I have a K100KT. A few years ago I started to strip it down to repaint it. At that time it was running perfectly well. I got bored/lost interest so its been sitting in my garage for the past 2-3 years. It might make an interesting project for someone who wanted to get it up and running again. It might also be of use to someone as a source of parts.

If you want it it's yours.

You would have to take the whole bike though as it's taking up space in my garage and I'm not of a mind to start stripping it down for people who want bits. You would also need a trailer as its not running.

I also have a brand new (large) screen that my wife bought me for the bike before I lost the plot and decided to paint it. It has never been used and is still in its box. if you want it it's yours.

Oh bugger. I'm by far the closest (25 miles south) but I don't have a trailer. Mind you, I can probably fix that problem...  Whereabout in Belfast?


Trailer problem fixed. I'll take it.

You’ve saved me from myself, Dai!

I'm just wondering if I shouldn't have saved me from myself. I just sold my Bandit because I didn't have any more room now the 850-T3 has finally arrived at the point where it needs floor space. I have no idea how far 'stripped down for painting is', but even if the plastic has not been cut back that still has to be a £500-£600 rebuild, plus a pair of tyres. I should be picking it up next Saturday.

wow  nice win Dai

Sell the 850-T3?      I'm interested to see what the 'KT' version is - K(it)T(ourer) perhaps?  Good score Dai.

Woodie wrote:Sell the 850-T3? 

Not a bloody chance! It's an 850-T3 California and I've owned it for the last thirty years. It's also the only bike I've ever restored where the (very) expensive cost of restoration is still exceeded by the market price. That one will probably go in my coffin with me.

Nice one Dai

Not for free - but close to Comberjohn and Dai

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw-motorbikes/bmw-k75-lt-for-a-cafe-racer-or-restoration-/1367720057

Went and fetched it today. It's an '87 LT in surprisingly good nick with 51,000 miles on the clock. Underneath a light layer of dust and a scattering of white ally powder the metalwork is really clean and (gasp!) shiny. The bodywork is effectively scrap; some of it's black and some of it's white and the black bits have been badly sprayed at some point. I can't be arsed to sort that out because it would cost me more to fix than hunting another set of bodywork on ebay. There's a lot of undercoat overspray on various parts of the bike where it's been undercoated without being stripped. Cutting paste should see to that. The seat is in good nick. I haven't looked inside the tank yet, but as that has also been undercoated, it's ripe for an ebay replacement. Assuming that all the usual rubber parts need replacing, realistically £700 - £800 should see it back on the road.

Usual sequence of events is to get the engine running first, then look at the rest of it. I won't be getting stuck in too soon as I'm partway through building a new wiring loom for my Guzzi 1100-T3 and that gets top priority.

Pics to follow.

Nose fairing. All sanded back and not really useable.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/1b.jpg

Pile of LT parts mixed in with an even bigger pile of Guzzi parts.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/2b.jpg

Maybe it was going to be posted at some point?

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/3b.jpg

Does anyone know what they did with the later snowflake wheels? Are they painted?

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/4b.jpg

Definately a clean engine under that lot.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/5b.jpg

Surprise - no missing fins in the radiator. Doesn't mean it won't leak, of course.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/6b.jpg
http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/7b.jpg

Spot the overspray...

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/8b.jpg

Re: your question about snowflake wheel treatment. My '86 K100RS wheels are silver, like the ones in your picture, though I don't think they're painted. I'd have to go uncover the bike and look closely to see if they're clear coated or something. Always assumed they were natural/raw.

When you say 'part way through building a wiring loom', I suppose I'm part way through building a wiring loom too - one that I started six months ago in October. Life and winter got in the way. I keep nosing into the forum to buoy my motivation, which is great.

I've sorted out a few K100 spares (nothing great), so if you find you need any bits and pieces for this project, maybe post it up and I'd be happy to send anything I've got your way - you might as well build it as a gifter if you can!

