Fixing up Dad's bike

[BigEasy]

Last week I got my father's 1977 100/7 out of the shed it sat in for the last 9 years. He's the original owner, and the bike's only got 3200 miles on the clock. My dad brought this bike home when I was 8 years old, and I had my first taste of motorcycling on it. Over the years, the bike saw less and less use as dad spent his time building a business, raising his kids, and driving race cars on road courses throughout the Northeast. Eventually, it was parked in dry storage until I dragged it out last weekend. My dad's been talking about getting back into motorcycles and buying a new Triumph, and I thought it might be a nice father's day gift to get his old BMW back on the road for him. Last summer I rebuilt a Triumph T100 and made a sweet little custom job out of it, and I really enjoyed it. So this is my new project. Suffice it to say that it will not be ready in time for a great father's day presentation to my old man. Here's my plan to get this thing back on the road with some questions:

-Clean up the aluminum. What's the best way to clean up the oxidation on the aluminum? The cases, cylinders, and heads are pretty corroded. Is there a polish or cleaner that will bring this back to looking halfway decent?

-Rebuild the forks with new seals, oils, and maybe new springs since the forks were in the compressed position when I took the bike out of the shed. I don't know if the spring is shot or not, but as long as I'm going to be in there...

-Rebuild the Carbs. I turned the petcocks on to see if the carbs would hold gas after all this time. Nope! I got a nice puddle on the floor from where the gas leaked past every seal, o-ring, and gasket in the carb and onto my shoes.

-new fuel lines

-new break lines

-change oil & filter

-new break fluid

-new tires

-clean, clean, clean.

Anything else I should give attention to? I've got a Haynes and Clymers on order. Thanks for any tips you can give. I hope I can keep this a secret until it's ready!


BigEasy

[kbasa]

You're going to want to repack the steering head bearings while you have the front end off too. You'll probably want to change the final drive, shaft and trans fluids as well.

I'd also think about swapping out the points and condenser ignition for a Dyna or something electronic.

When you're doing the fork seals and stuff, check the manuals. They usually specify a minimum length for the springs. You can measure the springs and find out whether they're sacked or not.

You may also consider repacking the wheel bearings too.

[James.A]

What a cool opportunity to fix up a low mileage bike. For plated and machined surfaces, use Mothers Billet polish and 4-oh(oooo) steel wool. It is the best on aluminum rims and such. There is a heinous chemical to use on cast aluminum, the name of which escapes me at the moment, but I'll post another reply as soon as I find the info. I would also suggest that you put all new cables on the bike to head off trouble later. I have a set of Dunlop Elite 491 tires and love the way they handle, and they hold up very well. With respect to seals, get some running time on the bike and see what wants to bleed. Sometimes a person gets lucky on that. Be sure to check the drive shaft boot since that is the one piece of rubber(apart from tires) that is going to be important if it is gone bad.