Hodakaguy's R51/3 & Steib LS200 Thread.

[hodakaguy]

Years ago.....waaaaaay way back in the day I owned a 1963 BMW R69S with a Steib LS200 hack. I purchased it from the second owner who had owned it since 1962, all of his kids grew up riding in the hack. I rode the wheels off that bike and absolutly loved it! I eventually sold it to put my wife through school and have always missed that setup ever since.

Fast forward to about a month ago and I got the opprtunity to purchase a 1953 BMW R51/3 complete with a 1952 Steib LS200 Hack. The 51/3 is another bike I've always wanted to own, I absolutely love the art deco lines and flared front fender....Instant love! The owner has owned this bike for the past 56 Years! The guy he purchsed it from was using it for a hill climb bike and had knobby tires installed! He added the Steib in the 80's and installed sidecar gearing in the final drive (he included two spare final drives with solo gearing in the sale). We had a great time swapping stories and chatting about vintage BMW's.

I test rode the bike, looked over the pile of spare parts that was included in the sale and we struck a deal! The bike isn't a show bike and has lots of Patina....but is still presentable as is and I think it looks great as a survivor. Tank is in original paint, fenders are an old repaint. Frame and engine numbers match. The engine ran great although the rockers sound loose and noisy on the right jug. A full tune up and thorough going over is in order before any further playing Is to be had.

Kiddo loves the setup, it's a tight fit but he can get into the tiny hack He can't wait to cruise around and hit yard sales in the setup. My plan is to clean it up the best I can, get it mechanically sound and enjoy it!

My wife and I on my R69S 25 years ago.

The new ride, at the previous owners house. The fold down top and windshield is pretty cool, I didn't have either of those on my old setup.

Had to snap a photo of the previous owner and I together with his baby before I left.

On the trailer for the ride home.

I removed the top and windshield from the hack to prevent wear on the 5hr freeway ride home.

Just after arriving home, kiddo had to try on the hack for size .

More fun to come....

Hodakaguy

 

[Visian]

That is one beautiful machine. That it's a survivor makes it even more impressive!

 

[hodakaguy]

That is one beautiful machine. That it's a survivor makes it even more impressive!

Thanks. It's definatly not a show bike, with lots of character and patina but is still a beautiful machine.

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Catching this thread up to match another one I started....I'll post several posts to catch the thread up to current.

Ok this is cool! Going through some of the parts & paperwork that came with the R51/3 tonight and found the original bill of sale from when the previous owner purchased it in 1967, complete with a clipping of the newspaper ad listing it for sale! He also had in amongst the pile of receipts one from 1970 when a shop pulled the transmission and overhauled it with new bearings, seals, Shift Forks and gaskets. Then re-installed it...total $94.46. Love seeing history stay with machines!

Lots of good spare parts including a NOS set of BMW pistons, two solo final drives, carbs, and lots of new and used bits. Unfortunatly the spare disassembled transmission was stored in the basement and sat in a lot of water causing corossion.

Parts!

Newspaper clipping and original bill of sale.

Trans rebuild receipt

More parts

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

I think the kiddo is excited to take a ride in the new hack....he sat in the side car surfing his phone and watching TV while I adjusted the valves this evening 3

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Kiddo and I headed out for some frozen yogurt, seemed irresponsible not to take the 51/3

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Kiddo and I out for an evening spin

Hodakapops and I on our three wheel steeds

Heading out Friday morning for a solo ride to hit some yard sales, bike had a vibration when turning right. Suspected a wheel bearing so headed back to the house....yep, some play in the rear wheel bearings. New wheel bearings all around on order...no more riding this weekend. Such is the life with a vintage bike :freaky

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

New wheel bearings and the tool to disassemble the wheels showed up. Time to get to work!

Parts in hand

Removing the rear wheel and installing the bearings. Got busy and didn't take any pics of the process.

Old bearings in the rear wheel were way past ready to be changed.