The LT looks a decent project btw, as you say, you need to drop on a decent set of bodywork on oohbay.

Somewhere I read the wheels are painted, since they are porus and would leak air. Dunno. 

After trying everything else to clean the wheels, finally I tried oven cleaner. Didn't leave it on long. Now I have to put air in it (front wheel) every two weeks or so.

Turns out it is an RT. Essentially if compared to the LT, it has a lower screen, no voltmeter and no temperature gauge.

I started on it last night. So far:

- the radiator leaks (as expected; you can see dribble marks in the pics above) but I have a spare hanging up
- no key for the fuel cap. I tried drilling a Sidecar Paul but the guts were so rusted up I ended up levering it open. I have a mk.1 filler cap in the roof and that will do for engine testing
- the paint chips left over from that action showed that the bike has been three different colours so far (or at least, the fuel tank has)
- I had to cut the fuel lines off as they were completely hardened in place
- there was half a tank of concentrated-urine-coloured fuel in there. All of the light volatiles have long since evaporated. I dumped half of it into my oil waste drum and the other half on the floor (don't ask...)
- the fuel pump collar and level sender look in good condition
- no apparent corrosion points
- once I'd peeled off the parcel tape and pulled the gaiters up, the fork legs and seals look okay. The seals will be replaced anyway
- the Hagon shock on the rear is still in working condition
- a little corrosion inside two of the HT caps
- the wiring loom is in good condition
- the battery is, of course, totally screwed but I have two spanky-new AGM Motobatts on the bench (and that's another story too...)

If the engine starts okay, jobs I know I have to do:

- check/replace the usual leaky rubberware
- new fluids
- make new brake lines
- new brake pads and tyres
- replacement bodywork and fuel tank

@Chris: I'm budgeting £800 for this. I did a bit of research on Motorworks. A full set of s/h LT/RT bodywork plus fuel tank comes in at £475 tops. Ebay doesn't seem able to beat that. Add two tyres at £100 each, plus any leaky rubberware and I'm about on target.

Dammit; my boots still stink of stale fuel. So much for the Febreeze.

Okay: looks like this is turning into a build thread. Got a bit further tonight. I almost laughed out loud when I found that the fuel tank key that came with the bike also fitted the Mk.1 flap I have. That's now on the tank, considerably reducing the smell of stale fuel.

A brief look at the rear hydraulic reservoir showed the expected cracks. A new 30cc Brembo reservoir is only £15.00.

I hauled the old radiator off and found that the rubber frame mounts look like they might be perished. I hope not, because I understand from you lot that's a bitch of a job to do. The frame is rusty on both sides in that area. My bet is it was caused by the leaky radiator. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the fan motor was pristine inside. I applied twelve volts and off it went on its merry (both) ways. Yes, I applied the power the wrong way round first time... (sigh). It doesn't make a good hovercraft unfortunately. The fan and thermostat were transferred to the spare radiator.

Because I also need to replace the hardened fuel lines before I can test the engine, off came the airbox so that I can get at the feed line on the pressure regulator. Just about every rubber fitting still has the oetiker clamps on, so I need to get in there with the dremel to cut the clamp off before the line will come off. The air filter looks as if it was replaced fairly recently, so that's one less thing to buy.The bottom of the airbox was home to a brown comma butterfly, three common wasps and a whole host of unrecognisable chitin body parts - probably ants. The air intake tube has been painted with what appears to be black hammerite on the side facing away from the airbox. Another part for the bin.

Last thing I did tonight was to check the front mudguard (fender) bolts. Surprise - underneath the overspray on the left side I found the OEM clips that seem to go missing at the slightest provocation. No such luck on the other side - the bolts are secured with nylocks. I was relieved to find that all four bolts rotate easily as when I did Brick2, those four bolts were corrosion-welded to the fork sliders. On the way out of the garage I pulled at the battery leads to check security and yes, the whole damn tray moved. All four anti-vibration mounts have parted company with the top thread. Been here before...

