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Crusty's New Home

P

Pickle

Guest
Well I picked this bike up 2 weeks ago. Right now I refer to it as Crusty the BeeterMW. I paid the princely sum of $1400 for it. In retrospect it was a purely emotional purchase and I'm positive I overpaid but at least it was not the asking price.It was kind of like going going to the dog pound and falling in love with that 3 legged 1 eye thing. PO was obviously an abusive owner but I felt Crusty deserved better and may actually flourish in a new home with an attentive owner. Since Crusty has been at his new home I decided he needed to go on a diet and I shaved his coat to see what was really going on under there.


I'm happy we decided to check out Crusty's overall health before letting him run wild in the streets.

What we found so far are;
No bolts attaching the upper subframe.
Heavy corrosion on the engine covers.
Seepage coming out of his bottom end.
Pitted Chrome generously spread throughout the body.
Pocked and Rusted frame-thankfully only surface rust.
1 operating petcock-no wonder why he wasn't sounding right.
No functioning brake on the front
Questionable rear brakes.
Busted Rusted and useless centerstand
Dead Battery
and a host of other screwy and "I can't believe someone did thats!"

So far all the bags, racks, and fairing have been removed--Probably never going back on either--If anyone wants to trade for some of this stuff shoot me a line.

Make no qualms-Crusty is going to run in the streets again but a total restore is not in his near future-perhaps a few years out.

My goal is to arrest all possible decay, get him running predictably, fix all of his safety issues, and then perhaps taking him on walks around the neighborhood until he gets his health and confidence back up.

I'll keep people posted on Crusty's condition as his health improves.

Forgot to mention Crusty is a 1974 R75/6 --my birth year perhaps thats why he's so special to me.

Another dog rescued from euthanasia
 

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Welcome Pickle,

You've got the makings for a fine machine there. Find yourself some good reference material ( BMW, Haynes or Clymer shop manuals). Airheads are relatively easy to wrench on compaired to other vehicles. Those bags, trunk, and fairing are period correct and have some value if they're in decent condition. You're about to embark on an adventure that will last you a lifetime and you will make many new friends along the way. Take it slow and have fun.

Ride Safe
MB
 
Aw, man, you're making me misty-eyed....


Good on ya, for rescuing another one from the pound. Indeed, you will find that the bike will reward you as you go along and make it yours. They are fun and easy to work on, fun to ride, fun to listen to, and fun to look at.....

A coupla sources for original/repro parts:

Hucky's Spare Parts -- Hans is a great resource on the phone, and his website has pictures of parts which are invaluable in helping find out wth things really are....

Vech at Bench Mark Works is THE guru for older-than-yours BMWs, also a great phone resource

MaxBMW has great parts fiches and parts catalogues on line.

And, go on over to ADVRiders and check out the Old's Cool section: tons of airheads of all vintages.



:clap
 
Thanks for the info and the congrats! I'm already enjoying this more than I thought. I have worked on some Japanese bikes in the past but working on this BMW has been wonderfully different. Things make sense on this bike and I feel like I have space to work. I'm really loving how everything I've touched so far in/on this bike seems Uber sized and it flows versus just being packed in there.

Thanks for Parts info--definitely will be utilizing those.
 
Sorry no relation. I'm from the I.M. Inna Pickle family.
 
If I had a job ...
I had been talking to your PO about that bike and from a distance I can understand the dog pound reaction that you had. Yeah, your gonna have more money and labor to invest in it but at $1400 initial investment, you are pretty safe. If you are not crazy about the accessories you could probably finance a lot of repairs by selling those Cravens and the Wixom tote box.
Keep us posted.

:lurk
 
A '74 R75/6?

5 years ago, I resurrected mine, and just rode it 100 more miles today.

Sweet. Keep us updated.

(To post more than one picture per post, set up an account with photobucket or smugmug, or somewhere. I'm a simple man, and like plenty of pictures.)
 
I will definitely send more pictures as things progress--Fridays are my wrenching days so updates will more than likely come weekly. Yesterday I just got a box of bits from MAX BMW which should keep me busy for the next couple of Fridays. This Friday is the maiden oil dump and pan inspection if that goes well I'll probably spend the rest of the night hunting for oil filter O-rings and reworking some wiring and connections. Cross your fingers, I hope we're chunk free. Thanks for the support guys.
 
I think the small tank /6s are nicer and better proportioned than the large tank bikes.
 
I'll probably spend the rest of the night hunting for oil filter O-rings

..and in case you didn't already know, this is not the era of bikes that had the $2000 o-ring. So, you're safe there. Just look in and see if an old small one is at the base of the post, as on old filters they came separate. On new filters, the little o-rings are part of the filter, and yes, you can use a hinged or straight one.
 
She was never in that bad of shape but she did take some time to get in this shape. This bike gets looks and attention everywhere she goes and I am soo proud of her. It will be worth your every effort to spend time making her road worthy again and looking like she should.

Have Fun
Brett Endress
Altoona Pa
 
Progress Update on Crusty

After going out to the garage and observing my wife's adept parking prowess I decided to bring the tank and some parts over to the shop and get them out of our garage.

tank.jpg


I thought I'd just drop the parts off maybe take an update photo and leave.

nekkid.jpg


Well that didn't happen.

With a box full of parts I had to do something. Since the bike is not in running shape now I let the oil drain for a good hour as I replaced my +battery cable and cleaned the ground on the -cable as well as cleaned out the breather hole on the mounting bolt. Replaced the missing subframe bolts put the new gas tank screwdowns on the knob. Just little things.

After a sufficient amount of time I then removed the oil filter which practically fell apart in my hand. I can only guess how long it had been in there.

The oil was "recently" changed by the PO but I wonder if he reused old oil. It was really dirty. I'm chalking it up to carbon buildup in the motor for now.

I figured I had all of the fluids out so I may as well drop the oilpan and inspect the screen. I was pleasantly surprised to find no metal chunks or shavings in either area. Just some beautiful sludge. It was almost abstract.

pan.jpg


Well fresh filter, drain plug, washer, and 20w50 for now and we'll see how it goes. Considering I bought 12 quarts of oil and didn't realize this bike took 2.4 quarts with filter changes I'll probably run the bike weekly this winter and change the oil monthly until some of the carbon clears out of the system.

It was a major relief finding no metal in the oil. Now I feel like moving onward without a complete engine tear down will not be a waste of time.

Next week - I definitely need to pick up a smaller torque wrench as the one I had available would only dial down to 39NM. Then I can torque everything to spec instead of the "barely tight" they are now.

New point install, petcock, fuel line and get the bike running is the next step. Then I can do the valve adjustment I'm sure this bike needs.

Question- Should I replace plugs and wires prior to doing a valve adjustment or does this not really affect anything.
 
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Hey, I can park as well as your wife! You're doin' a good job. Interesting to follow along.
 
I wouldn't worry about getting plug wires first, unless you suspect them... probably best to get the valve adjustment done early on: you must torque head bolts and then adjust valves. Valve clearance is quite important on these old girls.

Then start er up, fiddle with carbs, timing, replacing wires and points and stuff as you feel necessary. Change the oil often, run it often and you will gain confidence in the ole girl... we tend to baby these engines, and they can take a lot of hard use and abuse!

:D
 
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