My New to me R80/7

Hello all,

I went ahead and bought a bike not doing much research before. It is a 1978 R80/7 with 69k miles on the clock. Went to the auction house to buy a car and ended up with this bike. Seeing it in this state made me feet quite bad for it and had to have it so I can bring it back to life. The auction house did fire it up and it sounded alright for the few seconds they had it running.


This is how it looked when I first got it.


Had to get the fairing off right away to get it in the truck.



Current list of parts replaced and work completed

Engine
New pushrod seals
New head gasket
New cylinder stud o-rings
New oil filter with gaskets
New timing chain
New timing chain tensioner
New timing chain tensioner spring
New timing cover gaskets
New cam seal
New front crank seal
New oil pan seal
New breather gaskets
New breather hose
Cylinder base resealed
Cut seats
Ground valves
Set valve clearance

Ignition system
Motorrad Alpha ignition
Set timing
New spark plugs
New spark plug wires
New points gasket

Fuel/intake system
Rebuilt carburetors
Balance carburetors
New floats
New float needles
New clamping clips
New carburetor boots
New throttle cables
New gas cap seal
New fuel taps
New fuel lines
Clean inside gas tank
Drill/tap set screw for gas cap

Brakes
New master cylinder stainless sleeve
New master cylinder rebuild kit
New Spiegler stainless braided brake line
New Brake cable
New Caliper rebuild kit
New brake pads
Torque RT700 brake fluid
Front caliper adjusted

Steering
New steering stem bearings and races

Suspension
Front forks rebuild kit
Amsoil fork oil 10W

Electrical
New battery
New oil pressure sensor
New wire insulators (top of engine)
New starter

Transmission/Clutch
New clutch cable
New drain/fill plug washers
Amsoil 80w-90 gear lube
Clutch freeplay adjustment

Drive shaft/Rear drive
New drain/fill plug washers
Amsoil 80w-90 gear lube shaft/rear drive

Body/Frame/Esthetics
New café style seat
New seat stud insulator
New café style mirrors
New headlight ear insulators
New Flanders 22mm euro low bar
Polish painted parts
Polish chrome
Paint exhaust

First things first was to remove all the extra bits that were attached.

The fairing, seat and the boxes are just not my style and are for sale.

This is looking much better IMO.
I plan on fixing the few wiring problems and just keep the bike as stock as possible. I will only upgrade to improve reliability. I will change the seat to a cafe style seat and get lower bars to make it look a bit better. I don't plan on doing any permanent changes as I think these bikes look great from factory and i want to keep its originality.

At the moment I have been just cleaning things and making a list of things that I need to make it run well. It has sat for about 2 years and I plan on fixing all the leaks that may come up. Once it get the initial maintenance parts done I will get it running and see how the compression is. If it is low I will throw some rings on it and redo the heads. One big thing is that one pushrod seal is torn and needs replacing. I am guessing the others are going to be leaky as well.


I wanted to clean the engine so that I can look for leaks and monitor the seals. I am sure there will be something thats needs service.
Also I took the entire front brake system off and cleaned it. New seals, lines and pads are on the way.

Took off the rear fender, cleaned and gave it a wax.

Welcome! Good project to get started on...the bike seems to be in decent shape from the pictures. Look forward to seeing the progress.

Look towards the Flea Market in the link at the top of the screen or other online places to sell things. The forum area is for documenting your work, etc.

20774 said:

Welcome! Good project to get started on...the bike seems to be in decent shape from the pictures. Look forward to seeing the progress.

Look towards the Flea Market in the link at the top of the screen or other online places to sell things. The forum area is for documenting your work, etc.

Click to expand...

Will post the items up there shortly. Thank you.

It is my humble opinion that the '78 R80/7 was the best of the airheads. I've enjoyed mine for 25+ years and more than 100K.

I agree on ditching the fairing! Bags you might wish you kept later. Look forward to seeing this one progress

Looking good.

My '78 R100/7 looks very similar (same color too!). I too have stripped everything off of it including a front fairing. I'd love to see what you do to solve the front turn-signal issue (mine were hack-sawed off for the fairing to fit). I found some OEM signals on eBay and put them on by removing the forks. I had to extend the wires and feed them through the small holes in the headlamp mount. Not totally sure I did it "right", so would love to see what you come up with.

