Three hours work...

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/88b.png


...with a good audiobook to help pass the time.

I'd guess that Himalayan mystics, if they've committed hard enough and long enough to the cause, can maybe obtain something close to the state of complete mental relaxation and well-being, that comes from being all alone in the workshop wiring a bike, with plenty of time and all the right kit, and a good audio accompaniment. 

chris846 wrote:I'd guess that Himalayan mystics, if they've committed hard enough and long enough to the cause, can maybe obtain something close to the state of complete mental relaxation and well-being, that comes from being all alone in the workshop wiring a bike, with plenty of time and all the right kit, and a good audio accompaniment. 

I think you have put your finger on why I seldom regret the time spent in the garage working on my bikes.

chris846 wrote:I'd guess that Himalayan mystics, if they've committed hard enough and long enough to the cause, can maybe obtain something close to the state of complete mental relaxation and well-being, that comes from being all alone in the workshop wiring a bike, with plenty of time and all the right kit, and a good audio accompaniment. 

What they might not be close to is the red-nosed slump of disappointment after field trials.

Geez guys - have we all been on the whiskey tonight???

New FICU loom is on the bike and all connectors that I want to replace have been replaced. Guess what arrived today?

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/89b.png

Now try it, ya bastid!

Still got to make a new throttle cable - the remains of the old one is visible on the bench.

Is the little guy for mounting directly on the bike as an automated fire suppression system?  Brilliant!  Glad to see you get this sorted Dai, that was a close call.

Another option is to try to avoid a fire with a circuit breaker, where the circuit trips almost instantly, in case of a short circuit. It's a quick and simple modification.

Back in the days, people sometimes pampered their pet projects with add ons like a Frantz filter or a circuit breaker, you don't seem to see these things anymore.

There's a thread about it in the "How To" section.

Power source was no.1 fuse... which didn't go phut, indicating that the current draw was under the fuse's surge limit and yes, the fuse is the correct amperage . A circuit breaker might possibly have stopped it, I agree.

I made the new throttle cable yesterday but forgot to take any pics. Basically, up where the square bit is that links into the chain pull, I soldered on a 4mm length of 3mm OD / 1.5mm ID brass tube. After the end of the inner wire had been smacked with a birdcage (https://www.venhill.co.uk/tools/all-tools/cable-inner-wire-bird-caging-tool-vt13.html) and the two parts soldered together, it fitted into the slot very nicely, thank you very much.

I make enough control cables to justify the cost of the birdcaging tool but I didn't pay that much for it! When I bought one it was £92 including tax and shipping. And much as I would love a solder bath, I make do with an 80watt soldering iron. The trick is to apply heat to the brass nipple but to apply the solder to the birdcage. Once the solder starts melting on the wire you know the whole assembly is hot enough.

Yep I'm thinking green/yellow goes into fuse 1, rather than out, so the short might bypass the fuse.

Okay.... I can't begin to say how fckn pissed off I am. Just went to clean the underside of the fuel tank, so I laid it very carefully on a soft towel. When I turned it back again, fuel had leaked out (as expected) and stripped the clearcoat. Has to be my fault; one or more layers were just too heavy and didn't go fully hard.

I just cannot find the enthusiasm or heart to start again, so I'm on the lookout for an '86 onwards Bermuda Bronze tank. Even buying from Motorworks or James Sherlock isn't going to be much more than the cost of another load of paint, but if anyone has one?

Wow....

I went to reassemble the K75k gearbox onto the engine - and managed to completely wreck the clutch friction disc in the process.
What's happening?

Split in the space - time continuum?

Mike

I'm staying well away from my tools until things return to normal.

    



(I knew I'd upset him eventually....sorry Stefan, sorry Dai)

Yes, well, there was some stupidity on my part. It's not as if I hadn't done this many times before.

Sorry to read your woes Dai. Between you and Olaf I’m persuaded to buy an extinguisher for the oufit. All credit for sticking with it.

Can we take this post down...

Every time I "view new message since last visit" my hopes go up ... for a second and then it's back to earth.

