After the restoration: 14,400 Mile Service

I had time today, so I replace the spark plugs with new plugs and removed both carbs and gave them a good cleaning. Jets and airways seem to be clear. If nothing else, they look better. I’ll find out if this helped Saturday.

A week and a half ago I got the bike started with minimal problems. After breakfast, however, the bike did not want to start, even when pushed. Of course, as soon as someone else tried to kick the bike over after I got tired it fired up on his 2nd kick. Anyway, adjusting carbs without adjusting the valves first was kind of dumb, so today I’m going to check the valves as well as revisiting the float level.

The valves on the left side checked out fine. As long as I was there I re-torqued the head and checked the valves again. Still fine. The right side was another story – not surprising as that head was off the bike this time last year or about 2,000 miles ago. The exhaust was OK, but the intake was tight. I re-torqued that head and set the valves.

As long as I was in the general area of cylinders and heads I checked the cylinder base nuts and renewed the anti-seize on the exhaust nut. One of the base nuts was a touch loose. I also noticed some weepage from the base gasket on the left side of the bike.

Now that the valves are OK I double checked the lever-tops for float level. I slightly tweaked the top for the left carb. I also removed and cleaned the idle air screws, something I did not do when I cleaned the carbs last month. Interesting: the Bing book notes the starting adjustment of 2 turns out from lightly seated.

One of the things I have done this last month was prepare a “new” advance unit out of pieces from older advance units, selecting the best parts. I thought I’d try this to see if it makes any difference in my top end. More on that, later.

I pulled the front cover to replace the advance and check the static timing. The two pictures of the coil/magneto show the problem that caused me to start this service early, but I didn’t notice it yet. The new advance mechanism went on the bike and I checked the points and adjusted them for appropriate static timing. Then I looked at the spark plug leads.

Well, no wonder the bike is hard to start. Notice the lead for the left side spark. The retaining screw has worked its way loose and the lead is just dangling in the socket. I’m amazed that the bike started at all. I pulled things appart looking for the missing screw but couldn’t find it. I’ll have to scrounge one up as my only spares are with my spare coil which is out on loan. I expect the bike will start easier with both spark leads firmly attached.

Also, the last thing I did as part of cleaning the carbs was to set the idle air adjustment to the bing recommended starting point of two turns out – they were about one turn out. That was the inspiration for the pictures. Actually, I just like taking pictures of my bike.

The tach/timer is telling me that the bike was running quite nice just 23 engine hours ago. I’d like to get it back that way. I re-connected the coil wire to the points and tried kicking it over. I’ve still problems.

The bike starts, eventually. Once started it is actually running OK, now. The timing seems to be fine at idle and off idle. I did not check to see if the F mark was reached at higher RPM. I suspect that my starting problem is that the idle circuit is still a touch too rich. I’ll ride it to Darryl’s tech day for more work, Saturday. In the meanwhile I’ll charge the battery.

Look what came from Mr UPS man this afternoon, a new coil from Vech. This after market coil has an extra ground strap. I ordered the coil because last Saturday the bike started fine at my house, but was running rough and didn’t want to idle. I rode to Joe’s where I hoped some expert help would help me get the carbs dialed in. We couldn’t get the bike started. After breakfast it started, but after we killed it playing with carb settings it didn’t want to start again. I finally decided to just ride the bike home – it’s only starting that is a problem. It runs fine cruising down the highways.

I tried to get the old coil out without removing the magneto body but found the screw on the left side (the bike’s left) buggered just enough that I couldn’t get a good bite with a stubby screwdriver. I marked the approximate magneto body position with a Sharpie and removed the rotor and then the body to remove the coil.

I placed the extra ground strap on the new coil under the mounting screw, tightened things down, then installed the magneto body back in the bike using the sharpie marks to get it close to where it was. I had just enough time to put the rotor back on the bike when my grandson woke from his nap (it’s babysitting day). I’ll play more, tomorrow.

I took the R1200GS to brunch this morning. After a leisurable ride home and performing some errands I got back to the R69S. Since I’d removed the magneto body I checked the static timing… right on. The bike started after a few kick – a good sign – and the timing light said the dynamic timing is good, too.