Also, my master cylinder seems to push fluid (caliper piston engages) but doesn't have any reverse suction (caliper piston will NOT disengage). I bought the rebuild kit and am hoping that helps. When I put compressed air through the port that leads out to the brake line, blowing air towards the reservoir, I get nothing. This makes me think that's my problem spot, the reason I'm not getting any reverse suction. Again, not sure if that's "right" (maybe air ISN'T supposed to flow that direction?). I'm going to start a thread regarding the master cylinder rebuild. Would love to hear about yours.

Cheers,

Darren




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'78 R100/7
Portland, OR

If it's not too nosy - what did you pick it up for Dollarwi$e?

Like what you've done with it. Good luck!

Thanks for all the pictures on your progress. This will be a good thread to follow.

jad01 said:

It is my humble opinion that the '78 R80/7 was the best of the airheads. I've enjoyed mine for 25+ years and more than 100K.

Click to expand...

My first BMW was also a R80/7. Wonderful bike. Keep us posted.

dmftoy1 said:

I agree on ditching the fairing! Bags you might wish you kept later. Look forward to seeing this one progress

Click to expand...

I really will not be using this bike for commuting. Just a pleasure ride a couple times a week.

darrenutt said:

My '78 R100/7 looks very similar (same color too!). I too have stripped everything off of it including a front fairing. I'd love to see what you do to solve the front turn-signal issue (mine were hack-sawed off for the fairing to fit). I found some OEM signals on eBay and put them on by removing the forks. I had to extend the wires and feed them through the small holes in the headlamp mount. Not totally sure I did it "right", so would love to see what you come up with.

Also, my master cylinder seems to push fluid (caliper piston engages) but doesn't have any reverse suction (caliper piston will NOT disengage). I bought the rebuild kit and am hoping that helps. When I put compressed air through the port that leads out to the brake line, blowing air towards the reservoir, I get nothing. This makes me think that's my problem spot, the reason I'm not getting any reverse suction. Again, not sure if that's "right" (maybe air ISN'T supposed to flow that direction?). I'm going to start a thread regarding the master cylinder rebuild. Would love to hear about yours.

Cheers,

Darren

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'78 R100/7
Portland, OR

Click to expand...

Man that thing looks sweet. Thank you for the pictures.
I too bought a rebuilt kit and waiting on the arrival. My concern is that my bore has some pitting and I am not sure the seal will even reach the problem area. I am just hoping that the seal with not go that far, otherwise I will need to source another master.




You might want to service your caliper and master cylinder at the same time to skip the headaches of bleeding the brakes twice and possibly having a crash. Take it all apart and clean really well, throw new seals in and adjust the cable going from the lever to the master cylinder.

DRRAOULDUKE said:

Like what you've done with it. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thank you!

r80andr100rt said:

Thanks for all the pictures on your progress. This will be a good thread to follow.

Click to expand...

I will try my best to document as much as I can. Thanks!

jad01 said:

It is my humble opinion that the '78 R80/7 was the best of the airheads. I've enjoyed mine for 25+ years and more than 100K.

Click to expand...

Nice! I don't feel as bad buying mine with such "high" miles then.

evojet said:

Man that thing looks sweet. Thank you for the pictures.
I too bought a rebuilt kit and waiting on the arrival. My concern is that my bore has some pitting and I am not sure the seal will even reach the problem area. I am just hoping that the seal with not go that far, otherwise I will need to source another master.
You might want to service your caliper and master cylinder at the same time to skip the headaches of bleeding the brakes twice and possibly having a crash. Take it all apart and clean really well, throw new seals in and adjust the cable going from the lever to the master cylinder.

Click to expand...

Good spot on that pitting, and thanks for providing photos of the severity of it- hope to hear that you won't need to pay for a new master. There've been some good advice from members on rebuilding a MC on this thread as well. Thanks for the note regarding working in a clean area. I haven't exactly been doing that, and so I'll clean up my act

darrenutt said:

Good spot on that pitting, and thanks for providing photos of the severity of it- hope to hear that you won't need to pay for a new master. There've been some good advice from members on rebuilding a MC on this thread as well. Thanks for the note regarding working in a clean area. I haven't exactly been doing that, and so I'll clean up my act

Click to expand...

I made a couple comments on there myself. Nice to see one of my photos being used HAHAHA.

Took a peak in the intake side to see whats what. I am guessing someone put in hardened valve seats already.




Too bad the pushrod seals are busted, well at least one of them is definitely ruined.