New friend....

Picked this up in the backwoods of NC. PO said he thought it was locked up...and the the transmission in all one piece with the engine. My Jeep had a happy new passenger.

So I'll finally get my uwish, tearing a boxer engine completely down and building it back. I have carbs, but will need to figure out how to get a voltage regulator, starter relay, etc. on the R65 to work with this engine. Not sure about the transmission yet. The idea is to learn by doing, so I'll tear it down completely and rebuilt on a stand before putting it into the R65 frame. Hopefully, this will cut down on the volume of dorky questions I ask, heh!

Till death do us part, or at least until a spline lube...yup, those are cobwebs. Note the timing hole plug, I think that's one of the original white based plastic ones that were painted silver.

it ain't easy being ugly...what a mess. But the rings look very good as do the cylinders and the valves. I haven't run the VIN yet to see what year it is, etc. My plan is to tear it down entirely and put it in my R65. It came as a complete engine missing only the carbs. Even has coils and 1 half of a torn drive shaft boot (apparently, removing the clamp was just too much work so it was cut off

As my grand-ma said... "be careful what you wish for"

...true enough. When you feed a stray, it follows you home.

Ok, so I should be able to get the oil pan off today (feels welded to the gasket, oy).

What's the next step to complete tear down? Here's what I was thinking:

1.) remove the flywheel and clutch
2.) remove the oil pump, etc.
3.) remove the timing cover and chain
4.) remove the wrist pins and pistons (unless I can get the con rods off with pistons attached??)
5.) remove the connecting rods and bearings
6.) remove the cam and crank gears??? I know there is a shim on the aft end of the crank I need to be mindful of

... this is where the world gets cloudy for me... any guidance appreciated.

Tony, if you're not going to drop the crank (and there's not much reason to if the bearings are good) then be sure to block the front of the crank before you remove the flywheel. If the crank moves forward at all, that silly shim will come off its locator pins, and then you WILL be dropping the crank.

You should be able to disconnect the conrods with piston attached. Sometimes the wrist pins are a bear to get out. On my bike, they were no problem.

On second thought, I think you have gotten in way over your head, and you need to dump that engine. I'd be happy to take it off your hands

Hehe...I've been dying to get in over my head...just not on my daily ride.

I bought this as a learning tool so complete teardown of engine and trans. If/when I get them back together, I'll look at putting it into the R65. This one will get the cases, jugs, heads, trans, etc all glass bead blasted while the innards are still on the operating table.

...I'll be sure to save all the leftover bolts for ya.

Question: Those earlier model wrist pin clips are a bear...I like the newer ones like on my '83. Anyone know if there's any reason I couldn't use later model pistons, wrist pins and circlips with these con rods? Or if these pistons could be modified to just change wrist pins with the circlips?

I've been wanting to do the same thing, but finding a candidate seems to be nigh on impossible, at least out here on the left coast; they're tearing them down and selling the parts on FleaBay at an astounding rate...

I love it already.

Lmo1131 said:

I've been wanting to do the same thing, but finding a candidate seems to be nigh on impossible, at least out here on the left coast; they're tearing them down and selling the parts on FleaBay at an astounding rate...

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Yeah, I hate that. A real travesty. I think some of those chop shops would do it just to make a dime on the last standing /2. Its a sad state the the world has transformed into a disposable one, include finely engineered machines like these. In some sense, I think many manufacturers are engineering obsolescence at an alarming rate.

So, this little engine will be my first total teardown, I mean every seal, fastener, gasket, shim, gear, you name it. I'll take a queue from Nathan and try to post pictures as I go into it.

Here's the history so far...found it on Craigs List as I planned a trip from Annapolis to Atlanta, in North Carolina. The guy was probably mid-late 50's and his father had an R25, that is now in the custody of his other son in Florida. The son I bought the engine from still has his father's last Airhead, an R75/5. This engine came from Florida from his brother, who was going to put it in an R65 but sold that bike whole before he got around to it. His brother got it from a BMW mechanic, or so the story goes. I think it's been either in a garage or under a shed for at least 10 years, likely much more.

Good news, its not locked up so disassembly should be relatively easy. I have carbs, but no tubes to the air cleaner (least of my concerns right now). I am tearing apart to box/crate it up and moving to Atlanta (at least for 6 months worth of work). I'll be fairly close to Blue Moon and Boxerworks, and be back up towards Bob's in Maryland once a month or so.

I started sketching an engine stand that might be handy for anyone else if I can get it manufactured reasonably. I don't weld (yet) and won't really have the same facilities I had in Annapolis once I get to Atlanta (nor the spare time). So, I'll have to look for small machine shops or join the GA Airheads and see if there's anyone there who welds.

Still need, starter relay, ignition switch, voltage regulator, etc. Basically the electrics that are needed to start the beast but are bolted onto the frame. That's whats missing. I have a circuit board from a headlight bucket that I'll mount with an ignition switch, starter relay, regulator, etc. and of course a couple fans to keep her cool. The idea is to have a running, shiftable model on a stable stand.

Heck, maybe I'll make it into a snowblower and get a booth at the RA rally...oh, wait, I missed that one.

crazydrummerdude said:

I love it already.

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Kinda reminds me of what lurked inside your /6 when you got it.

Two of the three stator mounting allen bolts were stripped--maybe from someone using SAE wrenches, I dunno. I cut a slot in each and soaked them overnight in Kroil, then tapped them with an impact wrench.

They didn't really put up too much of a fight...not like the oil pan and the oil pan drain plug. The plug is stripped too, so I removed all the pan bolts thinking I could just whack the pan with a rubber mallet. Wrong. Block of wood and a rubber mallet. Wrong. Block of wood and a three pan hammer. Still wrong. Soaking the gasket in Kroil (because the stuff will save the free world and all that good stuff) overnight, then I'll attempt to slide a razor blade between the gasket and the pan tomorrow as my friend Rob suggested. He's kind of like a human version of Kroil--not greasy, but can make anything happen.

http://www.ultralightnews.com/engineinfo/bmwconversion.htm

Because the project is not complicated enough , logic dictates that the engine be used to power a light aircraft (which should be enough to keep you busy).

Bob_M said:

http://www.ultralightnews.com/engineinfo/bmwconversion.htm

Because the project is not complicated enough , logic dictates that the engine be used to power a light aircraft (which should be enough to keep you busy).

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Very cool...er, but I don't think I wanna be the test pilot of my own work on a plane!

Anyone know who can Nikasil cylinders?

Carbide impregnation of cylinders:

http://www.bore-tech.com

So is this a winter coffee table project?

Probably a tinkering project for now and maybe I'll have it together by the start of Winter.

The truth is that it cold probably be made to run without taking the crank and cam out...but I'v been wanting to do that...and blast the cases completely probably with #8 glass beads. ...of course, now that I've posted this, it'll probably TAKE me until late Winter to finish it. heh!!