Restoration of BMW R69s engine

Well things have moved along and quite quickly. Admittedly I spent more time in the shed and less time updating this thread. I know it is frustrating to follow a project and then be left dangling so I will attempt to round up the story.

There are a couple of woodruff keys used in this motor and one in particular gave me grief. I could not find the original and all the replacement keys were too lose in the slot, so just turned and jammed when I started to install the very hot front timing gear.

My solution was to add brass to the side of a key and dress it back to be a press fit. Below is my custom woodruff key installation tool. Once I pressed it in, I had no problem sliding on the hot gear and pressing it home.

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Once the front gear was on things were on the move again. The front oil pump gear installed and the nose bearing on the crank was a mile stone achieved. It was terrific to turn over the crank and feel the even running of the new timing gears. I was concerned that the clearence might have ended up too tight but all was well.

MAL_1332.jpg
 
At this point came some long delays. I helped my son build a complicated mounting system so he could mount his side car onto his K1100 BMW without taking off the lowers on his fairing. Then I had to install a Lithium battery system into our camper and I am no electrician, but alls well that ends well.

So after all that and other distractions I was back on task.
I installed the flywheel which fits on a taper and is torqued to 175 ft/lbs.
Following the Barrington guide book I torqued it down incrementally, measuring the runout after each increment.
Here is my setup for both reading the runout and also holding back where required to maintain the runout withing spec.
MAL_1427.jpg

Then it was time to install the clutch which is very straight forward.
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Well a mate came over one day and we put the crankcase into the frame and attached the cylinders and heads.
It took most of the day going slowly and by the time we sat down to takeaway for tea I was feeling very optimistic.

In the morning we had this.

MAL_1432.jpg

In the afternoon things were coming together.
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Still a way to go but just small bits and pieces.
 
So I fiddled with fuel lines, sorted out the magneto and points.
Played with the carbs and fitted the headers and mufflers. This was all done over several days as I had other responsibilities.
Then came the great day. Would it all work.
Well after careful preparation he started after only a few kicks and the engine sounds very together.
No nasty rattles, grinding or scraping noises.
Yes I have some fine tuning of the carbs to do but as far as the engine restoration goes this is the end of the story.
Will there be a follow up thread when I fit the new vales in the heads and new valve gear. Well maybe as I am going to machine up my own valve guides so the lathe will be part of that project.

Happy machining guys and girls. I'm heading off for a ride.

Mal

Test ride around the park.

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You cant see the smile but I was hard pressed to fit it inside my helmet.

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Thank you to everyone who took the time to follow my thread.
I really enjoyed hearing about the bikes in your lives and the other air cooled engines of common heritage.

Happy machining.
 
What a totally awesome job and super looking set of wheels.
I can just bet that it purrs even better than when it was new. All that care and patience has paid off handsomely.
Thanks for allowing us to follow along during your project.
 
Thanks for taking us along for the ride!
Well done!
 
A most enjoyable sojourn. Happy motoring. Cheers, Mike
 
that is really cool, congrats on the build and thanks for the update. They really were rather advanced bikes for their time - leading link front fork, losw CoG boxer engine. Is that a frame pump I see just above and forward of the rear right shock?
 
mattthemuppet2 said:
that is really cool, congrats on the build and thanks for the update. They really were rather advanced bikes for their time - leading link front fork, losw CoG boxer engine. Is that a frame pump I see just above and forward of the rear right shock?
Click to expand...

Ahh yes that is a tyre pump..... on our 1200GSA I carry a small 12volt compressor, which has come in handy more than once.

Mal
 
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