Well , for a couple of months now i have been busy yet again .

it all started with a surprise phone call from our mate Nigel.

quite unexpectedly i found my way towards Balina to meet again and a poor old K100 resting in a shed 

As Nigel explained , he was pretty much time poor to give the old girl some much needed TLC , 

So loaded up, had some brunch, and headed back to the highlands with a heap of parts and "Black Betty" in tow .




for Nigel , sad to see her go, but needed to be done .

Unpacking the tin box the next day , i had a fair amount of gubbins to sort through , with some fairly helpful bits and pieces to store or use on the repairs - service .






some pics ...before ....

the repairs 

as you will have noticed the tank had a sizeable leak at a couple of places along the left seam

over time this had leaked stale fuel all over the head and everything around that area ...hmmm 


as usual, internally the tank was dried out crud flakes all throughout 

withdrawing the internals 



recovered the sender , as usual , a lot of work but seems successful  




found a fuel cap that would work and a cylinder to match needing re-keying  , but the internal cam , tongue and return spring
 needed help , fortunately Frank in blighty was able to help out with a couple of parts and after a few weeks we have a functioning 
tank lid , modified , charlie style .





new fuel pump , filter and internal lines assembled and ready to go into the "good to use tank " after i get it painted , taking quite a while to clean off glues etc just yesterday.  .





the fuel rail was horrid , with the injectors stuck in the head , glued in by the leaking fuel ,  took a while but got them back into shape , and installed new lines throughout .





and after a bit of work 

dissasembly for leaks 

as usual i pulled the driveline , gearbox etc  to get at a pronounced leak all across the rear end 

the output shaft seal was kacktus , also finding the alternator seal was weeping badly, including the output seal from the gearbox 







now cleaned up 




did the alternator and starter whilst in there 



also cleaned up the gearbox , but pulled the front cover off to observe the bearings , lucky i did ...  
also found out recently that there was an issue with gearchanges , so bearings and selector drum , forks to be worked on , but progressing

cleaned up the front end 

including servicing the calipers, cleaning lines , and resurfacing the forks ,  after removing a big bucket headlamp .







refurbished the triple tree , removing short RS bars and installing some rusty but now repainted longer versions , adding 30mm risers to the mix 



thought about the big bucket headlamp already fitted as a naked thing .....but thought to put out a call for anyone with an old rs fairing or something to fill that void . that still maintained a "k"  distinctive "look " thinking "c" cowl or what-ever .

unbelievably a local (steve ) turned up more or less within a day of so , with a damaged but reasonable looking rs fairing ....   what ? 

swapped him a longer rear shock that would fit his paralever rear end on his hybrid k1100 - 100 

also luckily a mate paul "brickman" was passing with a couple of mirror pods he had on hand ....unbelievable... swaped him a couple of sidecovers to suit a k75 local to him 

lots of fibreglass repairs ensued , with surface filling and repaint going on .







 first iteration

 


second version 







doesnt look too bad near the end , still lots of work to go on there to finish it off , plastics to go in ,with under scoop and additional lamps to come , and of corse pockets where the vents usually are ......lol

Progressing very nicely Charlie.

I sit in awe of your patience & skill. 
Yet another worthy K being resurrected. Goodonya!

thanks for the encouragement guys , makes taking the time to post progress pics etc , much more worthwhile.

cheers to you both for taking the time to say something 

some frame work 

the bike had been sitting in a shed close to the seaside , with flooding reaching the floor to a low level , i guess during the lismore floods , which destroyed my mothers house contents up in lismore itself  some year and a bit ago .
verry sad to attend and toss years of collected furniture books .....everything in the house .

so decided to remove things off the frame to clean up mainly surface rust etc from the little bumps and scratches that occur over the years .
 a sample of what i uncounted all the usual places across the frame 

 

now rust converted after cleaning off the scale , and primed and painted , much better 



whilst reassembling thought to do a little bling to the rear cowl , inspired by a pic i saw of a k1100 rs , gloss black with silver highlights  , so i guess that translates to the scheme on the front main fairing after this ... 




the seat was a comfort seat , typical of an rt setup , was ripped , so returned a standard bench seat , in much better condition to the platform , until i can recover the comfort seat sometime in the future .



then onto the footplates 

just a brighten up of the metalwork 
a rework of the rear master cylinder with a new piston and seals  etc 
replacing those rusty pivot pins with stainless bolts - nuts 

That's burning the midnight oil, Chaz, but in a productive way. I can think of no better way to pass the darker months up in them thar chilly winter hills. 