Working on the front.

After swapping out the front bearings with the new sealed units (Fronts were in way better cond) I disassembled the brakes and cleaned lubricated everything. Shoes were in great cond and ready for miles to come.

The rest of my parts got delayed in shipping, more work next weekend.

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Managed to get a bit more work done on the bike this weekend. All new cables, swapped out the high US bars with low euro sidecar bars, new points & advance mechanism, some rubber bits (grips, pegs), better air filtration and new mirrors.

Upon receiving the new front brake cable I realized the exposed portion of the cable was shorter and I couldn't get it to fit between the two brake arms on the backing plate. Hmmm....I want to ride this weekend so that won't do! A little careful work with the Dremel tool and the cable is now the right length.

Old vs New.

Easy does it.

One longer cable coming up.

Better air filtration. The early BMW's use a cleanable horse hair filter media that you wash out and re-oil. The media in mine looked pretty nasty and didn't clean up well. This setup is great for keeping small barn yard animals out of your engine, fine dust not so much. Time to fix this!

Inside the air filter

Pry out the upper screen and remove the filter media.

I'll be installing oiled foam in place of the original filter media. I ordered two sheets of Uni-filter Universal filter foam in both coarse and fine.

After cutting out some new filters I oiled them up with some Bel-Ray filter oil (good stuff!).

The coarse filter goes back in first, then the fine.

The new foam filters are pretty secure and probably doesnt need anything more to retain them in place.....but better safe than sorry. Instead of messing with re-installing the upper screen, which is a pain to remove, I decided to make a quick release retainer. I took a piece of stainless steel TIG rod and bent it into shape to use as a spring clip. Now it's super easy to remove for future cleaning/maint.

This mod offers WAY better air filtration and appears completely stock from the outside. Perfect.

New Norris points installed along with a new advance unit.

Setting the new throttle cables and balancing the carburators.

Out with the old high bars and high mirror. Here's the last pic of the original setup.

I'm installing Euro sidecar bars as I love the lower sleek look of this setup The sidecar bars are shaped like the original Euro solo bars but are a tad wider for better leverage when using a sidecar.

And installed. I also installed a pair of Albert headlight mirrors to add to the low profile look.

And back out in the sun.

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

When you find a flat tire on your work car there is really only one fun way to go have it fixed

Time to change oil again and check inside the pan. This is my second oil change so far as I'm flushing the engine a bit. Oil drained nice and clean, no metal bits. Pan had a light film in the bottom that was wiped clean, Oil pickup looked clean with just a bit if lint/rag material stuck to the middle. So far so good.

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Hodakapops trying out the new bars

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Big bore piston upgrade? Think of the HP! With the side car on the right I'll only be able to upgrade the left jug....shoot Harleys shake like a paint shaker and seem to hold up....It'll be fine!

The power piston is out of a 1956 Ingersoll Rand KVS industrial engine/compressor unit. The unit runs on natural gas and is used to compress natural gas on a gas pipeline. The engine produces 1000 hp at 330 rpm, single turbo and the bare piston weights 400 lbs. They are a kick to work on!

The piston works great as a vice stand

Rode over to a friend's house yesterday to help her work on her motorcycle. Ally recently purchased a Kawasaki Z650 and is wanting to learn how to perform her own maintinace & modifications. She ordered a fender eliminator kit and installed it last night with a little supervision.....way cool!

Almost dark on the ride home, I love the vintage glow of the 6V headlight......Back when measuring light output by candle power was an accurate comparison

All caught up to date.

Hodakaguy

 

[Omega Man]

Great write up!

OM

 

[Visian]

Indeed!

 

[fmdualexhaust]

Nice score.
Beautiful bike!

 

[hodakaguy]

Out for an afternoon cruise with the kiddo, playing with the Insta 360 cam.

Hodakaguy

 

[20774]

Sweet sound!! Got a little woosy towards the end!! So, does the camera software automatically erase the pole used to hold it?