Fitted new softee fuel lines today and put the airbox back together. This was the first time I'd used the dremel 'in anger' and was surprised at just how fast it cut through the oetiker clamp. I'd also recently bought 5 metres of fuel line in anticipation of doing just this... but the idiot here had bought 6mm ID instead of 8mm ID. Gah. Cue a mad scramble through the drawer of offcuts to see if I'd got any 8mm pipe. I had, but only just enough (OEM length plus 3 inches (75mm)). I also inspected the throttlebody rubbers while the airbox was off and at this point, I'd say they don't have any signs of cracking. I didn't remove the oetiker clamps, so there could still be trouble in that region. I'm quietly confident that there isn't, if only because the crankcase breather hose is perfect. Yes, it could have been replaced at some point but I can hope.

As talked about in another thread, I Threebonded the thermostat into the radiator and refitted the radiator to the bike. I also took a look at a job I wasn't looking forward to - removing the rusted-in anti-vibration mounts on the battery tray. Two of them lifted straight out of the gearbox; a third one (front-right, the blind hole) left the metal mushroom in the gearbox and the fourth one was still intact. Of course there was a catch; the nuts were rusted solid to the threads and weren't going to let go. In the end I had to cut through a perfectly good anti-vibration mount to free up the battery tray so that I could clamp it in the vice and remove the rusty nuts. The lower mushroom is still solidly in the gearbox.

I managed to break the spout on the header tank while trying to remove the oetiker clamp without cutting through it. That was a serious dose of sheer hamfistedness

I also found that the engine had been drained of oil. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing (thinking about the oil/water pump seal drying out). I could just refill it, but I don't know how many miles the existing oil filter has on it or what crap it's collected that it could dump into fresh oil. I ordered two new Filtro oil filters because LFB needs a filter change too.

I really must post some pictures.

One way to get an anti-vibration mushroom out of the gearbox without dismantling the bike - or going anywhere near it with a drill.

1. File two parallel flats on it. Yes, you will scrape the gearbox but hey-ho

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/22.jpg

2. File the jaws of a pair of large molegrips so that they will grip the mushroom properly.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/23.jpg

3. Grip and twist. Initially I actually clamped a second molegrip at right-angles on the first to get some leverage.


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/24.jpg

I also connected up a new battery to check the electrical system. It all worked, bar the brake light switches which was no surprise. As I need to replace the thirty-two years old brake lines anyway, I'll fit hydraulic switches in place of the OEM ones.

IT RUNS!!!!

I'd love to say it started first time but it didn't. It started on about the fifth poke of the button and clattered into life with a horrendous diesel knock. After a couple of minutes of warming it up by tweaking the throttle it settled down to a steady tickover at about 800rpm indicated, right on the edge of charging light flicker.

I'm happy with that.

I guess I can now spend some money on it, which I was reluctant to do before.

I think I'm gonna call it 'Freebie'. Or 'FreBrick'. Or 'FreeBrick'. Or something like that. Must be cabin fever - we've all been banned to working from home.

Kostenlos - German for free of charge 

Me too...

'Gisme'
-Yorkshirespeak for free

Re. working from home. Yep, I bet my wiring loom is coming on quicker than your wiring loom 

Great news that another old brick has shook off the dust and woken again!

Kostenlos: hmm - I might think about that one.

Chris: the wiring loom for the 1100-T3 has come to a halt ATM while I build a new instrument panel.

I am so looking forward to retirement.

Dai wrote:
I am so looking forward to retirement.

My father was the first I heard it from, but I'm sure he was far from the originator.
Speaking about retirement - "I don't know how I ever had time to go to work!"

For myself, I don't know how I will ever get on top of my retirement projects, the 4 not yet running Ks in my signature being only a fraction of said projects.

