soooooo.... I'm in my second season bricking and it has been relatively good so far, however I started reading this forum again when I could not stand the smell of petrol in my garage and it sort of opened a box full of Pandoras :D :musicboohoo:
I have actually to my disbelief located a tiny hair crack in the right lower corner near to the seat. So small the fuel was evaporating as it seeped out - hence the smell and no 'leak' as such. As I weld aluminum I may give it a shot with a TIG torch but when I think of purging this tank with gas I may just sandblast a couple of centimeters in the close vicinity and dab it with a drop of two part polyester resin which to my knowledge is fuel resistant.
My reluctancy to weld the thing is caused mainly by the fact the aluminium really moves when you apply heat and do not want to have some other cracks to develop maybe along the lines of the present one. IF the problem persists I will give it a good sandblasting and weld the whole seam up.
I was very happy to see the innards of the tank in pristine condition as well as the pump, damper and the float resistor. Calibrated the bastard by the way as I NEVER had my tank full according to the gauge. Hopefully when it all goes together I will have a better idea how much fuel really there is in the tank.
While I was at it I finally decided to have my throttle sync check /waaaay off/, and the valves checked - now sit for that.
NEVER took anything for granted and it is a good way to go. According to one YT BMW mechanic, he has never seen valves go tight on 1100 - well mister you might have not seen enough.
Three of my exhaust valves are loose in the 0.32 region /0.35 feeler is NO-GO, 0.3 goes in tight/ but my INLET /!/ from the timing chain side is TIGHT - 0.12 I reckon from approximated measurement. ALL of other valves are ideal spec.
The bike has 70000km and I think someone f..ed up this one on check long time ago. My wild guess.
Will have to pull the cams and BOTH of them as I plan to swap the buckets hopefully - the exhaust side is loose - the intake is tight: it may give me an opportunity to have it swapped upon measurement.
The BMW book of wisdom says you can only swap the buckets on the initial 1000km inspection. From then they need to be replaced with new. Can someone confirm on that???
During the winter I am planning to put the whole valve train in the production spec - now I do not want to have the bike standing.
Also my combination pump leaks oil - it was intense when I started riding /the bike stood for YEARS/ and stopped leaking /same as clutch/ but it is wetting the bottom of the bike on the constant basis which makes me unhappy. So it is another thing to do.
These and new tires bring the brick closer to my heart /and wallet :D/ but I like the bike. Things I defo hate are the stock seat, the heat and the windscreen. To be worked on in the future.
m