Arvo's Seriously disrespected R65

[arvo92]

I purchased this beauty in late January 2014. I got a bargain, 750 pounds. Being quite novice to airheads and "newer" types of motorcycles, I did not know what to look for. Looked nice, started up on the button and I took her home. She was to be made a sidecart but I got her before that idea came into life.

After few months now I am starting to put the picture together. As in the beginning it seemed I need a day to put her back on the road (that what the seller told me) it has taken me few months now and serious amounts of cash.

The real story is that even though the bike looks quite nice and by taking easier things apart, nothing seems to be bad. Carbs are good and the bike always fires up. But somebody in the previous owners chain has seriously **** up and tortured her.

First I crashed because the front brakes seized and the rotor was cracked. Then the back wheel bearings have been shot. Electrical was working but most wiring was bad and had to be re-wired. If something broke on the bike in past, the owners had just removed these non working parts.

Today I worked for a day in the garage and of course I got some new finds.
As the back shaft splines were totaled since somebody liked burnouts, I started to replace the whole assembly. And look what came out in between the shaft splines!!!! A washer. Good place for a washer. Luckily the drive splines have survived.

Then I went into the clutch to remove the whole gearbox assembly and lube up the transmission since nobody has done it. And what did I find: clutch arm has snapped from the end (one of the bars holding clutch cable). Then the adjusting screw is 1/3 shorter due to wear and is absolutely ruined. And of course, when I opened up the clutch rod assembly I found nice and neat spring in there. Plus the whole retracting piston assembly is just missing!

I have had quite a few of these nice days before. Bad that I havent put the log up before but there are extra pictures in my flickr account. And from now on I will put them here.

Question: picture 4 - after spring pieces this came out. Looks like clutch rod. Shouldn't there be clutch retracting piston before it? I can not get this out before I pull the swing arm out and I do not yet have the no 27 socket delivered yet.

Picture nr 5 shows the bike as advertised when I bought it.

My plan with the bike is first reach to mechanical ecxellency and after that I might think of getting beauty things in order. For me excellent working condition with bikes safety in mind is priority, everything else follows. I can ride a crap looking bike but she has to ride good

VIN: 6310675

Photostream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/arvo92/sets/72157642101130494/

[montmil]

You'll need the last seven digits to track your bike's 'born on' date. Locate the missing digit and go here for the info: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?vin=6387284&part=&kind=P&arch=0

And a suggestion... Consider adding your BMW model and vintage in a sig line or else please mention what you're working on in each post. I had to find your original "intro" post for that info. Model identity will garner more responses to your questions. Just saying... [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[arvo92]

Thanks, Montmil. I had one digit missing, fixed that in the original post. And i did not know for sure the production date, the link helped out in that.
Mine is a bit of oddball with double ATE calipers/2 brake discs, probably upgraded by the original owner request.  Other than that it is pretty standard and nothing majorly re-built.

[mrbuck]

As a huge plus, you seem to have a lot of mechanical ability which will save you many $$$ on your journey to bring this beauty back to good shape.  Just remember, you did get this bike at a bargain...a  real bargain and have the potential for a great finished product.  Just look at the tank, battery covers, seat, gauges, etc. all of which would cost you a lot to replace.

Keep digging.  When you are finished, the results will be a  bike which you have bonded with and will be a great companion for many miles to come and as a result of your personal overhaul you will have an intimate knowlege of every nut and bolt.   Good luck!

[arvo92]

Due to my work I am away from my bike and even from internet for extended periods now. I got back after 2 weeks in the forest and I will attach a few photos I made just before going there.

The long story short here is that I removed the gearbox for the first time and luckily it was not horribly neglected as other parts of the bike have been. They splines are good and without noticeable wear, I could just clean them and apply mixture of Castrol Optimol paste and Castrol Moly in 50/50 ratio. Nice and thick paste was the result so it should be good.

The whole clutch compartment was just shot full of oil. At the same time the clutch/flywheel are totally dry. And I have not noticed any oil adding into this compartment with my 30 miles of riding it. So I hope at the moment that the rear crankshaft seal has been replaced by previous owner and the mess was just not cleaned. Nevertheless - I will keep a cautious eye on the problem.

I got a new clutch piston (the plastic one). The last picture shows the new assembly next to old one whereas the old one is missing the bearing since I never had it in there. I also found a weird piece of metal in the bottom of the oil tray which is under gearbox. Anybody knows what it is?

Now I will go back to forest for a few weeks. I put in a order of new brake lines (stainless steel ones). The brake pistons are being custom done by some workshop through Motorworks. Hopefully I will receive them in few weeks. New parts also include new piston rings and full set of engine seals/o-rings.

Hopefully I will get the bike on the road before the May ends. Total cost for parts so fur exceed the purchase value of the bike 2 times.

