Help With Fuel System R1100RS

[67289]

You are correct...I have read a deal about it here as well as experience with cobbing our own shafts waaaay back when we raced hobby stock Mopars and 2 ton Ponticrackers on the 1/2 miler at Eldora. Pontiacs were easy to get power out of with a bottom end that could take most any abuse. We could out pull anything coming out of the turns, but that 800 pound hunk of iron didn't like turning left despite us shortening the wheelbase on that side of the car. We became "Chief Wall Testers". The concrete was AOK at Eldora!
Anyway, I mentioned (and you can just see it on top of the shaft in the last pic) that I painted a yellow line along the full length of the shaft. It correlates with the orientation of the universal joint "ear" that is on the forward end of the shaft. The red "balance" spot that is painted on the splined portion of the forward universal joint is 90 degrees anti-clockwise (when looking forward) from this yellow line. Not sure why that would be of any importance but there it is! Also, the yellow line will help to indicate if ever the torsional damper (the rubber bonding that joins the large outer tube to the smaller inner tube) should fail and allow the two portions to "un-clock".
Regarding phasing: I was aware of the matter when I disassembled the final drive so was very careful to note the orientation of things. As can be seen that drive has never been apart, that is evident. I KNOW that this shaft was NOT phased from the factory. It was at least 30* clocked out. I have and older FACTORY manual here. Do not even know where I got it. It is not a reprint or Haynes or Clymer. It is a BMW publication. It mentions nothing of phasing upon installation. Oversight? Perhaps. Is it irrelevant? I don't know. I'll play it safe and clock it correctly or as close as possible. I will find out how difficult that task is...soon. I hope!

 

[rxcrider]

first off - sorry - I should have mentioned the the rubber iso-mounts for the battery box will come out of the transmission with a bit of careful punch work on the steel end plate the rubber is bonded to at the transmission housing. Once loosened, it only takes a minute of filddling to get them out and back in around the wire harness while the trans is bolted up.

I alligned the stripe on the front and rear sections of the driveshaft so my stripe was facing up. I then made and alignment mark on the brake disk relative to a caliper mounting boss on the FD housing so I would know where the rear shaft was clocked without being able to see it. I tethered the disk to the the boss so I could only spin it about 45 degrees each way. I put the trans in first and worked the front half of the shaft and clutch to make sure the paint mark pointed up in the middle of the freeplay. I rolled up a paper towel to prop up the drive shaft inside the swing arm, leaving a tail of the towel hanging out so I could extract it at the end. Once it was all slid together (took a few tries), My paint mark on the brake disk swung equally to either side of the boss I had aligned it with so I am confident I got the shaft lined up. I tried an inspection mirror to verify it, but I couldn't get it angled to see the paint mark on the rear u-joint.

 

[67289]

Back at it...

Found a few hours to devote to this project. Plugged the final drive in and pinned back on per manual. Ruined a perfectly good Craftsman socket and made myself a special socket for the torque down of the check nuts on the left side...

Machined the arm so it was exactly 2" between centers of rotation for easy arm calculation if needed. Bored out the 1/2" square drive to allow passage of the 12MM hex key to assure preload of the pivot pin. On the nut end of the socket I faced the "lead in" chamfer off. This gives maximum flank contact with the already minimally thin check nut for maximum drive force. I think modern sockets (including major name brands) have excessive lead in. Some consuming a full 1/8" of driving flank and begging to ruin the fastener or invited slippage and injury. Special tool that makes a cumbersome task effortless.
Then we dab a bit of "torque seal" lacquer to make a quick check for future fastener "self loosening"...

Perhaps a visual detractor but gives that "business" look to the machine!
I got new red Galfer lines from Cyclebrakes. I thought the price reasonable and they arrived quite promptly. There are problems, however, that I would not have expected for such a well established model of motorcycle. The caliper lines and rear brake line are perfect. The hose shown here is marked as the master cylinder line...