I'm inspired to light a fire beneath my own feet to finish up the black & silver '96 K1100RS in my garage taking up lift space. The distraction is the state map is spread out on the kitchen table and there are so many good roads. Once again, brilliant job with this motorbike.

WOW! A labour of love for sure. That's looking amazing.

Two Wheels Better wrote:That's burning the midnight oil, Chaz, but in a productive way. I can think of no better way to pass the darker months up in them thar chilly winter hills. 

I'm inspired to light a fire beneath my own feet to finish up the black & silver '96 K1100RS in my garage taking up lift space. The distraction is the state map is spread out on the kitchen table and there are so many good roads. Once again, brilliant job with this motorbike.

yes , been a bit chilly and dark up here 
about -3 c overnights for the last month or so

get out and about Dazza , enjoy those years of solid commitment with the freedom you seem to enjoy and share in here 

thanks RS RIDER ..... appreciated

perhaps  a cleanup of those pipes are in order 

before 






and after 



with a touch of something as a sample to continue the theme 

Lucky you don't have much spare time Charlie. At it again and another K will live...well done.

Cheers Stan

To quote a line from "Jaws" you're gunna need a bigger boat  shed.

Verry likely Martin......lol

Cheers mate

I can’t decided if I envy your skill or passion, you have it all.
Thanks for sharing.

hi CAVEMAN 
skill, passion ?, 

maybe passion , but more likely ocd and madness .....giggles 

thanks for the comment... appreciated

Edited: the forum got its knickers in a twist and entered the post in the wrong place.

so moving along again 

rebuilt the gearbox 




and installed the fairing inners , including instruments 



and actually got both wheels back on the ground ...well its a push around untill i get a battery for it ,,,,and some paint on the tank 
but still way too cold for that with -4c temps over night ....most of the fairing paintwork allowed me to take it inside for curing 

very nice and well worth the effort (not for profit) you will end up with a good useable bike , unlike the one i just finished , 1936 350 panther , cost a fortune and is not very useable being very slow 

Persevere firstle. Just got a 1949 B31 on the road and love it. No not as quick as my K75 but great fun.

not given up , yet , working on a 1927 triumph now , i am starting to think these are a poor investment and maybe property would be better but not as much fun , the interest in old bikes is starting to wain as we all get older and no new blood interest , this hit home with this years banbury , limited to 500 every year and has been hitting 500 since i can remember , this year @ 275 , even with Henery cole (im not a fan) . the venue is crap and expensive , its lost its way and interest imo . i have a BSA now 1924 round tank nice bike but rare i ride it . enjoy the B31

Please!  Post photos of these grand old beasts. 

Older bikes seem to be extinct around these parts(Western New York State).  There was an old guy who had a shop back in the 40's 50's and 60's who bought up literally every old bike for miles around for parting out.  Some of his bikes went back to before WWI.

He had a big warehouse with thousands of bikes in it when it caught fire(many still had fuel in the tank) back in the early 80's.  Every bike was lost.

i will try and sort this out but this site and pics are not that straight forwards ? , not sure why .
here is a link to the panther i just finished re restoring , it belonged to my farther , after the 1st restoration in 1986/7 , and after this feature by Bob Curry , he pushed it into a shed and went onto another project , @ 30 years latter i dragged it out with other bikes , the roof had fallen in and they are all in a very poor state (i have my work cut out) its a real shame but thats how it goes and i think most are saveable if i live to finish them . 
The Classic MotorCycle Magazine August 1987 - BSA -NORTON-TRIUMPH | eBay

I get the impression that some people prefer to renovate than ride.  This had a full mechanical restoration including the bizarre paint job and then along with approx. 15 other bikes were left stored in a damp lockup for 12 years until his death. Just needed a stuck exhaust valve freeing off and the magneto reconditioned as the damp had wrecked it.
This is how it looked after awakening from its slumber. Will tackle the paint work this winter.