Dreamin'

Funnily enough, I intend to reassemble it this afternoon, make sure everything's okay and to hell with it until I can locate a new tank. It doesn't stop me riding it; it's just as ugly as hell. Just to reiterate: absolutely and completely my own fault. I don't blame my tools unless the buggers break (which has happened mid-use, but in that case Teng replaced the offending item within three days).

Replacement tank arrived yesterday from Motorworks. Most of what look like scratches in the pic are actually dirt.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/91b.png

When trying to start it last weekend, nothing. Not even a click of the load shed relay. Mmmm... right. Grab a handful of wiring loom and give it a tug. Cough, grumble. Big sigh. Looks like I haven't found the intermittant wiring fault after all, so we're back to this:

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/90b.png

It's getting a spanky new loom. I spent way too long this morning trying to identify the pins that fit in the two-way AMP connectors for the clutch and brake switches etc.. Don't bother. I did eventually find them on the TE Connectivity website but they are £3.29p per terminal - that 's each - you didn't misread it. So that's £39.48 + VAT = £47.37p plus P&P for the twelve terminals required on a wiring loom. Fifty quid for twelve tiny tubes of zinc-plated brass. Back to the miser's trick of cleaning them up, opening up the end pair of crimp ears (the insulation grips) with a pair of wire cutters, soldering on a new wire and then re-crimping the insulation grips.

Alternatively, buy Molex 0.062"-series terminals and housings and hope the AMP connectors live happlily ever after in the bin 

I appreciate originality as much as the next person, but I have no problem with junking thirty-year old connectors and replacing with something spangly and reliable - it is the wiring after all, and it needs to be reliable. You wouldn't persist with thirty-year old spark plugs would you?

And completely (or mostly) off topic (what moi!) the wife has decided that I must spend a slice of my later years towing a caravan on the nation's highways. So, instead of flamboyantly slashing through the traffic jams on a two-wheeled sabre, I now am the traffic jam, oh well. Anyway, this meant that yesterday I spent much more time than I wanted to, figuring out how to disable the rear parking sensors on the CR-V as I fitted the new-fangled 13-pin electric hook up. Boy was that complicated, I was hoping that the hundred and seventy quid that I'd shelled out on a 'plug and play' (har bleeding har) wiring kit would address this issue. Instead, the kit and the instructions gave me three wires from a module (COM, NO & NC - some 'module' huh?) and told me to go and refer to the 'Owner's manual' to figure out where I'd need to connect them, thanks, I'm so grateful for that. After half a day of toil, I sat down and reflected on the day's troubles. Reflection is good, because it was at that point that I realised that the CR-V comes with a very useful switch on the dashboard - that disables the rear parking sensors. 

So, The Kurse persists......


('pologies for the bold type, absolutely no idea why its there, cannot get rid of it)

chris846 wrote:Reflection is good, because it was at that point that I realised that the CR-V comes with a very useful switch on the dashboard - that disables the rear parking sensors.

Head-shaped hole in the dashboard, is there?

Actually, we're planning to become part of the traffic jam too in four years' time but with a self-propelled jobbie rather than a tow-it jobbie. Something called retirement (hi Martin!).

The only trouble we had on our four day 1600 K Kurfari was with caravan owners.
Regards Martin who will never ever buy a caravan.

chris846 wrote:('pologies for the bold type, absolutely no idea why its there, cannot get rid of it)

Ha! You were obviously just shouting so that you could say the ‘caravan’ bit quietly 

If you was just wonderin if this wuz done - NO IT AIN'T!!!!  

It got a spanky new built from scratch wiring loom which worked first time. Almost. I reversed the starter motor/alternator cables on the starter relay but once I'd figured and fixed that booboo, the rest of it did work first time. Add fuel tank, fuel, ignition key and starter button - nothing. It churned over and gave off a heady stink of unburnt fuel. Re-checked all connectors and did some quick, basic troubleshooting. Took the fuel tank off and just - but only just - dodged the resulting spray. So... definately not a fuel pump problem. Sat back and did some thinking; my gut feeling was that the HES had taken a hit from the short-circuit that had started the fire. Walked off and left it. That was about a month ago.

