Attached to the underside of it is this 92 red K75S with 73K miles on it that hasn't been run since November of 2013. 





Since it came up on Craig's List in my neck of the woods with the seat I've been looking for for my red 91 K75S I figured it was Fate telling me to buy it, bring it back from the dead, put a few miles on it and then flip it. Given the miles and fact that it hasn't run in a while I didn't have to pay a whole lot for it.

You may notice that the exhaust is missing.  The exhaust that came on it is a Patinatune (weathered Staintune.)  Aside from its complexion it's in decent shape without any scratches. I suppose it could be polished but my supply of elbow grease is running low so on the way home I dropped it off at the ceramic coating shop along with a set of headers to get them coated in Glacier Black which is a somewhat glossy black ceramic coat.



Since it has been sitting in the PO's garage for so long my biggest concern is a leaky tank but when he put it up he added fuel stabilizer and it's been sitting inside a garage so with any luck I won't have to deal with a leaky tank. I looked inside the tank and it looks OK but I haven't touched the vibration damper yet so not sure if it is goo or not. I did run my fingers along the underside of the gas tank seams and no paint was peeling so that's a good sign. (fingers crossed)

It's got some PIAAs on the forks. I haven't tried to turn the engine over yet but it does light up when turned on.  The N light doesn't turn on when in neutral so either the bulb is out or it needs the gear position PCB replaced.

It came with maintenance records/receipts starting at about 36K when the PO bought it and most of the big potential issues with a K with this many miles on it have been addressed:

Frequent spline lubes
Steering head bearings at 60K
Rear main seal and clutch plate at 50K
Cam chain tensioner at 40K
Shifter set screw at 60K
New Progressive shock at 60K
Head gasket at 67K (?)
Level 2 service at 70K

All of that work was done by a very good local indy wrench who actually knows BMWs so, aside from the water pump, most potential trouble areas seem to have been addressed.

Tomorrow I'll pull the fuel injectors and send them out to get them refurb'd.

By March I hope to have it ready for a quick jaunt down the coast to San Francisco and back.

Looks like a good find. It's even got a tall screen! What's the gizmo sticking out from the dash pad??
Regards Martin.

MartinW wrote:Looks like a good find. It's even got a tall screen! What's the gizmo sticking out from the dash pad??
Regards Martin.

It's a RAM mount to hold a TomTom Rider GPS mount.  The TomTom Rider was also thrown in as part of the deal.

The bike also came with Gen III side cases. (Covered with travel stickers - ugh.)

I also have the battery covers.  I always take those off when trailering since they like to escape.

Very good find Duck, but make sure you fit the "C" clips on the rear tank pins. Failure to do so can result in the side covers making a bid for freedom. This bid depends on how tight the pins are in the rubbers how much fuel and how big a bump. Under the right conditions hitting a bump can cause the rear of the tank to jump up releasing the side covers. A mate used to loose side covers on his 75s, and the only I could convince him it was the lack of "C" clips causing his problem was to take him to a local shopping centre and get him to ride over speed bumps. It took a few goes but eventually they made a bid for freedom. A tip not mine is attaching a small cable tie makes attaching and removal easier. I have a piece of wire with a hook and a finger loop for that purpose.
Regards Martin.

The last time this engine turned over was in 2013.  The guy I bought it from didn't even try to start it before selling it because he didn't want to hurt it.
 
I replaced fuel lines & filter, spark plugs and crank case breather hose.  I also installed freshly reconditioned fuel injectors.  While I had the plugs out I sprayed some fogging oil into the cylinders so they wouldn't be bone dry.  Then I spun it a few times without the L-Jetronic to get some oil circulating before it reached any decent RPMs. Once I hooked up the L-Jet it took a while to get it running because the fuel system was completely dry and needed to get primed.
 
And yes, I siphoned out the old gas and put a gallon of fresh gas in it.
 
When it started I was totally depressed. Virtually no smoke even with the fogging oil in the cylinders.  I was expecting a nice mosquito fogging - I even set up the movie frame to capture it. Oh well, at least it runs.

All that cranking on the cheap arse battery you bought two years ago? She sounded strong. 

Nah, it's the Westco that came with the bike.  PO had the bike on a battery tender the whole time in his garage.  It's been sitting since I bought the bike at the end of January and still read 12.7 this morning so I figured might as well try.  The sticker on it is J9 which I think means it's from October 2009.  Westco makes very good batteries - but you probably knew that already.

