complete rebuild is needed on this bike, so a serious project and learning experience for me!

Already have the motobins engine and gear box manuals infront of me, and a haynes manual thats older than I am and shows it.

So my plan is to completly strip this bike down, get the frame and forks sandblasted and powder coated, the engine and carbs are getting Vapour blasted and the engine repainted.

The wheels are being vapour blasted and repainted

Every fastener on this bike will be replaced as well with stainless steel (Theyre all fucked anyway)

Electronics are being upgraded,

Will be getting in contact with Ikon in england to see if they can save the Koni Dial a ride shocks, and then upgrading the forks with a brace, inertia dampeners and progressive springs.

goblin59

The bike looks in better condition here than in reality. Also that seat cowl is fucked and in need of replacement

goblin59

So you can see the extent of the work I've cut out for me,

I've going to keep the bike original looking, not going to turn it into a cafe racer as that wouldn't leave it as a the bike that use to drop me off to primary school / weekend sports clubs when i was younger

IrishGrimReaper

This is a naturally beautiful bike worth the effort and I don't even like project work. Keep us updated and make sure to finish it :)

omerin

Looking forward to seeing this progress, good luck

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957293#Comment_117957293

Haha its nice to do during the winter period when the weather is ****.

Plus it means if I take this bike out to Europe I'm confident about it as I'll know every part well enough to work on myself.

These bikes were like rockets back in the day as well, twin 40mm carbs on a 1000cc engine, so can't wait to start it up. I havn't sat on this bike since I was about 12 as well.

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957719#Comment_117957719

Same! So far I've been contacting all the suppliers and shops for what I need to get this bike ready while I'm taking it apart.

Going to 3D print some of the stiff I need, but theres bits I would definitely need to buy, like the gearbox tools

goblin59

So after repeated hits with a deadblow mallet, lots of fire and freezing spray finally got the exhaust pipe oout of the RHS cylinder head. Thankfully no damage.

Also got the covers off the side of the cylinders and my first look at the barrels. So far seems good, no damage to the Nikasil coatings, which would have been an expensive fix. I'm back in tomorrow so hoping to get the Barrells off completly and if i can have the engine removed from the frame.

goblin59

So I now have the engine out, gearbox removed and the frame is nearly finished being stripped down.

I'll be starting to make my initial order for parts soon for the bike which will probally add up very quickly.

I've one stripped spline bolt on the conrod, but I hope i can knock this out soon.

goblin59

Been a bit quiet on this project as I've been flat out between either working on this and actually working now that covid restrictions are lifting (plus side means I'm not wrecking my savings account for when it comes to buying parts)

Got most of the bits ready for the powder coaters. Kat from KLC wheel refurb in Enniskillen said she can redo my wheels too. My next stage is getting the engine and gearbox split and then bringing them to Enniskillen too, Kat has a vapour blasting set up, so she's going to have a look at them at the same time as the wheels.

So far the only thing that needs straight up replacing (apart from the bearings, rubbers and seals) is the seat Cowl.

goblin59

getting on a bit further with the bike.

Can see where I almost had a perfect fuel tank, except for the Righthand side where Dad hit a lamp post in the late eighties

Current plan is following the Motobins manual and get the engine stripped down for cleaning.

Ordered some parts for the bike, but going to spread this one out quite a bit

H_Lime

Great work, glad your not chopping subframe etc...

Interested in results and cost of v blasting/coating. Your the fella with the Dr's yeah??

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118188181#Comment_118188181

yeah, i couldn't do that to the poor bike!

I'll let you know the break down of the costs, I think the vapour blasting might be expensive, mainly as theres quite alot to get done, trying to have as much done up in Enniskillen as possible though to save travelling.

Yeah, still have the DR's, Dad's need new fork seals though and mine needs some wiring redone, I've a better idea now of how to do the wiring loom though.

goblin59

So the Steel work is now at the sand blasters / Powder coaters,

And the aluminium parts and wheels are with the Vapour Blasters.

