Well after doing alot of searching I found my bike. I was close to getting a 75/7 but the guy selling decided to never answer his emails and left no phone number in his craigslist ad so I moved on. After some searching in surrounding states I found a 76 R90/6 in Warrensburg IL about a 5 hour drive from my home in Des Moines IA. We called the guy and everything sounded pretty straight forward, he was honest and hid nothing. I made a deal with him and this past Saturday (Dec 3rd) I took off to get it. Ran into some trouble about half way to Warrensburg, we took my fathers truck to pick the bike up and with out warning the transmission went out on it. Had to have the truck towed and then picked up a penske truck and finished the rest of the drive to get it. After arriving and looking the bike over I was pleasantly surprised that it was cleaner then expected from the picture of it on craigslist. Got home late Saturday night and parked it in the garage. Came back Sunday to my fathers house where he has a shop and started taking everything apart. The plan is to strip it down, sandblast the frame and put a new coat of paint on the frame. The bike will be painted wimbledon white with the classic black stripes. The motor is not going to clean up as much as I would like so I am doing the motor / wheels black. It needs new mufflers and a new odometer and a new battery still. Ok enough talking here are some pictures! At the sellers house we pulled it outside to take a good look at it. Loaded up in the Penske truck Unloaded in our shop And the following pictures are what we accomplished Sunday. Were taking everything off the frame, should have the motor/tranny pulled tonight after work. I will be continuing to update this thread with progress pictures.
You said you are painting the motor black because it won't shine up as much as you want? I think that's what you said. It is possible to clean and shine the motor. It's a lot of work and there are special products and procedures that will help. But I don't think this or any Beemer is impossible to clean. It will be different with everything black in a white frame. I'm not sure how well that will work out. How's the truck doing? Charlie
The motor itself has scrathes/scuffs that wont rub out so I am really liking the concept of painting the motor/wheels black. The frame is staying black though I have no intention of painting it white ha. The truck is just sitting at a friends house right now, AAA only tows 100 miles and we had a friend who lived 96 miles from where it broke down. Were going to pick it up next weekend and tow it home ourselves. Here is a pic of the black wheels/motor that got me thinking about it. My bike is not going to look like this one as I am keeping the seat/fenders the same but this pic will give you an idea of the black motor and wheels.
Yay, another r90 /6 to add to the gang. Love mine to death. It's my life-long bike! Click the link in my signature if you want to check out my full rebuild.
Fantastic build! Would you mind if I shot you a few messages in the future if any assembly questions pop up when I am putting everything back together?
The overall effect is not bad to my eyes. I would do the license plate holder somehow differently. And a few other details I didn't like but overall it works, I think. Good luck with it. Charlie
the only thing my R90 will resemble on that bike is the motor and wheels. The stock R90/6 Fenders/metal will be staying on my bike. I just showed that one to give you and idea of a black motor and wheels
It looks like you are starting with a good bike! It is a fun journey bringing them back, or to whatever you want. Mine started a little rougher, but I love it now. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=633026&highlight=coal They are fun bikes to ride! By the way, I still have the nice Vetter fairing, saving it just for you
Just some progress from tonight. Got the motor/tranny pulled touched up the black paint on the frame and started to sandblast a few bits from the engine that I could. Since we are painting the engine I figure anything that Can be removed and sandblasted will help cut down on the pre paint cleaning process that needs to be done. Difference between being sandblasted and not
Decided to test out a few spots with a rubbing compound we picked up to see how they would clean up. Decided to polish the wheels instead of painting them black. I may go to a Morris mag wheel in the future but would have to find a decent price on one to actually go through with it. bottom right side of wheel tested Right side bar tested
Last night we replaced the base gaskets and the head gaskets. And sandblasted the cylinders to prep for paint. Not much to see, cylinder/heads off Degreasing the heads Finished polishing the front wheel.
Just some small updates. Motor is back together. Heads/Cylinder sandblasted. I am scrubbing the whole exterior of the motor with carb cleaner. I have to get all the oil/grease off the motor before I paint it other wise it wont have a clean surface for the paint to stick to. One more night of scrubbing with the wire brush and carb cleaner and it will be ready for paint. The old mufflers were rusted out so purchased another set from ebay. Old muffler vs new.
More progress, finally got the motor painted tonight. It is still drying so some spots still are not fully dry in the pictures. This shows what I am doing with the fins on the engine. I am sanding down the paint on the edges so the outside lip is silver. I think it gives the motor a more put together look and that way it does not look like it was just painted with no attention to details. This is actually the front of the motor, I am sanding the fins/ridges down on it so they are silver to match the fins on the cylinders.
Transmission and airbox cover are also painted, Once everything is dry it will be matte black I took this right after applying the last coat of paint.
Is that rattle can or actual airbrush? Did you clean and degrease the block before painting? What sort of coating/paint are you using there? Should look really good once you get all the ends of the cooling fins and such sanded back to the aluminum!
I used a high temp (500°) paint. It is Made from Rust-Oleum and is an engine enamel. It is a spray can, I choose that over the spray gun for the motor just for the versatility of the can. The rest of the bike will be done with a professional spray gun. I spent the past 3 weeks cleaning the engine. I first started with a can of oven cleaner all over the engine and allowed that to sit for about 5-10 minutes and followed that with a high pressure rinse. Next I sandblasted the cylinders, heads, and airbox covers. Then took carburetor cleaner with a metal brush and went over the whole engine with that. Followed that with wiping the motor down twice with Dupont Final Klean and hand drying the motor. Then I had it ready for paint. I wanted a completely clean surface to paint so I would not have chipping issues.
