Infra's 1993 R100GS Maintenance and Improvement Thread

I am going to use the first post in this thread as an index to the major areas of work as I move forward. This post will continue to be updated as I move into the bike. A lot of the other great threads by other inmates here are just full of incredible information and ideas. Unfortunately, as the threads extend to multi-year maintenance and updates it is often hard to find specific parts. I thought doing an index in the first post might help if others wanted to refer to this thread in the future.

Key Dates

1-12-09 First Contact Established With Seller
1-13-09 Q&A Email Sessions With Seller
1-13-09 All Information Gathered. Offer Made.
1-13-09 Deal Finalized.
1-17-09 Buyer Departs With Truck and Trailer To Montana
1-18-09 Bike Purchased in Hungry Horse, Montana
1-19-09 Bike Arrives Home in Colorado Springs, CO
1-21-09 Bike Is Insured, Registered, Titled, and Tagged In Colorado

Maintenance Index

02-08-09 - Post #022: Final Drive Fluid Change
02-08-09 - Post #024: Transmission Fluid Change
02-08-09 - Post #027: Oil and Filter Change (Big Cannister Depth Discussion)
02-15-09 - Post #120: Valve Adjustment
02-16-09 - Post #148: Spark Plug Replacement
02-19-09 - Post #166: Spark Plug Wire Replacement
02-22-09 - Post #197: Air Filter Replacement
02-22-09 - Post #202: Exhaust Nut Anti-Seize Application
02-23-09 - Post #211: Carburetor Overhaul
03-15-09 - Post #317: Remounting Rebuild Carburetors
03-16-09 - Post #320: New Throttle Cables
03-17-09 - Post #326: New Choke Cables
03-20-09 - Post #347: Front Fork Removal
04-29-09 - Post #575: Replacing Steering Head Bearings


Improvement Index

02-27-09 - Post #250: Jesse Luggage Installation
04-24-09 - Post #539: Race Tech Gold Valve Installation
04-26-09 - Post #552: Removing the Pulse Air Pollution System
04-27-09 - Post #562: Rebuild Front Brake Caliper
04-28-09 - Post #565: Replace Front Brake Rotor


This will be developed over the next few months. Yes, I'm still OCD

So I bought an old R100GS a few weeks ago. I have almost no information about it's previous life, history, or maintenance. I have always wanted to take a used bike like this and start a multi-year freshening and maintenance thread.

My plan for this thread is to do some basic maintenance, upgrades, rebuilds, and whatnot and document it here.

My hat is off to all of you who have gone before me. I have learned so much here in the last three months that I've been scouring all of the old airhead threads. Just felt the compulsion to start my own.

I've been an oilhead guy since 1996 when I bought a new R1100GS. Rode it for 6 years and 100,000+ miles and did almost all of my own maintenance. So, I'm okay at basic stuff like valves, fluids, bolting on new parts like alternator belts, etc.. But I've never been good at the real deep level maintenance stuff. That's what I want to get to here with your help.

In the past I've owned 2 airheads for a short period of time. A 1974 R90/6 that was a rideable basket case that I gave up on in quick order and sold to a friend. I made the call that the bike was so far gone I was not going to invest money in it. The other was a 1992 R100GSPD that I bought locally from a friend-of-a-friend who had done a lot of work to. I did a few more improvements and then, mistakenly, sold to another Advrider in SLC. Dumb move but I had fallen for a new 2003 R1150GS Adventure and didn't need 2 big R bikes in the garage.

Which brings me to the almost present. Last March my wife and I were struck by a car in a pedestian crosswalk near our home. At that time things were looking pretty bad and I abruptly sold all my bikes and my bike lift and such. I kept my riding gear and helmet but felt my riding days were over. Well, it's been almost a year and I think I can begin riding again in 6 months in baby steps.

Which brings me to the present. My plan is to get an old bike that's in pretty good shape, go through it with a fine tooth comb. Make sure it is mechanically sound, do some upgrades to the electrical system, maybe a better shock, etc.. and ride it for a year. Next summer, 2010, take the bike for 4-6 weeks to Alaska.

So, with that I start my thread. This will be a very picture intensive thread. In some of the early posts I'm pretty comfortable with what I am doing. But when I have a question or problem, I feel comfortable in coming to the group for advice and ideas.

Nothing I'm going to do hasn't been done 100 times here already. Perhaps part of this effort will be mental therapy for me to get me ready to ride again.

