Topic: The Happy-ish Thread. Share your small wins and mixed blessings.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, yep the dental patients I saw in the recovery room were all coming out of a general anaesthetic like I was. Makes good sense to me, I wouldn’t want to be awake during any of the other surgeries I’ve had, so why would I want to be awake while a dental surgeon is digging around in my mouth?

[grcamna2]

Thanks Bill, yep the dental patients I saw in the recovery room were all coming out of a general anaesthetic like I was. Makes good sense to me, I wouldn’t want to be awake during any of the other surgeries I’ve had, so why would I want to be awake while a dental surgeon is digging around in my mouth?

Did you just have your procedure Terry ?

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah Bill, March 4. Back feeling pretty good except when working on bikes all day.

[RAFster122s]

Terry lead your back surgery went well, sent you a few Rt66 posts to add to your reading pleasure or places you might want to plan photos

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys. Spotty and I spent the day fixing my BMW K100RS, that hasn't fired a shot since 2015. Last weekend we replaced the front brake master cylinder only to find that there appeared to be a blockage in the lines. We also cleaned the black sludge out of the gas tank and replaced the fuel pump, but even though with the new battery we installed, we had a nice fat spark and could hear the fuel pump working, it wouldn't fire a shot.

Today I took some cool tools across to Spotty's place. A little ultrasonic cleaner, and an injector tester from Amazon, and a fancy injector cleaning kit that I bought from Vevor months ago when I was farting around with my Subaru. For the blocked brake lines, all I could think of was to take some old throttle cables of varying lengths, and after cutting the nipples off and removing the inner cables, poked them as far up the brake hoses as I could. We then chucked them in the drill and used it as a "Roto Rooter" which worked really well. The bike is fitted with the first version of ABS, so there's a hose that runs from the MC to the ABS module on the back of the bike, then another hose that runs to one caliper, with a crossover pipe running to the other front caliper. The rubber hoses are only short, and the piping for the ABS are hard lines, so we couldn't really hurt them. It took all day because there were multiple blockages, but we were eventually able to flush, then bleed the system, and got a nice firm lever.   

OK, on to the injectors. We actually pulled them before we started on the brakes, and I put them in my little $40 Amazon ultrasonic cleaner, in a solution of auto paint grease remover, with a little bit of injector cleaner, and pretty much ran it all day. An added bonus is that the cleaner is also heated, so really helped to get the crap out of the injectors. We pulled them out, and rigged it up to the tester/cleaner unit.

BMW Sunday 14 April 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

In the pic, Spotty is holding up the container of gas with the air regulator set at 15 psi, while the injector was connected to the test unit. Here's a close up pic of the tester and injector:

BMW Sunday 14 April 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The tester/cleaner works great, it allows you to pulse the solenoid in each injector while sending fuel to it at fairly low pressure. It worked a treat, and we were happy that each injector worked fine. We greased up the O rings and reinstalled the injectors, attached the fuel rail and hoses, and well, ran out of excuses. We turned the ignition on, pressed the button, and VAROOM! It started!

Unlike a lot of "First Start" vids I see on Youtube where the bikes are running perfectly with no smoke or old oil burning off the pipes etc, this was the real deal. It's still idling a little rough, but I reckon a decent ride will sort it out, so with luck, next weekend we'll pump the tyres up, do an oil and filter change, check the coolant level, and take it for a (hopefully) nice long ride. I'm just happy that it's a runner again, and the brakes work! (I think.....)

[PeWe]

That's must feel very good for both of you!
After a long ride still warm, new video "BMW first start since 15 years".
Plus hard metal music....

[BenelliSEI]

Terry….. That sounds pretty healthy! well done and enjoy that first ride. cool tools and neat bike!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys. I’ve been looking at Youtube vids of guys who’ve bought old K series BMW’s that have been sitting for years and giggle to myself when they see a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust and assume that there’s something wrong. One of the quirky features of a K bike is that because they’re a flat four ( or flat 3 for the K75) is that when parked on the side stand the cylinder head is the lowest part of the engine, so some oil gets past the rings, and they blow smoke. Considering that mine has been on its side stand for 9 years it wasn’t really surprising to see some smoke, but that’ll clear on my first ride.

