1 '86 K100 Restoration Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:00 am
jjefferies
Life time member
As mentioned in another thread I've picked up an '86 K100, (think std). It's got a small (belly fairing?) headlight windscreen. And I'm trying to restore it. The bike has sat for the last 10 years in an apartment bldg garage in Berkeley, Ca. As it literally had not been run for 10 years, the battery was not only dead it was petrified. And not wanting to spend more good money on it until I could convince myself it was worth the effort I picked up a used battery last night for USD $15. An Odyssey PC680 if you're familiar with the brand. Anyway I charged the battery and today I changed all the fluids other than brake and fork oil. That comes tomorrow. I had already taken the tank apart and inspected the fuel pump and replaced the fuel filter this last week. There was a bit of crud in the tank which took some effort to remove. I seriously need to make a compressed air vacuum to clean out such things as tanks. Anyway holding my breath I started cranking the motor. I acknowledge as above I did take some cheap short cuts. I used a high grade synthetic oil which is 5-30 wt but cost only $24 for 10 quarts and a Thai made oil filter. But after a few minutes cranking it started up, a bit rough but idling at 1K rpm. The amount of smoke out the tail pipe was concerning but after idling for 20 minutes with a few throttle bumps, the smoke dissipated. I let it run for 30 minutes to check the various parts out. The oil pressure light is out, as is the gear indicator and the triangle light doesn't come on all the time as it should waiting for testing the brakes. The tach works but the speedometer is intermittent at best. After I shut it down, I removed the heat shield which was vibrating like all get out. Seems one of the screws attaching it to the exhaust had broken loose, leaving two small holes in the exhaust. Being a neat freak, after the bike had cooled, I got some gunk engine cleaner and sprayed everything I could get close to and then used a high pressure wash to remove as much of the filth as I could. Don't think the previous owner had cleaned it often when he was using it as a daily transportation. The amount of oil soaked dirt was the most I've every had to clean. The bike odometer shows 28K miles but the previous owner allows that it most likely has 50-65K miles. The speedo and odometer were out and he wasn't motivated to fix them.
Questions and request for comments, what would you suggest as a way to clean the aluminium bits. The gunk engine cleaner and pressure wash got rid of the top layer of dirt but the aluminium is still rather grubby looking. Any comments on whether to restore it to its original configuration or to try for something a little different. Like add a fairing. Would that make it more desirable? I've got 3 or 4 of the R100RT fairlings like in my photo that I could put on the bike as well as maybe a K100 fairing. Ten year old tires, any comments? They have plenty of rubber but are quite hard.
I'll continue to post as the project proceeds. Helpful comments are always appreciated. Not sure if I intend to keep the bike or flip it. My pal that got me into this thought I needed another project to fend off the COVID blues. But I've had a K100 before and prefer the K75's as a bit more nimble. Anyway figure I should intend to break even or maybe make a couple of hundred if I do flip it. The friend suggested that a price of USD $2,000. would be reasonable if the bike were restored to operating condition and the ugly bits fixed up.
Questions and request for comments, what would you suggest as a way to clean the aluminium bits. The gunk engine cleaner and pressure wash got rid of the top layer of dirt but the aluminium is still rather grubby looking. Any comments on whether to restore it to its original configuration or to try for something a little different. Like add a fairing. Would that make it more desirable? I've got 3 or 4 of the R100RT fairlings like in my photo that I could put on the bike as well as maybe a K100 fairing. Ten year old tires, any comments? They have plenty of rubber but are quite hard.
I'll continue to post as the project proceeds. Helpful comments are always appreciated. Not sure if I intend to keep the bike or flip it. My pal that got me into this thought I needed another project to fend off the COVID blues. But I've had a K100 before and prefer the K75's as a bit more nimble. Anyway figure I should intend to break even or maybe make a couple of hundred if I do flip it. The friend suggested that a price of USD $2,000. would be reasonable if the bike were restored to operating condition and the ugly bits fixed up.