Clearly, it is not, as can be seen by the swivel nut style fitting on the far end. There is only one hose that uses that fitting and that's the line from ABS modulator to the distribution block on the forks above the fender. That now becomes a major problem. As can be seen in the pic, the 90* banjo fitting is too much of a bend and will not clear the bracket on forks. You can see how the original is perhaps 75-80* bend and has a twist to direct hose toward the right side where the union resides to which the other end fits. Send it back you say? Well, I knew full well colored hose was special and thus non-returnable. I will "adjust" that banjo to suit. It will work but I just didn't think they would make such a clear error. To compound matters, the banjo is some 1/8" thinner. The banjo bolt bottoms out in the tee and will not draw the fitting down for seal. I cured that by machining the bolt length a tad. Annoying issues so beware.

Until I began reading many threads here, I thought this was a pretty good motorcycle...I now know many of the problems that they do have. One was worrisome to me and I sought to avoid future issues by making a ridiculously simple doodad...

Now just what do you suppose that thing is for? Mighty strange looking. Something a square headed Dutchman machinist might come up with! Can anybody guess what oilhead "problem" this remedies?
Answer tomorrow!

 

[Walking Eagle]

Guess #1

Sight glass anti-pop device?

Do I get a free one if this is the correct answer?

Nice job of fabrication, whatever it is. Looks OEM.

That thoroughbred machine is worth all the effort once you get her back on the road and running strong.


Walking Eagle

 

[67289]

Sight glass anti-pop device?

That's exactly correct!

I used a small airplane style right angle drill and drilled a hole vertically through the upper fin. The part that contacts the sight glass is hacked from a piece of 1.5" rigid electrical conduit. I slotted it for illumination when viewing level. I then hack sawed/filed the ears for the retaining wire. The wire was made from a 1/8" TIG welding rod. It has a 180* hook through the fin and then through the ears of retainer and then is welded to a steel bushing that fits under a front case SHCS. Since this bike is an RSL with the lowers, there was already a long bushing there for the lowers mounting bracket. I cut this bushing much shorter and then three additional spacers so the sum of the four spacers is equal to the length of the original spacer. This was done as the long screw wouldn't clear the header pipe and the now rigid bushing if I left it full length one piece. This also allows some tension adjustment: one of the smaller spacers can be moved between the case and the wire bracket bushing to "stretch" the retaining wire thus forcing it to straighten which in turn applies more pressure upon the tube. A lot more description than needed perhaps, but it does work very nicely! I'll give it a home brew electroless nickle plate tonight.

Now about that brake line...

 

[rxcrider]

I'm not even going to post a picture of my sight glass. I stared at it for five minutes thinking about a similar set up using both of the fairing mount bolts for a three point mount, then said piss on it - drilled four holes and ran a piece of safety wire through them. You definitely get the elegance award.

On the pivot pin lock nuts, I followed advice on there that you can let the loctite set up on the pins and then torque the nuts without the pins rotating. It worked well. Nice TIG work on your socket.

 

[Walking Eagle]

Brake line

Please let CycleBrakes know (again) about that mis-labeled brake line! The CycleBrakes people are 100% solid on customer service, BUT -- Galfer has some VERY hard-headed people, apparently, and they don't want to hear that they've made a mistake. Nothing wrong with the QUALITY of the brakelines, and the banjos "clock" easily, if needed for a smooth install.

I broke the line you're talking about, trying to get it to fit, then realized I had it at the wrong angle to meet the splitter. The second install went fine, with no attempted alteration to the big 90-degree fitting. (DON'T try to bend it!) Tight fit in the front-fender"slot" for the long 90-degree fitting, but it does work.

I informed CB about this problem months ago. . .Sorry to hear that Galfer is apparently DEAF. . .I guess they don't sell "that many" SS brakelines for the Oily's anymore????

Keep on, keepin' on, bro.

Walking Eagle

 

[67289]

The Brake Hose Woes

I broke the line you're talking about, trying to get it to fit, then realized I had it at the wrong angle to meet the splitter. The second install went fine, with no attempted alteration to the big 90-degree fitting. (DON'T try to bend it!) Tight fit in the front-fender"slot" for the long 90-degree fitting, but it does work.

