Maverick BMW R100T aka oil splitt project

Right boys and girls here follows the long progress report on my rebuild which may or may not ever finish

This first post will be everything I have done up to date and subsequently will follow with more progress reports. So many problems/questions in the first post has already been resolved answered or ignored.

BMW R100T -- Ever heard of them, neither have I until a couple of weeks ago!


Was searching for bits on ebay for the PD when I stumbled across "1979 BMW R100T motorbike faulty pushrods" and the bid was on £500 with exactly 8 minutes to go

I quickly worked out timescales in my head and reckoned that if I get this for a good price and replace the pushrod tubes I can use it and work at ease on the PD as the next couple of weeks are pretty hectic in the Maverick household.

So I stuck a bid in with 2 minutes to go and viola next moment I am sitting with an Airhead with leaky pushrod tube which needs picking up in Windermere only 300 miles away - idjit

Tuesday morning got the 5:39 train from Euston enroute to Lakedistrict. Backpack filled with hoseclamps, 5 liters of oil, ductape, spanners, epoxy metal mix, AA card and a can of coke

Soon the weather turns from open skies to rain - my rainsuit was left on the bike at Euston station





The lakedistrict had alot of water the last couple of days and I am dressed smartly with jeans, hiking boots and leather jacket

I am stunned with the beauty of the lakedistrict as the previous time I was there was winter and to cold to look at anything





This is a place where I would like to live and bring my boy up





I get to Windermere on time and met by a very nice chap called Andy with the bike. He goes through everything in detail explaining every possible fault there could be and the more I tell him not to worry I get what I pay for the more he tells me

We get back to his offices and get a nice spot to work and check the bike over before attempting the long road back





Nice workshop space huh





I get plied with more coffee and croissants with Andy checking every few minutes if I am ok and need anything - top bloke





Epoxy metal fix, bit of metal sheet wrap and hoseclamps - ready to roll





A quick photo of my "new" bike





I pack my stuff and thank Andy for his generosity and help and fire up the bike. There is a bit of smoke coming from the exhaust and still a tiny leak dripping. I think let me get some miles under the bike and decided whether it is better to phone the AA or try another fix later on, this is what biking is suppose to be like isn't it. A bit of an adventure else what is the point

Head out and a mile down the road entering Windermere again I decided to stop and fill up for fuel. Indicator on and doing about 20mph next moment an old timer pulls out of the garage straight into me pushing me into the pavement. I think damn this is not good and the wheels are rubbing on the corner stone of the pavement as I try to keep balance as he still has not seen me and just driving on. Next moment at near standstill he clips the mirror and I have to put the bike down and step off in one motion. He then notices the racket behind him in the mirrors and stop and runs towards me very apologetic. I am more upset thinking this is not a good start than I could of just been killed furios :asshat

He apologises and I ask him to please pay more attention as he never looked left or right when he pulled out. Shook hands and no damage to the bike or myself pick it up and fill with fuel.

The route back home was all done on M6/M1/M25 and took me from 12:00 to 16:45 taking it easy. Had no idea how fast I was going as the speedo cable was broken and just kept it around 4k-4.5k rpm. Stopped every 50 miles to check the oil level and it used/leaked 2.5 liters the trip home - might as well name the bike Oil Spill . Luckilly most of it dripped on the exhaust and burnt away as I had hardly any oil on my boot and my bigger concern on the rear wheel.

At home I take a nice shower and try to get 20 minutes sleep before my wife and little one comes home. Jesse sees the bike and being a little baby petrol head drags me outside. He will not stop until I take him around the garden.








I feel might happy that we got home all the way safe and the bike was extremely sluggish the first 100 miles and when we hit 200 everything just changed. It was purring like a kitten effortlesly just running at 4500rpm.

Wednesday evening my mate Lootch popped around and before he knew it he was put in charge of stripping the right side of the bike whilst I did the left





Both cylinders pulled and gaskets/o-rings/pushrod tubes ordered to rebuilt. The bodge job





The offending hole





Poor mate came to see the bike and ended up working on it until 12:00 at night

Whilst we were at it replaced the speedo cable which was a right bugger as it the locking nut on the speedo seemed to have seized and had to put a hacksaw at it to break the nut off. All sorted and refitted. Now for the major cleanup operation and putting it all back together





Currently thinking along these lines for the bike





Got loads of spares for the R100T so my project can make some progress in the next couple of weeks


A funky screen and fairing
Stainless Steel Pushrod Tubes + Seals
Sump Gasket
Head Gaskets
Round Rocker Covers
Rocker Cover Gaskets
Barrel O-Rings
Throttle Cables
New BMW Decals





And alot of elbow grease getting old Oil Spill cleaned up and presentable!