Today, armed with Bert's ignition troubleshooting guide, I was determined to get to the root cause of the problem. I got to the bit about testing the HES with an LED and fairly quickly realised that I could disconnect the HES plug and crank the engine rather than try and wave a feeler gauge at the HES to test it. I made up a small module with two 12v LEDs on it, plugged into the HES lead and applied power. One LED on, one LED off. Well... I suppose that the rotor could have come to rest with the cutout next to one of the HES. Cranking the engine soon disabused me of that notion. The LED that was on remained on. The LED that was off remained off. Switched LEDs, no change.

Bollox. Sometimes I really hate being right.


[Edit] Just got a replacement from a UK breakers on ebay for £39.99 (not Motorworks). I baulked a bit at the £14.99 shipping charge but needs must. I did think about just buying new HES from Germany but the price plus shipping was slightly north of the complete UK assembly.

All good, you’ll be finished soon and can come to tier 3 Kent and sort mine while it’s still fresh in your mind .

Cheesy apple pie and stout on demand...

Well, the 40-quid replacement was faulty, hence the other threads on whether the K1200 HES would fit. Plugged it in, no spark. Swapped it onto Low Flying Brick, no spark. No argument from the breakers who immediately swapped it for the K1200 unit. Changed the plug, plugged it into LFB and... no spark. The fuel pump did spin up, so one HES was okay. Down tools and just leave it alone - that was about a month ago. I was going to pull the new loom off Kostenlot last weekend and re-re-re-check it for errors, but the temperature took a nosedive and today we got 50mm of the cold white stuff.


So Kostenlot is still looking for its lost spark and LFB's HES plate is swinging in the breeze, waiting for the next unit to be tested.

I wasn't happy with it being the only uninsured bike in the garage, so as my bike insurance was due I rang Carole Nash to see how much it would cost to put on my existing policy. Fully comp, the cost was £0.00p. That's not a typo. £0.00p, just in case you thought it was still a typo

An update... from a not too happy bunny. Earlier in the year I'd bought four new HES units from Sonnecy in Germany

http://www.hallsensors.de/CYHME56C.pdf

and very carefully replaced two sets of known-dead OEM sensors. Neither repaired plate worked. Having found an error in the new wiring loom (I'd wired up the temp sensor pins backwards i.e. pin E to pin A3 etc..) I assumed this was the source of the no spark problem and that I'd blown all four new sensor units. This is getting stupidly expensive. WTF is going on? So I made a new ignition sub-loom for Kostenlot, satisfied myself six times that it was absolutely right and mounted it on the bike. Meanwhile, I'd ordered another five HES units from Sonnecy (because five units was only €4 more than four units - total cost inclusing shipping was a little north of £80). They arrived within five days, which was a really pleasant surprise. Again, I exercised check, check and recheck while wiring them up. I also used miniature croc-clips as heatsinks to ensure that very little heat could get down the wires to the sensors themselves. They definately passed quality control, so I mounted them on Low Flying Brick to test them.

No spark.

Not even a tiny weeny hint of a spark.

Swapped LFB's original plate back in - no problem. Brum, brum.

Tried again. Same result. No surprise.

Put them on Kostenlot but got the result I expected.

So, based on s/h HES plates from BSK being only (!) £50 a throw, I put LFB's HES plate on Kostenlot.

Two big fat bright blue sparks from cylinders 1 and 2.

LFB fired up quite happily when it got its HES plate back.

So... I absolutely know that I have not errored in mounting or wiring up the replacement HES units on any of the three plates that I've overhauled. The conclusion is not nice; the CHYME56 HES is either not fit for purpose or I've managed to get a shedload of bad ones. Either way, that was almost £200 straight down the pan because you can't send them back after mounting them. If anyone actually wants the three unused ones, PM me because you can have the damn things for free to try it yourself. I get to call BSK in the morning.

Finally, finally, finally nailed this. Despite the previous post, it was the HES wiring.

