Well the weather forecast for tomorrow is crap with an extra helping of miserable, so I made hay while the sun shone today. A big box of BMW parts arrived on Tuesday, so I set about wrenching.
First job was re-instating the front brakes. As you can see, the master cylinder (which is mounted under the tank and remotely operated with a cool Magura cable lever) has been leaking for quite awhile.
Anyway, I popped the piston out and shoved my finget up the bore, and found a burr, so I turned some scrap aluminum into a cylinder hone, wrapped it in some 400 grit wet and dry abrasive paper and attached to my cordless drill, it made quick work of the burr.
After some bleeding, it was all good to go and I had brakes again!
The greatest weakness with these 1970's BMW's (and most European bikes from the era) was weak electrics. My previous R100RS was the same, the 220W alternator ouput was so low that I couldn't use lights during the day, which was a pain in winter, so when I saw the 450W conversion kit from Motorworks in Britain, I had to have it!
Stator installed, with new brushes and springs:
New Diode board:
Of course you need a new regulator, look at the difference in size between old and new!
So after all my blood, sweat and tears, did I achieve anything? You betcha! You are looking at something most old R100RS owners have never seen, 13.5 volts!
Yep, even with the 100W headlight on, at around 2000 RPM, it was still putting out 13 volts, amazing! It was expensive, but to be able to ride around town during the day with my lights on, and without flattening the battery is going to be awesome! More stuff to do tomorrow, but mostly cosmetic, which will be fun. Cheers, Terry.