These engines are good for half a million miles with minimal maintenance, mine has done around 60,000, so should be good for another 40 years or so. I saw a K100RT going cheap on FB Marketplace last night and almost bought it, but then remembered that I’m supposed to be thinning the herd, and changed my mind. Probably a good thing, although it had a set of hard panniers which would be handy on my bike.

[jgger]

So Terry, what's the deal? Are you happy that your BMW is running again, ot that you didn't succumb to your weakness? 😁

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I’m stoked that the old girl is running again Jim, and I’m glad that I didn’t buy the K100RT, although I’d like the panniers for my bike. Spotty’s keen to go to phase 2 (turbo installation) but I want to do a couple of rides to make sure it’s running well before I open the box Ted sent me full of Luftmeister go fast goodies.

[Terry in Australia]

I came home from a hard day's graft in the ol' salt mine around 3pm, and was very happy that my care package from England had arrived. The sun was shining, it was almost warm, so I wheeled the DT250 into the sunshine, and set about removing the battery, ignition system and 6v electrical doo-dads, and replacing them with the new 12v components.

DT250 Monday 15 April 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It was good to remove the OEM ignition and confirm that the crank seal was fine, not a drop of oil therein.

DT250 Monday 15 April 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The new ignition unit just bolted straight it, with no possibility of mis-adjustment. It's kind of ironic replacing a Japanese ignition with a British one, for as long as I can remember, we've been replacing British electrics with Japanese.

DT250 Monday 15 April 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The kit is really comprehensive, these are the main components that the new kit replaces, not including all the light bulbs, which are included as well.

DT250 Monday 15 April 2024 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And "Anyone can install this kit, with just basic tools"...........

DT250 Monday 15 April 2024 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyhoo, I was running out of light, so I put the tools away and packed up for the night. Tomorrow I'll finish installing everything and the new 12V battery, and if it's not raining, go for a scoot!

[BenelliSEI]

Nice kit. Hope it runs well too!

[PeWe]

It's hopefully not a Lucas kit. The man who invented the darkness and sells smoke as sparepart!

[grcamna2]

Nice kit. Hope it runs well too!

Looks good Terry 
I'm sure you'll like bright 12vt. lights also.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, the guys on the FB DT pages rave about how good the kit is, and I must say that apart from one connection that I had to make a short adapter cable for (ignition coil) everything else has been “plug and play” just like it says in the instructions.

I had to remove one bolt that held a bracket to secure the ignition wiring harness because it fouled the larger regulator/rectifier assembly in the kit, but they even included zip ties, OEM style connectors and heat shrink in case someone had changed some connections over the years. Luckily my bike was taken off the road in 1988, so all my cables are still original, apart from the extra earth/ground leads that Spotty and I made up when we were trying to get everything to work a month ago.

All going well I’ll get it finished today and hopefully it’ll be as good as my old DT250 (points ignition) was when I was 20.

[Don R]

 Ok, you get that chocolate ice cream, the kind that's like a fudgesicle without the stick, let it get soft and you get some of those Honey Nut Cheerois and dump em' right on top of the ice cream mix it up and wham. A new treat.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I didn't finish the DT250 ignition/12V conversion tonight. I replaced every light bulb with new 12V bulbs supplied in the kit, but managed to lose 2 "R" clips that hold the tach in place and spent ages looking for them, before I used a piece of copper wire in their place. By this time it was getting dark again, so I'll finish it tomorrow. I did find one of the R clips when I was cleaning up, I'll have to do an Ebay search and find some new ones.