If you recall in the forum, I was completely confused by the differences descibed by the manual, Bert's troubleshooting and the actual wire colours as soldered to the HES. During the course of testing and swapping parts, LFB had died too with the same symptoms. Yesterday I decided that I could afford to sacrifice one HES plate by wiring the colours as decribed in the manual i.e. using red and black for positive and negative and orange and brown as the signal lead. Logically that should never work because when you look at the wiring on the plate, it's putting 12 volts onto the output leg for one HES and ground through the positive input to the other HES. So I tried it anyway and I couldn't (swearword) believe it when the LED plugged into the fuel injector and all four plugs suddenly lit up. I reconnected the tank and hit the starter again and was rewarded with two enormous backfires. I'd half-expected them because I had no idea which way the HES 'outputs' were wired up at this stage and given the swapped positive/negative feeds, I suspected they were backwards. I switched the orange and brown around and LFB literally purred into life.

Today I did the same on Kostenlot and it too sparked up. Haven't put the tank on it yet, but I'm quietly convinced the problem is over.

The takeway from this is:

Do. NOT. Apply. Logic. to a K-series ignition system

and

the wiring setup required for testing the HES is totally different to the wiring for actually sparking the ignition system.
So I've got four perfectly-working spare HES plates and thrown away two possibly perfectly good ones. That's £480 I didn't need to spend. AAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHH 

I did end up making a tiny (40mm x 40mm x 20mm) testing box for HES sensors. Just plug the plate into the side, switch on and push a feeler gauge into the HES gap. It also has a test switch on it to ensure the LEDs are working before testing the HES.

wow !  
commiserations and rewards Dai 

sometimes its just best to ask what is supposed to be there point to point rather than to ask what different manufacturing processes are used 

congrats on solving your issue , at last

Thanks Charlie. I thought the HES to-run-the-bike might be wired in series, but that doesn't figure out either. No, there's something funny going on in the ICU and without a circuit diagram, I don't really have a clue what it is. That one was a hard lesson and in many ways, it really does serve me right.

However, Kostenlot will run. I lost the will to leave off remounting the tank until tomorrow, even knowing the petrol in it was over a year old. There also wasn't really enough in there to pressurise the system but what the hell. Kostenlot spluttered and farted and tried to run, so yes, it's all solved. Just need to clean out the replacement fuel tank and reassemble everything.

I had a dig around in the replacement tank. The water and fuel drain tubes literally shattered when I tried to pull them off. The fuel pump filter basket had been glued to the fuel pump with RTV, so you can image the black sticky lumps in there. Even the internal OEM fuel pipe had hardened. Well, the filter in the original tank is new, so that can be reused, along with the submersible fuel pipe. There's a new basket attached to the fuel pump, so the only doubtful thing is the internal rubber pipework. I think I'll give Motorworks a call about that tomorrow.

I'm beginning to hate this fckn bike. I had a potential buyer, so I thought I'd better go finish it. I'd ordered new internal tank parts from Motorworks and fitted up a by-now very clean fuel tank. Do NOT tell my wife where the small vacuum cleaner disappeared to for a few hours a couple of weeks ago... Hit the starter button and it farted, gurgled and filled the exhaust system with petrol. Sounds like a temp sensor problem... swapped out the temperature unit in the relay box for a spare and it pulled the same stunt (sigh). Dig out spare temp sensor, remove the R/H lower side panel to swap them over and find I haven't plugged the damn thing in.   Hit the starter button again and filled (I mean filled) the garage with blue smoke. It was running as rough as old boots but - at-bloody-last!!!!!!!! As the smoke cleared I bent down to reattach the side panel and then spotted the ever-growing river of coolant that was racing across the floor towards a six-way flying lead. Not the radiator... please... no...

Not the radiator, no. The  thing had blown the head gasket on cylinder 1 and both fuel and coolant were pissing out down the exhaust pipe. Do you ever sometimes just really want to put the boot into a bike? Yeah well. Not much of a problem beyond the ballsache of replacing the gasket because I have everything expect a cylinder head gasket. So, armed with a ratchet and a socket of the right size, I crawl under the bike - and find there is nothing left of the nuts on cylinders 2 and 3, bar four rusty round lumps. After hammering on various sized sockets to try and cut some grip and getting nowhere, I get left with the nasty conclusion that Mr. Exhaust Pipe is going to have to be introduced to Mr. Angle Grinder. You've probably gathered along the way that I didn't like the way that exhaust system had been bodged on anyway, so no great loss.

