Some of you may have deduced that I finally got my hands on a k1100rs (Long time dream). As usual I wasn't planning a purchase when this one popped up on the local classified ads it was too cheap and looked too good to ignore....and then there was that christmas bonus to be considered. 

This was it as advertised.


It was 3 1/2 hrs from me in Cork so my good friend Olaf was dispatched to suss it out and reports came back the the bike had "issues" but all normal K stuff and was cosmetically very clean. (Note use of past tense!). It was also said to have a buckled front wheel. The bike was being discussed at the Irish Eccentrics Christmas get together when Corkboy said he had a spare 3 spoke wheel and we could trade something or other for it. Well that tipped the scales on the economics and the vendor was contacted and a deal arranged by phone.

I borrowed a trailer and collected it on 30/12/95, a great way to Tee up the new year! After unloading it at home it started on the button but a loose ignition made for an aborted test ride. 

A few days later I jammed the ignition and drove it to Galway for a spin. (1hr 20 mins each way at a mix of Motorway and country roads) it ran ok. A bit rough like a bad HT lead or Plug. MPG seemed a bit poor but the power was noticeably better on the 16v to the old 8vLT.

So the list is:
Tyres (and front wheel),
Battery,
Big Service and Spline Lube
Fork Seals
Front disks
Rear shock 
LED DRL's
and get ABS working again.

He has been named Rudolf Von Schmurf ! (Don' ask  ... but in my defence there may have been alcohol involved  )

Ignition first, test riding can't be done till the loose ignition is sorted....

Someone else has been in here before, The cause of the loose contact is the broken tang that holds the actual switch in.



After cleaning and greasing the contacts I had to use a little superglue to hold it back together. If it goes again it will be replaced. 

A little pink nail varnish from Daughters kit and were as good as new we can be.

Captains Log Stardate: 10/2/16.......Scotty has the Ignition sorted, it was time for a decent test ride. 

A dry day but low temperatures (3-4c) meant it was mostly going to be straight line stuff. After a quick run to the neighbouring village of Lanesborough the Ignition job was a total success but the rough running at certain revs was there. So too was  a very harsh bark from the exhaust at full chat. It's either a broken valve of a cracked header. The bikes running too well for it to be a valve I reckon but the consumption is looking lousy (on the gauge anyway).

After returning to the bike the battery was low and I got the welded starter relay thing. Bugger. The hadlight is wired funny and isn't through the handlebar switch anymore. Not through the load shed relay either by the looks. Some "gifted" P.O. 

I got a lift home and retrieved a spare starter relay and then jumped it off a friends van...

On getting home I opened up the relay (Old blunt knives (3 in all)  are handy for getting the cover off).


Not too badly burnt!

A bit of a cleanup later....


And we're good to goo again. Battery on charge, now waiting for the weather.

I think Comberjohn will be having the weather stone polished in preparation for meet up on 19th March.....he usually organises some good sunshine.

Good the see Rudolph is finally going as he should. I suppose if we park then RS and my RT alongside they might become the Willy Wonkas?.

Soon be time to break out the camping gear....

good to see Will

have a look at number 4 header pipe as it joins the collector for the muffler ...you might see a crack there ,,,you should be able to see it from under the bike  whilst on the centre stand

Cheers Charlie. I'm just bring this thread up to date and I think I've found the culprit...

Hi Will,
I am going to replace the OEM shock (when I say OEM - I got it from Ringfad so I don't know its age, history, or mileage) with a YSS one before a three week trip with wife and full luggage (funny how they go together   )

It isn't leaking or anything, and the replacement is a precaution as I don't want to be stuck half way down through France with a knackered shock.  

It's yours if you want it. It would be fine for day trips etc. and who knows, might last a few more years.

I'll be replacing it at the end of the month.  I might like a trip to Waterford to deliver it (any excuse).

Sat 13.2.16 - I was just taking the bike out of the Shed with freshly charged battery when I lost my footing and dropped the bugger in the doorway.





