Being winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, my bikes aren't being ridden as much as I might want. And I just took my Silver K75 for an around the block/island ride to get a bit of lunch. Any excuse to ride anywhere what with Covid, rain, and chill even here in Paradise of S.F. Bay. And before I get started I do acknowledge up front that my riding glasses are tinted red or rose, whatever. One result being that surface rust/corrosion shows more readily. So Looking at the bike I'm seeing all this preliminary surface corrosion on all the shiny metal bolts/fasteners. Red spectacles are wonderful for making the world look rosy and showing up rust. Now in the recent past, my approach has been to take each affected fastener, wire wheel brush it, and then rattle-can spray it with clear coat. This does work to a degree or for a period. But it also seems to allow the corrosion to reform much faster than it did initially. I've also tried fabric wheel polishing the corrosion off which adds a wax coating to the part.

So I'm asking if anyone has a better or more enduring approach to this minor but endemic issue/problem?  What does the factory do to keep the fasteners rust free for the initial years? I do realize that stainless steel is one possibility. But is there a youtube video  of  anti-corrosion coating  fasteners? In my situation - at least - the corrosion is of the head and not the threads/body of the fastener.

I got one of these kits for my K75RT.  Yeah, the kit is for a K100RS, but except for some of the fairing hardware both bikes share about 95% of the same fasteners.

Removing the old fasteners and replacing them with anti-seized stainless took a couple evenings.  Besides looking good, it's nice to know that everything was tightened properly and because of the anti-seize will come out without problems if the need arises.

Since the tensile of the stainless isn't as high as the OEM hardware, I used torque setting on my wrench about 80 or 85% of the specified torque.  After 6 years there have been no issues with broken screws, stripped threads or lost fasteners.

Point-Seven-five wrote:I got one of these kits for my K75RT.  Yeah, the kit is for a K100RS, but except for some of the fairing hardware both bikes share about 95% of the same fasteners.

Removing the old fasteners and replacing them with anti-seized stainless took a couple evenings.  Besides looking good, it's nice to know that everything was tightened properly and because of the anti-seize will come out without problems if the need arises.

Since the tensile of the stainless isn't as high as the OEM hardware, I used torque setting on my wrench about 80 or 85% of the specified torque.  After 6 years there have been no issues with broken screws, stripped threads or lost fasteners.

Well that beats the price from Motorworks £298.44 INC VAT. And I know that the steel ones are probably way stronger than needed. But I've got three bikes to retrofit and would like to do it in steel. IF possible.
thanks point-seven-five. I'll keep it in mind. Probably a lot easier to change the bolts than any other approach.
Any idea if the set of screws is exact for a K75 as well as the K100?

Point-Seven-five wrote:I got one of these kits for my K75RT.  Yeah, the kit is for a K100RS, but except for some of the fairing hardware both bikes share about 95% of the same fasteners.

Removing the old fasteners and replacing them with anti-seized stainless took a couple evenings.  Besides looking good, it's nice to know that everything was tightened properly and because of the anti-seize will come out without problems if the need arises.

Since the tensile of the stainless isn't as high as the OEM hardware, I used torque setting on my wrench about 80 or 85% of the specified torque.  After 6 years there have been no issues with broken screws, stripped threads or lost fasteners.

2nd go round Point-Seven-five, but looking at the link I wonder which fasteners are included. I don't see the valve covers included. Just the small screws. There are two other ads out there for similar setups. Any comments?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/232225997314?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=232225997314&targetid=1262843334889&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9031977&poi=&campaignid=15275224983&mkgroupid=131097072938&rlsatarget=pla-1262843334889&abcId=9300697&merchantid=8154984&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoNWOBhCwARIsAAiHnEiVJPKPsLrqrAroSOBpsVt--1T0ZpMZzGOpJup9-PSEs3iPsnovaEEaAq1REALw_wcB

http://www.2040-parts.com/bmw-k1-k100-k1100-k1200-engine-screw-kit-bolt-kit-i791489/

If I recall, the kit I linked has all the standard fasteners for the frame, luggage mounts, forks, axle, engine, footpeg plates, helmet lock, mudguards, handlebars, etc.  The special ones that go in the valve and crankshaft covers aren't included as well as a couple others.  I wasn't too concerned about those cover screws because with the RT fairing you can only see about half of them, so I just put the best ones out where I could see them.

