Got back from my hitch and managed to find a full 8 days to strip the brick down. I’m not sure if I’ve achieved enough for 8 days but I reached my target of complete strip, frame welded and everything away to blasters, painters and powdercoaters. I’m now purchasing the rebuild items from the long list that was populated during the strip. I have been really lucky in some places and less so in others, all splines have been immaculate, I forgot to take any pictures but I shall in the next couple of weeks.
One getting the tank off it was apparent the “small fire” had been slightly worse that the PO had indicated. The botched repair job was so poor I’m surprised the bike was running so well. There were sections of wire where the sheath was completely melted off but where the PO couldn’t reach to poorly wrap insulating tape around, the cables were just left bare in the frame. I have a lot of hours ahead of me going through the loom with a fine tooth comb.
The fire has managed to completely melt the fuel sender plug on both the tank and loom side. BMW don’t make this part anymore and it’s proving difficult to get a hold of, not to mention pricey.
Of course the 1988 spare bike has the later float unit so unfortunately no joy in swaps here :(
I removed 140mm from the rear of the frame to meet the proportions of the new seat, fabricated new bracketry for the seat, tank and rear light then de tabbed and dressed ready for welding at a local shop.
Progress continued nicely and I got down to the heart of the beast, listing parts as I went.
I was lucky to get the exhaust off with little effort, thankfully only needed a smaller socket hammered onto the #1 cylinder outlet, the rest came off with little persuasion.
Then the water pump driven gear decided to shear and the oil/water seal, which I expected was original was nearly welded in the pump housing. I couldn’t get at it with my seal puller and was getting minimal purchase with a drift via the smaller diameter hole in the opposite side. In the end I ended up carefully using a dremmel to make a nick in the remainder of the old seal and managed to lever underneath it.. 1 hr later.
Continued the breakdown, logging and parts listing.
And current state. Top and bottom end half painted in gloss black.