Hi everyone, thanks for adding me to the forum.
I recently acquired 1985 k100rs model, and I'm thinking of starting full restoration because bike has been neglected for a fairly long time. Engine runs quite well with no hiccups so far but I have noticed water pump leak, oil leak from the bottom of bell housing, etc. I'm assuming that nothing has been done to the engine, and after 30 years, it's probably a good idea to check all seals, bearings, clutch, timing chain... Bike odometer shows 60,000km. I will post a few pictures, and I hope you guys can help me with your knowledge when in comes to engine repair and maintenance. Thanks

Cheers

Welcome to the K bike world ! Lots of info here as well as members to advise.  Always good to see another Kanuck 

Welcome aboard, be great to have one more along for the ride.

Thanks Mr Bill and Rick G,

It's my pleasure to finally own k bike, I think it's going to take a a great amount of hours and elbow grease to return it to previous glory.

Cheers

Worth every minute ! Coveted one when they appeared in the 80s but could not afford it.  30 years later I could and did   Just did my first 400+km in the last week and loved it 

Bole!
Winterpeg:  My birth town and heading there this summer.  Great to have you on the forum.  Like Mr. Bill (Oh Nooooo) I coveted the BMW when they came out and now I too have one.  Do lots of reading of old posts here as most of the problems you will face have been solved already on this forum.

nvboy

Welcome, at 60,000 km I would guess that the engine is just about done with the break in period.  As far as the leaks, you might want to pull the transmission as part of the spline lube process.  Remove the clutch and replace the rear main seal and the o-ring.  There is a bunch of other rubber stuff you want to take a close look at.  Breather hoses, fuel lines, and throttle body bushings.  Brakes need flushing and might be leaking due to corrosion in the master and caliper cylinders.  Other than that, the general consensus is that the rest of a mechanical restoration is cleaning electrical connections and a complete fluid change.  If it has sat for a while the tank and injectors may need a good cleaning as well.

Hi nvboy,

Make sure when you stop by this summer to contact me so we can grab a beer together. Ill do a lot of reading before i tackle anything, thanks


Thanks Point Seven Five, i agree with you, ill start by separating engine/trans. from the frame first. I'm curious to see if the splines were greased regularly, i hope i dont need a new driveshaft.

Cheers Guys

here are few pics, so far engine turns over and starts fine, no unusual noises also, i took it for a hr drive  to feel the clutch, noticed hard upshifting from 2 to 3, have to pull the transmission off to check splines

Welcome too.

As for the engine, no need to go into it too far at all 60k kilometres is just run in. Lots of high miles engines around, the known issues are well documented on the forum. Point secen five sums it up well but am adding a few more.
Oil/water pump
Rear engine seal.
Spline lubes
Rubbers like intake, fuel lines, crank case breather.
Fuel injectors/tank/pump need cleaning.

Fluids
Filters.

Brakes clean out, likely fail of master cylinders so probably wise to just do them with repair kits.

Water pumps changed and the early type with a nut on the impeller are not recommended and in fact usually break when you try to do them. On mine I ended up with a new shaft as it was also pitted/worn, so wiser to go the full way and get newer shaft/seals/impeller etc. Intricate little job but great access.

Rear disc looks original, later ones are solid.........the perforated ones seemed to have crack issues. I put a brand new solid rear disc on 2 years ago and quite amazed at the amount of wear. Put new tyres on at the same time and have since fitted 3 more sets.

Centre stands are prone to breaking, the part that you press down with your foot snaps off with the bottom of the stand. You can weld in reinforcement or do an upgrade. [looking at the photos again seems that's been done....]

Your photo looks like an early type seat. You should be aware drive shafts changed, from 16 to 20 spline and you need to know which when you go looking. They are not interchangeable.

I may be opening a can of worms here suggesting this but sprag clutches can give bother. Recently 88 on the forum did a mod suggested elsewhere on the forum. This involves drilling into the engine to make an access hole for penetrating oil to free it up. Saves separating the engine and its quite a cinch. Special tapper then for the hole so you can access anytime you need. Done last week and has worked.

A second small but useful mod is Sidecar Paul's fuel cap hole so you can open the gas tank if the opening mechanism fails as it will in time. A very simple one but then allows you to use a screwdriver to get it open. I had to do this recently and it saved the expensive cost of replacing the cap as it comes as a complete assembly.

For comfort a new clutch cable might be good, amazing the difference it makes. Very important to lubricate the nipple in the lever, if sticks and if it cant rotate as you use the lever the cable will snap off pronto and the nipple falls away down under. BMW in their wisdom do not include the nipple or the little sleeve it sits in with the clutch cable so wise to get one and keep it spare somewhere.

If you go into splines check out the gear position indicator sensor, swing arm has to come off to access it so that's your chance to take it out and clean it.

In the photos the oil level window looks solid back. Just check the oil level, it should be to the centre of the window, to the red dot. The red circle marks minimum and maximum. They don't like too much oil and that can cause seal issues.

If you put the VIN into your signature anyone with more technical knowledge than me can point you in the right direction.

After that just enjoy the K....

Regarding the hard shifting, I recently purchased a small bottle of molybdenum disulfide 1.5 micron powder on eBay.  Pretty cheap(like $8 for a one ounce bottle which is enough to do about three transmissions and final drives).

I put two heaping teaspoons in the transmission and one in the final drive of my K100RS.  After about an hour of riding there was a noticeable increase in the smoothness of the shifting.  I understand that this powder is used in helicopter gearboxes and a lot of Nascar teams are using it in their transmissions where it lowers the running temperature.

Regarding the sprag clutch.  I had a problem with mine recently.  Probably as a result of the molybdenum assembly lube I had used during a cylinder head job combined with the accumulated dirt from 24 years and 110,000 miles.  I drained the old oil and replaced it with a bottle of Seafoam fuel system cleaner with 3 quarts of cheap 10W30 oil.  Ran the engine for about a 45 minutes and did an oil and filter change with good oil.  You should have seen how black the oil came out after such a relatively short time.  No sprag issues since.

Hi from Oz Bole

Great to have you on board - and there is lots of advice assistance and old fashioned mateship here in this forum

No doubt we will be hearing more about your new ride soon 

Cheers
Gary

Hi Bole. WelKome to our Korner of the Internet.
As you can see everyone is very keen to help with advice and just talk about our much loved Ks.... and just my 2 cents worth regarding the sprag clutch.... Its an annoying problem that may or may not bother you. Basically it comes down to the quality of the oil you use and the general running condition of your machine. Use of low quality mineral oils and high operating temps can result in sludge, especially if there are contaminants. Synthetic oils can help prevent sprag clutch issues due to its high detergent properties plus its ability to cope with higher engine temps. There are also good quality detergent mineral oils. Take your pick.

Also, as olaf mentioned, the fuel cap mod is very useful. Our caps are quite old now and the mechanism gets quite stiff. Some maintenance here, and with the ignition switch will save a lot of bother and inconvenience down the track. Both these mechanisms can be easily dismantled, cleaned and regreased. If you can't find the instruction here on the forum just ask.

Cheers