I hit 14,400 miles on the ride back from breakfast and CalBMW last Saturday. Family obligations and a rude person who attemted to drive through our yard, taking out part of a fence and our irrigation system before driving away have kept me away from the bike. Oh, and yesterday was my 35th Wedding Anniversary.

The engine was cold wen I drained the oil, but since I’m removing the oil pan for cleaning anyway it really doesn’t make any difference. I got a bit smarter with respect to a drain pan. It’s a cut down plastic bottle that fits between the legs of the center stand. Works great.

While the oil was draining I removed the exhaust system. This was done for a few reasons: 1) to easier clean it; 2) to get the cross over pipe out of the way to drain the transmission oil; and 3) to apply fresh anti-seize so I’ll be able to remove it in the future should that need arise.

The engine oil was quite black, but then it usually is.
This oil was in the bike for just under 1,400 miles or 36 operating hours, slightly more than usual. There was a very small amount of oil on the “shelf”. So small that it’s not worth thinking about.

The transmission oil came out looking quite good, a little darker than new oil, yet still amber in color. This transmission has not given me many problems, but I still may replace it with another that is currently being renewed at the Beemershop. If so, I’ll put a new clutch in the bike at the same time.

Once the transmission was drained I removed the oil pan for cleaning and inspected the oil strainer. I decided that the oil strainer was clean enough and did not remove it. I’ve commented before that the need to clean the strainer and oil pan probably was important before detergent oils.

I cleaned the pan (mainly the exterior) and checked that the mounting holes weren’t dimpled. I applied some goo to the pan then used a fresh cork gasket. The mounting screws were cleaned and then the pan put back on the bike with the same goo put on the threads of the screws.

The exhaust system needs cleaning, polishing, and waxing.
It can wait a little bit. Tools and bike were put away while I contemplate what needs to be done, next. Plugs, points, condensor, cleaning the fuel petcock, and cleaning the carbs were done when trying to diagnose the coil problem.

Today I’m going to drain the fluid in the swing arm and the final drive as well as remove the final drive and open it up to check for proper bearing orientation, a potential problem pointed out my one of the members of the slash2 mailing list. As usual, I had to back off the left side shock mounting bolt to remove the wheel. I did not have to let the air out of the tire.

I found lots of sludge on the drain plug. Some of it was magnetic, but it was not the slivers of steel that I see when things are going bad. Since I’m opening up the FD anyway I’ll give it a good cleaning. The oil that came out of the final drive did not look that bad. The oil that came out of the swing arm looked new.

The drive splines still look great. I levered off the brake shoes with a large screwdriver and took them outside for cleaning.

Before removing the brake lever I used a scribe to mark its position on the splined brake cam shaft so I can put it back together the way it came apart. The nuts that hold the cover were removed and the cover removed using the puller screws from the many-in-one kit from Ed Korn.

The inside of the FD and the gears look fine. I cleaned out a bit more sludge that had accumulated near the drain plug. The orientation of the ring gear needle bearing is correct on this unit. It must be my spare unit that has it incorrect. When inserted incorrect it looks like this.

Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc., are over so it is time to get back to the R69S. Today the swing-arm is going to come off the bike so I can take a look at the bearings.

As long as I was cleaning things up I removed the silvered tape that I’d covered the battery and applied lots of dielectric grease around the connections before hooking the battery up to the tender.
The acid level in all cells was OK, but I added a few drops to bring all cells to the max mark.

The luggage rack came off as it makes removing the rear mud guard a bit easier. I think I got it off without adding any new scratches.

As long as the mud guard was off I washed it, inside and out. In taking the first picture, left, I noticed that the clear lens for the license plate light was missing. Wonder when I lost that? I did remove the lens to see if it was inside the “coffee can”: no such luck.

The picture on the left explains one of the reasons I need to remove the swing-arm. The seals are so tight that when I pump grease through the pin it does not force the old grease out around the seal, it just comes right back out through the pin when the grease gun is removed. I’ll take the swing-arm off, check and re-grease the bearings, and install with new seals.

The boot is folded back to access the drive shaft attachment screws. I remembered to have a catch bucket under the boot to catch the oil that lives there. Once the drive shaft screws were removed I backed out the swing-arm pivots and removed the swing-arm. The seals were popped, the roller bearings cleaned and checked (they are OK), then oiled and stored in a zip-lock bag until it’s time to put things back together.

