In memory of Jim Adams - an R60/5 build diary

Thanks Packer and jocce!

Well, let's get going again, shall we? I work in sales and was expecting the last week before Christmas to be slow enough to allow me a lot of time in the garage, but instead it's been crazy. So I woke up at 5:45AM this morning to get a few hours in before the day began. I'm glad I did, it ended up being very productive.

Now that I had the flywheel bolts, it was time to clean things up and reinstall the flywheel and clutch.

Cleaning the flywheel with brake cleaner:



The starter gears were so crudded up that I had to lightly use a wire brush to get them clean. You can see the half that has been brushed and the half that has not here:



Getting there:



All clean:



Flywheel installed:





New friction plate, getting ready to assemble the clutch pack:



Assembled and mocked up:



My bike (all slash 5's (?)) has little spacers that go between the pressure ring and the pressure plate. I forgot this little fact and picked the clutch pack up, got one long screw started into the flywheel, and immediately lost the other five spacers. They went rolling everywhere. Damn. After 10 minutes of locating them all again, I got wise and taped the bolts to the pressure ring to hold the washers in place:



Much better! This was my first try of setting it all up. I don't have the BMW clutch alignment tool, but I think I have a pretty damn good eye for detail, so I decided to try to line it up by sight:





It looked pretty good, so I put the three regular clutch bolts in, removed the three long compression bolts, and tried to mount the transmission. Nope, I was off. So, off came the entire clutch pack so I could give it another shot. I was starting to think eyeballing the alignment could take many tries, so I was looking for another way. I had read about using the transmission to align the clutch, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'd have to remove the long compression bolts to allow the transmission to get close enough, and then I couldn't back the standard clutch bolts out far enough to release enough tension to allow the friction plate to move into adjustment. So instead, I started looking for some way to make a tool. I ended up coming up with this:



It's a center punch pushed through a 5/8" spark plug socket (the spark plug socket has a rubber washer that holds the punch in place and centers it). I had to turn the socket on my grinder to remove some material so that it fit into the female spline, and then I added some tape to the punch to build up thickness and center it on the backside.

I tried it, and it seemed to work well. When I used it, I felt the friction plate slide in the direction that I thought it should go to be more centered than my first attemp:



I still wasn't sure if it would be perfect though. Only one way to find out. Mounted the tranny up, and WOOHOOO! Sucess!!!







I ran out of time, so this is where I stopped for the day. I'm hoping to get up early again tomorrow and hit the garage. Next is to clean up the rest of the engine with the wire brush attachment so that it's ready to go back in the frame. Then it's finding a few guys to borrow and pay with beer to help me lift the engine back in place without scratching the shiny powdercoating!

Of course you will tape that lovely powder coated frame before you attempt to install the engine. I just installed mine myself by mating the transmission after mounting the engine. I still had the cylinders on so it was a bit heavy but I was impatient and didn't wait for the burly lads to help me. Without the cylinders, should be a piece of cake but remember the tape. I used ordinary electrical tape but Chris Harris from Affordable Beemers on YouTube recommends green painters tape covered with duct tape as an extra precaution. I also placed a floor jack with a piece of plywood on it beneath the bike to help with the alignment. Worked like a charm.

Hello !
Having removed the tranny twice in a few weeks, I can give you some advice.
If I where you, I will protect the frame with tape and install the engine first without the tranny;
Put a jack between the frame and put the engine on it on it's sump. Put the engine as far front as it will go. This will gives you enough clearance to insert the gearbox from left side without removing the swingarm. Then, using the jack carefully position the engine to align with the mounting holes, and insert the "screws" not forgetting the spacers if there are some. It is easier done than written and the jack is a blessing as it take all the load ! Then once the engine is bolted to the frame, finish centering the gearbox and bolt it to the engine. Afterwards, you have to bolt the shaft and the rubber boot then install cylinders, heads, carburetors..... And then run the bike !

Thanks for the suggestions, gents. I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should try to mount the engine with or without the transmission on. If I can get enough guys to help, I think I'll do it with the transmission in place. That's how I removed the engine from the frame, and it wasn't too bad (though I didn't care if I banged or scratched the frame at that time because it was so ratty). If I can't get much help, I'll do it with the transmission removed.

I had already considered protecting the frame, but I think I'm going to use pipe insulation instead of tape. I may have to use tape right where the engine mount studs go, but other than that, I'm going to line everything with pipe insulation like this:

http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...gclid=CN3rrOOGqbQCFcKPPAodAFYAxw#.UNMNvq4cqRk

I would think that would protect the frame pretty darn well.

lower water drain hole below clutch looks a little plugged - did you clean it out before you installed the tranny?

