'82 R65LS Restoration

[marcmiller001]

I purchased this 1982 R65LS last Fall (2016) and got it somewhat cleaned up to the condition you see here. My first goal was to learn about it - the maintenance, what has been done and what needs to be done - you know, all the ins and outs. The more I inspected, the more I noticed almost 35 years of age... some covered up damage, lots of dry rot and forks that likely were never really serviced much. It had been sitting awhile and while it "ran" and started fine, it just needed some love. I started with some routine things - cleaned airbox, new plugs, deleted smog stuff, tuned the carbs a little - and mainly just rode it a bunch to get it used to being ridden again. I began making long lists of things I wanted to do to it and how I wanted it to look to tackle over the winter... which is what you will be following with... everything from modifications to routine maintenance to stripping, repainting, parts refurb and updates. Hope you enjoy!


So - an update and some photos to the build so far after a few months of winter slumber. I have been pretty productive in my spare time and read through the boards often.

Previous LIST:
    removed krausers & brackets
    relocated rear turn signals
    header wrap
    Cone Engineering mufflers
    Made new battery pad
    Rebuilt airbox
    new air filter
    new spark plugs
    new intake boots (airbox and carb side)
    new vacuum lines (airbox and carbs)

RECENT UPDATES:
- Bings stripped, cleaned, rebuilt & painted
- New throttle cables
- Handlebars stripped, painted, controls cleaned
- New grips and titanium ends installed
- Tank removed, re-lined, out for paint
- New petcock and filter
- New motion pro fuel line & new filter
- Brake calipers blasted, painted, new rebuild kits & new pads installed & ready for assembly
- Front forks removed, cleaned, legs blasted, painted & internals rebuilt - forks aligned and going back together this weekend
- Acewell gauge acquired (have enlisted electrical engineer friend to assist on wiring)
- Speigler stainless brake lines acquired and ready to install after forks go together
- Acquired 2 spare fenders to cut-down/modify and front fender is out for paint- rear will be mocked up once new subframe is sourced/installed
- Acquired set of X-Arc signals for from and X-Arc brakelight/signal running lights for the rear.
- Replaced spark plug wires (noticed some dry rot on old wires)
- New Clubman headlight acquired and is being mocked up and prepped for wiring

Still To Do:
- Finish front end rebuild
- source battery
- Make mount for ignition & acewell
- new subframe
- new rear shocks
- new seat
- finish re-assembly
- hope it starts
- oil/filter change
- adjust valves
- sync carbs

Road tests all summer 

Photos coming of progress so far....

[marcmiller001]

As promised - here are some photos of the tear-down process and where I am to date.

Pic 1 - Tear down process of front end and removing gauges

Pic 2 - Labeling

Pic 3 - Prepping to drain forks and assess rebuild

Pic 4 - Forks and clamps removed - tank removed

Pic 5 - Top clamps before

Pic 6 - Missing bushings = a mess inside

Pic 7 - Top clamps blasted, repainted

[marcmiller001]

Pic 8 - Stripped, cleaned and repainted handlebars - mocking up position

Pic 9 - Mocking up headlight and X-Arc turn signal locations - added new grips

Pic 10 - New titanium end caps and controls going back together

Pic 11 - Carbs rebuilt, painted and back on - also new plug wires

Pic 12 - waiting on new bushings (arrived just now!) and going back together this weekend.

[marcmax]

I've never seen black Bings before. I think I like it! Gives a nice contrast to the expanse of aluminum that is a side view of these motors.

[marcmiller001]

I've never seen black Bings before. I think I like it! Gives a nice contrast to the expanse of aluminum that is a side view of these motors.

I had seen them on another bike before and thought the same thing. Since I had a lot of down-time when the bike was stripped and had to go through the carbs anyways, I figured I'd paint them. The process wasn't very difficult - lots of soapy water, scrubbing, soapy water, taping up. I used VHT Satin Black Epoxy paint - which is also what I used for the front forks and handlebars and they seem to be holding up well. We'll see what happens when fuel leaks all over them though 

[marcmiller001]

Well - front forks are back together. Here are some details.