[PeWe]

It is a nice feeling to ride a bike you trust.
No sudden stops on remote roads or in the middle of a traffic jam.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, you’re right, there’s nothing scarier than not knowing if/when your bike is going to crap out and leave you stranded. It’s happened to me too often, not because of poor maintenance, but usually bikes that I’ve bought that haven’t been on the road for years and some crusty old wire has fallen off somewhere in the bowels of the bike, or a condenser has packed up (so much for “points will always get you home”…) or some other age related issue.

Now that the BMW is running again I might switch between it and the DT250 for riding to work, it’s a fair bit quieter than the DT, so less chance of complaints from the neighbours when I fire it up at 5am.

[spotty]

Well I didn't finish the DT250 ignition/12V conversion tonight. I replaced every light bulb with new 12V bulbs supplied in the kit, but managed to lose 2 "R" clips that hold the tach in place and spent ages looking for them, before I used a piece of copper wire in their place. By this time it was getting dark again, so I'll finish it tomorrow. I did find one of the R clips when I was cleaning up, I'll have to do an Ebay search and find some new ones.

were they the minute ones i had at my place or more reasonable thickness ones ? if they're the tiny ones i think i have more or the bolt shop / bunnings will have the bigger ones

[Terry in Australia]

Well I didn't finish the DT250 ignition/12V conversion tonight. I replaced every light bulb with new 12V bulbs supplied in the kit, but managed to lose 2 "R" clips that hold the tach in place and spent ages looking for them, before I used a piece of copper wire in their place. By this time it was getting dark again, so I'll finish it tomorrow. I did find one of the R clips when I was cleaning up, I'll have to do an Ebay search and find some new ones.

were they the minute ones i had at my place or more reasonable thickness ones ? if they're the tiny ones i think i have more or the bolt shop / bunnings will have the bigger ones

Thanks Spotty, the tiny little ones like what were on the SD6 gauges. I’ve ordered a kit from Temu, hopefully they’ll be small enough.

[Terry in Australia]

The weather this week has been cold, wet, and miserable, but after work today I summoned up the courage to finish the wiring for the new Yamaha DT250 ignition/12V conversion from Rex's Speed Shop in England.

The instructions that came with the kit were useful, to a point, but I think they left a couple of things out, which confused me slightly. There were a couple of warnings about them not being responsible for installation errors, which also made me slightly nervous. As it turned out, the only thing I had to manufacture that wasn't in the kit was a wire to connect one from their harness and take it back 18 inches to the only wire of the same color that I had available to plug it into under the seat. None of my original wiring has been messed with, but I know there are slight differences between the various harnesses depending on the year of manufacture, so I assume the harness for the new CDI box is a "one size fits all" deal.

Anyway, I just finished the installation/conversion to 12V electrics (everything provided by Rex’s) so with some trepidation I turned the key on and no smoke came out of the wiring, black box, or battery etc, so I checked the lights, horn and blinkers, (all nice and bright) gave it one kick, and it fired right up! Woohoo! I forgot to check the charging system so I’ll do that tomorrow, but I’m going to call it good! All going well, I might get two rides in this weekend, one on the DT250, and one on the BMW K100RS. That makes me happy.

DT250 Saturday 13 April 2024 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[BenelliSEI]

Terry….. well done. How does it run? Better?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks John, it was cold and starting to rain, so apart from a couple of launches up my driveway I didn’t ride it. The weather is supposed to be fine on the weekend so I’ll definitely take it out for a ride and see if it’s going well.

I didn’t realise until later that when it was cold previously I’d have to wind the idle screw up until it was at operating temperature, but not last night, it was happily idling away with no carb adjustment, and during my “launches”, didn’t miss a beat.

A guy on the FB DT owners page told me that after he installed the Rex’s ignition/12V conversion, he was able to wind the idle screw down so far that his idled at 200 RPM, which reminded me of when I installed a Martek ignition in a Suzuki GS750 once, and was amazed to see it happily idling at 200 RPM. I’ll have a play with it on the weekend.

[Kelly E]

Terry your 12v conversion kit sounds great so I contacted Rex's but they don't make one for the 78' KL 250. I was really hoping that they did, not sure if that little 6v battery is up to the lights on all the time.