New rebuild in the Northwest

[bbell1]

Thanks for all the great insight and info.

Last Tuesday I picked up a 1984 R65 that had been left outside for the last 8 years. Never having worked on a bike before this was my chance. By Friday I was down to the frame and my garage is a parts yard. I'm sure I'll be asking many questions as this proceeds.

First question - there's a lot of oxidation on the engine, etc. What's the best way to remove it? Bead blast? Enginebright? Kryptonite?

[montmil]

Start with the mlldest cleaners, such as Simple Green, and a Scotchbrite pad. It's a chore, for sure.

There's an el-cheapo DIY soda blaster that works well even though it generates a huge mess.

http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

My 1983 fork lowers; before and after:



Good luck on your project.

Monte

[Vegasrandall]

I used to use a auto whitewall cleaner called bleachwite on my engine.it really cleaned them up so they looked soda blasted.

[Julio A.]

1200 grit sandpaper, metal polish, a bag of rags, a bucket of water, elbow grease and a load of time.  

Great DIY soda blaster link BTW.

[bbell1]

I'll try them all. Thanks.

Any preferred vendors for cables and a brake master cylinder?

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Motobins in England has good prices, especially on their in-house brands.  On many items they offer OEM and their own.  http://www.motobins.co.uk/
Just click on the "R Series 2 Valve Twin" on the left, and use the appropriate drop-down fields.
They have good rates on shipping, and it is fast, too.  They also have a convenient currency conversion program at the bottom of each page.

Chicago BMW offers a 20% discount off of retail prices.  I think most of us have found that orders with them come in faster if placed on the phone rather than using their online system.  They are closed on Mondays.  http://chicagobmwmotorcycle.com/store/

For consumables like oil filters and crush washers, I use Hucky's in Florida regularly.  He does not cater to R65s specifically, but many parts crossover between the engines.  He just may not have Type 248-specific items, like pushrod tube seals, exhaust systems, etc., which are different than Type 247 (Non- R45/65).  http://www.bmwhucky.com/index.html

Then there is Max BMW in the NE http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/fiche.aspx
Bob's in the DC area http://www.bmwbobs.com/

And do you have RealOEM online microfiche bookmarked, yet?  http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?kind=M&arch=1
MaxBMW and others offer the same service, as well.

[bbell1]

Thanks Rob.

I noticed the serial # on the frame, 6381502. I plugged it into RealOEM and it came back as a '79. The last 7 digits of the VIN # come back as a '84. There is a metal plate on the engine that reads 05 841211 and EBM 09 8042A2. Any ideas if there is a date hidden in there?

It was suggested to me that I could dispense with emission gadgetry in the airbox. Any thoughts on this?

I appreciate all the input!

[Barry]

Several visual clue say the bike is not a 79 - carbs seat style and airbox are all 81 - on

but

6381502 is a March 79 serial number

http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/chassispages/enginechassis650.htm


Have you got an engine number stamped just above the oil dipstick. This would originally have been the same as the frame number. My guess is yours will be different.

[Bob_Roller]

There should be a seven digit number stamped into the engine case at the oil dip stick opening, that would give you a year of manufacture for the engine .

The bike may have had an engine change in it's past, anything is possible with 30 year old motorcycles !!!!!!

[bbell1]

I took a look and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any number near the dip stick opening.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

If the bike was in a severe crash, it may have been rebuilt with a '79 frame.

I know the flat on the lower R-H side that you are talking about.  But no, I don't know what any of that information means.

The centerstand is from an early model, too.

There are basically 3 generations of R65s:
1) 1978-1980 (1979 being the 1st year for N. America)
2) 1981-1984 (updated engine & ignition.  Different master cylinder, centerstand, glovebox & seat, etc.)
3) 1985-1993 (monoshock, same frame & outfitting as the R80 & R100)

A lady by the name of Noémi Berry wrote up what is probably the most definitive history of the bikes:

http://www.nebcom.com/noemi/moto/r65faq.html

http://www.nebcom.com/noemi/moto/r65lsfaq.html

I think most of the 1st gen had "flat top" carbs, and after that they all had dome tops, like yours.
This bike (I forget who's it is) is a '79 or '80.  Notice the different carbs, airbox and seat tail-section.
Obviously the paint job is custom, and the fork gaiters are added.

Click on it for a larger image.

I would be curious to see a close-up picture of your dipstick/oil fill area.  Have you scrubbed on it, there?  There could be so much corrosion that you can't see it, yet.

You might also find this page helpful: http://www.roadkill.com/~davet/moto/bmw.html

On the subject of removing the air injection plumbing, there is much written up about it.  Most are in favor of removal, I think.  Check out all of the Google hits, and decide for yourself:
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=bmw+airhead+removing+air+injection&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&psj=1&bav=on.1,or.&fp=18e4c0cc530c3619

[montmil]

I have removed all the air injection plumbing from both the '81 and '83 R65s in my care.

Hucky's supplied the correct BMW drain plugs and crush washers needed to neatly seal the ports in the cylinder heads. Owner Hans Lowe -a really nice gentleman- does not list many parts for R65s but my telephone calls and emails to him usually turn up what I'm looking for.

http://www.bmwhucky.com/index.html

I found some rubber plugs at the big box home store that perfectly fit the air box openings. A small dab of black silicone adhesive insures they remain in place.

Monte

[bbell1]

Thanks guys.

Here's a shot of the area around the dip stick:

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

The clean-up work looks like it is coming right along!

This is what I meant:




And I think the timing-hole plugs fit the openings in the air-box after the plumbing has been removed.

[bbell1]

Thanks,

Looks like I'm without.