Hi Tin Woodman,

Thanks for the warning. I have the tranny off again, so I'll take a closer look. Just so I'm clear, can you point me to the photo above that you saw it in? I'm not 100% positive where you mean (I'm sure if I walked out to the garage I would find it, but I'm in the warm house right now!).

A bit more progress today, but nothing earth shattering. I went out to clean up the rest of the engine, which needs to be done before it can go in the frame. I was lazy and didn't want to install the cylinders and then remove them again before mounting the engine, so I just covered them like this to keep any debris out:



And then I finally unblocked the crank as well. Even though the whole flywheel and clutch is fully assembled, I was still nervous to unblock the crank. All of the horror stories told on this site had really hit home!



Left side on it's way. It doesn't look perfect, but will with some Rub N' Buff.



Right side:



Then I remembered I still had to scrape the old gasket off of the timing chain cover. Damn. This gasket is a major pain and I ended up having to remove the starter, which I hadn't planned on doing. No big deal, and now I can properly clean undereath it. I scraped away for about 15 minutes and lost my motivation, so I moved on. I'll finish it up tomorrow.



As the engine currently sits:



Then I decided to start readying the frame for the engine. I removed the jack from underneath and put her on the centerstand - the first time in over a year that she's "stood" on her own!

I went to Lowe's and bought two six foot sections of 1" pipe insulation:



And five minutes later, my bike was fully protected from my future ham-fisted attempts to reintroduce the engine into the shiny powdercoat-covered frame:





This stuff seems perfect. It went on easy, will be very protective, and is easy to tear off. It fits just about perfectly, and I can still get to the engine mount holes easily. I think I've decided to mount the engine as it currently sits - no transmisison, no front covers. I coudl probably do it myself without hurting the bike (especially now that it's wrapped in foam), but I'd rather wait until I have someone else here to help. No point in getting antsy now!

not a big deal but one of your photos without tranny shows a box cutter blade near the drain hole. Good time to clean it out is now. Otherwise, it will accumulate crud which might inaccurately indicate a failed rear main seal. Just being prudent.

No, thank you much, I truly appreciate it. I see it now and didn't even know there was a drain there. I'll clean it out tomorrow.

Thanks again!

Since this seems a good time to criticize some of your stuff, or maybe it's a character default of mine, but I am much more anal about cleaning than you are. I think you could do a better job. I don't leave any grime in the corners or greasy residue on surfaces.

I would put more wire ties and maybe some tape on the insulation. The insulation seems to be a good idea but if it gets bumped it will move.

Thanks for the suggestions.

The cleanliness of the engine isn't quite up to my standards yet, but it will be. I can't say if it will meet your standards or not though. I need to get a small wire brush for my Dremel to reach some of the tight areas. Neither my larger wire brush attachment or my hand brushes can get into the spots I have left. I used an engine degreaser, but it was messy and I got tired of it.

As for the insulation, it has tape on the ID of it and it sticks to the frame. I played around with it, and it won't move. The few zip ties that are there were just to cover my OCD.

Sometimes there's so much gunk on these old bikes it's easy to confuse restoration with archaeology. I think you are doing a fabulous job and you seem to be getting excellent advice. You've trained your readers to expect scrupulous attention to detail so when we spot dirt on a part about to be re-installed, we jump all over you. Yours is clearly a concours restoration - mine is just a simple rebuild by a shade tree weekend mechanic. Really enjoying this thread. Let's see who fires up his bike first!

Disston and Tin Woodman:

Thanks very much for the words of inspiration and motivation. I do believe that I was 75% likely to go back and do a better job on my own, but if there were any doubt, your posts ensured that I would do a better job. Like so many things, motivation for me waxes and wanes during a project like this, and after cleaning the engine for an hour or so and ending up with what you saw in the previous pictures, I was frustrated, tired, and at the time willing to say "screw it" and walk away.

Last night your posts had resonated with me enough that I was determined to work in the garage until I made it right after putting my daughter to bed. Want to know how serious I was? I didn't even have a single drink when we went to dinner (Mexican) because I knew it would make me tired when I got home!

So I finally hit the garage at 10pm last night and got started. The goal was to do whatever it took to get the engine to where I, and hopefully you too, would be proud of it.

I started cleaning out the starter tray. You can see in the photos before that it was really, really gunky, and I hadn't planned on removing the starter at all, but was forced to in order to remove the timing chain cover. Things happen for a reason, and I'm glad that I didn't cut corners here.