Bill

In truth, all 'retirement' really means to me is that I will come off the clock. Apart from 36 hours a week for an employer, I work up to an additional 20 hours a week for myself doing games add-on development for (usually) a publisher in Germany or Austria. The latter time will simply expand to fill part of the former time, with the gaps being filled by motorcycles.

Same here since retiring I don't seem to have enough time.
Regards Martin.

Talked to Motorworks today about a new set of bodywork including the tank. 'Which colour do you want?' 'Any colour except white'. I'm not fond of white bikes. I'm not fond of black ones either (unless they're T3 Californias ) but that bloody leprechaun by the name of Murphy says that's what I'm going to get. I'd like a Marakesh Red one but beggars and all that.

Dai, Have you come across Thom Hellebrekers?
He’s a one man band on FB. I know he has a load of body work and is a great guy to deal with, will haggle.
He’s Netherlands based so I guess now subject to VAT (unless maybe you have an EU border near you).

Farcebook is a no-go area for me. I know too much about their inner workings to want their slime working its way through my computers. The one time I had to deal with the scum because I needed some data that was only available on Farcebook I built a virtual PC that ran inside a sandbox on my main PC. I added a load of third-party tools known to murder Facebook's tracking cookies. I then cloned it, installed Facebook on the clone and turned off all the tracking data that they would graciously allow me to turn off. BTW, some of those off switches do nothing... I never went outside of Farcebook while on that VPC and at the end of the session, I nuked the entire virtual machine. Rinse and repeat. I always felt slightly dirty at the end of a session.

Google is only very slightly better. If a site demands I use Chrome 'for the best experience' I go and find the information somewhere else.

Fair do. His WhatsApp is 0031634000592
If that helps

I'll see what happens with Motorworks. If they hit my budget, I'm too lazy to go anywhere else given the current crisis.

A few bits have trickled through in the last few days.

£25 for a NOS fork brace


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/9b.jpg


Found these in the cupboard!


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/10b.jpg


£15 for a seat. It's been re-covered and feels as if it might have been re-squabbed too. The original has a tiny nick in the pillion seat, but as no-one else bid on this... It came complete with all the furniture underneath and not a scratch on the pan.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/11b.jpg

Having temporarily run out of stuff to do on the 850-T3 and the 1100-T3 (waiting for parts from Italy... waiting for parts from Italy... waiting for parts from Italy... you get the picture ) I've got a bit more time to spend on this. In truth, slapping the laptop lid shut at 16.15 to finish work and then spending two - three hours in the garage is a good move for my mental sanity. The Covid-19 pointer has moved across the scale from the 'if we get it' side more towards the 'when we get it' side because there's now four confirmed infections on Elizabeth's ward and not enough PPE. So building bikes is what I do to switch off from it.

As I said a few entries ago, I intend to replace all the brake hoses. The easy point to start was the rear caliper; I'd already had the battery tray off and freed up the reservoir, so it was just a few bolts and the wheel in the way. I've always thought that the way the rear reservoir is mounted is not far short of bloody stupid so, like I did with Brick2, I'll be making some form of bracket that does NOT require me to remove the battery, FICU and battery tray just to unscrew the bloody reservoir.

Oh dear. Definately the worst case of aluminium spalling I've ever seen on a brick.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/12b.jpg

James Sherlock and Motorworks want £50 for one. Someone on ebay wanted £19 for a really good one, so I had it. I completely failed to spot that someone else had put up both footpeg hangers, rear master cylinder, brake pedal and all the foot pegs for £20. Shit.

So I had that too.

The rear caliper would not come apart. No way, José. I applied a lot of heat; one bolt came out but the other just snapped. An M12, fer fecks sake!!! Just snapped! I clampd the stub in the vice but it wasn't going to move. I left it overnight soaking in Kroil, but it made not a blind bit of difference. Okay... add that to the parts required list. A perusal of ebay, James Sherlock and Motorworks showed them all at about £50. Gonna havta wait till next month.