Well that's a bit of a setback! 

I decided after cooling off that It's emminently repairable. So meantime The whole fairing came off.


I need one bike rideable for the 19th so the front light might come off the K75 to make it street legal and I'll see from there how the repairs progress.

So this might be the reason for the bark.....

No 1 header! (Gifted repairer )




I will also be trying to get the ABS back online. Right now I've two flashing lights but I think the rear is working ok. 

The disconnected pipes are there so it may be just a pump. I will be using the forum here to learn as much as possible about ABS, I've never really gotten into it before.



The pipe on the right is the master cylinder banjo and is taped off to stop it rattling where it was tucked up under the tank. The other pipe with the protective winding is a return from the caliper I'm reckoning. Can anyone shed more light?

Also just wondering if this block of foam on top of the Clocks is Standard?


So that's the state of play for now...more to follow.

Corkboy wrote:Hi Will,
I am going to replace the OEM shock...It's yours if you want it. It would be fine for day trips etc. and who knows, might last a few more years.

I'll be replacing it at the end of the month.  I might like a trip to Waterford to deliver it (any excuse).

Super Corkboy, with the K75 to sort this RS will put pressure on the financial constraints so I'd be delighted, put my name on it and beer vouchers can be exchanged but I'll meet you somewhere other than Waterford as I'm in the Mid-West since last August 

Hang in there 88, you are amongst friends. I dropped mine the day I finally got the fairing back on, moved it around the shed and it fell over. Goodbye mirror pod, and lesson learnt. (not sure what but I felt stupid).

Ah that's a bummer.

I did same with the LT one Sunday morning I was going out for a bike run. I managed to not do much damage but being in the doorway was no room to get beside it and under it to lift it. Ended up using ratchet straps suspended from the steel channel over the door. Took me an hour piece by piece and had to take seat and bits off to do it. Was well wrecked after it and the hour in hand that was for the breakfast before the run was all used up and it was a sweaty ride.

Ok, so since I got my RT running last night and I can feel Rudolph's pain if you want I will arrange with Corkboy to get the shock and bring it up for March 19th.

I seem to be running a shocking delivery service down here lately.........

Dont worry olaf,
I might be going on the spin on the 19th, so I can bring it myself.

I'm in the middle or repairing a crack on the topbox frame myself, with epoxy and a metal brace.

The joy of older bikes!

bugger that's sad to hear about the fairing  Will

keep at it mate

Corkboy wrote:Dont worry olaf,
I might be going on the spin on the 19th, so I can bring it myself.

I'm in the middle or repairing a crack on the topbox frame myself, with epoxy and a metal brace.

The joy of older bikes!

Gotta stop doing wheelies with wife on pillion!

You will enjoy that run to France.......fekn wish we were going too. You should find Perigueux and St Leon sur Vezere........cracking road from Rouffignac up through Perigueux to Angouleme to Cognac and Nantes.......

A little more progress today, between juggling kids, I managed to get the leads off and test them, having spent the night looking at how to use my Multi-Meter to measure Ohms on Youtube. 

3 were around the 5.4k resistance and #3 was down to 4.3k with a grotty plug thingy and an equally grotty socket in the lead.


There also seemed to be a build up of crud on the back/outer face of the plug ground electrode. Could the bad contact cause that?

Would that be enough to upset the running? 

Anyway, new plugs back and cleaned leads back in, it fired up and ran smoothly and with no evidence of a misfire. So I'm thinking that's a win until I can get on the road and prove otherwise!

4.3 k would be ok on the shortest lead Will

but good you found the corrosion etc ...it could have created a spark gap rather than good connection

hope you cleaned up the high tension connectors at the coil towers as well whilst in there

I see tons of green corrosion from coils over there ( I'm sure its just the atmospherics and a time thing ) and little observation skills

good luck mate

The coil ends were are clean as a whistle Charlie. Good to know the 4.3k is ok for a short run.