Pic 1 - All the new internals accounted for. I left out one of the shims (not pictured) as I only received one. Apparently that shim is to help with noise?? I had not seen anyone use one before, so left it aside.

Pic 2 - Fork assembly all together. Also put new felt insert in the dust caps.

Pic 3 - side view of the painted lowers.

Pic 4 - Adding some extra touches - some pannier badges to replace the reflectors.

Pic 5 - Completed lowers (minus brakes/axle)

Pic 6 - Last step was to add fork oil. I used 10 WT Maxima (it is clear). Since I also put new progressive springs in with a short spacer, it was recommended to use 140cc of oil instead of 190cc... I put in 150 since it was all new... suggestions on anyone who has done this before and feedback on oil levels would be great!

Next steps are to install new choke cables and clean and re-install the wheel and front axle, brake calipers and new brake lines (stainless steel Spiegler).

[marcmiller001]

Did a pic more work to the bike last night - before I have a 12 day trip ahead of me. I believe I just ordered a Vonzeti sub-frame and seat... and hoping it matches up well.... in the meantime, still plenty to do from the front.

 Pic 1 - forgot to add that these are the springs that went in.

Pic 2 - Cleaned and mounted up front wheel, brake calipers, fender bracket and new spiegler stainless brake lines - ALSO mounted and adjusted the choke cables, which were replaced as well.

Pic 3 - The lines didn't put up much of a fuss at all, adjusted the angles based on the recommendations on the package and they look very nice. These were stainless, clear wrapped with titanium ends, which will be an accent color for the bike.

Pic 4 - Here is how she sits (though this was before the lines and calipers mounted)

This will likely be how it will stay for the next few weeks until electrical work begins upon return. Have a headlight, turn signals and an Acewell gauge to fit, wire and troubleshoot before the tank paint and subframe/seat arrive.

[Justin B.]

I really like the emblems instead of the reflectors!

[marcmiller001]

Thanks Justin. It really sets it off.

Latest update... the orings I used when I split the ATE calibers aren't sealing. Just ordered another set from Pelican and hoping they seal. Spent over an hour trying to bleed the brakes only to have air in it no matter what. I figure it is coming from the split and air coming in through old o-rings. Pistons move slightly...all 4...none are sticking.. but never can build pressure in the master cylinder but no visible leaks. Hoping to split and have sorted next week.

In the mean time putting attention into wiring! Yay. A new headlight assembly? X-arc blinkers and an Acewell gauge need to get sorted. Thankfully having a friend swing by to help out.

[wilcom]

the orings I used when I split the ATE calibers aren't sealing.

Marc, .........do you see them leaking when you try to pump up the system? How are you bleeding the system? Those brakes can be a real bear to bleed at times.

[marcmiller001]

the orings I used when I split the ATE calibers aren't sealing.

Marc, .........do you see them leaking when you try to pump up the system? How are you bleeding the system? Those brakes can be a real bear to bleed at times.

Well - I don't see them leaking - or feel it... but I went through a whole bottle of fluid and there was still no pressure in the master (or an increase at all). I am making a bit of an assumption that the only thing not replaced (the internal o-rings) is causing the issue.... so I ordered some from Pelican and going to at least bang my head against the wall knowing I replaced everything first. 

[wilcom]

Well - I don't see them leaking

My thinking is that if it lets air in it would let fluid out under pressure.

I've always struggled bleeding small braking systems, I swear I have one forearm larger just because of pulling on that lever a million time 

There are folks here that are very keen when it comes to these issues, maybe one will chime in

[marcmiller001]

Well, been quite a busy 2 weeks of continuing the R65LS project in between travel and family.....

Here are the updates....

I determined that the lack of ability to bleed brakes was due to that damn little square o-rings... once I received the ones from Pelican I put them back together, mounted them on the bike and started the bleeding process. 20-minutes later I had no bubbles and a firm brake handle... so I consider my front brakes to be 100% refurbished. New EBC pages, rebuild calipers and M/C, new spiegler stainless lines and some Maxima Dot 4 and we are back in business.