The front calipers fared slightly better. They both needed copious amounts of heat but... yes... I managed to sheer another bolt. This time I tried to drill it out, but after I reached 6.9mm and failed to punch out the remains of the bolt, I gave up. I just so happened to have a spare side of the caliper living in the caliper drawer, so no problem this time.


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/13b.jpg


The one in the vice is about to get the rear bolt broken - spot the grey overspray. The one on the bench has been split and refurbished. On the right is the remains of the rear caliper.

The spalling on that mount plate looks very similar to the state of the rear brake lever on my project bike.  When I initially looked at it I thought it had some old crapped out tape stuck to the underside of the foot pad.  I removed it on a wire wheel and only then realised that it was all corroded alumin(i)um.  The left side of the foot pad is now half the thickness of the right side.

Dai wrote:
Oh dear. Definately the worst case of aluminium spalling I've ever seen on a brick.

Do I presume the roads get salted in your neck of the woods?

Bill

indian036 wrote:

Do I presume the roads get salted in your neck of the woods?

Bill

It depends where you live... I'm 'off the grid' for that but yes, the main roads do get salted. Also Bill, bear in mind that I have absolutely no information on this bike's former life.


Woodie: as it happens, it's just surface crap on the hanger but the brake pedal was a humungous mess. Because there was no spalling under the foot plate I didn't expect to find that.

So... one 15" breaker bar later and not the tiniest hint of movement and I gave up on trying to get the headstock nut off. It had obviously been locked down hard because there was a shallow groove corresponding to the nut edges, but this was ridiculous. I couldn't release the knurled adjuster either to take the pressure off the headstock nut. You've gotta love Mr. Angle Grinder.

I sliced down as far as I dared, then introduced the remains of the nut to Mr BFH and Mr Cold Chisel. Of course, as soon as the pressure was off, the remains of the headstock nut unscrewed with just fingers.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/14b.jpg


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/15b.jpg

I ran a bastard cut file gently across the machined area of the yoke to remove the high spots where I had caught it with the angle grinder and finished it off with 600 wet'n'dry.

I had expected the headstock bearings to be bin material but I was pleasantly surprised. The top one is in perfect condition; with the bottom one, if you hold it very, very lightly with the fingertips you can just feel the start of some brinelling. I'm tempted to reuse it.

The fork legs - oh dear, the fork legs - well, lets just say that one PO was very fond of the black paint brush. It's everywhere and the no.1 reason why I disposed of the bodywork. I soaked the sliders in paint stripper (non-methyl-whatsit) and didn't expect any real result, but the paint layer had been slapped on top of a dirty surface and almost fell off. I think I might have lifted the OEM black as well - I'll find out later when I go back to them.

all good fun ...indeed

keep at it mate

Thanks Charlie - I think!  

It turns out that the paint stripper hadn't really touched the OEM black on the sliders but it is very faded on the outside of the sliders. Guesswork says the bike was stood next to a garage window and the sun shining in did the damage. I was briefly tempted to mask everything off and respray but decided against it. If I started with the paint, I wouldn't stop until I'd finished with it. Unfortunately I know me a bit too well.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/17b.jpg

Cleaned-up yokes.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/16b.jpg

yeah some paint strippers just don't work well ....I have found that one type available out here called selleys polly stripper seems to work well on most things ...but there are a few others that just wont touch it and even worse ..after application harden the paint that your trying to strip .... yet again I have found some black parts  just wont strip well at all ...more exploration required on that one ...I got a water pump cover that just resists almost all ...think it may have to do with the temperature though (working temp of the stripper and parts )

no was meant as a compliment and appreciation of your efforts dai  

cheers

I suspect the water pump covers might even be anodised, Charlie. Oh - and my reply had my tongue stuck firmly in my cheek.

I meant to add that the handlebars are naff too. The master cylinder has leaked and that has lifted the paint and replaced it with a nasty dose of rust down at the crossbar. The leaky master cylinder isn't a problem because I have the one I took off LFB when I converted it to Japanese switches, but the handlebars are on the 'gottabuyit' list.