My plan was to spend 30-60-90 days to find the right bike. My idea was to place an WTB ad on AdvRider in the Bike Flea Market section and an WTB ad in the IBMWR classifieds as well. I also noticed someone had already placed a WTB R100GSPD here so I just watched the thread. Lots of folks were coming forward with possible bikes. One of them was in Montana and I live in Colorado. Not too far. I PM'd the seller for details and got a quick reply.

What he had was 1993 R100GS with a PD tank. It has 41,500 miles. The bike was originally a bumble bee (black/yellow, yellow fork sliders, etc..) but the PO had pulled the GS tank and had placed a PD tank on there and painted it in the bumble bee colors. It has both the stock seat and a dual Corbin in need of repair. Had a pair of used Hepco Becker racks that he had bought on Advrider recently. Said the transmission had recently been freshened by his PO but he did not have details. He had touched up a bunch of mechanical and cosmetic items, had a new progressive shock, gripster tires, and the bike looked good. Very good IMHO. No panniers. His asking price was $4500 and he sent me the cell phone following pictures. He provided me his email and phone via PM and told me to call if I was interested.









Tom.

Wow, I thought the bike pictures looked very good. I called the Seller (who I will not name unless he identifies himself here) the same day and we chatted for about 30 minutes. You know how it is: You're on the "HUNT" and the adrenaline is running. Since the seller had also posted details about his bike in the Advrider thread where I found him; I thought a bunch of folks would beat a path to his door for the bike. The only thing I had going was that I was only 1000 miles away and the seller lived in the NW corner of Montana. A place a lot of buyers were not going to go to.

I'm not sure if I called the seller back or emailed but told him I would take the bike for $4500. Could make payment right away in any form he liked including Paypal, wire transfer, or mailing a check. He said mail a check and he could hold the bike until spring if I needed. Wow, this is going waaaaaay too easy. I had only been looking for a bike for 3 days and I had a deal.

The weekend coming up was Martin Luther King weekend and I had Monday off. I know I could have made the RT trip in a 2-day weekend but 3 days made it easier. I checked the weather online at all the major cities between Colorado Springs, CO and Kalispell, Montana. Unbelievably it looked like 45-55F weather and sunny the whole time. This is pretty unusual as there was likely to be snow, ice, or something in this area because we have real winters out here. Called the seller to see if he would be around and he said "come on up, bring cash". So I did.

Left the house at 4:15 AM on Saturday morning and drove nonstop to Kalispell, Montana. About 1100 miles. 1000 of this was interstate and the last 100 or so was backroads in the fog/rain/snow/ice. The last 100 miles really took it's toll and I arrived dragging. Got a cheapie motel room and broke out the laptop. Made arrangements to meet on Sunday morning at 8:00.

Found the right house after a bit of time as the seller lives at the edge of a very small town. Got a nice cup of coffee, saw the bike, told some stories. Checked the VIN, and traded $4500 in $100 bills for a clean Montana title.

The seller was an Advrider who had bought the bike not long ago and had never actually met his seller. His seller was from SoCal and so was the bike. The seller had a vacation home in a nearby affluent neighborhood. Not sure exactly how my seller and the previous seller hooked up. My seller got the bike from the seller's house but never met him. Weird. So, almost NO information on the previous life of the bike was available to me other than the bike has SoCal dealer stickers and had the transmission redone. I'll get into this more when I begin my maintenance plans. For $4500 I felt a 93 R100GS with good cosmetics and above-average mechanicals was an okay to good deal. My original budget was $5000-7500 for a nice decked out PD. So I was under budget but knew I would spend more to upgrade.

Got some help loading the bike onto the trailer and hit the road.

Left Hungry Horse, Montana at 10:30 AM and arrived non-stop back in Colorado Springs on Monday morning at 3:15 AM. Long drive but the NFC and AFC footballs games were on the radio and that helped pass the time. Driving at night in Montana and Wyoming meant watching for deer all the time. Once I got past Billings it got dark so I just followed big trucks going 65-75 to lessen my chance of a deer encounter.

Pics of the deal and the trip home. I was stoked.

Tom

The tow rig and my utility trailer.




Me on left, seller on right.




Lots of open road.. All at 75-80 on cruise...




I must have checked my mirrors 2 million times on the way home.

Great start, I'd say. This is gonna be fun.

Subscribed.:dg

Nice find............keep it coming.