RUH-ROH!!! I did just that and I was literally astounded at what little force was required to snap the "tube" off right at the base of the crimped ferrule. I cannot imagine what yellow metal (brass) they are using to produce that fitting but it is incredibly brittle...ductility is nil. As if it were cast and not a sweated fabrication of bar stock items. What is disturbing is that this application is the hose that is subjected to the very forces I was applying. It is between the fork tubes and flexes to and fro with steering inputs. This flexing would be concentrated directly at the point where it failed.

The other "no fit" item with this hose is the other end where it joins a union to convert this circuit to steel hard lines at the steering head. I cannot figure why this world has to have 32 to 87 differing types of brake fittings. Despite what all here may think of the American auto industry, we made billions of hydraulically braked two ton autos and used a common system for eons...the SAE inverted flare. I have no idea what these goofy things that are so common today have to offer over simple and proven inverted flares. I suppose that is what is in that union only a DIN or some such metric derivation. It has a M10 x 1 female thread and a concave conical (not spherical) seat. The OEM BMW line had a flat face headed on the tube...no bubble, no cone, no ball. A flat face with a gentle but adequate radius or chamfer at the outer edge. The line provided in the Galfer kit is a ...welll... as Johnny Cash would put it: "A-Dapta-Kit". They have some bizarre female thread swivel crimped onto the hose. It does not appear to be metric. It closely matches .374 OD but a pitch of 28TPI. Anyway, they supplied an adapter which has this thread and a convex cone to seat in the hose. On the opposite end is an M10 x 1.0 thread that too has a convex cone. There were absolutely no instructions provided with the kit. I assume the "adapter" screws into the bike's union until the cones seat. The hose then is screwed onto the queer thread of the adapter again, until cones seated. Here's the rub: The adapter threads into the union all right...but won't seat. It burrows all the way in until the hex kisses the union's face. Clearly, the cone is not seating (thus not sealing). They provided a little brass disk in the kit. It has a hole thru center and two opposing convex conical faces...like a space ship of science fiction. Am I supposed to sandwich this inside that union?? What is so hard about making a proper connection? What was a simple connection now requires 3 or 4 parts? Beats me and I am not sure they could explain it. I have not called them. Rather, I gave up on that hose and have ordered Earls fittings and hose to build my own. I've made gobs of brake hoses from Earl's Speed Flex hose and their Speed Seal reusable fittings. I even made all the hydraulic hoses for my two Wheel Horse garden tractors from speed Flex. One more won't hurt. I just hadn't planned on it.
I have all the drive line, tail, exhaust, rear brake, etc. of the bike reassembled. I only need (at the moment) to reassemble the master/throttle and then rectify the front brakes and we can then put a few miles on for tuning. A synch and other tuning chores.

We'll get it...eventually! We will outlast it! Persistence.

 

[67289]

It Runs!

We had some further delays but we eventually found the needed time to wrap up the repairs needed to get this machine back on the road. And what a blast it is! All the reasons I wanted to bring this bike back have been well founded. I remember now how much I liked this bike and why...it fits, smooth, quiet, capable, and comfortable. We still have fine tuning to do for synching and fine adjustments here and there to the fuel system but it runs well enough to put miles on it while tuning.
Thanks to all for the comments and help. A great resource here and it made this daunting service go forward with confidence. Thanks!

 

[Walking Eagle]

Worth It!

Beautiful ride, and Bravo to you . . . a pleasure to watch your work unfold.

Peace of mind isn't at all superficial to technical work. It's the whole thing. That which produces it is good work and that which destroys it is bad work.

-Pirsig-

We ride on.

Walking Eagle

 

[rxcrider]

Good to see it on the road.

What foot pegs do you have on the bike? They look a bit more solid under foot than the stock rubber capped ones.

 

[67289]

Homemade.

What foot pegs do you have on the bike? They look a bit more solid under foot than the stock rubber capped ones.