Just playing the waiting game now,

I've a load of parts still to order from Motobins / Motorworks, but I need to measure a main bearing first and be sure that another plain bearing is ok before doing the order.

Also if anyone in Dublin wants anything from Motobins give me a shout, I'm shipping it to NI so no brexit tax if your in need of a part and don't mind waiting.

WestWicklow1

Great thread. Thanks for it.

Not sure if you've got anything from Motorworks recently but just to alert you...

A Motorworks package to me was returned to them by An Post in August last due to an incomplete or incorrect customs declaration. New regs came into effect in July whereby the declaration must be electronically readable.

Maybe Motorworks are on top of it by now but it might be worth your while checking with them.

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118264427#Comment_118264427

No worries, I'm looking forward to how the wheels turn out once Kat gets her hands on them

I'm bypassing all that by delivering to Fermanagh. Myself and my parents are up and down frequently between Dublin and Fermanagh, so shipping the packages to them saves all sorts of customs headaches.

Dan Jaman

Glad you mentioned bearings - does that include wheels?

Those old boxers are notorious for collapsing rear wheel bearings and stripping the drive spline in the rear drive, too.

Check the spline very carefully for wear, and buy some high-moly grease for it.

Also, the brake calipers are shite. See what upgrades are available.

Hard-won experience from running one for ages. Apart from those mentioned faults, it was fairly bulletproof.

goblin59

Yeah I've already ordered the all balls wheel and swing arm bearings.

Going to order the gearbox bearings soon, just need to measure up the plain bearings for the crank, I've plugged the rear one for getting vapor blasted, but if its damaged at all its going.

The splines and gear teeth look in good order. i inspected all of them and was following Brook Reams rebuild on his website to see what he says to look out for. Ordered the grease already for the splines

https://brook.reams.me/bmw-motorcycle-rebuilds/1983-bmw-r100rs-rebuild-project-index/

Got brembo brake discs, mines a 81RS, can't remeber off the top of the head but i think they're opposed two pot calipers, I think my mates is a single pot caliper, but his is the older model and has a drum on the rear too.

Dad said they wear down the discs quickly, so i'm hoping the new brembo discs will stop that, supposodly floating discs but I'll see.

Getting the high end alternator kit for the bike so no more diode board and got the wedgetail single trigger for the bike too

goblin59

order from Caferracerwebshop arrived.

New bearings for the wheels, swingarm and headstock.

also some motogadet stuff and 1:2 throttle and choke splitters

goblin59

Brake discs arrived today too off XLmoto, unfortunatly the boxes looked like pizza boxes, so spent the evening wishing I had ordered pizza too

goblin59

got the stuff back from the powder coaters and now just waiting on the vapour blasted stuff and deliveries from Motoworks, motobins and Wemoto.

The metal work was seriously corroded so I've sanded back the powder coating to try and smooth it out and then on Tuesday when Vinny-Byrnes reopens I'm going to buy some coach paint (or what they say is appropiate) and redo the frame using a brush.

Spent the last few days cleaning my valves and exhaust pipes which were fairly manky. Unfortunatly I think I need to buy two new valves due to pitting on the more exposed side of the bike.

I'll probally send the heads off to Motoworks to be made suitable for unleaded fuel and have new valves set in at the same time.

I was also looking at the clock and Voltmeter on the bike, and theyre corroded beyond my ability to save. So I ordered new ones off aliexpress for pretty cheap. I will probally see if a watch maker or jeweler can swap the Motometer faces over to the new ones for me to make it look like they're original

Esel

Trying to make out your graffiti there. 😀

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118406817#Comment_118406817

I gave up noticing it xD we rented this unit last year and was a mechanic garage (pretty sure chop shop) before we were in it.