So long as there aren't any hidden canker sores, I'd say SCORE! I like the bumble bee PD tank. And don't worry about the panniers, you'd want to replace them anyway. Nice thing about getting a SoCal bike is the chance of hidden rust spots is minimal (applies more to cars, but what the hey).
I'll be watching

I'd start back tracking that tranny work. Find out the circlip is there and then ignore all the stories you'll find about related failures.

After getting home from my big return trip to Montana I got a good night's sleep and then started to really look over my bike.

Here it is in the garage stuck on the trailer where I stashed it at 3:30 AM. I only had enough energy to get the trailer into the garage and unhooked and then into bed.



Got it off the trailer and then gave it a good hand wash as it was a very nice warm 60F day in Colorado. Normally we do NOT wash our bikes/cars in the winter. It was Monday and a holiday in Colorado. The Motor Vehicle was not going to be open but the PO had let me keep his valid Montana tags. Called my insurance agent and got the bike insured. They emailed me a set of temporary insurance cards. I printed them out and stuck them in the wallet.
PO said the gas was old and likely low so I headed out to the gas station and a little ride. Since my accident I know I have to be really careful when I ride. I still suffer from balance issues and some of the medicines I take also can make me a little "slow". I felt a quick trip to the corner gas station and then to a local scenic overlook would be fine.

Lots of boring pics of the bike in the condition I bought it. I consider these baseline pics to see how the bike looked up close.

Pikes peak in the background:








Jugs looked good from the outside. Not sure if they've been off or replaced.








New Progressive shock with 42 miles on it courtesy of PO




Fork gaiters look new but there's a rattle in the forks somewhere.




Both carbs are clean on the outside. But they need work as I can use no choke when I start the bike. These will be high on my initial list of things to look at.






The fact that all of the parts, including these clamps are OEM was a good sign.




Surface rust on some things like spokes, nipples, axles from the very moist Montana air. I'll get after this kind of stuff later.




PO said the transmission had been rebuild by his PO. If you look closely you can see what appears to be a new gasket at the rear end of the trannie where the rear cover is fastened to the main body. The bike shifts very well for a BMW. Nothing I could detect in the trannie, rear drive, or shaft from my initial ride.





And, all of the rubber boots at the rear of the trans and at both ends of the driveshaft look brand new. I will still check all of this out unless I can find the mechanic or vendor who did the work. More on this later.






The pushrod tubes show a little leakage on all of them. Not sure if I would ever worry about this yet. More on this later.




The final drive looks good. No weeping and no apparent damage. Will still check this out.




No leaks from the oil cooler.



The paint on the bike is okay. The front fender is nicked. The rear mud-guard has been repaired at some point with something but you can't see it from the outside. The PO replaced the right side plastic cover as it was missing when he got it. The PD tank was originally red/white before painting and you can see that where the paint is chipped in a few places. It is tempting not to repaint it but that will be a long way down the list. Mechanicals first.











No heated grips which was a bummer. I will add those as soon as I check the electrical system. Gotta decide on Omega (which I did to my last PD) or the new Enduralast. I am leaning towards the Enduralast as I never met a diode board I've liked.



Tires front and back are new Avon Gripsters with 42 miles on them.




More pics from this picture session can be found here: https://vervaeke.smugmug.com/gallery/7197129_bsYDZ/1/457977645_TJX8d

sweet deal on a nice looking bike. i'm along for the ride on this one.
good luck healing physically and mentally.

Gotta admit a few things right up front so I don't lose you all later.

In my real job in life I am an IT Program/Project Manager. This means, more or less, that I'm a planner by nature. I tend to take big problems/projects, etc.. and break them down into smaller and smaller pieces until I have a plan and then begin to work. I'm also a neat freak and one of those weirdos where every tool has a place and only one place. I'm a bit OCD as well. I have no problems with others (including some of my best friends) whose tools are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I work with my brain all day for a living and working with tools and wrenching on my bike or other items is mental therapy for me. But, I am a freak about it at times.

That being said...

My garage had been scoured clean of all bike maintenance items. I had sold my old Handy bike lift to Wings (Natalie) last summer. I still had all of my tools and stuff but the garage for the last 6-9 months was just a place to park my car. This had to change. Before I even started to work on my bike I had to get my garage ready for the "undertaking". I'm just that way.

My plan was to move my car outside and use my 1/2 of the garage for the bike. There's no way in hell that my wife's car is going to go outside so I only get 1/2.

