Totally inspired by Charlie's resto efforts, I have decided that I am going to have a go at renovating "Donor" (my first K100LT - 1990) rather than keep stripping her for parts. 

She has been in a pretty sorry state since we were taken down by a careless motorist on a fateful morning back in November 2013. 


If I knew what I know now (I only joined the forum after that having wreck), I would have known that her repair was we'll within my capabilities...she was a lot less damaged that Gretel was last November  - and she has come back pretty looking good.



The frame isn't in too bad a shape...and certainly worthy of a spruce up.

I hope I haven't left it too late...but I have accumulated a few spares along the way, so with winter coming and while I've got the workshop space, it seems foolish not to have a go. I just need to remember which bits I have already stolen and start looking for sensibly priced replacements on eBay etc.

A lot of work ahead - hopefully it will be worth it. If nothing else, I'll get the engine and frame cleaned up and sorted out and then take things from there.

To quote the Black Knight "It's only a flesh wound".

good to see mate

wow !! , lots of bits there

good luck from down here

Enjoy the project Paul, just think of the garage space that will be freed up! A dismantled bike always seems to take up a lot of space.

OK... so you now have the next stage of K Pox..... you may need more and more parts, which may form another project down the track. To match Charlie you must possess a wheelie bin. Good luck with another K.

smithy wrote:Enjoy the project Paul, just think of the garage space that will be freed up! A dismantled bike always seems to take up a lot of space.

You're right enough there Smithy - I think I have at least 1.5 bikes worth of stuff scattered around and it does take up a lot of space doing nothing.

ainsjac wrote:OK... so you now have the next stage of K Pox..... you may need more and more parts, which may form another project down the track. To match Charlie you must possess a wheelie bin. Good luck with another K.

giggles ...

sadly the wheely bin has been repossessed stan

makes painting and finishing things up, a good deal harder on my poor old back ...really felt the pain cutting back that frame of paint and rust

ainsjac wrote:OK... so you now have the next stage of K Pox..... you may need more and more parts, which may form another project down the track. To match Charlie you must possess a wheelie bin. Good luck with another K.

Yeah - a potentially costly stage of Kpox...but reviving an old bike has to be a good thing doesn't it? Of course, I won't be increasing my K stable...just potentially increasing the rideable stock. Do I need 3x working K100LTs?

Already have a wheelie bin...so off to a good start - although I might get the engine block up onto a workbench to make it a bit more stable to work on and that'll make putting the trash out a bit easier too!

charlie99 wrote:good to see mate

wow !! , lots of bits there

good luck from down here

charlie99ainsjac wrote: wrote:

OK... so you now have the next stage of K Pox..... you may need more and more parts, which may form another project down the track. To match Charlie you must possess a wheelie bin. Good luck with another K.

giggles ...

sadly the wheely bin has been repossessed stan

makes painting and finishing things up, a good deal harder on my poor old back ...really felt the pain cutting back that frame of paint and rust

Cheers Charlie - my back was aching from bending down to separate the engine from the frame and getting some particularly stubborn parts off (like the injectors which were stuck hard). But I feel that I have made a start...I'll chain block the engine up on my work bench later today and get it at a better working height and ready to cover in degreaser...

I like your Storage system BAE - Good luck with that project. I've blown the K11 budget to take advantage of the K1 offering. Got to fund the finishing of it so work work work and hopefully when that's done I'll get stuck into restoring the LT to it's former Glory.

Never stop planning until they put you in a box!

88 wrote:I like your Storage system BAE - Good luck with that project. I've blown the K11 budget to take advantage of the K1 offering. Got to fund the finishing of it so work work work and hopefully when that's done I'll get stuck into restoring the LT to it's former Glory.

Never stop planning until they put you in a box!

That storage rack is part of the rental property - previous owner was a bit of a carpenter on the side and, I guess, made it to store all his tools and offcuts. Still, it is very handy for stashing various K bits and has room on top for the larger fairing components. However, I figure I'll be moving elsewhere by this time next year (daughters will be both away at Uni so, with no ties to the current area, I'll be looking for my next work assignment elsewhere) and that means I either need to turn the bits into a bike (hence the resto) or face moving house with a lot of bits and pieces - as Smith said, they take up more space when separated.

Hope your K1 is less trouble than your "red in a shed". The bullion brick will definitely be sulking now.

Crikey - was my last post on the subject really September (4 months ago!)? I could have finished the project by now, if I'd pulled my finger out. I blame Charlie - every time I see the latest gleaming part he produces, I seem to take a step backwards with my resto!

Anyway, my New Years Resolution (especially as I expect to be moving house again in next 6 - 10 months) - get on with it you idle sod!! I console myself with the thought that even if I did apply as much effort as Charlies does, within hours of riding her again, most of the gleam will be covered in road dirt and mud and all the effort would be lost. My priority is to rebuild and get her back on the road...she has sat quite long enough.

Needless to say, I have had a number of problems with the engine - several fasteners have sheared and need drilling out. The exhaust studs all came out without a problem (previously I had to drill out 3 studs after they sheared when replacing the exhaust - not an easy job with the engine still on the bike) - however, whilst my repair back then was effective, with the engine now off the frame and upside-down, it was clear that my drilling had been a little crooked (perhaps not surprising as I did it using a hand held drill with the bike lying on its side (on a mattress)! Lots of the original M6 allen head fasteners were in poor shape and the socket rounded off when I tried to remove them - where this happened, I gently hammered a torx bit into the allen head socket. The torx bit was hard enough to cut into the fastener metal and gripped the bolt well enough to allow it to be unscrewed. 