Of course, I then had the great pleasure of ringing the potential buyer and telling him the bike was totally and utterly fubar. So he's coming to have a look at LFB with the intention of possibly buying it and I get to convert Kostenlot (Stu - you owe me an evening's drinking for that one  ) to an LT at my leisure.

bugga !!  eh

Ah well. Someone was smiling on me today - I managed to hammer an 11mm hex socket onto those nasty wee lumps of rust and was able to get two off and the other two came out complete with studs. Turns out they were philidas nuts; something I'd never put on a K-series exhaust system. The other four appeared to be nylocks but as they all came out with the studs, I can't be certain. One swift, satisfying kick later the exhaust system was lying on the floor. When I picked it up, I could hear coolant sloshing around inside. There's almost always a bright side to most ballsups and in this case, it was that no.1 exhaust was not very far from separating from its flange. I have a set of the correct exhausts tucked away in the standard cardboard box which were originally bought on a whim because they were off a very low mileage bike and were very cheap (approx £28 inc. p&p, IIRC). The insides of them aren't even completely coated with carbon; that low mileage. So, apart from a full gasket set from Motorworks at £146, I just need to find a decent silencer on ebay.

And a few hours to actually do it.

If Low Flying Brick gets sold on Friday, then it becomes all change because I'll be looking out for a set of 1100 throttlebodies and I'll be swapping the switches for Japanese ones. That means another new wiring loom as the current one was made to factory standard.

So...

Will it ever be finished?

You have to have a occasional win. I was going to post about maybe using a nut splitter, if it would fit. they come in different sizes. A rarely used tool but handy when needed. 
Regards Martin.

I have used the smallest of a set of 3 successfully on a K75. Some of the nuts were so rusty I could not get anything to grip them.

I avoid using the OEM magnetic "copper" nuts on my exhaust systems. 

Stainless steel nuts with copper anti-seize on stainless steel studs.  I get them on eBay.  Every couple years I remove the nuts and put fresh anti-seize on the threads as part of end of season maintenance.

^^ That's how LFB has been treated. Except I made my own studs because I'm a skinflint

Dai wrote:Ah well. Someone was smiling on me today - I managed to hammer an 11mm hex socket onto those nasty wee lumps of rust and was able to get two off and the other two came out complete with studs. Turns out they were philidas nuts; something I'd never put on a K-series exhaust system. The other four appeared to be nylocks but as they all came out with the studs, I can't be certain,,,

My go to tool for removing exhaust nuts and/or studs is my Irwin nut/bolt extractor sockets set. Always worth a squirt of decent penetrating oil at the root of the stud first too…if the stud comes out instead of the nut coming off, that’s a win in my book - far more preferable to the other alternative of the stud sheering off (been there, suffered that). The Irwin sockets hammer onto the rounded nut (bolt or even stud) remains and it’s hardened “teeth” cut into the nut as you start to unscrew it and increase the gripping force.

Of course, since suffering my first exhaust woes a few years back, and buying the Irwin set…my exhausts have been on and off a few times and a liberal use of anti-seize copper slip combined with not leaving the nuts and bolts untouched for decades has meant that they have not troubled me again. I am happy when I can outwit Sod’s Law.

Nylocks? On an exhaust system?? Surely not…but never under-estimate the ignorance of the previous owner.

I pushed an exploratory screwdriver through the replacement radiator too... Not really surprised or bothered as it was LFB's original radiator and I'd already sealed it with Radweld some years ago. I count that as a 'chance your arm' that failed because having to source a replacement radiator was always on the cards.

Just waiting for Motorworks to open on Wednesday... They've got an almost new one there for 130 squids. (Oops. Shouldn't have said that, should I? )

Dai wrote:I pushed an exploratory screwdriver through the replacement radiator too... Not really surprised or bothered as it was LFB's original radiator and I'd already sealed it with Radweld some years ago. I count that as a 'chance your arm' that failed because having to source a replacement radiator was always on the cards.