Unfortunatly getting demolished just after Easter though so i'm not on a time limit to finish the bike and get out of here! otherwise I'll be building it in the apartment and last minute assembling it in the garage since I definitely can't fit a motorcycle in lift.

Plus the caretaker would kill me if he caught me doing that

Zebbedee

Really enjoying this rebuild thread the same as the DR rebuild.

What's particularly cool about this rebuild from your perspective is the fact that it was your Dad's bike first many years ago.

Amazing foresight on your Dad's part in not selling the bike on after he was finished riding it.

I'd give anything to have any of the bikes that my Dad owned.

Well done you (and your Dad) 👏

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410197#Comment_118410197

Dad is a bloody hoarder xD Unfortunatly alot of his vehicles end up living in the field by the house which is where this easily could have ended up. We have a Jawa up the field at the moment and two sidecars.

We have two long wheel based land rovers in the field also, a series 3 and a Defender 110, he's only just talking about rebuilding the defender, which means it will probally be a project for next winter.

Yeah, this is always the bike I would think of if someone asked me about Dad's bikes, himself and mum toured alot of europe on it before we were born.

The DR was a way to learn basic maintance as I went into it with year on the license and barely knowing oil changes and so on.

This time I'm learning to rebuild (at least dismantle) an Engine at the same time.

goblin59

I bought a Daytona twin signal so I can run digital and analog speedo signals (digital to the M-unit and analog to the original instrument cluster) the only downside is I can't find a M18 to M12 speedo adapter that works.

Currently 3D printing this prototype, but if it works, I might see if I can get someone with a lathe to make up an aluminium version for me

goblin59

wemoto, motobins and motoworks order. Plus replacement bolts from ACCU

Zebbedee

That's some nice stash of goodies.

You'll have fun opening that lot

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118477002#Comment_118477002

haha i did! unfortunatly I can't put them onto the bike yet.

waiting on the engine and wheels to come back from the vapour blasters.

spending this week painting the frame and tank, went to Vinny byrnes and got paint made up to match the original paint code from BMW.

next week I'm going to tackle the pin striping and then varnish it all

goblin59

Got a message that all my parts should be available for collection at the end of the week!

Only issue is Kat didn't do the barrels or engine block as she didn't want to damage the Nikalsil lining on the barrels and then theres an oil channel in the block thats 1mm diameter and Tom Cutter from Rubber chicken Racing warned me that its prone to sludging up and destroying engines. So I'll be doing those by hand

Decided to redo my tank and cowl as I wasn't happy with the tiny dents in them, so currently have filler spray paint drying over night before sanding down and hopefully I'll have a better finish.

Brake Calipers are also drying at the moment with their first coat of paint.

H_Lime

Your rockin and rolling man. Fair play.

There's a new bike at the end of all the work waiting for you.

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118514601#Comment_118514601

I think by the end of this I could have waited a bit longer for an RnineT. But it wouldn't have the same history. Once the bike is finished we're ordering stickers for the panniers/topbox for the countries that my parents have taken this bike too.

goblin59

so spent the week prepping and painting the tank and brake calipers.

Kat down at KLC in Fermanagh told me the parts I sent to her for vapour blasting and the wheels (she mainly does wheels) were ready for collection. Picking up my wheels tomorrow, she vapour blasted them and repainted them with a two pack paint.

H_Lime

Looking sweet. Great finishes.

Concern for me would have to be media in engine epassage ways/insides of covers post vb. Been here before.

Any blind holes are a mare to shift it from especially cast holes that ain't straight where you can't see the end.

It's why I went soda on the blue dr.

Thoughts?

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118515973#Comment_118515973

Cheers! I'll be painting all week I think, and probally next week too. I'm really happy with how the wheels turned out. I should have gotten a before picture. This was a similar colour scheme originally to the Austrailian John Player special, so always had the light gold wheels, but the paint flaked off decades ago.

Tom Cutter from Rubber chicken racing said the exact same thing to me when I was talking to him on facebook about Vapour blasting.