Well I got the fairing back together but it took a while as I had to source a screen within my budget. I needed the tabs to help locate the broken off piece and all the tabs had broken off the original in the drop incident. A café builder in italy sent me a lovely top fairing with screen in but it was the wrong colour so I'm waiting till I can get a big paint job done to use that one and opted for a cheap repair of the old to see this season out..

The pieces bonded back using the new screen to locate them correctly....




Sanding back once the breaks are set and they were reinforced with GRP matting at the back..



Then fine filled and lots more sanding .....


Instead of painting I opted for a quick and cheap vinyl wrap for the temporary finish



Slight colour difference as this was the only plain red I could get.



Ta DAH...ready for reassembly and remounting to the bike....




This stuff is highly recommended if using vinyl, well worth the money and time to set it up....



Now to do the fork seals and get tires sorted....

Nice job 88. I can'tsee a great difference in colour from the photos. How far down does the wrap go or did you cover the whole fairing?

WoW...  looks great

Hi Will

Looking good , my red is also still in the shed, but now K1 treffen is over time to get back to it.

Holister (KH) wrote:Nice job 88. I can'tsee a great difference in colour from the photos. How far down does the wrap go or did you cover the whole fairing?

Just did it as far as the ridge line under the light/mirrors Kaptain, which is where the cutting tape came in and did a great job. Maybe these pics with the mirrors on will show the colour difference better.





and with the new superbright LED drl fitted....

Hey Will, I like the look of that DRL set up. I have been thinking of doing the same on my K1100, using the space where the normal parking (side) light is fitted.

Any chance of some details?

Cheers

Gaz80 wrote:Hey Will, I like the look of that DRL set up. I have been thinking of doing the same on my K1100, using the space where the normal parking (side) light is fitted.

Any chance of some details?

Cheers

Sure Gaz - I'll take some detailed pics up over the next day or two.

A bit more progress last weekend and tonight on stripping the front end. The buckled wheel has been removed and the disks transferred to the good one supplied by Corkboy and sent to have the new tyre fitted. I'm opting for BT T30 Evo's on this bike due to availabilty of sizes and prices being very good on them delivered from www.thevisorshop.com up North.

With the wheel away I've been working on getting the forks out to do the seals. grotty connections and bolts...you know the score....it's also the first chance I've had to really study the brake pipe setup on one of these. The tiny amount of clearance between the tyre and the flexi brake pipes under the mudguard (en route to the calipers) was a bit unsettling. 

Can anyone tell me if the position of these banjo's is correct or should they be swung to the outside? 





The abs sensor is truly stuck and I don't want to bash it for fear of damage but it looks like it's been roughly treated by the Mountain Gorilla school of mechanics....



Any tips on freeing it without destroying it?

For Gaz....some details on the DRL.

I bought some of this from a nice man in Hong Kong. (I say nice because I ordered two but he sent me two packs of 10!!!  )

(0.5m long cuttable 12v SMD LED's with 120 degree light output and .3w each LED...they are bright!!)

Opening the light unit I removed the parking light and the backing reflector....


I cut 2 strips and soldered the two leads onto a longer feed, then bonded the two strips in with some Tech7 multipurpose bonding as used in building industry. White would be better but the black was open so I just used that, obviously be careful not to get it in the LEDS themselves.



Once that had set stick a suitable grommet in the hole on the back where the parking light bulb holder goes and reassemble. Connect the wires to the parking light feed with Bullet connectors and Robert's your parents sibling.

Great stuff! Thanks for the info Will.

Cheers

Have just read the posts ... good luck with the 'little things' that are popping up.

Re: spark plugs... yes they were corroded etc... 

A motorbike mechanic once told me to always check the the spark plug cap (the small metal piece on the threaded metal at the top which goes into HT lead cap) - and pinch it tight with pliers (not too tight). 

Have always done this since and it is common to find them loose - like my K100 previously owned by two mechanically minded owners.

I have played around with small motors a fair bit and you want as much spark as can be mustered across the gap. In your case corrosion (wire brush, wet and dry paper around a golf tee and deoxit it recommended) and maybe loose connection should be addressed.