Anyway, progress has been made, the postman has been kept busy delivering stuff and I reckon I'm nearly ready to put the engine back together again. All engine covers, water pump cover and sump pan have been spruced up a little with some high temp enamel paint and I got a whole load of stainless steel fasteners to replace the dodgy original steel ones (bought enough for all three of my bike as the economy of scale buying by the 100 was very attractive - cost about £25 for the lot). I did look on the Motorworks site for a full set of stainless steel fasteners but couldn't bring myself to part with over £250 for a bunch of nuts and bolts (1x bike set)!



Before I do start re-assembly, I still need to repaint the rest of the engine casing - I reckon that I might need to bring it into the warmth of the kitchen though, as the engine block is a little too cold out in the workshop (unheated) for good paint application and curing. Besides there's nobody at home to say I can't!

I've also started work on the frame - most of it isn't too bad, but the rear loop has quite a lot of corrosion on it which needs a good clean up. Should get the frame painted up in the fairly near future. 

Onwards!

looks good so far paul
and yes your right, road grime is always an issue I guess especially in different climates .

don't forget the copper slip when installing those fasteners , hope fully they are 316 and marine grade , the 304 (I was reminded by the screw supply guy recently )  does suffer from corrosion quite rapidly, surprisingly even from cleaning products  , the higher the number also means they have relatively better compatibility with other metals .

cheers

Looking a bit like my K100LT that also met a car in 2013.....and which has 'donated' one or two parts to my K100RT.....although I now have the necessary parts on the shelf.....apart from a petrol tank.

charlie99 wrote:looks good so far paul
and yes your right, road grime is always an issue I guess especially in different climates .

don't forget the copper slip when installing those fasteners , hope fully they are 316 and marine grade , the 304 (I was reminded by the screw supply guy recently )  does suffer from corrosion quite rapidly, surprisingly even from cleaning products  , the higher the number also means they have relatively better compatibility with other metals .

cheers

Thanks Charlie

I'm not implying that you are wasting you time getting all your bits sparkling - far from it! I clearly just don't have the amount of patience or skill of hand that you do, so just need to get mine up to a good enough standard so that the bike can go into my daily commute rota and share the burden of the other two.

Yep - copperslip is a must. The new fasteners are 304 (A2 grade) rather than marine grade. I haven't had a problem with this grade before, but bow to your superior knowledge. Hopefully, the UK supplier I bought them off manufactured them from the proper material and didn't just buy them from China - I suspect that some of the 304 coming from the orient is not exactly what it should be. It'll be a few weeks before I'm ready to use them, so might run a little science project with a couple of them to see how they fare in salty water (I'll put one in a weak saline solution) and zip clip another one in an exposed position under one of my running bikes so it gets all the pleasure of everything that salted British winter roads can throw at it. If they corrode, they'll not be going on the bike rebuild! I'll let you know how they get on.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:Looking a bit like my K100LT that also met a car in 2013.....and which has 'donated' one or two parts to my K100RT.....although I now have the necessary parts on the shelf.....apart from a petrol tank.

I have used a number of parts from the donor bike and cannibalised others parts (e.g. instrument cluster) for components over the last few years. Can't remember what precisely though, so I may be trawling eBay and the usual spares dealers for the missing bits soon. I have already picked up a full set of fairing parts and have buckets of other spares, so hopefully the list will be quite short and not too expensive. We'll see!

Be sure to make your new bike so as to to cope with UK conditions. Last night I saw on TV that the UK is suffering from you people refer to as Aussie Flu. I assume you will not be getting parts from here in case they may infect your Donna with some sort of virus.
When Charlie dropped in a few weeks ago he had bits and pieces for other people in the back of his car. They were that shiny that sun glasses were needed. No fear of salty roads here, but for the first time for me I have noticed that the salty air from the Pacific Ocean can corrode quickly.
Good luck with the build and thanks for sharing with us what you do with mattresses.

Well we all know the way K bikes mate and reproduce. Now you know how!

They deserve a bit of comfort.

Stan wrote:Be sure to make your new bike so as to to cope with UK conditions. Last night I saw on TV that the UK is suffering from you people refer to as Aussie Flu. I assume you will not be getting parts from here in case they may infect your Donna with some sort of virus.
When Charlie dropped in a few weeks ago he had bits and pieces for other people in the back of his car. They were that shiny that sun glasses were needed. No fear of salty roads here, but for the first time for me I have noticed that the salty air from the Pacific Ocean can corrode quickly.
Good luck with the build and thanks for sharing with us what you do with mattresses.

Cheers Stan - Yeah - blooming Aussie Flu...started in Brisbane, apparently, and has now spread to the UK and is well on its way to the US. My on line research told me that a new strain of flu virus is either named after the place or animal that it was associated with when it is first discovered (e.g. swine flu or Spanish Flu) - couldn't work out whether Australian referred to place or animal or both. 

In the good old days of sea travel being the only way to get around the world (before aeroplanes and K bikes), any such diseases were suitably quarantined (or buried at sea) due to the length of the passage and didn't spread quite so quickly. Some kindly soul brought the lurgy into my work office the week before Christmas and wiped out me and my team over Christmas period. Or perhaps it was the works Christmas party??! Anyway, typically - I had booked annual leave and was ill in my own time rather than the tax payers! 

Anyway thanks for sharing your flu with us!! If you were going to give us something, it could have at least been the ashes.
Hope the salty whiff of the Pacific is suiting you and you are settling into your new home.