I started off by moving some el cheapo plastic folding tables to the side of the garage. Then, when my wife was at work I snagged this old table that's tall that has a cool metal top on it. My wife had relegated it to the basement next to the pool table which means she didn't really care for it any longer. Thinking "What Would Al Gore Do" I decided to "Go Green" and re-purpose the table for garage duty. All of these went up against the wall on my side of the garage.

I knew I'd need supplies like oil, rags, gloves, and such and off I went to the car parts store for these. I knew I needed repair manuals so off to Amazon for the Clymers (primary) and Haynes (looks like crap). Those went onto the tables along with some extraneous lights I snagged from the basement and "re-purposed" for my garage lounge...






Yes, those are new el-cheapo muffin pans to put parts and such into. Don't worry, I used my 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond. I am a well trained husband of 20 years.



The tools fit into two tool chests. I've invested a bunch over the years in decent tools. Almost all are Craftsman with just a few others.



Tom

The one downside to working in your garage in Colorado is that it's cold 6 months of the year. I admit to being a wuss. Our garage is not insulated but IS sheet rocked. So, it's cold out there in the winter. My primary bike wrenching is evenings and some weekends. Not gonna get much done if it's freezing as I like to be comfy.

Just part of the overall plan was to find a source of heat. My wife was not open to the idea of just leaving the door into the garage open. While it did make the garage warmer it also made our family/tv room very cold. That approach would not work.

I didn't want to do anything permanent or expensive. I looked at electric, kerosene and eventually propane heaters. Electric heaters are too slow, kerosene are really stinky which left propane. A little online research and then a quick trip to Home Depot. For the big investment of $125 I got a propane heater than can take your 40F garage to 75F in about 10 minutes. I have a typical over sized 2 car garage of just under 600SF.

Another quick stop on the way home to get a new full 20lb propane container and I was set. Within 5 minutes of unpacking the thing I had it cooking. These things rock and I can't see any reason to work in a freezing garage any more.

The unit looks like a chicken feeder. Just attach the propane tank with the supplied line and you're set. This picture shows the tank close to the heater. Don't do it like this once you turn it on. Move the tank as far away as the line will let you.



Separate tank and heater like this:



To turn it on you simply:

1. Open the valve on the propane tank.
2. Turn the black knob in the center of the panel all the way to the right (low)
3. Push and hold the dark red button on the right for about 30 seconds.
4. Push the red button on the left a few times until the pilot light starts.
5. Once the pilot is lit then just turn the big black knob from Low to Nuclear or anywhere in between.



It does make some fumes so best to open the door or window a little bit. When this thing is turned all the way up it sounds like a banshee. I typically now just turn it on full for 10 minutes and then turn it off for a few hours.





When done, just turn off the gas at the tank and you're all set.

It's wonderful.

Tom.

I am fortunate enough to be able to afford a bike lift. In the past I have had two and sold both at different times in my life. Both were Handy Lifts. The first was sold to Neduro when we moved from our big house in the country into the city. Big mistake. The second time was after the accident and I didn't think I'd every ride again. This time to Wings. You would think I'd learn my lesson?

I think I have. I will never sell my lift again. Promise.

IMHO Handy Industries makes the best lifts. I called Handy in Iowa to order one and was told they now have a stocking distributor in Denver, just an hour away. A quick call to Ramone Brown (303-434-5839) found that indeed Ramone stocked a bunch of models. Made arrangements to drive up the next day as I had to go to Denver on business anyway.

I had every intention of buying their cheapest standard, air operated gray lift. I got star struck and ended up with a nice deal on a bigger, heavier, wider, longer, and RED lift which weighs 550 pounds instead of the usual 310 or so for the normal lift. No one is every going to buy this one from me!

Ramone helped load it into my Toyota FJ with a fork lift and I secured it with 4 pairs of motorcycle tie downs. Had to leave the rear door open. Made it home w/o issues and got it all set up by myself in about an hour. Bought a cycle vise as well although it won't get used much as the GS has a centerstand.

I admit it, I am really blessed to be able to have one of these and to have a wife who thinks it's okay.

My favorite part of the new lift is that it can raise the bike to 40". The normal lifts only go to 30" and I know from 10 years of experience that that was a little low for me. The extra 10" is the best part. It rocks. If you live close to me you are welcome to come over and use it to do maintenance.













T.

whoa. go big or go home! I've never used my hayne's manual during my rebuild. This forum is an order of magnitude better. Some of the torque specs in the book (cylinder studs) can't be trusted. Looks good on the desk though. Look at it like this--you didn't buy a crappy book, you bought an awesome coaster!

