What Did You Did To Your Motobrick Today ?

[Chaos]

20 years of ownership and 165,000 K's.
Regards Martin.

Oh, you probably meant km.  I know some have multiple K's but that would be ridiculous. 

[billday]

Scott are you using OEM cables or aftermarket. I've been told to stick to OEM as a certain brand suffers from the nipples breaking off. Try fitting a grease nipple to the clutch arm. Every 2nd service I also lube all my cable with a PTFE based lubricant, I push the lubricant into the cable until it runs clear. You'd be surprised how much crap comes out. Few weeks ago I had to replace my throttle cable, which is the first cable I've had to replace in over 20 years of ownership and 165,000 K's.
Regards Martin.

We've gone 'round about this before, but I just gotta say . . . the "M" in "OEM" says do not lubricate our cables, because it spoils the Teflon lining or something. Just my .02.

[Chaos]

200,000 miles on original throttle & choke cables, never touched them.  Snapped the end off a couple clutch cables when the little drum froze, everyone should go out and lube yours right now. 

[bocutter Ed]

PTFE is Teflon

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I do the barrels on both ends of the clutch cable with a little bit of spline lube once a year when I do the drive shaft splines.  I also put a tiny bit on the clutch lever pivot pin and shoot grease into the fitting I installed in the clutch arm. 


During the riding season I put one drop of motor oil on the barrel in the clutch lever every couple weeks.  Clutch is smooth, light and I have yet to break a cable.  My RT now has about 93,000 miles on it's original clutch cable.

On the other hand, cable life may be related to the fact that I carry a spare cable on my bikes at all times.  I never break what I carry.

[Martin]

It is also important  to make sure the clutch lever is not too sloppy and catching on the cable causing it to fret. While I have never replaced my clutch cable I have replaced 1 or 2 levers. When I bought my Brick 21 years ago I bought a spare throttle and clutch cable which have resided under the seat. The clutch cable is number three as two mates who used to have a go at me for carrying tools and spares needed them. Another mate tried to borrow my clutch cable when his broke, but he rides an RT so not compatible. Bill you are right on cable lubing as some lubricants can degrade the cable liner however as Ed pointed out PTFE is Teflon and is therefore safe.
Regards Martin.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Is it really necessary to replace the lever or can just the pivot bushing be replaced? 

[Martin]

It depends on the wear. The first one I replaced was not salvageable possibly non OEM way too sloppy the second one died when the bike got tired and lay down to have a nap. I briefly thought about making a couple at the Guild but I'll wait until I've exhausted my spares supply.
Regards Martin.

[Scott_]

Martin, I do use the BMW cables. I also use spray silicone on the barrel a couple of times during the riding season. This time I put some Molly60 on it, we'll see how it fares, or weather it picks up dust and grime.
I replaced the lever the last time thinking that the hole may have been out of round and binding the barrel or if the pivot point may have been worn out of round....
Like others, I carry a spare clutch and throttle cable, so that didn't make any difference, lol.....Actually I had 2 in my hardware bag that I carry on the bike... I had picked up a 2nd brand new one last year when a previous K owner was cleaning out un-needed parts from his garage.

[Martin]

Scott what about the clutch arm grease nipple, road crud and water can cause binding problems. Greasing the arm regularly eliminates that problem, especially in some of the colder climes where they salt the roads. Not that I've ever had to worry about road salt.

Regards Martin.

[Scott_]

Martin, my 1100's don't have a grease nipple on the clutch pivot arm.....  but I did check it when I had the cable off and it is very free and not binding.

[rbm]

I think Martin is suggesting that you do the DIY modification to add the grease nipple to yours; not that one comes from the factory like that.

[Martin]

Scott it is an easy modification. And it can save you a lot of headaches.
Regards Martin.

Clutch grease nipple 2.jpg (38.33 kB . 768x576 - viewed 485 times)

[Scott_]

I've read about this modification before, hadn't given it much thought.... I guess I'll be doing some drilling and tapping before long....
Thanks guys for reminding me..

[Supershooter]

My fuel tank has had a slow leak. I applied air pressure and some soap, and was able to find the hole. Finally!

Now on to figuring out how to stop the leak.

Supershooter

[SDCR john]

I've had success with a JB Weld product called Steel Stick, which is an epoxy material.. Strip the  leak area to bare metal, rough up the surface, and apply the material. I let it cure for a few days before adding fuel. The last tank I fixed with this material, has held up for over 2 years.
 