Ahhh some updates as I my precious wife after working a late shift only getting home at 2:00 in the morning still made the effort to take the little man of my hands for a couple of hours before returning to another late night of work tonight. She is great


This gave me a good 3 hours today cleaning the heads and pressing the new stainless steel pushrod tubes in.


I mean look at this now





Before...





Pretty cool huh


The heads took a while to scrub up





The moment the baby fell asleep tonight I got stuck into getting some bits together like fitting the barrels and heads on the bike.

The heads went back pretty easy compared to the GS Bumblebee I did a couple of months ago








Just hand tigthen the jugs and need to undo tomorrow to make sure all is fitted correctly which brings me to my next question





On later models there is a punch mark on the valve gear to show you which side up etc. This is 1978 which is before that so two questions. Looking at the pin that goes through the two blocks - is the holes suppose to be on the top or bottom as the bottom of it is smooth. My guess is top as it would distribute more oil down the shafts?


The blocks is there a preffered way to which the gaps should be either pointing outwards or inwards?


Hopefully I can get another hour or two in tomorrow to torque everything up and start putting the rest of the stuff back together


Got home slightly earlier today and got stuck right into the R100T again. Loosened all the necessary bolts and pulled the cylinder back just enough so I can get to those pushrod tube seals. Of course this time I turned the motor to TDC on the side I was working just to make sure





As you can see the rubber should be turned around so the long side is pointing right down. Strange that I checked it on the other side when fitting the lot but not on the right hand side


On TDC you can actually access quite alot





My trusty trolley jack to act as a bike ramp again





Putting everything back together slowly and making sure the seals now seat properly. Adjusting the valves again after the correct torque settings applied to the head





Getting the exhaust back on and the carburettor was quite quick and not long I was ready to fire the beast up. Couple of turns and the bike quickly settles into a nice even idle. Success with no oil leaking or streaming as before


Tomorrow I will take the bike for a shakedown run and the left hand side sounds a bit rattly to me think the clearances are a bit out even though I set them the other day.


I get stuck into taking those freaky headlights off as it won't exactly go with what I have planned for the bike in the long run...


After fiddling with the bike a bit I find even some sort of throttle control screw





Never noticed that before

Need to start shopping around for some handlebars that will go with the cafe theme





Ha and the front end no longer looks like a fact finding mission submarine with all the spot lights taken off.





Tomorrow it will do some miles and then be treated to a nice cleanup back to front. I think that in itself will take a few days


Pushrod tubes seals now fitted correctly.......3rd time lucky


What a brilliant little bike, I am actually having fun on this regardless the fact that the brakes are nonexistent and the generator light comes on the moment the revs drop under 2k rpm

Of course after re-fitting everything and tightening the lot up I thought it runs a bit loud and could not quite figure out why as the valves are in spec and pretty sure nothing is leaking anywhere. Yesterday morning when I fired the beast up saw a puff of smoke coming from the front right exhaust nut and was thinking that is not right. Last night looking on the carpet where I worked on the bike found this…… :stupid





All makes sense the ring must of popped off whilst putting the stuff back together or moving it and never noticed it. So off comes the exhaust again and now it runs sweet and quit…ish

Decided to give it a wash and clean up all of the oil that messed all over the frame and bike riding down from Windermere. I must be honest not a big fan of these wheels although they seem to scrub up easily


[IMG] http://dirklottering.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/BMW-R100T/L1010879/989982484_D2wFS-L.jpg[IMG]


After some Gunk applied …..





Will take the wheels off at some point and either clean or get them powder coated





I think this bike is going to be a good hack/project/commuter


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Already done 130 miles and all these ideas milling in my head. Funny yesterday in the city a silver fox pulled up next to me on what looked like a R100/7. Will you believe it he actually raced me and was adamant not to let me get past him :evil He looked me up and down and probably wondered what a 38 year old whippersnapper is doing on a 32 year old bike :deal


Now back to the T, ain't fleabay something else. How did we do things before I wonder. Ordered a set of clubman bars Thursday evening just before 12:00 and the postman dropped it off this morning :clap

On baby duty again today so inbetween keeping the little man fed, happy and entertained managed to get some work done on the bike as well.

Currently I had the standard bars fitted, nice for touring I suppose but they ain't purty








Getting the little man busy with his quad whilst I can "quickly" swap handlebars....not!