Next step was to set my sights on wiring up the new H4 headlight from Revival... and the X-arc flashers/brake lights. I had ordered black billet aluminum headlight mounts from MAX out of australia.... and they look great.  Once fitted - it all had to come back off again to wire it and thanks to a good friend who is also a talented racing engineer who is pretty good at wiring - we also began tackling the Acewell 4453 gauge.

I mounted up a temporary bracket to get it out of the way and allow us to sort through the mess - huge thanks to this and another forum for all the background on wiring up this thing. We are about 90% through it right now.

So far, we have: turn signals, oil light, speedo, rpm and the clock. All the settings are set. We plan on using a resistor and tie-ing the GEN light into the 4453's hazard function so we don't need an extra light mounted somewhere. For the S-11 digital speedometer lead, I had to remove the oval connector from the magnet speedo lead and mount that on the end of the S-11 lead so it will mount up to the 4453. Apparently this is something you will need to do for 4 & 6-series dashes to work with that S-11 lead. Since I have a lot of data acquisition parts laying around, I found an RPM wire end and routed the RPM lead through to attach to the new NGK plug wires. This should give us a clean and hidden RPM wire.

Next was to route the digital speedo lead and neatly secure it to the frame.....

At this point I am cleaning up and color coding the connectors - but it is almost ready to start organizing and hiding the wiring inside the headlight bucket.

The carbs are all plumbed but I am waiting on my subframe, seat and fuel tank still - but I am planning on using a "temporary fuel tank" to warm up the engine and make sure it starts, runs, etc before doing valve adjustment & oil change. I have already routing fuel lines and installed a fuel filter - so I imagine it can be started and warmed up. During oil change I plan on tapping the oil filter cover and installing the supplied temperature lead so I have oil temp.

This has been a fun project - but it becomes more and more enjoyable the closer I get it to being ride-able!

[Justin B.]

Making excellent progress, Marc! 

[marcmiller001]

Well - let's see where we left off!

Still had a lot to do - and posted this a few weeks ago during the host change and lost two long posts and about 14 photos...but have been traveling and enjoying the nice weather so unable to post until tonight - and I was inspired by a great ride today with lots of head turns and thumbs up!

Where I left off was - more wiring! I still had to work on getting all the wiring sorted for the Acewell 4453 and huge thanks to a local racing buddy, we got a long ways down the road.

Photo 36 - I managed to get the GEN light sorted and tested then went to work on testing the rest of the wires and making sure the headlight and X-arc lights worked.

Photo 38 - Mounted the headlight assembly and LED signals up, then plugged the ignition switch back in and zip-tied it all in place to do a test.....

Photo 39 - Turned the ignition on and BOOM - we have lights, high-beams, turn signals. All working properly.... but I still had to start it to make sure the gauge read properly and GEN light was functioning correctly.

Photo 41 - I know I know.....but I REALLY wanted to hear it run and make sure the wiring was correct and gauge worked properly to that point....and since I still needed to drill and tap the oil filter cover to insert an oil temp probe, I needed to get it warm to drain the oil....

Photo 43 - Didn't take long and it fired and was able to warm it up. It didn't idle great but the valves had not been adjusted and the carbs were reset to factory stock settings and a complete overhaul - but it felt GREAT to hear it run and shot some videos to send to my friends that had helped me along the way.

Photo 45 - After draining the oil, the oil filter cover was pulled, old filter checked and discarded and the cover drilled and tapped.

Photo 46 - Here is the finished product - now have oil temp sensor in a good location.... of course the oil filter and seal was replaced and new oil put in. I had a hard time located a good oil so filled it with Valvoline 4T oil temporarily as I knew I would change it out one more time before I really started riding it.

Photo 47 - I took this time to pull the valve covers, clean them and inspect - and adjust the valves. they were VERY tight.... and reset them twice to make sure - thanks for all the help on the forum to getting it sorted.  During this process, I found the center cover studs to be stripped. I cleaned one up and replaced another. Was an easier job than I expected. Double checked the valves and put new gaskets and valve covers back on.... fired it up and began the carb tuning process to at least get to idle and run "ok" - I dealt with quite a bit of misfire and cold cylinder on the right side before it seemed to sort itself....

A lot accomplished....but still so much more to go!