The starter tray after a wire brush:



Starting to go around the engine with a scotch brite pad to get the spots that I had missed or skimped on before:





Starter tray looking better after scotch brite:



Sides looking better too:













Finally happy that it was about as clean as I was going to get it, I went ahead and applied Rub N' Buff. I had thought about doing this after the engine was in the frame, but I'm gald I didn't - there are so many little nooks and crannies that there's no way I could have done as thorough of a job once mounted.





I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff! It goes on so easy, spreads forever, and it really soaks into the aluminum. I understand that a lot of people think it's silly to spend so much time on engine aesthetics, but I don't think it's any different than waxing the paint. It protects the aluminum and prevents oxidation. Awesome stuff.



Yes, there is still some dirt where the starter engages with the flywheel. I ran out of break cleaner and all the other solvents and cleaners I had seemed like stuff that I didn't want near the clutch pack. I'm hoping to remedy that today or tommorow.



And then onto the transmission. I didn't get any pictures of cleaning it with the scotch brite pad, but I went over it again pretty thoroughly, and then moved on to the R'N'B here as well:





Installed all new gearbox cover bolts and washers:



And mounted the gearbox back up:





Side by side. Hopefully the last night these two will spend apart!



It was just after 1AM when I had reached this point and I was tired and cold. But I knew that I could go to sleep with a clear conscience knowing that if you bastages didn't approve of this, then nothing would make you happy!

Thanks again for the motivational nudges!

My father-in-law is coming over this morning to help me put the engine back in the frame. More photos to follow soon.....

Got the frame all ready before my father-in-law came over. As disston suggested, I added some duct tape to the padding for additional protection. I also covered some additional areas, and added a few "alignment" strips in silver duct tape so we could see where the engine mounts were located.





Then I got the engine as close to it's destination as I could, but putting it on this "stand":





Then, with a bit of help, in five minutes it was mounted:



I put one small scratch in the back of the swingarm from the bolt on the clutch lever , but otherwise it went very smoothly. I was so happy that I had to wheel the bike out into sunlight for a few photos.









And that's where she currently sits! I promised the wife I would help shop some and then hang out with our daughter while she does more shopping, so no more progess today unless I feel motivated after 10pm again (which I doubt I will). Hopefully more soon though, I'm really getting excited now.

Merry Chrismtas and Happy Holidays, all!

Gosh. Don't know about Disston but I'm feeling a little guilty about ruining your evening! And in a cold mid-west garage. Good thing you had all the doors and windows open with all that brake cleaner flying around. You did, didn't you? . . .

And thank you for teaching me a new word. I'm liking it.

Your Humble Bastage

Extremely entertaining. I'm about to begin a thorough restoration of an R100GS-Paris Dakar and a lot of what appears on here is very helpful. Now where to buy Rub'n'Buff?

Ha, thanks for the nice sentiment, but don't feel too bad for me! Did you see the photo of my beer fridge on page 7? Don't you worry, I rarely restrict myself from drinking!

Now about that brake cleaner - ummm, of course I ventilated the garage! :eek1

No wonder my lungs feel funny today....

I found mine at a local hobby and craft store called Michael's. Barring that, I'd check eBay, or just about any online hobby shop. They have many colors, I went with "silver leaf" and love it. Others have used "pewter" for a more road-worn look and it looks nice too. The package looks like this:



By the way, don't be fooled by the small tube. I bought two and I'm not even half way through the first - and I've covered just about every piece of aluminum on the bike!

Good luck!

Starting to suspect this thread is really a cover story for a Rub 'n Buff promotion. Gotta buy me some of this wonder product. How did you originally hear about it? Is it commonly used within the airhead community? If it doesn't wash off in the rain, I'm a new convert.

I originally read about it here on Advrider, but I can't remember where exactly. I was skeptical too, and maybe I'm not the best person to sing its praises yet since I haven't even ridden my bike yet , but I sure am sold. I tried it because I was inches away from painting or otherwise coating the engine. Although I didn't want to go that route, I also knew I didn't want to fight aluminum oxide on a continual basis. This is the perfect solution for me.

I've had solvents, grease, and all other means of chemicals on the finish, and just like a good wax (that's really all it is - wax with coloring pigments in it), it helps repel everything. Just like wax, I suspect it will indeed wash/erode away over time and need to be reapplied, but not after one or two rainfalls.

A tube is under $5 and will damn near cover your entire bike twice - what do you have to lose?

EDIT - And, no, I am not in any way affiliated with Rub N Buff!