The Westco in my departed R1150RT was in there in 2012 - age unknown - when I bought the bike and still in there when I sold it on 31 December 2018. Still going strong. 

I also have a PC680 that was given to me in mid- 2012 when I returned to work here from OZ, that I now use as a shop battery for my Cycle Pump and for jumping dying batteries. It had sat for 18 months back then as a police bike warranty failure, and never returned to the distributor, with a swollen case. I charged it with 10amps , the case shrunk after a while,  and I've been using it ever since.

Corbin Craigslist BC Canada
In case anyone has a fancy...

Just to ride to a place name like Chilliwack would be worth the trouble.

Two Wheels Better wrote:Just to ride to a place name like Chilliwack would be worth the trouble.

Welcome to Chilliwack!

I wanna be free as a bird in Chilliwack.

Two Wheels Better wrote:Corbin Craigslist BC Canada
In case anyone has a fancy...

Just to ride to a place name like Chilliwack would be worth the trouble.

BTDT but now I am persona non grata in The Great White North as I earned a DWI way back in 1982.  Glad I did my Alaska trip before they made that change.

...persona non grata in The Great White North as I earned a DWI....

A past DWI can get you turned away at the border?  Wow, did not know this about the land of my birth.

I know of a businessman from Wisconsin who owns a company that makes auto parts in the GTA where he employs over 300 Canadians who can't visit his own factory.

Woodie wrote:

...persona non grata in The Great White North as I earned a DWI....

A past DWI can get you turned away at the border?  Wow, did not know this about the land of my birth.

It's all very simple. After the offense has been resolved, a US citizen's entry into the Great Northern Paradise depends upon rehabilitation being embraced and also upon what the meaning of five years is and if the meaning is even applicable.
Here's a little something from your compatriots who are toiling away at the DUI grindstone.

Thanks Laitch.  My 'gubment has put some serious effort into that web page.  Easy cross border travel between our two countries is just something that I have always taken for granted.  My favourite story going the other way is of a distinguished Canadian professor emeritus going to speak at a conference in the US.  As a teenager he had been charged with possession. 40+ years on he was still criminally responsible for getting caught with a joint.

So the US remembers and never forgives? I applied for a US tourist visa in the seventies and there, at the bottom on the application form it asked "Are you a communist?"

The consular staff said an answer was compulsory, but any answer will be ok

One of my more humorous border crossings happened back in 2001.  While scuba diving in Honduras I'd met an Aussie couple riding an F650 from Argentina to Anchorage and offered to put them up when they came through Seattle. They took me up on my offer and then we rode up to Banff together where we parted ways. Just for the hell of it, I then rode east on Canada 1 until I got bored. Somewhere east of Moosejaw I decided to head south back to the US through some obscure two lane border crossing in North Dakota.
 
The weather was nice and I was in a good mood so when the guy at the border asked me if I owned the motorcycle that I was riding and my response was "I think so." (I wasn't trying to be a dick, I was just joking around.)  Fortunately he had a sense of humor and let me back into the US after giving me a small lecture on how people steal vehicles and then run them across the border in order to "wash" the titles.

Michael Sydney wrote:So the US remembers and never forgives?

It's the Canadian authorities and their response to past DUI charges that my post involved.

Laitch wrote:

Michael Sydney wrote:So the US remembers and never forgives?

It's the Canadian authorities and their response to past DUI charges that my post involved.

Yeah?

So just before my post Woodie talked of a Canadian academic who was having problems entering the USA due to a minor matter.

You sound a little sensitive Laitch

...meanwhile at the southern border of the U.S....

Laitch wrote:

Michael Sydney wrote:So the US remembers and never forgives?

It's the Canadian authorities and their response to past DUI charges that my post involved.

Where I heard the professor's story was from within a CBC radio programme that was discussing forgiveness within a community.  It wasn't the US border authorities who couldn't forgive, it was computers which record everything and report things without a context.  

Oddly enough I know of more people having difficulty getting into Canada rather than us trying to leave.

Michael Sydney wrote:You sound a little sensitive Laitch

If you're a psychotherapist and in the area, stop by. Payment will be in maple syrup.

Got it stripped down.  I can tell that it's always been a garage queen since the frame isn't rusty at all.  Looks good when dusted and waxed.

It's nice to have been able to leave the K75 on the trailer to work on it this Spring so far. No need to roll her into the garage. Let's hope for at least some rain, though. Looking fine!
 

