Complete Restoration of BMW R75/5 into Cafe Racer

[balkowitsch]

Mystery solved, did a little research, appears Morad purchased all the Akront tooling and patents and is now producing them, if anyone cares

http://www.central-wheel.co.uk/rims/...morad_rim.html

Thanks,
Shane

[Kirbster919]

Those wheels look fantastic...

[balkowitsch]

Good morning, have a new picture of the exhaust and what it is going to look like. Amazing how damn rust sets in so quickly just to air, we are going to have the exhaust and the pipes coated so they do not turn colors when they heat up. Also Josh found a vintage Tail Light, I only have a photograph of the box at this point, but Josh says the tail light is perfect and is very heavy and period correct. Thanks for continuing to follow, been a busy summer and not much progress, but we hope to change that this winter.

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Pipes

[jstrube]

sweet!

Those will look nice! You could get some Gibbs to coat them with until you plate them. Much friendlier to the final coating than something like WD-40, which can kill your finish before you start it.

Also, I would recommend to your guy to dress those welds up a bunch to smooth them out. MIG welds just don't quite look vintage & with some judicious filing & sanding, will disappear. Just a suggestion.

Can't wait for the next update!

[balkowitsch]

sweet!

Those will look nice! You could get some Gibbs to coat them with until you plate them. Much friendlier to the final coating than something like WD-40, which can kill your finish before you start it.

Also, I would recommend to your guy to dress those welds up a bunch to smooth them out. MIG welds just don't quite look vintage & with some judicious filing & sanding, will disappear. Just a suggestion.

Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks John, much appreciated, yeah all the metal and welds will be cleaned up before coating or paint, amazing there is enough moisture in the air to cause the surface rust, I think Josh has already coated them with something to protect them until they are coated. I will do my best to keep this thread updated as we go.

Thanks,
Shane

[lucky6600]

Took awhile went through the whole threat. First, what an amazing 356!!



I am fairly new to the airheads (wrenching part), and have been trying to do an airhead cafe' myself. However, things never followed as planned, so this is kind of what I am end of at this point.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...2#post16874462





Keeping up the good job on check writing skills, and I will try to follow this build.

[balkowitsch]

Josh did some CPR on my Center Stand and posted the information on his site, thought you guys might be interested:

http://beemersandbits.com/

Thansk,
Shane

[michaelc]

Whoa, that bit must've been broken off my center stand long ago. Can't wait to weld a new one on. Thanks for the tip!

[balkowitsch]

Well Josh took our 1940's R12 exhaust and mocked it up on his bike to give us a great idea as to the finished result. We have a choice to make about the Fin on the exhaust being on the top or the bottom, I think we are siding with the Fin being on the top but we have not decided yet. I have to say that it is really adding a unique look to our 1970's Cafe Racer and the fact that the exhaust would have been found on an earlier BMW from decades before our bike makes it all that much better.

We are going to have Jet Hot coat the exhaust so that we do not get any of the discoloring you see in the headers of Josh's bike. Would love to know what you guys think!

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Here is the exhaust with the Fin Up!

[balkowitsch]

Here is the exhaust on a 1940's BMW and as you can see, the fin was always in the Down position, so taking the exhaust and putting the fin UP makes sense for a Cafe Racer?

[jstrube]

Fin up has a more "custom" look, it is pretty much perpendicular to the ground in the slant you have the exhaust, it is very visually appealing. Fin down has a funky slant, made more so by the tilt on the pipes. Don't care for it as much...

[balkowitsch]

Fin up has a more "custom" look, it is pretty much perpendicular to the ground in the slant you have the exhaust, it is very visually appealing. Fin down has a funky slant, made more so by the tilt on the pipes. Don't care for it as much...

Dear John, thanks for the informative input, 1 vote for Fin Up, oh yeah, my vote is Fin Up as well, so that is 2 votes for Fin Up!

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Josh also took a quick video so we can hear the exhaust, checkout the link below, the password for the video is SHANE

http://www.vimeo.com/30351318

Thanks,
Shane