Complete Restoration of BMW R75/5 into Cafe Racer

[lmo1131]

Thread Jack: ON

Hey Shane,

Here's some inspiration for you. A short clip of the silver /5 after replacing the clutch on Saturday. Figured I'd make sure everything was ok, and set my freeplay before putting the mufflers back on. So here it is, the hot rod version with open headers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQgtNAmsA8A&noredirect=1

James

James!

I can not, for the life of me, get my /5 to idle as comfortably as yours does in the video. What kind of arm twisting would it take to get you to do a step-by-step video of that procedure?

And please guys ... . don't post any links to Bum's, Duanes', or any other sites. I've read through them, and I'm sure others have as well.

Some of us learn by seeing and looking (visual), some by hearing and listening (auditory) and some by touching and doing (kinesthetic) ... in my case it would be auditory; the hardest part to understand in any of the "explanations" offered online being what the engine actually sounds like before/after adjustment.

For me, eye-balling is easy, ear-balling, not so much.


Thread Jack: OFF

[balkowitsch]

Here is James's thread for anyone who wants to follow and connect or ask questions of him:

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthre...621#post721621

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Josh and I are discussing who to have paint the bike. My first thought is to have Bill and his team at Hamilton Classics who did my Porsche do the bike. We can send the tank and the fenders over to them, they already have all the paint codes and they can get it done for us, I have a call into him asking him if he wants this rather small job.

Other than that, just keep moving forward.

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Josh has the bike pretty much completely stripped down. I have contacted Bill and he has agreed toe help us with the painting of the bike. We will send the tank, fenders and headlight off to him at some point so he can have the Porsche k45-286 Silver and Porsche Grand Prix white stripe applied.

Thanks,
Shane

[lmo1131]

Shane.... I'm sure you've checked thoroughly, but a re-chick might be in order while the frame is stripped.

Some of these old bikes (mine is one) have sustained damage (cracked) to the gusset(s) that are a part of the muffler/passenger peg mount(s); where it is welded to the small-diameter cross tube behind/under the battery.

Here's a shot... not clear, but it shows the area I'm referring to.

Not the sub-frame down-tube, the gusset behind it in this shot.

[balkowitsch]

Shane.... I'm sure you've checked thoroughly, but a re-chick might be in order while the frame is stripped.

Some of these old bikes (mine is one) have sustained damage (cracked) to the gusset(s) that are a part of the muffler/passenger peg mount(s); where it is welded to the small-diameter cross tube behind/under the battery.

Here's a shot... not clear, but it shows the area I'm referring to.

Not the sub-frame down-tube, the gusset behind it in this shot.

Dear Lew, thanks for your help, Josh is going over it with a fine tooth comb, in fact sending the frame into a guy who puts it on a jig to make sure it is straight. That is the advantage of taking the bike down this far, you hopefully find any problem and can address it as they appear. I appreciate you taking the time.

Sincerely,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Made a decision on the front turn signals, they should look cool.

http://www.lockhartphillipsusa.com/s...cat=400&page=1

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Here is a picture of my speedo before we send it off for restoration to:

http://www.paspeedo.com/

Broken needle and a dent in the bezel, but once we get it back it will be like brand new, we are going to do a WHITE face as well, sporty look to match the paint.

Thanks,
Shane

[balkowitsch]

Here is the link to what they can do with a /5 gauge.

http://www.paspeedo.com/bmw5.htm

We are going with white.

Thanks,
Shane

[toooldtocare]

I like the white face on the gauge too, plus the turn signals.

[balkowitsch]

We decided on the license plate mount and light for the bike, we think? We bought this from www.retrocycle.com, Josh is going to try and incorporate that old vintage light we found into this mount and license plate frame, we will see.

Thanks,
Shane

[toooldtocare]

Old school to me. Looks like something from the 50's.

[balkowitsch]

Josh took the 2 frames in to make sure that at least one of them was spot on, turns out they were both straight as arrows, see below:

http://beemersandbits.com/2011/11/bm...rs+and+Bits%29

Thanks,
Shane

[lmo1131]

Good plan to reinforce the muffler/rear set mounts. Lots of rotational stress on a not so robust structure. It would be ideal if you could box them in, but there may not be clearance for it (brake arm/switch)

Mine cracked on the yellow line (both sides). The "notch" for the battery vent tube was the instigator. I rank that design decision right up there with using "bend-over" tabs to mount the /5 main switch and key shroud assemblies.

[balkowitsch]

Josh is going to do some reinforcing of the frame now that we know it is straight and true. Here is a picture of some of the stuff he will be dealing with.

Thanks,
Shane