Best of luck with it all.

Guy

Gaz80 wrote:Great stuff! Thanks for the info Will.

Cheers

What Will didn't mention is that they have to be cut to multiples of three. If you look on the first pic, there's a group of four pads every three LEDs. Measure the nearest multiple of three and cut between these so you leave two on each strip; they're actually the copper pads to have new wires soldered to when the strips are cut.


Will: those banjos look wrong to me. I'd swing them out to get better tyre clearance.

I've had a Remus exhaust I picked up sitting around for a couple of months awaiting the vendor to turn up the rear bracket before fitting it.

Yesterday however a sudden loud noise on the motorway, rolling off the throttle after overtaking at about 5000-5500 rpms there was a cracking noise from the front of the motor. I gentle rolled on the throttle but the bike didn't pick up properly and was running rough together with the temperature climbing steeply. Luckily I was just approaching an exit and made it into Kinnegad just as the needle tipped the bottom of the red.

I parked up and transferred to public transport to the city, returning that evening to have the bike retrieved home. I was hopeful it might just have been the cruddy headers packing in but secretly suspected it was worse. 

This afternoon, to eliminate the headers I stuck on the Remus system and started the bike briefly to see if that had cured it...
 

As you can hear it didn't....

I'm thinking cracked valve. Any thoughts team?

Looks like the heads coming off.

I may now remove the frame from the motor and transmission and split that too to do the full O ring, noise Clutch bearing and  spline lube while I'm at it.

I'm thinking more than cracked; you've possibly lost a piece of valve straight out of the exhaust port. I've seen/heard two Moto Guzzis do that and kept the valves as black exhibits. I'll probably be scalped for saying this but given the age of our bikes, I've always pointed the finger at unleaded fuel.

It's 20 years or more since an MGB did that on me...but something about that sound is a bit too familiar, even after all this time Dai !

The temperature going up as you describe says to me that it's a head gasket.
If you have or can get an endoscope have a look but a leakdown is the best way to diagnose it.
I would say that regardless of what the problem is that it is time to remove the head.
If you do remove the head be very careful not to damage the torx heads on the head bolts. thry strip out easily and can be very stubborn.

I'm Klueless Will , but I hope it clears up for you . Xmas is just round the corner , can't have Rudolph laid up during the festive season .

Will, just have a look at the bike on Friday and buy it as a stopgap, I know that you'll keep it forever then. It is your choice and nothing to do with my influence - honest!

Sure, Sure 

Well progress is sometimes very slow in my world due to family and other demands. One of the impediments to getting on with the RS has been the lack of suitable workspace. 

I've snaffled half an old cowshed and set up a suitable bench to assist the job.


Fluids out tonight, valve clearances to be measured tomorrow before whipping the head off.

good to see Will
good luck

It's not all Glory!!

I have measured the valve cleances and stripped out the cams etc. but I cannot get some of the cylinder head bolts to budge. I'm using a T45  which is not the tightest fit and BMW lists BMW No. 00 2 610. torx insert in the manual but I can't find a reference to the exact size of it. Some of the bolts have loosened but both of my two T45's have twisted and one of the head bolts has stripped so I'm in the poop now but determined to keep moving.

2 questions please:

Does anyone know of the correct size of the BMW part# above?
and

What's the best tip for removing the stripped one ( it hasn't been cracked loose yet!).

As always your input is gratefully received.

Valve measurements 3 inlets very tight:


Got this far tonight:

I can appreciate your dilemma Will that is exactly what happened to me some years ago except you have yet to shatter a T45 bit. I have a torque wrench that works for left and right handed threads and took one bolt to 210ft/lb before the bit shattered and that was a SnapOn bit which is the best you can buy.

I ended up using a Tungsten burr in my die grinder to take the heads of the 4 or 5 remaining bolts and when I did remove the heads the bolts were easy to remove and the threads were in good condition so why they were so damn ornery I don't know.