My fuel tank has had a slow leak. I applied air pressure and some soap, and was able to find the hole. Finally!

Now on to figuring out how to stop the leak.

Supershooter

[brichbk]

Installed new header copper ring gaskets and a new bocutter exhaust bushing between the header and muffler.   My bike is now exhaust leak free and backfire free for the 6 miles I was able to drive it before the fuel pump died.  So, tomorrow starts the process of looking into that issue.  But hey I got 6 great miles in the warm sunny weather.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

"warm, sunny weather"...What's that?

[Gabriel70]

You have more chance of keeping the Bosch one healthy if you put an override switch on it and test it at least once a week. OEM fans have a tendency to seize from lack of use and/or lack of lubrication. I've had a aftermarket fully sealed one on mine for at least 18 years and occasionally exercise it, it's never missed a beat.
Regards Martin.

Hi martin
Do you mind if I ask you for details about the aftermarket fan you purchased.
Thanks

Gabriel

[Martin]

Gabe I installed a fully sealed Davies Craig fan about 20 years ago and it's still going strong. However now times have moved on and the consensus is to install a Spal. There are posts on the Spal conversion. The Davies Craig required a bit more stuffing around, however if required I can give you the details.
Regards Martin.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I had a set of K75 injectors in a spare engine.  Since I have decided to strip it and sell parts, I took them out a couple days ago and gave them a good soak in lacquer thinner followed by some shots of compressed air and carb cleaner.  I used an old Lionel train transformer to activate them with 60hz AC about 6-7 volts. 

All three of them had been seized when I first removed them.  The engine has been sitting in my garage for 3 years, and looked like it had sat for at least five before that.  The lacquer thinner did a nice job of loosening the pintles, but it took another day to get any spray out of them.  Even then, the flow wasn't all that good. 

Another day of soaking, and they looked better, but still had a bad pattern from one of them.  I wanted to test them to see if they would work, so I pulled the injectors out of my bike and installed the spares.  The bike started right up with them, but the idle was rough, and throttle response sucked.  I decided to use the engine as my cleaning fixture.  with about a gallon of fresh no-corn fuel in the tank I added half a can of Seafoam that I had laying around.

Started the engine to circulate the cleaning mix; it ran like crap with some misfiring and backfiring.  After a couple minutes, I shut it down for the night.  This morning I started it up, and immediately the idle was better, but the throttle response was still bad, especially around 3000rpm.  Shut it down again and left it to cool down for an hour when I tried it again.  More improvement, so I let it cool again.  After four of five cycles, the engine is running quite nicely now considering the very rich mix of solvent in the fuel.   Letting it sit overnight again, and tomorrow will add a couple gallons of no-corn to the tank and see how it runs.

I also wiped the paintwork and windshield down with this stuff called BugSlide.  It's a polymer coating that is supposed to seal the paint.  I used it last year, and it makes the finish smooth enough that bugs come off pretty easy, especially the windshield.  Bonus is that it makes the paint look really good, which is probably why my Hardley riding friends swear by the stuff.  Super easy to put on, you don't have to wash the bike first unless it's muddy, I can do the whole bike in a couple minutes.

[Martin]

Gryph a ultrasonic cleaner helps freeing up the injectors along with a Aliexpress injector pulsar. Word of warning don't borrow your wife's jewelry cleaner and use lacquer thinners in it, especially if it has a plastic lid.   :twak:   On the plus side it now resides permanently in my garage the lid did eventually solidify. :laughing-on-ground:
Regards Martin.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

This was a low budget operation.  The AC from the train transformer cycles the injectors at 60 cycles which translates to about 1200 rpm.  Putting them in my idle RT lets me soak and cycle them over a period of days by merely walking out in the garage and hitting the start button and letting the engine run for a minute or so.

So far, it looks like it works.  The idle is smooth and steady and the throttle response is as good as the injectors that were in the bike.  Tomorrow, if the weather allows, I'm throwing some fuel in the bike and taking it out for an Italian tune up.  Considering that all it cost me to get these frozen solid injectors running was half of a $12 bottle of Seafoam and a couple ounces of lacquer thinner, I'm happy.

[Soggz]

Put some fuel in mine, and road it up and down the road!

[natalena]

Raining like crazy, so making puttering sounds and pretending to be a café racer, while waiting for the sun.