All Gone to Pieces

Well, the disassembly is just about complete. I had a little setback for the better part of a week when I had a cold and Mother Nature chose to rain on us every day and Christmas is coming up so there's been shopping to do, you know... Still, the bike is basically in pieces. I'm sure we'll be taking apart various elements more to make sure it's all in good working shape, but we can start sorting through the parts and sending them out. In fact, I started this week by dropping off the speedometer at North Hollywood Speedometer and Clock Co. The speedometer is working, but probably hasn't had any work for the last 43 years, so it's time.

Oh - remember I told you about the spiderwebs in the last entry? Here's a picture:

I guess, these days, when there is work done to the steering mechanism, the loose ball bearings that were used originally by the factory are replaced by a new kind of bearings that are held together with a ring that look like this:

Rick felt that if we found loose ball bearings in there, that would be another really strong sign that the miles were original and accurate. And here they are:

 

It was a little challenging removing the last few parts and keeping it balanced without any wheels (note the stack of wood on the back of the frame to keep it from tipping forward):
















We finally got down to the bare frame:

And we found that the kickstand had been sheared off inside the frame:

Hard to see where the bolt ends and the frame starts.

So after an hour and a half of banging away, narrowly avoiding major finger injuires, we (and by "we", I mean Bob) finally got it out by drilling out the bolt and using a square tap to wedge in there and unscrew it.

And that's where it is tonight:

And where it will remain until after New Year's.

So, here are my motorcycle related New Year's resolutions:

• I will sort and send out all parts that need to go out by January 18th.
• I will also order all needed parts and start looking for the hard to find parts by that time.
• I will be riding this bike in March 2011.

Wish me luck!

And Happy Holidays to the thousands of you out there reading this blog! ;-)

Ho Ho Ho!      Vroom Vroom!

Disassembly continued

The disassembly continues. I've been in to Black Kat Motorwerks to work with Rick and spend time breaking it down. I've been taking some notes and lots of digital pictures of all of the detail before I take it apart. I got all of the wiring out of the bike and I followed along in the superb restoration and service manual by Barrington Motor Works. I drew out a lot of the wiring on my own in my notebook, but I would have saved a lot of time if I'd followed along in this manual a little sooner. As it turns out, I was pretty accurate, but not as detailed as I could have been, and I might have just made up a few incorrect names for various parts. I'm all clear now, though...

Some parts are obvious, some require special BMW tools and some are tricky to figure out, especially for a newbie like me. Luckily, Rick knows it all and could probably take it apart blindfolded. In fact, he knows most of the bolt sizes by heart. He can also tell me which parts will have spiderwebs and eggs. You'd be surprised how many places have those, after 43 years out of the factory.

I'll include a few shots of the progress...

No more transmission.

Dirty business

My parts cabinet trophy case.

My motorcycle is fast becoming a  fancy wheelbarrow.

You probably can't see all the cleaning that went into the engine case alone. More to go once it's out of the frame. I have a lot of cleaning to go on the frame, the engine, the bolts and nuts and more before I send them out for paint, chrome and cad-plating.

Somehow this is the fun part for me. I think that putting it back together all clean and shiny will be pretty fun, too...and then there's the riding when it's done. Okay, I guess this is just one of the fun parts. I have to say that I'm learning a lot, but I could've come into this knowing a lot more. I'm grateful to Rick and Bob for all of their help and advice without so much as a condescending joke. I even laughed when I tried to mount the carburetor upside down!

Stay tuned for pictures of piles of parts...after a bit more cleaning and disassembly.