Just waiting for Motorworks to open on Wednesday... They've got an almost new one there for 130 squids. (Oops. Shouldn't have said that, should I? )

I am currently running a 2-core in my bike but I do want to put a 3-core back in it. I am having precisely ZERO luck in finding a 3-core that doesn't leak. I have had 3 bad used ones. Everyone stood behind their warranty except James Sherlock. Just saying! I bought one from MotorWorks in July 2021 and it leaked straight away. MotorWorks do provide a 6 month warranty on them and they will stand behind that. I took photos and emailed them. They refunded my money no problem. They are a great bunch to deal with. Good guys there!

Tom

Alberta? You really don't need a three-core radiator up there! 

Anyway, as of about an hour ago the head is on the bench, has been refurbished and is waiting for a gasket set. Looks like whoever bodged on the LT exhaust had nut-trouble too because one of the two remaining studs in the head is around 5mm longer than the other. That'll be a hacksaw job to bring it down to the correct length when I  make the new studs. I'll replace the crankcase gasket while I'm at it because one comes in the gasket set and there's only twelve bolts between me and it. I reckon it would be a bit stupid not to.

Dai wrote:Alberta? You really don't need a three-core radiator up there! 

 
I read somewhere (BMW MOA I believe) that on hot days at highway speeds the bike will run slightly warmer. I did notice that that was the case as I installed a temp gauge on my bike. At highway speeds the needle on my temp gauge would run straight up with the 3-core. With the 2-core it consistently sits off centre to the right. Nothing at all to be concerned about, it’s just that I noticed the difference.

I also got a used foam-rubber-gasket-thingy that sat atop the 3-core and cut it to fit the top of the 2-core as this piece wasn’t used with the latter.

HI Dai I have a Motad silencer if you are interested, not sure if you want to stay original or not.

Hello Simon

I nailed an almost-perfect original silencer off ebay for £65 two nights ago. If it wasn't for that, you'd be wondering where your arm had just gone!

-Dai

This arrived about ten days ago:

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/exhaust.jpg

It had been listed on ebay as being chrome: until recently I had no idea BMW made chrome-plated silencers for the K-series until James Sherlock posted a new one for some really, really stupid price. It wasn't until I had this on the bench that I found it wasn't chrome but the usual stainless that had been machine-polished to within an inch of its life. Some of the nooks and crannies still had the remains of the soap lurking in them and the edges of the cages for the exhaust shield nuts all displayed the typical rounded-off appearance left by a polishing mop. Very nice. So much so, I was severely tempted to swap out the one from Low Flying Brick for this one.

The exhaust pipes at the front are the ones I was talking about earlier as being off a very, very low mileage bike. You can also see that the OEM paint is still on the collars.

A couple of days after, a not-so-big box arrived from Motorworks filled with blown starch, a full set of OEM gaskets and this:

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/radiator.jpg

Almost perfect. See above comment about swap temptation...

So, I reassembled the engine with new gaskets and checked the tappet clearances while I was that far in. No.4 exhaust is on the upper limit, as in; the feeler gauge is not quite a sliding fit but it can be pushed into the gap if you shove hard enough. Not worth worrying about for the next 10-20,000 miles or so. I also made a new set of exhaust studs from stainless threaded bar. Even allowing for time taken (not much to hacksaw, bevel the leading edge and run a die down the thread to be sure) and then add the cost of stainless washers and stainless nuts, they must have come in at one-quarter of the priced asked by Motorworks.

See? I told you I was a skinflint!

I fitted that boootiful radiator today and hope to have the exhaust on tomorrow.

And MotoWorks WILL ABSOLUTELY honour their 6-month warranty on that rad if it fails, as they did with me. James Sherlock didn't!

So yesterday was the day that I discovered that a full OEM K100 gasket set does NOT include the exhaust gaskets. Not a full set then, eh?

Did eventually fit the exhaust system today; of course, fitting a square pipe to the solid footrest hangers meant I had to make an adaptor for it because I don't have one of the later mounting brackets.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/exhaust_fitted.jpg

Yeah... I'm really wishing I'd kept this system... as close as I'm ever going to get to new, I think.

End of project. See

https://www.k100-forum.com/t17651-k100rt-free-to-someone-in-northern-ireland#203519

Wasn’t expecting that Dai. What a bummer.