That is an interesting note and how keen you are to notice! It is amazing how tiny little adjustments can affect ergonomics. I really liked the ride height and upper torso position when the seat was at the lowest notch. Each notch amounts to what, something like 3/8" or so? Anyway, it fit really well at lowest setting for the upper half of my body but the knees were a tiny bit pinched...especially with leathers and heavier winter gear and undergarments. I never liked the squishy blubbery feel of the stock rubber pegs. I realized what little vibration this smooth machine ever made was never bothering my feet. A hard sportier peg would be nice but there was none to be had. So I slid the rubber off just to check the ergonomics. Perfect. But they were smallish. So I knew it would feel fine with hard mount non-shock pegs. I couldn't find a ready source of such a peg (at least none that would not need further require modification) so I modified the stock ones. I tapped two #10-24 holes and mounted an arbor in a lathe and screwed 4 pieces of aluminum flat stock to the arbor using the screws and turned "pads" to increase the foot area of the peg. Added a couple non-slip grooves and a hook at end. The "pads" were then mounted to the stock denuded pegs with 2) slotted SS oval head screws. Works really really well!

They lower the feet just a tad, enough to prevent wadding of clothing in the back of the knee, and as a plus they are solid and greatly increase feel for weight shift...I'd say "hanging off" but we wouldn't do that on the streets would we?

Somebody needs to clean that exhaust!

 

[rxcrider]

Nice work, but I was really hoping for - they are take offs from such and such models that go for dirt cheap on fleabay... Guess I'll add that to the someday when I'm bored list for the bike. Kind of like the front fairing.

On the subject of you muffler, take a look in the tail pipe inside the muffler. It seems to be a common rust through spot about an inch in from the exit.

 

[ANDYVH]

Yup, on R1100 RS and RT bikes with high miles, the outlet tube in the muffler can and does crack and fail over time. When it happened on my bike, I cut the can off right at that big elbow by the left footpeg. I then designed my own inner baffling all out of S/S, had it tig welded up and its been great for over 30,000 miles since. It also has a bit more of a newer GS sound to it without being one bit loud or obnoxious.

 

[rxcrider]

Andy - got any baffle photos? I have a spare muffler with a hole in the tail pipe and access to a tig.

 

[rxcrider]

Eric -

When you chose your braided brake line, is there a reason you didn't go with Spiegler?

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=56688

http://spieglerusa.com/brake-line-kit-149.htm

 

[67289]

Well...inexperience with these led me to choose a kit from somebody. Cyclebrakes had the kit, it was in stock, it was very easy to order on line, it was priced reasonably, and they offered color at N/C. Also, their banjos and ancillary parts are from metals other than aluminum...mainly brass. While I am getting on in age to where I do not plan on riding this bike in a corrosive environment like Ohio road salt, I have experience watching aluminum corrode with startling rapidity especially on parts that can trap an electrolyte like the collar of a crimped on fitting. Thus, I went with Galfer from Cyclebrakes. The results have been stated earlier in this thread...they simply would not fit. I ended up using one hose out of 5...the rear brake caliper.

After breaking the splitter hose banjo elbow, I had decided to chuck the set. I then called Spiegler about buying a kit from them. Their website is poor in that regard. Not friendly. Thus I called them. The staff set me up with a set tootsweet. The cost was the same as the Galfer set EXCEPT no color choice and I had to pay OH sales tax. I had it in 2 or 3 days. They are only 25 miles from me. The clocking banjos did the trick. They adjusted to a perfect fit without putting undue stress on the hose structure. I really like them. They do, however, have aluminum banjo construction. Keep an eye out for corrosion. Clearly, not much of an issue for someone who rides on perfect days only or keeps a bike for 14 months. From the outset I have stated that I intend to keep this bike for some time. That means I will need to make sure the brake lines get an eyeball at regular intervals.

Given the choice again...IF it was a less than two year old and immensely popular bike I would still consider Galfer. If it is a bit more obscure. older, or less that popular model of bike, I would go with Spiegler. The Galfer I feel needs to have a more popular model to accurately build the hose. The Spiegler clocking banjo can allow more tolerance in assembling the hose.