[steve hawkins]

If you have it apart I would change the rear main seal as you do not want to be going in there again.

Check your clutch to see how worn it is.

Nobody in their right mind would have changed the rear main seal and left all that oil in there.  Unless they were a 'professional".

Cheers

Rev. Light

[montmil]

Agree with Steve. The rear seal is a goner and needs to be replaced.

Those rusted splines were either lubed once with the incorrect Moly grease and it was slung out, or a PO thought he was cleaning up some "greasy splines". Those puppies are bone dry. You are fortunate that they don't have not contracted the dreaded "sharp pointys".

No idea what looks like a rivet-screw-alignment pin bit is. Push rod tubes can sometimes be a pathway for a failed rocker arm needle bearing rollers but what you show is an odd one.

[arvo92]

Steve and Monte, even though I hope you are not right on this, you probably are. I have the engine back together but I will get to it in the very near future.

Update:

I got all the parts today. The brake calipers vere custom made by a workshop and my god they were smooth on the surface. Instead of pressing them into the caliper halves with my heel (as the original rusted ones needed to), I could just push them in with the fingers.

Old brake pad pins had grooves in them, I assume that might have detrimental effect on the pad re-tract if they are sitting in a groove. I installed all the new stainless steel brake lines as well.

Brake bleeding after that was dead easy. With old rubber lines, corroded pistons and grooved pins it took me hours to bleed them and the pads would remain in contact with the brake discs. So it did not felt safe at all to be honest. New parts only needed 5 minutes of bleeding and the handlebar feel is just great. Even though I had some minor air bubbles in the lines (and probably still have a few more), the pressure was built up in 2 minutes only.

brakes are now totally new and from the old brakes only the master cylinder remains. And the shells for both brake assemblys. Everything else is brand new. I do not see any possibility for another crash.

Tomorrow morning I hope to go for a test drive (no.4 with this bike) and if everything goes great, I will take it for a MOT in the nearest future. Hopefully now the happy days of riding will be waiting for us.

tons of pictures:

[AlfromNH]

Very nice! Who made those pistons? Was it a custom order, or something they make for sale? I was fortunate to find a complete caliper used which had good pistons, because I know they're not readily available.

[arvo92]

I do not know for fact who the producer was. I ordered mine from Motorworks here in UK and they sub-contracted the work to some workshop. I spoke with them on the phone about these. It took me almost 2 months of waiting to get them as the workshop screwed the first patch up (the size was wrong). 40 pounds for a piston which is your monthly salary put into US dollars if you buy a set of 4

You are lucky if you got pistons which are still good. Mine are obliterated!! I will attach a comparisement

[arvo92]

Took her out to a test drive today. 2 hours on Cumbrian twisty roads. Engine works like a "Hans's violin". There is a saying in estonian like this, no idea where it comes from but it is used to illustrate the fine quality of engine play. Idle is great but a little high, clutch operates like champ.

Brakes are snappy and work great. It takes some time to get used to the sponginess the bike has in the corners.

Next stop MOT. I have time for it in 10 days or so. Rear bevel box output seal is leaking (got a replacement bevel box from ebay) but I try to hide it for MOT's sake and deal with it later.

End of May I will export her to Estonia and myself together with her.

[arvo92]

Not so much of a restoration update as the condition update.

So I finally moved with her from UK to Estonia. It took 4 days in total. She was lifted up to the back of a Tipper and although she did not run a mile on this journey, she fired up right away and has got some gravel road touch of Estonian soil.

I went to department of vehicles today and now I need to replace the front light as it is for left hand side traffic. I hope to get a easy fix by turning the front glass element upside down. If that is not going to be, I will use a front light from my old 1970's Iž Jupiter 4 motorcycle and will go with that to register it. They check it on site and if all is good, she will be get a new registration plate.

One less R65 for UK and one more for Eastern Europe. Proper colonization right there!

We took and applied some mixture of Holly to the footrest. That should take care of the bike across the whole continent.

2. picture: Heidi is in Amsterdam. It took me 2 days and yes, the lights were red and streets smoky.

3. picture. Heidi is now in Estonia. Lovely countryside will be her new home.

[arvo92]

My R65 is finally registered after almost 6 months. There are only 2 other R65's in the country so it does get a lot of attention from interested eyes.

As now I finally have time to ride her, I have put all works for the winter. There are a lot of things to do but none of them being urgent as she runs great. Seat is a goner (metal has rusted through where the passanger strap was), piston rings need changed as neutral indicator switch and rear main seal (does not leak but has in past).

Only thing I have done after registering her is changing the cardan seal as she was leaking badly. The coke can tip given through this forum worked like a charm. Job done in a 1,5 hours.