Thanks for posting the photo.  Love those old machines.

does this work Craigsbikes (craigsbikes) — ImgBB

just an update ... finally 
been pretty busy with bits and pieces of late 

got a battery finally 
so have changed oils and cranked the new oils through the engine , plugs removed so as to flush and preload new oil in the important places before attempting a start ...pretty soon.

also have investigated paints and what would likely do the job for the tank .
finally bit the bullet and purchased some 2k paint in a rattle can (the type that has a reservoir underneath that mixes the hardener to the mix at point of activation )

i can tell you i was a bit concerned as to what to expect with this kind of paint , and finish .

well away we go 

the paint as it arrived 



prepared the tank with a good primer and a rub back 




then into the wood shed for the paint job .

was able to get at least 2 coats underneath and 3 to 4 coats on the top 

looks ok but a lot of dry overspray around .




then some thing i hadnt done before , in as much as cutting back a (for me  a costly paint) with wet and dry (1200 grit ) 

which kinda turned out not too bad

then onto cutting compound polish 




and finally some finishing polish ..... man was i surprised when the paint got that sheen happening , that i was hoping for .

doesnt look too bad for a first attempt with this kind of paint eh ?






also revised the heatshield paintwork





a bit k1 ish theme perhaps ?


so to repopulate the tank internals , with repaired fuel sender , new fuel filter and pump in the coming days 

and then hopefully a start ....????

Looking great Charlie, a couple of the K Kronies have had success with 2k rattle cans.
Merry Christmas.

That's some solid progress, Charlie. It's good to see another K going in your desired direction over the other often sad option.

Nice one Charlie. That 2K stuff is as hard as nails and will take some quite serious abuse from wet'n'dry. If you really want to fall into the finish, rub back with 1000/1200 grit, then take two pieces of the wet'n'dry and run them against each other for a couple of seconds, effectively making them into 2000/2400 grit. Now, if you want to get really serious, do a very light rub back between each coat of laquer. 

There is a severe downside to the rattlecan 2K. If you put too much on for a single coat (define "too much" - I know!), it may feel dry but it actually never goes off. When you add a coat on top, it reactivates the heavy layer and turns it semi-liquid again but it still feels hard. The first time you get a petrol spillage on the tank it will all just wash off. Light coats only and leave each coat to go hard (not just the recoat time) before the next.

I miss my HVLP setup...

[Edit] Didn't .75 and I have a discussion about this a while ago? Can't remember the thread - it was probably about something completely unrelated in a totally derailed discussion as usual.

Charlie, that is a first rate paint job!  If you have any of that 2K clear coat left in the can, you can keep it usable for up to two, maybe three weeks by keeping it in the freezer and thawing it out later.  Just make sure you clear the spray head before you put it away.

That is going to be another really nice Brick!  As usual your attention to detail is amazing.  It is always fun to follow one of your projects.

oh ?!!

thanks for the encouragement guys 



just thought to share a radiator mod that is in progress , but getting there 

as the lower rs fairings evade me at the moment 

thought to do something similar to gertys naked look around the radiator , but far less erm... silver this time 

started off making the wings for the outer radiator , to concentrate - direct airflow 

just a mockup , then real metal , 0.8 aluminum





then a lower erm splitter , all in black and stainless screws 







next to mount standoffs to the radiator external studs and more 

looks ok so far ?'

Looks good to me.

Very nice!

well ...it actually runs 
however its missing and rattling like crazy , i expect that will disappear as it runs some more 
and those valves that have been open for however many years settle back into their seats and i get some even compression across all cylinders 

i threw in a bit of flash lube (upper cylinder lubricant ) to help it on its way ...

fingers crossed .....

nearing completion with a radiator mod in place , 

still to add hi gloss side covers 

tank done with 2k 

and to make some tank badges ....  and maybe some bling in the paint work ......

but, getting there !!!!

thoughts ?

How did you do the r/h panel that wraps around the thermostat? The traditional way with a dolly or some Charlie magic?

Brute ignorance , a hunk of 35mm steel bar stock and a 3 pound lump hammer and a piece of wood ....

What you expected ? 

Lol

I've got a helmet for you, Charlie!

Since I stopped riding funeral escorts & parades & got rid of the R1200RT-P the Nolan N105 doesn't get much use. Too plasticky and flexible, but good for its intended purpose as a "po-po" helmet.

charlie99 wrote:Brute ignorance , a hunk of 35mm steel bar stock and a 3 pound lump hammer and a piece of wood ....

What you expected ? 

Lol

Just about

At least its running now

I really like how you painted the fairing.

charlie99 wrote:At least its running now

From here it surely looks like much more than just a runner! Another fine example, Chazza.
Before long you'll have a verified mob of mighty Ks.