What really pissed me off was that there is no need to use the low profile torx bolts when a deep Allen head like the K100 has would be quite good enough for the job.

Try using a brass drift and giving the top of the bolt a really good whack but don't use force just a bigger hammer.  

Best of luck Will you certainly will need it.

Those head bolts are a b1tch to loosen.  On my K100RS4v one of the rearmost bolts had corroded in the block and broke off flush.  Being a hardened bolt, drilling it out was an adventure in frustration. 

I would strongly suggest that if I had to do it again I would get a Torx Plus impact driver bit and a pneumatic impact driver to loosen the damn things.  A torch to heat the bolt might be a good idea as well.

By the way, the heads are not standard Torx but an improved Torx Plus that has a different driver geometry and are capable of higher torques.  Standard Torx will sort of work, but break or strip out the heads when used on Torx Plus fasteners which are under high torque. 

http://www.stanleyengineeredfastening.com/sites/www.emhartamericas.com/files/downloads/Torx_Plus_Brochure_EN.pdf

The damn drivers are almost impossible to get.  It took me a couple weeks to find mine online.  You might want to start your quest at a well stocked local industrial hardware supply.  If you have one out, take one of your head bolts.

Another one of BMW's engineering secrets to prevent owner servicing.

Let me save you some time in your search.

https://www.amazon.com/TEMO-IP-50-Black-Impact-Socket/dp/B00K42XN4E?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Yeah, those are some nasty bolts to get off. I'd just drill the head off.

Sometimes it helps to heat the bolts with a torch prior to attempting to unscrew them.

Dont forget they are stretch bolts    so working them before trying to remove   nothing like the old hammer and a good few thumps to shock the threads just that little bit  and get a chance of turning them    ...   bit late now i guess...   drill the heads i guess    ....?

The other trick is to try tightening a fraction before loosening. Often works because any axial force used to keep the bit engaged is working in conjunction with the torque as opposed to being in opposition!
I haven't had the 'pleasure' of removing a 4V head but the principle has worked for me often - along with the good tips re hammer with copper punch and heat.
The other option if you can't weld something to the head of the damaged bolt (or drill the head off as suggested) would be to drill a small hole in the aluminium to get access to the shank of the bolt to introduce hot wd40 or that liquid nitrogen based aerosol penetrant call 'freeze'. This will give you a fighting chance when you resort to using an oversize bit hammered into the damaged bolt head.
As is often the case when damaging a bolt head, you only get one chance so when it comes to the 2nd chance improvisation, do the whole raft of things to maximise your chances before trying again (including top quality tool bit as Rich says. The hotter you can make the bolt and the colder you can make the head - the more chance you will have, assuming you have already managed to get penetrant oil down into the thread region with the reverse heating / cooling regime....

Not sure about Wills bolts but mine were twisting close to 90° before cracking then they would be just finger tight, there was nothing wrong at the thread and because of the washer under the head the oil was letting it twist so the impact was useless all I did was destroy a impact torx bit along with the rest.
I really didn't want to use the tungsten bit and die grinder but had no choice but take the chance of fine particles in the engine.

Thanks guys. I've started my day with some learning there.

So I shall try:

1. Brass drift
2. BFH 
3. Tighten a bit before loosening
4. Tungsten drill bits
5. Pulling where hair used to be:hp:

Watch this space 

Point-Seven-five wrote:By the way, the heads are not standard Torx but an improved Torx Plus that has a different driver geometry and are capable of higher torques.  Standard Torx will sort of work, but break or strip out the heads when used on Torx Plus fasteners which are under high torque. 

http://www.stanleyengineeredfastening.com/sites/www.emhartamericas.com/files/downloads/Torx_Plus_Brochure_EN.pdf

Just curious, did anyone happen to see this post?  The correct wrench makes a big difference.

Point-Seven-five wrote:

Point-Seven-five wrote:.........  The correct wrench makes a big difference.

Saw that and read it Point-Seven-Five but too late in my case to make a difference. Thanks for posting it tho', I'm wiser now.