Gunner, thanks for the detailed update on your Beemer.

Hope to get started on mine within a few weeks.
Parked it outside in 1980 (San Francisco East Bay). Climate not as harsh
as yours. Every two years or so, I would take somebody's $5 bill, betting
that it would start on the second kick. Never failed.

Happy New Year Gunner!!!!

BTW, one of these years I'll drive down to meet with you and buy a decent
lathe from you.

Ivan Vegvary

"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:15:27 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
. ..
More in the continuing saga of Gunner and 2 wheeled iron......

After this is resolved, comes the BMW, which should either be the
easiest, or hardest to get running again...sigh

Gunner

Hi Gunner,
Tell me more about the BMW. I am restortin my 1964 R69S which I have
owned
since new. Had the frame powder coated, and the next step is to
disassemble
the engine so I can get to the oi slinger. Only 27k miles on the bike.

Ivan Vegvary


http://picasaweb.google.com/gunnerasch/BMW

1973 R90/6, with about 87,000 on the engine. Ive put at least 50,000 of
those miles on it just commuting. For many many years I wanted a BMW,
having owned Harleys, Nortons etc etc etc..and found this one. It had
been disassembled for painting..and left in several large cardboard
boxes and the previous owner lost his Round Tuit. I got it for $600,
about 1993 or so on a Wed evening. Saturday afternoon I rode it around
town. One of the easiest bikes Ive ever found to ride and easy to work
on. They do have some kinks...shrug..but. Plus the riding posture was
such that I, who had given up bike riding after 2 back surgeries could
actually ride it distances without being racked with pain when I got
off. I called it Trudy the Traction Machine. My back felt better
after riding it. Other bikes, Id get off and crawl into the house.

When I got the machine tool service job and starting being on the road
5-15 days at a time, sometimes only with 1 or 2 days off ..honey does
when I was home precluded riding it much. So I parked it, fired it up
every couple months, which got farther and farther apart...and
ultimately Trudy sat in the sun for about 6 yrs. The custom seat is
starting to come apart at the seams. Im gonna need to find someone who
can take the old one apart, use the existing seat fabric as patterns,
and sew a new copy. The seams are ok, the fabric is starting to go
south. Id put tarps on it, but the desert sun is murderous on tarps and
motorcycle seats.

Rear tire wont hold air, so I bought a tube just to keep it inflated,
still havent installed it yet. Recommended tires are Metzlers, but I
had really good luck with Yen Chengs over the years. Boxers tend to be
hard on the rear tires. Its claimed its because of the side to side
vibration of the engine. Shrug. They do tend to eat clutch cables as
well, as a quirk of the design, if you dont stay on top of them.

Left muffler is rotting out, used muff bandage for years, this time Im
going to have a stainless steel sleeve rolled, and then I can tig weld
it on. Owner of a fab shop owes me some favors..shrug.

Battery is hosed of course. BMW wants $250 for a replacement, Autozone
gets $35 for a lawn tractor battery with the same dimensions and CCA.
Had a roommate some years ago, who decided to start pulling parts off it
to make the Honda run. Ive got all the parts back, but the kickstand is
missing, the centerstand is missing all the bolts and springs, the
headlight bucket is missing hardware. All the external switches are
rusty/crusty, with light surface rust on parts of the frame and exhaust
system.

The Luftmeister fairing had part of the windsheild broken when the
asshole took it off, and both Luftmeister saddle bags are cracked from
when he laid the bike on its side to "work on it" Nothing I cant
easily repair with a bit of fiberglass which I have from my boat repair
days, and a coat of paint. Ill probably simply mask of fhe important
bits and rattle can the frame with Rustoleum black. The windshield,
probably replace it with Lexan. Easier to cut to shape and curve.
Though how it will hold up to desert dust at cruising speed...shrug.

Of course all the rubber gas lines are toast, the front master cylinder
had leaked out the fluid, refilled it, it leaked for a couple days,not
it seems to have stopped. When I get to it working on her, Ill use a .45
caliber Stainless steel brush on the bore of the cylinder (front disk)
and clean it out a bit. No kits available, but from varioius bits on the
internet, seals are available from other sources for other applications
that will work.

http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/partsubs.shtml

A number of parts can be straight substituted for the Pri$y BMW Part$

Relays, etc etc etc

Ill probably put in one of the electronic regulators, its claimed they
charge at lower rpms..and the boxers need every bit of help they can get
when charging.
Ill try to locate the Stromberg diaphrams as well if needed..
The bike still has the points ignition, someday Ill put in a CDI unit,
but they are a bit pricey, or used to be.

Id like to have a spare diode board as well. Mine was
working,..shrug..wont tell until I fire it up again.

First thing I need to do is change out the fuel lines, change the oil
and filters and see if I can run it off a car battery and jumper cables
on the work stand. See what it needs.
Id like to install a small oil pressure gauge as well. I had one on it
for years, but it blew out and I stuck in a plug. They have a warning
light for oil pressure, but..I like to see whats going on in the lube
system. Gonna do the same with the Royal Enfield as well when its time.

There used to be an "outlaw" BMW shop in Bakersfield. Johnny's BMW.
He had stocks of used parts, sold the new ones cheaper than any other
BMW shop. Folks would travel to him from all over the state, Lots of
bikes being worked on by their owners in the parking lot, BBQ going on
Saturdays etc.

He wound up ****ing of BMW because of his discounting and lack of German
"correctness" and they pulled his franchise. He had been around for
years, building racers etc.

He had been a paratrooper at Normandy. Claimed to have shot a bunch of
Germans with his Tommy gun, and always figured they would get even
sooner or later...chuckle.

I went by where the shop had been, and its now a granite counter top
place....sigh.

Most of the BMW shops Ive been in recently have been staffed by assholes
trying to peddle 400% overpriced ****.

$485 for ONE muffler? Come on...geeezus JC Witney and other places
sell direct replacements for $90 each.

I bought one of those pressure type cable lubers for spritzing lube in
the control cables of bikes. Still havent used it yet, but will as the
work progresses on all the bikes.


Fired the Honda up again today. Idles just hunky dory, but when I crank
on the throttle, it runs really ragged and wont even out. It has more
compression today. Seems that the rings are starting to free up and it
smokes a bit less, but is still coughing out black smoke on anything
over an idle. When I pulled the plug, it was really black and sooty.
Not oil fouled.

Today I did a bunch of shop clean up, working my way to the
back...chuckle..so didnt get much time to work on the scoots. Tossed
about 500lbs of scrap metal, misc crap Im never ever gonna use. Buddy
came by, wanted to make some speaker cover blanks for his Mustang nitro
car, so dug out some alum diamond plate, used the old grills for
templates, cut em out on the Walker Turner bandsaw, clamped em together
and finished the edges on the belt sanders. Used a microstop and
drilled/champhered mounting holes for 10-32 flat head cap screws,
Stainless steel. I gave him some new tinnerman clips to go with it.
Looks pretty cool actually after installation. I offered to have them
anodized...colbalt blue diamond plate to match his nitrious
tank...chuckle..but he said it looked fine as is.


"Upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, H. L. Mencken predicted in his diary
that Roosevelt would be remembered as a great president, "maybe even
alongside Washington and Lincoln," opining that Roosevelt "had every
quality that morons esteem in their heroes.""