With the four bikes that have followed the RT, I have been buying stainless hardware in bulk on eBay.  There are a lot of common sizes used, like M6 & M8 fillister head screws or 6mm wave washers.  I buy them in lots of 20, 50 or 100 and keep a good assortment in a big box, when I'm working on a bike I'll just replace the hardware around where I'm working when I put it back together.  The stainless adds a subtle functional bling to the looks of the bike without being gaudy like chrome stuff.

If you really need to clean up your hardware, I have seen stuff on YouTube about electrolytically removing rust and replating with nickel or zinc.

As per .75, all the fasteners on LFB (except for the specialist ones e.g. cam cover) have been replaced with stainless. I also buy in bulk; multiple bikes plus working on others. I never buy bike-specific kits because 11 times out of 10 the price is a x3 or x4 ripoff from buying even individual bolts. As for the Motorworks kit: lathe-turned and polished is very pricey but means no manufacturer's stamps on them.

That second kit you link to specifically does NOT include the cam/crankshaft cover bolts (very last line in the ad).

Interestingly none of the kits seem to include the  frame to tranny bolts or the bolts for the tail section, or bag mounts. And they both claim 94 pieces.

Given that do you think this makes a cost effective approach to replacing the steel with stainless?

Ok, just caught that two of the three kits are by the same folks, the 352-piece kit ($60), and one of the 94 piece ($45) kits.

The 2040-parts.com link in Reply #4 leads us to a mysterious source that displays an American flag, a location in Houston, TX and a map of North Miami Beach with place names in Russian translated into English. Try them first. 

The $60 kit that I linked has hardware for a lot of esoteric parts(think screws for attaching the handlebar switches and the helmet lock). There weren't many fasteners that they didn't have, if any.   I'm pretty sure that it includes hardware for the panniers.  I'm not sure, but I think there was no replacement for the engine mount hardware or the rear shock.  Those was two of the things they didn't replace, and I wouldn't have used them anyway.  I would much rather have the factory bolts in those applications.

Laitch wrote:The 2040-parts.com link in Reply #4 leads us to a mysterious source that displays an American flag, a location in Houston, TX and a map of North Miami Beach with place names in Russian translated into English. Try them first. 

That is just TOO much. I'm thinking to go with the $60 kit.   Less chancy?

Thanks .75. Just put the order in.

Just an update. Got the order in and couldn't make heads or tails of the various pieces. Called, e-mailed the source. No help trying to decipher some of the details. So I'm slowly changing out fasteners as I find them oxidized. Have to develop another approach to replacing the bits as I go along. Thanks for the tips guys.
J.

As I remove and replace covers etc I replace cover bolts with 316 stainless steel. I buy these individually from an industrial fastener trade supplier locally. Very cheap.

316 has a small % of molybdinum giving it a higher degree of corrosion resistance and from what I've been told is also suitable for automotive use where used with alloys. Regardless I always apply a very thin smear of copper grease to the thread to help prevent binding.

I've always wanted to set up a nickel plating process to coat all those other specialty bolts like the valve/crank cover bolts etc.

What kind of problems are you having?  Having done three bikes, I might be able to help.

Did you get the instructions with the fasteners?  If your kit is like mine was, you will be lost without them.  The problem is that the fasteners are in about 25 small bags and the bags aren't organized into logical groups, ie, one bag may have a couple screws for the tail cowl and one for the right handlebar grip.  Another bag will have the rest of the screws for the tail cowl and screws for the Hall Sensor cover.

If you have the instructions, take your time and stay organized.  Follow the instructions, step by step and don't take anything out of a bag without putting it on the bike.  Whatever you do DON'T try to rush the job.  Mark each step of the instructions as you finish it.  I found it works best that when I do a step I get the correct bag, remove the fastener from the bike and match it to the ones in the bag.  Then I put the fastener off the bike into the bag. 

I did my bikes in the winter and fortunately our family room is next to the garage.  I had the bags and instructions on a coffee table in the family room.  This gave me a place to take my time and sort the bags and find the parts I needed and then take them out to the bike a few steps away.  It took me about a week of evenings to get the bike finished.  I can't emphasize too much how important it is to take your time and staying organized.

One other thing.  If you haven't done it already, this is an excellent time to go through and detail every part of the bike as you take out the fasteners that hold it together.  Not only will your bike have that shiny bling, but it will be spotlessly clean.