So the engine block and also the barrells didn't get vapour blasted in the end. I'm going to soida blast those myself, Didn't want to risk the Nikasil lining on the barrells from the particles in the vapour slurry

Everything is also going into an Ultra sonic cleaner and I'm going to make up a parts washer too. (Big bucket with strong degreaser and a paint stirrer attachment for a drill)

goblin59

Still working away on the bike. Just getting frustrated by the petrol tank, turns out the black paint will show up every day imperfection so I had to strip it back and fill it in again today.

I've been slowly cleaning the vapour blasted parts I got back too, and then I've new bearings for the gearbox, unfortunatly the input drive gear looks like it needs replacing, they're quite pitted.

Next week I'm hoping to get the bike parts Lacquered and then assemble a rolling frame.

goblin59

Been kept busy with painting and swearing at the bike.

Have most of the bike now painted apart from the fuel tank, which I discorvered corrosion in. So getting phosphoric acid next week to dissolve the rust and then apply a liner.

Finished rebuilding the master cylinders today, the Rear cylinder was a pain to get the crush seal to sit correctly. Hoping to pick up my Wheels tomorrow from Franklins and then over the weekend I'll have a rolling frame.

goblin59

Called over to a friends house yesterday to get a hand with the gearbox.

Using his Hydraulic press and a set of bearing pullers made everything so much easier so rebuilding the gearbox, the input shaft gear was partially worn, it probally was good for another 30,000km but since I was at the gearbox, it was worth redoing at the same time as the bearings as I don't want to really be taking the gearbox apart again unless I have too. It was quite pitted.

Replaced all the bearings as seals, and then hopefully tomorrow I'll rebuild the forks and Start work on the engine over the weekend.

Had to wait on new drain bolts to arrive as turns out I didn't have any, so that put a hold on the fork rebuild.

goblin59

These just arrived today too.

Picked up the Corbin Seat, Panniers and Pannier racks recently from a seller in England

goblin59

bit of advice for anyone doing a full nut and bolt rebuild.

Take the time and label everything and do up a spreadsheet of all the bolts!

I have a box of parts from the powder coaters and have to google what some of the parts are.

goblin59

I also managed to misplace my final drive gasket,

Thankfully was easy enough to do up on Fusion360 and laser cut a new one from gasket material

flashinthepan

Handy bit of gear that :-)

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739900#Comment_118739900

Definitely! Unfortunatly I've yet to find a database of motorcycle gaskets, which I'm surprised at.

goblin59

flashinthepan

Starting to take shape :-)

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742058#Comment_118742058

Thankfully yeah! hoping to be finished by the end of the month. waiting on some engine parts to arrive this week and hopefully drop the engine in by the end of the week. After that its the electrics.

I'm looking at a denali soundbomb for the horn so I've to look into the wiring for that as it needs 30 amps, so I'll have to run a relay which isn't complicated, just didn't want to install one

goblin59

lines are painted onto the fuel tank now, going to lacquer it next week.

flashinthepan

You could go with the sound bomb mini which is better than the std horn and only needs 5a

Have one on the V and yeah it wakes them up :-)

Nice work on the tank by the way

goblin59

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749124#Comment_118749124

I was definitely condisering the sound bomb mini! Mainly as after I measured up the soundbomb its like having a lunchbox on the side of the bike.

Cheers!

https://www.pinstripinguk.com/finesse-pinstriping-tape-f-30

I'm using this tape for the guidelines, takes a small bit of practise to use especially to get it to go around corners smoothly.

flashinthepan

:-) your patience is far far better than mine

Your doing a great job of it :-)

J

goblin59

Thats the engine dropped in now, waiting on a flange bolt before mounting the gearbox.

I'm going to install the clutch tomorrow morning and then I've to wait on parts to arrive from Motoworks. (Hopefully the last damn order, but something will turn up missing. )