That‘s it for today. I spent more time on the battery than I intended. Tomorrow I’ll pull the transmission and replace the clutch. I think I have all the parts on hand to do that.

I started out removing the battery tray, air tubes, speedo cable, and the two electrical connections to the transmission. It looked like the lift straps would be in the way. I lowered the bike onto the center stand and loosened the strap to get access to the transmission from the left side.

Dirty. I see no signs of transmission input seal leaking, but the face of the transmission is covered in clutch dust. Closer examination shows some wear on the input splines and the nose of the throw-out rod. That’s what I get for using the infamous BMW #10 grease, I guess.

The transmission cleans up quite nicely. I used nothing more than WD-40 and some paper towels. Lots of paper towels. After cleaning you can better see the wear to the input splines. There is a slight step.

In cleaning up the clutch lever I noticed that it was splitting in two. The curved portion moves quite easily with my finger. I suspect that I can salvage this part with some JB Weld for my backup transmission. I’ll put my new, spare lever on the bike when I put it together.

Before moving on to the clutch I used a Honda product to lightly lube the input splines and the nose of the throw-out rod. This stuff gets good reviews. It’s got to be better than the BMW #10.

It took me three hours to get to this point. One of the clutch screws did not want to come out. I must take full responsibility for this as I’m the one who put it in.
Also, I never got the proper size bit for removing the slotted screws. Every time I went to buy a larger bit, even one too large that I could grind down, the store was out. The too small bit I was using in my air impact destroyed the screw without budging it. Further attempts to get the screw out resulted in nothing more than scratches on the inside of the case or the pressure ring as the bit spun away. What do do?

The clutch had a little bit of wear left, with 0.8 mm to the rivets and a total width of about 7.75 mm. A new clutch of this type is 9 mm. 14,424 miles ago the clutch was 8.5 mm with about 1.2 to the rivets. I suspect that wear is accelerated due to the type of pressure ring. There are no slots to let the clutch dust out. The new pressure ring doesn’t have that problem.

That’s all for today. I cleaned up and put the other bike back in the garage. It will be a while before I get back to working on the bike unless I can squeeze in some time this weekend. I’m otherwise busy until at least Tuesday afternoon.

These are the new clutch parts that are going on the bike. Some of the items were purchased quite a while ago. The cable, on the other hand, was purchased last week. Seemed silly to negate the feel of a new clutch with an old cable.

The clutch pieces are on the bike and the clutch centering tool is used to get the clutch disk more-or-less centered while I tighten the clutch tooling screws.

The clutch is installed… but. I’m concerned about the ribs on the pressure ring. I think they stick out enough to hit the ribs on the transmission case. Do I have the wrong pressure ring, or do I need to grind down the ribs?

I held a straight-edge over the pressure ring and measured from the straight-edge to the case. I need about 4 mm clearance. If I give myself 5 mm clearance I should be fine.

The last thing I want is metal bits stuck to the transmission input splines, especially since I already coated them with a thin film of moly. I masked the splines and input seal then did the rough grind using the grinding wheels I had at hand. This is only the rough cut. I’ll take off the rest of the metal and smooth things out when I replace my conical grinding stone.

I never got to the store to get a new grinding stone so decided to use a medium grit wheel. The yellow card is taped to the straight-edge such that it stick down 5 mm. That is the clearance I need. Makes it real easy to check if I need to take any more metal off the ribs. When the card said I had clearance on all four ribs I did a test fit. Yep. No binding.

Once the transmission was in the bike I hooked up the new clutch cable after giving the exposed portions a very light coating of grease. Kick the bike with the clutch in: easy, the engine is not engaged. Kick again with the clutch out: the engine turns (spitting out the paper towels I had stuffed in the exhaust port!). The clutch works and feels good, too.

Now that the transmission is on the bike I can reinstall the battery shelf, after giving it and its attaching screws a good cleaning. When installing the shelf I noticed I’d forgotten to install the clutch spring keeper. The keeper is a cable tie that keeps the clutch spring from popping off as it will sometimes want to do.

I cleaned the swing-arm bearings again, greased them, and installed them in the swing arm with even more grease. I may even have used a touch too much grease as one of the new seals wanted to pop out of the swing-arm. I finally got it to stay.