I'm really looking forward to this thread because of the meticulous way you seem to go through things and document them. I wouldn't be surprised if one day people won't surf through 20 different threads on different topics, they buy a new bike then go through this thread. I hope ya'll have a long hard winter up there.

Oh, and I chased carb problems for a coupla weeks then found out it was the original plug wires. Yours look cracked in the same way mine were. The stockers are really well made.

Don't forget the radio. Tunes and wrenches are pure bliss.

Okay, I did warn you. I'm obsessive.

Most of the bikes I buy are used. It is always great if the person I bought them from has the maintenance history or a log or both. Or, if they are the sole owner I pick their brain and document it. I always keep a maintenance log on a bike I am going to keep for a while.

On this project, as it will be a long-term project, I want to document all of my actions. So a quick trip to Staples (US based office supply store) for some notebooks and dividers and such to get organized. I then created 5 notebooks to start that I will track my work in. In addition to this thread and all the pics I place on my smugmug account.

A copy of the BMW R80GS repair manual. I found this online. Still looking to obtain a real copy.





My own maintenance log. I will log date, mileage, what I did, problems encountered, etc.. in here. This is handy for reminding yourself when oil changes and tires were done and such. It's just a blank book right now.




I'll keep all receipts and such in here so that when my GS reaches the $100K in upgrades I can be proud of myself. :eek1




Picture goes here. I'll keep all pics of this project on Smugmug and will use this book as a "Hey, Look at Me" memorial.




Technical articles goes here. Things from the airheads.org, here, and any other place I can find information on things for my bike. An example page is shown.






All of them on end where I labeled the ends.




I have not yet figured out how to snap a copy of an AdvRider thread into a format that I can save as a document. When I do, I'll snag them and print them off as well. Many many of the threads here on seals, forks, etc.. are all very important to me. Does anyone know how to do this?



Tom

Okay, here is where I'd really welcome some input. My plan is to start doing a basic maintenance to the bike and then go from there into areas that seem to need attention right now.

Here's what I've come up with:

Phase One - Basic Maintenance

1. Fluid changes - Freshen Final Drive, Transmission, and Engine oil and filter.

2. Valve adjustment - Ensure the valves are in spec. Adjust as needed.

3. Brakes - Check front pads, freshen fluid. Check/ Adjust rear shoes.

4. Forks - Open 'em up. Replace fork oil. Check springs. Maybe install new Progressive springs or Race Tech emulator or both. Something clanks in the front end.

5. Carbs - Rebuild carbs completely including new floats, jets, needles etc.. I will learn to do this myself. I have some parts here and more on order.

6. Replace throttle and choke cables as necessary.

7. Sync Carbs.

8. Timing? Is there any timing on this bike to check or adjust? I need to learn about this.

Thanks,

Tom

underneath the tank you'll find all sortsa electrical pluggie things. Unplug 'em all, liberally apply dielectric grease(cleaning connections with sandpaper if they need it), then replug. I took a sharpie marker and wrote 'starter' on the starter relay, 'flasher' on the turn signal flasher, 'headlight' on the headlight relay. I'm sure you'll P-Touch labels or something like that.

Steering head bearings have probably never been touched--probably don't need to be either, but worth putting on a list somewhere for inspection. Rubber bits go bad with years even on a low mileage bike--off the top of my head I remember having problems with pushrod seals, rear main seal, tranny seal and the driveshaft boot. I've heard intake boots can cause problems but mine were okay.

Removing the smog plumbing probably shaved a few pounds off my bike. A lot of folks also route the crankcase vent overboard.

Decoking the heads while you do the pushrods is a good idea. Spray with Simple Green and wipe with a green pad. Let the simple green do the work. Your cylinders will go from cruddy blackness to gleaming German engineering.

Spin off the exhaust nuts and coat the threads with hightemp antisieze. Add that to your 'yearly' maintenance schedule too.

If you really wanna be anal (and I know you do!) pull your pistons and conrods and blance them all to within .01 of a gram.

Heat sink compound behind diode board(or Enduralst)

Check speedo boot for water intrusion.

Grease cam in throttle--if that thing break you're hosed.

All stuff I learned on this forum.

What's the source for that race tech article?? I need to do that mod. . .

The pushrod tubes show a little leakage on all of them. Not sure if I would ever worry about this yet. More on this later.



Maybe a silly question, but what are those metal tubes coming out of the air filter and the other passing under the jug?

They are air-injection devices for emissions. I think they add a little extra air to the explosion.