Tag Archives: cafe

Finshed

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I have a bunch of build and tech updates I need to write but the bike is done!
I had some charging issues that i had to figure out (alternator).
Carbs couldn’t idle low enough so I got a new-ish set of 32mm Bings from an ’84 GS and they work great.
Suspension is tight which can be painful on these horrible Los Angeles roads. I am playing with spring rates and dampening after each ride.
The biggest trouble right now is keeping it clean! I got about 80 miles on the clock.

Glamor photos to come… But her modeling career has begun!
Studio

Crankcase breather

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I had to put on my plumbing hat for this job.

I started by building a bracket to hold a breather filter above the transmission.

bracket

I then scoured my garage for all sorts of tubes, hose, fittings etc…
I was able to piece together a connection that ran from the crankcase breather outlet to the filter.
initialplumbing

Unfortunately, the angle of the crankcase breather outlet aims outwards towards the right side of the engine. I test fitted the custom starter cover before I added all the hoses but once the hoses were added, the starter cover wouldn’t fit. I tried shaving down the edge of the hose but it wasn’t going to work due to the angle of the breather. If I forced everything together, after time, the vibration of the the parts would have damaged the fiberglass starter cover.

Luckily, there is a later model breather that has the exact same footprint but the outlet aims upward. Uprightbreather

Then it was just a matter of connecting new hoses.
newSpout

I cut down a new BMW crankcase breather hose meant for this style breather.
I also made a trip to my local hardware store and found a brass elbow fitting to connect with the filter.

plumbing

I had a small tray fabricated out of aluminum. I placed it under the filter and connected it to the top of the transmission using the original air filter retaining bracket’s bolt hole.

I don’t anticipate any oil coming from the crankcase breather for many many many miles to come. But should the engine start to weep oil from the breather, it will get caught in the trough and not leak onto the transmission.
newPipes

It isn’t the prettiest plumbing job but it will work and luckily it will get covered up by the starter cover. If you want to get your plumbing work done then you must go for a professional plumber Toronto.

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!

Custom Battery cables

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Due to relocating the battery I had to make some custom battery cables. One has to run from battery (located in the tail section of the seat) to the starter and the negative cable will most likely ground on the transmission near the shifter instead of at the speedometer cable.

I bought some #4 Welding cable. It is a nice and thick gauge wire, and flexible.
WeldingWire

I stripped the wire and found a few different sized terminals. This terminal end will connect to the battery.
terminal

Pre-Crimping. FWIW, this crimper is really heavy and cumbersome but works pretty good.
Crimper

Crimped:
Crimped

Cleaned up with Heat Shrink covering.
heatShrink

In addition to the positive wire that connects to the starter, I made a small positive lead to connect to the main harness positive lead. I used the same crimper and it came out great.
positive

cable beginnings

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Starting to get the wiring and cables figured out.

The wiring comes pretty easy for me. Understanding the diagrams on a /5 is not too difficult. The headlight bucket will probably get buttoned up last. I have a battery cable ran from behind the seat to the starter. I need to modify the main harness a bit to reach the relocated battery. I need to make a ground cable for the battery.

I found a nice hiding place for the Dyna electronic ignition.
IMG_3775_cvC

I used some closed cell foam to protect the frame from getting scratched when i tighten it down.
IMG_3776cvC

I snuck this baby into a hidden no man’s land on these bikes. I’ve been told they need some air on them to keep cool (don’t quote me on that) so if that is true, this location will get the air and nobody will notice it.
IMG_3777cvC

I am getting the basic wires ran and then once everything is in it’s place, I will tidy this up even more.

WiringCables2LRC

I wish i didn’t need all this crap… but it is essential.
2 throttle cables, switch wiring, brake switch and wires, brake cable…
I am going to get some new cables made. i am running the old ones for sizing and fitting. The only problem is they are filthy.

WiringCablesLrC

It took me about 20 minutes to dig these up. I threw one brake cable retainer on the polishing wheel. That will work for the other one but the rest of the stuff is NASTY. I am thinking of getting a big batch of nuts and bolts cad-plated. It will save me from all those $7 trips to the hardware store to buy new nuts and bolts. More on that later.
DirtyScrewsLrC