 

[hodakaguy]

Sweet sound!! Got a little woosy towards the end!! So, does the camera software automatically erase the pole used to hold it?

Yeah the AI in the camera automatically erases the selfish stick. The camera records 360 deg of video constantly and allows you to frame the shot afterwards however you want. They are a lot of fun. The camera I used here is a Insta 360 X2.

Hodakaguy

 

[hodakaguy]

Time for some new shoes. The tires that are on the bike have been on the bike for a Loooooong time and the sidewalls are weather cracking, the tread is also getting down there so it's time for some new rubber. I decided to go with the same tires that were already on the bike, Avro Triple Duty Sidecar Tires. The flat profile of these tires lend themselves well to sidecar use.

Here I've already spooned on the new rear tire and I'm static balancing. The wheel didn't play well with my actual balance stand so ended up using the axle and jack stands, not ideal but got it very close and for the speeds I'll be riding at should work perfectly.

While the rear wheel was removed I disassembled the rear brakes and lubricated all pivot points and shaft on the cam.

A tad bit of difference.....much better!

The fender on the sidecar hinges back to allow access to the tire.

Spooning on the sidecar tire and balancing it on the stand.

Old tire sidewalls, weather cracking.

Decided to cut the old tire in half to see the construction....just curious. Pretty cool.

Next up....clean the carburetors. The right side carb has been puking fuel upon shut down and stumbles occasionally when riding (not to often). I ordered gaskets and set to cleaning both carbs. Side note: I also ordered new lever tops & floats to convert the carbs over from the old style needle valves to the new style. Turns out I already had lever tops installed on the bike lol, that's what I get for ordering parts when I'm away from the bike. I installed the new lever tops and floats and will install new needle valves in the old units and keep them for spares.

Starting on the left carb.

One dirty carb ready to be cleaned.

Carb disassembled and parts organized in the Ultrasonic Cleaner basket. Upon disassembly of the left carb I found the float washer laying in the bottom of the float bowl, under the float. The washer is suppose to go on top of the float, between the float and lever actuating the needle valve. The washer being missing/out of place on the float can cause incorrect fuel level and possible sticking of the float assembly. The float and lever top pictured here are both new, seen to the right of the basket.

I placed the pilot jet inside a small brass container made to hold small parts in the Ultrasonic cleaner.

Parts going in for a bath. I'm using cleaning solution made for carburetors and safe for aluminum parts. Solution was set to 167 Deg F.

Just turned the machine on, you can see the grime forming little clouds around the parts (in the upper right) as the ultrasonic sets to work.

While the parts were taking their bath I checked the float height adjustment on the new lever tops....set perfectly from the factory.

Going back together.

Continued Below....

 

[hodakaguy]

Continued from above...

Should have checked this before I started re-assembly but here I'm checking the carburetor flange for flatness. The flange on this carb was warped which is common from years of heat and over tightening. The machine marks are still on the flange so it's never been lapped/trued up before. Hard to see as the camera angle was off but there is a gap in the middle, the ends are the high points.

To fix this issue and make sure I have a tight seal against the manifold gasket I'll lap the flange flat using a piece of glass and some 220 grit Wet/Dry sandpaper with oil applied. The oil helps keep the sandpaper from clogging up. It's super important to keep the carb flange flat against the glass when lapping. Go slow and check often, you don't want to remove any more material than you have to.

Here I did several passes on the sandpaper and stopped to check. You can see that the ends of the flange are contacting the sandpaper (Showing they are the high spots).

A little further and checking again.

Left carb flange is now square and will seal properly.

Back on the bike.

Time to complete the right carb. One dirty carb ready for a cleaning.

I found that the right carb was missing it's float washer completely.

The flange was warped on the right carburetor as well.

Parts coming out of the cleaner.

Shiny bits going back together.

All important washer installed on top of the new float

Ran the clock out for this day. More to come......

Hodakaguy