Since I don't have a lift (or room for one) I use my trailer instead.

The price on these tank grommets is BRUTAL - $10.36 each!

Check with me for grommets and such. I bought stacks of extras when I worked for the dealer coz my cost was close to theirs. I may have it in my stock if it's common to Airheads & early Ks. No dramas.

I'm looking for two 16112309163.

The ones prior to 5/91 are only $2 but this bike was built in 2/92 so it needs the newer ones.

Will check stock later this arvo.

Laitch

I hope this is not your video of Chilli... whatever.

It's fascinating. And those little bastard girls who keep pulling the bin over. They're like raccoons. Don't they know smoking is bad. Still they seem to be having fun.

Those drunken zombies baying at the moon - we get them here. And don't their interpersonal issues resonate in the darkness!

When we were in Colorado, the rear of the Yukon XL started sliding out at 6.30am in the dark as I was getting onto a main road. Big ditch at the side of the road. As our English cousins would say "I was bricking it". Cold sweat after I managed to recover it. But now I see in the video, it's just a style of driving.

Duck: That bike is looking good all waxed up - bit like ourselves

I will have to post pics of my ugly mutt of a project. Can someone point the way to upload pics - my attach a document is reading "No Pictures".

Thanks

Guy

WTF? No altitude plug?  It has a US VIN.  Did BMW ditch that in 92?

duck wrote:WTF? No altitude plug?  It has a US VIN.  Did BMW ditch that in 92?

My '95 has one.

Duck a mate made his own out of blue silicone. He taped up the bits on the bike and filled with the silicone and pushed pin of the correct diameter into it, let it dry and pulled out the pin and then trimmed it up. Unfortunately mate is no longer around and  I can't remember what he used as a release agent.
Regards Martin.

A mate made an altitude plug for Australia? Or was he off to the Himalayas?

It's my understanding (from Inge) that only US bikes had the altitude plug.  I've seen/owned/parted a ton of K bikes in the US and every single one has had an altitude plug.  The only exception was a K75RTP and I assume that's because BMW had used the same wiring they used for Euro police bikes

As stated, I checked the VIN to be sure and it comes up as a US bike so this mystifies me.

The only time I really noticed was when I was fairly new to Ks and didn't know about the altitude plug.  When I got up above 10,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park my K75RT wouldn't idle.  It took me a few minutes of thinking something was wrong with the bike until it dawned on me that altitude was causing the issue.

TWB he made the fuel tank grommets.
Regards Martin.

MartinW wrote: TWB he made the fuel tank grommets.
Regards Martin.

Yeah, reckon atop old Mt Kozzie* at 7500 feet, a K would be just about running sweet.


*Tallest mountain in Australia for those not in the know.

MartinW wrote:Duck a mate made his own out of blue silicone. He taped up the bits on the bike and filled with the silicone and pushed pin of the correct diameter into it, let it dry and pulled out the pin and then trimmed it up. Unfortunately mate is no longer around and  I can't remember what he used as a release agent.
Regards Martin.

Every day dish detergent is a good release agent on silicone

So I've been spending my free time tearing this thing apart adding a few mods and cleaning everything up.  (Not charlie99 clean, just layperson clean.) For the age and miles it's in incredibly good shape aside from some paint nicks and such. The Showas shown minor wear with no fading and the calipers look really nice.

Even though the records I got show a Level II service at 70K and it's got 73K on it now I decided to tear the back end apart to clean everything up and be 100% sure the splines are well lubed.  I just pulled the final drive and drive shaft, wondering what the drive shaft splines would look like????

Much to my amazement they show no wear at all!

This is what results from good regular maintenance:


(The paper towel is stuffed in there to get my camera to focus properly.)

Amazing!  Lucky Duck.

More spline lube pics:

Of course the clutch boot tore but I just happened to have a new spare on hand:



The clutch was nice and clean but that's to be expected since the rear seal and clutch plate were replaced 23K ago:



While I had the transmission off I cleaned the road grime off its underside:


And then before reinstalling it I mixed up a new batch of the Paul Glaves recommended Honda Moly 60 & Wurth 3000 magic elixir for the clutch splines:


And then the transmission just slid right back on. (No girly-man guide bolts required. )

The rear rotor was below spec so I had some more fun getting those bolts off in order to install a thicker rotor.  These were some of the stuckiest ones I've ever had to deal with.

Been there with the drill...