Re. the black paint on the fork sliders. You could try black Rub 'n Buff - I've used it to good effect on tired black paint and it's certainly motorbike durable. I've even used the gold-coloured stuff on Brembo calipers and it works really well. It's a lot less (can't think of a word, so I'll use) invasive than stripping & painting, plus you're actually putting a layer of protective polish on as well. Cripes I'm going on a bit.

Chris - you actually made sense!

[Edit] Found some on Amazon for £8.49. Let's see how it goes.

Spent almost £550 with Motorworks today on parts, including just the set of fibron fairing parts because I have all the mounting parts and rubberware. The biggest disappointment was that they couldn't supply a single colour, so I'm going to have to spray them anyway. I could have kept the original black-brushed parts... but then again, the thought of getting all that thick layer of crap off is a bit off-putting... but I have the time at the moment... yes, perhaps I should have kept the original body parts...

Ah bugger. Let's just put that down to a bad decision fueled by a stupid lack of research . It's just cost me £246 which was the cost of the fibron parts alone.

I forgot about the seat hump but fortunately I have the correct type in the garage roof in Polaris Silver. What I don't have (and forgot to order) are the correct sidepanels with the spiky bit on. I have four spare sets of the earlier ones but they're not a lot of use in this case.

My solution to the (to me) much-disliked OEM hydraulic system. If I want to check/regrease my headstock bearings, I don't want to have to dismantle the hydraulic system to do it.

http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/18b.jpg

The hose guides are bent from 2mm stainless rod. Hammered round a 12mm bolt used as a former, more like.

Talking of the headstock bearings, I did re-use the bottom one - sort of. I did  a very close inspection of the rollers (my trusty x10 jewellers loup that I've had for the last forty years) and couldn't see any signs of brinelling on the rollers themselves. What I did find in the odds-and-ends tray of the wooden box that holds my taps and dies was the almost-pristine outer race from a bearing change on one of my other Ks (no idea which one). I always keep an outer race from any taper roller set that I change for use as a drift to ensure the new ones are fully seated home. One quick swap later and a repack with high pressure lithium grease and that was another job done. Almost.

I forgot to order a headstock nut from Motorworks yesterday

If anybody's checking, yes; there's two more relays than standard in the relay box. I used the two normally unused mounting points to add relays for the headlight. The connector was completely melted on the low beam feed.

I found a pair of primed spiky-ended sidepanels on ebay last night at £36 the pair, so I ate them. Sorry, ordered them.

Very neat hydraulics.

I'll be doing a similar mod to my original red RT as part of a more comprehensive makeover. (Minor things like output shaft etc.) Can you put up a picture of the lower half? Might as well follow a good example all the way.

Bill

Here you go Bill:


http://simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/19b.jpg

The top two banjos are 20 degrees and the two on the calipers are 45 degrees. Yes, I could have married up the new lines with the old solid pieces but I was using what I had available. The entire front hydraulic system comes off in one piece. It does mean unscrewing the mudguard and yoke guides but I think that's a small price to pay to not have to dismantle the entire system.

Many thanks, Dai. When I get to that stage I'll follow your example.

I might have mine made up in red to match the bike, but then the dilemma: 
Will red ones  a) make the brakes less effective because the bike will be faster?  or
                     b) make the brakes more effective because the brakes will be faster?

I'll let you know 

Bill

Nice going Dai. Vis a vis the comments above about Thom Helbrekkers. I can confirm he is good to deal with and reasonable in P&P charges too. Don't worry about VAT you can ship to me if needed and I'll get them up.

Thanks for the info Will. I think the idea at the moment is to get the RT finished and - if the lockdown is lifted - to ride that while I slow-convert LFB. I'll then be putting the RT up for sale because I simply don't have the room for more than three bikes in the garage. As with Brick2 when I sold that, someone is going to get a real bargain.