SO after about two hours of fiddling, re-routing cables, fitting new throttle cables whilst at it and getting the lot back together! I have this spare white tank(damn you ebay) which I am toying with as well





The new look of the clubmans





Back to black however and I like the feel and look of it





Even the baby likes the new look





Next coming up the fairing.......or dropping that fugly rear fender


The clubman handlebars are a killer on my back, wrists and neck but hell it looks so damn cool can't bear the idea to take it off again


Maybe the compression breaks in 3 of my vertebrea does not help the situation but the hell with it will grin and bear it like I have done over the years



So last night I got to the bike and switched it on only to find the battery is dead. It fired up no problem in the morning and I rode in the normal 26 miles to work. I have noticed that with the lights off riding the voltmeter gives up and over 13 volts. Switching the park lights on it will drop to 12.5volt and switching the headlights on it will hover just around 12 volt. If the revs drop below 2k rpm then the red battery light comes on. Even in top gear doing about 4500rpm it is still lightly dimmed in the background.


Do I need to service the alternator perhaps or something else not working properly? The bike seems to put over 13.4 volts out if I stand still and rev it around 3k rpm so it does charge. Anyho AA jump started the bike and only 2 miles down the road I switched the headlight on as it was getting dark and traffic pulling out in front of me. Stopped and the bike died right by Blackfriers Bridge. Moved it around the corner and the AA came out for a 2nd time around 20:30.


I think the battery is probably dead although stuck it on charge last night and still going this morning. The red light burning in the background dimly does make me wonder if all is working as it should.


Had an hour spare tonight to work on the bike so decided to see if I can fit my smaller rear light which might cause some heated comments and discussions but flame away


The original light is just mental, I mean really you can use it on a freaking Mack truck and it will still look out of place


So I settled on a small round light from a famous British made 4x4 that I personally cannot stand....well except for the brake light





Now there were various options but from what I read and being a complete noob to cafe racer mods the suggestions seems to be do what you like and the cheaper the better


So at £2.99 a light on ebay can't go wrong


It might not look centered but it is believe me





One of those moments where I can take out my set of whole saws which the wife asked on previous occcassion why do I have certain tools and will I ever use them. Well you see if I did not have it tonight what a disaster





Before you know it the new light slips right into the slot





Might have to build that area up a bit to tilt the light more vertical





Bit of quick wiring mods





Hitting the brake light, I would say that is pretty bright





Running light seems better than the original as well





Now onto the indicators and then chopping or dropping the rear mudguard to open things up a bit. I do enjoy the panniers on my commute and reluctant to take them off but will see what happens as I go along.


So last night around 21:00 go to put the bike in the garage and the 'S' screen I bought a while back looking at me from the corner where I put it


As I told my wife I will just be 5 minutes thought how hard can it be to fit it on the bike


The brackets holding it onto the top yolk had to be bend in shape and make fit. The holes reemed at the bottom of the fairing to fit over the indicator stalks. All the holes for the screen and instrument surround had to be drilled.


So about 2.5 hours later I got into bed with wifey long gone to dream world


Took a few pictures lunchtime with my phone which is not great but want to know how does the clock and volt meter suppose to fit and secure onto the instrument cluster? I stopped short of figuring that out last night.








This morning commuting into London was pretty good with the screen offering some protection, can't say it was much faster though





More inane ramblings to follow.........

Hi Maverick:

Really nice of you to share your adventures with your R100, I really enjoyed reading it and I cannot say the same about most of the articles I read on "Classic" bike and car magazines I buy every month (over 15 mags, including foreign ones!).

To fit the clocks is quite simple, it uses the same system as most British classic cars, by using a U shaped(with sharp corners) bracket which is bolted to the back of the clocks with the side arms that go against the dash panel, on the inside. BMW original voltmeter and clock are almighty expensive (close to £200 a pair), you can get used ones although these are not cheap (even on fleaBay) as they are sought after but if you are not worried about originality, just buy universally available 52mm gauges as they will also fit and are much cheaper.

All the best with your project.

Thanks for the comment. The R100T did come with the original clock and voltmeter in pods. I have carefully removed them from the pods and made some brackets that self tighten into the back of the dash. Similar to the U shapes but more a bodge DIY solutions

I had to take the silly LR taillight off and stuck an old Lucas taillight with the numberplate light for MOT last week. Went through no probs and only advisory was the rear tyre on it's limit. Can't believe I actually never checked that after checking everything else!

As winter is nearing rapidly will start progress on the body work and start getting it ready to fit in stages. Ideally if Santa drops me a bag full of money I can strip it down to the frame