Exhaust hanger brackets made

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Fingers crossed this exhaust works. It is from a 1930’s R12 BMW. I had a larger inlet welded to mate with the R75 headers. I hope they do not restrict power in any way or make the tuning of the engine difficult.
The headers and mufflers connect OK and luckily the brackets on the mufflers line up pretty close to the exhaust hanger area on the R75/5 frame.
To connect the muffler to the frame, I had to make some custom brackets to attach the muffler.
I made a test set out of aluminum and everything worked out OK. My holes were slightly off but I corrected for that later.

aluminum

Here is the test fit.
testFit

I took my brackets and a pocket full of cash to a local welding and machine shop. He replicated my brackets with stainless steal and put the holes in the correct place as per my instructions.
Stainless steel should withstand the heat, elements and keep its shape. I worried that the aluminum brackets I made would not do any of the above.

stainless

Here is the bracket attached to the frame:
HangerHung

There isn’t much room to work with in there but with the right nuts and bolts, everything went to together just fine. HangerDone

One step closer to starting this baby up!

Gascap cork replacement

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Unfortunately, BMW only sells new chrome /5 style gascaps with the lock mechanism. I really like the smaller look of the non locking gascaps. I sourced a very good condition aluminum gas cap and unfortunately, the cork gasket is worn.

oldcork

Luckily, BMW does sell replacement gaskets. I happened to have one in my parts stash, brand new. What I needed to order was a new retaining pin and washer from BMW.
Removing the old one was difficult. I started by shaving the old pin head down with a dremel. By doing so, i was able to remove the old cork gasket and create a flat surface to align a drill bit to drill out the old pin.
disassembleCap

I then took the gas cap to my drill press and tried to center my drill-bit as best I could to drill out the old pin. Unfortunately, the drill bit took on the path of least resistance and did not center perfectly to drill out the old pin. And, the old pin’s metal was either extremely hard, or it got hardened from all the heat of the drill bits.
It was one of those jobs that took an hour longer then I had anticipated.
I eventually got it drilled out. Here it is with the new gasket, pin and washer:drilledout2

I used some JB weld in the old pin hole to fill the area where my drill bit went awry. I then drove in the new pin by tapping it down with a hammer.
She’s now ready for fuel.
Gascaplr

Family History – NYPD – First motorcycle cops

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Sometime over the past 15 years a bunch of photos surfaced of my mom’s side of the family. One that got copied and is in each of our homes is of my Great Grandfather, Bertram G. Hope.
Bertram Hope was one of the first motorcycle policemen in the New York City area riding what appears to be a harley davidson.
BertramHopeCv_LrC

My uncle did some investigating in the world wide web and found out that he was in a motorcycle wreck in 1919.
Nassau County Review – Motorcycle Officer
Crashes Into Auto Bertram. G. Hope, one of the oldest motorcycle’ offlcers in Nassau County, in l^int of service, was badly bruised Sunday afternoon, when he crashed broadside into an automobile, while riding along the Merrick Road as listed in the Maryland car accident homepage. A large car suddenly crossed the road at Ocean Avenue and Hope was unable to clear it in time. He swung the same way the car was going, and his leg was caught between the two machines and badly bruised. He was taken to his home at Merrick and has been confined for several days, but no permanent injuries are anticipaled. The motorcycle was badly wrecked. More Help was given to him legally to get well soon.

Bertram’s wife passed away when she gave birth to my Grandfather, Russel Hope, who was the last of 11 children. Bertram passed away in 1932 (Brain Aneurysm) when my grandfather, Russ Hope was only 7. My mom thinks he was shot by gangsters based on my grandfather’s last memory of him. But that is not the ‘official’ cause of death. My grandfather and his closest sister in age ended up in an orphanage for a few years until one of his siblings got them out and raised them.

Another shot of my Great Grandfather and his buddies:
BertramsGang

The Nassau County Review, April 25th, 1919
Nassau_County_Review_19190425

Thanks to Ken Hope for digging this article up.