This image shows the swing arm installed, with excess grease coming out of the pivot grease holes. I centered the swing-arm in the frame and adjusted the pivots until there was zero side-to-side play. I will check the play one more time before putting the bike back on the road, but for now tightened the lock nuts and installed the protective caps.

I used the same screws to install the drive shaft that I removed, but they required a lot of cleaning with a wire brush. Once the were clean enough to look new I could see they had not stretched. I installed them with blue loctite. It was the old blue loctite that required the cleaning effort.

The bike, with the bell crank attached to the swing-arm, is ready for the rear mud guard. I applied a second coat of paste wax to both the frame and the mud guard paying extra attention to the areas that will be hidden once things are together.

The mud guard went on the bike without adding any new scratches. All screws save those also used to hold the luggage rack are installed loosely in the first image. The luggage rack was then cleaned, polished, and waxed and added to the bike. Finally every mounting screw was checked for tightness.

Next I installed the final drive, using the same paper gasket as it is in good shape. I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt me. I put about 100 cc of gear oil in the drive shaft using the syringe seen in the image. The end of the syringe is attached to about 10 inches of plastic tubing, perfect for filling things like swing-arm and final drives.

The engine got 2 quarts of 10W-40. New crush rings were used for everything but the swing-arm fill screw. Seems I ran out of that size of crush ring. At least I had one new one for the drain plug. I’ll have to order some more.

Last thing today was to hook up the rear brake rod, clean up a bit, and put a clean catch bucket where I can see if there are any leaks from final drive or swing arm. I’m not expecting any, but I am re-using a gasket so want to make sure all is OK.

Today I’d like to finish up the rear of the bike which means checking and re-greasing the rear wheel bearings. The first step is to remove the bearing retaining screw, hub cover, and thrust sleeve. I removed as much of the old grease from the bearing retaining screw as possible.

My wheel bearing maintenance tools are a spare rear axle (not pretty, but functional) and a piece of pipe with the ends cut square with a washer an nut. I use this to hold the bearing stack together while I drive it out of the wheel with a dead-blow hammer. Quick and easy.

Once the wheel was back together I used the brake cleaner to make sure the drum is clean and also cleaned the splines on the wheel and on the final drive as best as I could. I coated both with a very thin coating of the Molly 60 paste and put the wheel on the bike. The axle is done, but I have not torqued the pinch bolt yet. I like to bounce the bike up and down a few time first, and the stand is in the way right now.

With the wheel on the bike I dropped the hinged section of the rear mud guard and bolted it in place. That reminded me to install the new license plate light lens. The lens has a slight flaw, but as it’s in a place where it isn’t seen and was free.

I was going to install the battery, air cleaner and air tubes. Well, the air tubes are installed, anyway. I see I haven’t wired up the rear lights to the junction, yet. The battery will have to wait. Also, I cleaned the air cleaner housing then found that I got the wrong replacement filter. I’ll have to re-install the old filter. I wonder if I ordered the wrong thing or if the wrong thing was shipped?
Oh well. I’ll find someone locally who can use the taller filter. My old filter is still quite clean.

I’ve a bunch of pictures of the wiring of the junction box so I didn’t bother taking a picture before I disconnected the wires to the rear mud guard. Ooops. Seems like all my previous pictures were of the old mud guard which had different colored wires. No biggie.
The multi-meter plus a quick look at the tail light told me all I needed to know. Seems I wired it according to at least one version of the book — if you assume that the white wire is really grey!

The battery, now fully charged, went in and a quick test showed problems with the brake light. The bulb is OK. Oh, I pushed the wire too far into the terminal block so I made contact with insulation instead of copper. An easy fix. The only other issue was no neutral indicator. A little fiddling showed that I was in a false neutral between 2nd and 3rd. Easy to do when you’re spinning the rear wheel by hand and shifting with your left hand. When in the proper neutral all is OK.

The air cleaner housing with the old air cleaner is back in the bike. That finishes just about everything in the rear half of the bike. I still have work to do on the front end.

Since they are not going to be in my way when on the bike (and are in my way when on the garage floor) I put the exhaust system back on the bike. I put everything on loose, jiggled things for proper fit, then tightened both exhaust nuts, the clamps on both sides at the foot-pegs, and finally the screws holding the silencers. I also tightened the rear axle pinch bolt while I was in that general area.