Boxerworks.com

Jeff - I thought I would re use the mains & big end bearings, they didnt score the old crank that much...
Every bearing, seal & gasket will be replaced...

JOOTG - Ive never heard of Plasti-dip until your mention, I watched a couple Youtube vids & it looks great.
I am still undecided how / what finish I will go with. Lack of budget will probably see a need for the purchase of 2 box's of product to get the job done... 1 box of matt black spray cans + 1 box Crown Larger...

TSA - I have no explination about the front mag other than perhaps the germans joined the british and sent the left overs to the convicts... lols

Jean - I'll keep my eyes out for bad cats

2boxer - from one forum newbie to another, Welcome.
Yeah ive been looking at seats and bugger all other than the standard bench seat is available in Oz with out going to a cutom made. Im a bit of a short ass & the Corbin have taken my interest as they appear slightly narrower at the front, making it less of a straddle when stopped & looks a heap more comfortable for touring.
I have enquired about one in USA and am awaiting a shipping quote... shouldnt be to pricy

Mal, TSA & others whom have asked... unfortunately I lost almost everything including log books in a house fire 8 years ago. I only managed to save the animals, Betsy & emergency 'grab this box' ...

So going on memory the list would read something like -

1 crank - 970,000klm ... 2nd going in now
Barrels resleeved 2 times
Heads have been done at least 8, perhaps 10 times but im sure valves were not replaced every time, maybe 5-7 times. I recall the guides being done only 3-4 times
5-6th set of pistons
Conrods - 2nd set will go back in
Rockers, pushrods, cam - original
Gearbox has taken a bashing as I seem to be heavy footed breaking selector forks & punching down into 3rd at too high a rev.... 6th / 7th rebuild not more than 45k ago with 5% lower 1st & 5% higher 5th gearing
Final drive 3rd rebuild 45k ago with g/b
4th clutch done 45k ago
3rd shaft uni joint going in
5 or 6 timing chains
Original staunchions resurfaced once - will replace with new
4th exhaust system
2nd set carbi's
3rd set of discs
3rd set of shockies
... not to mention the 1000's of gallons of amber lubrication & maintenance fluids required, buy the owner.

... its a huge list that also includes -
2 ex girlfriends, 1 wife, 2 guitars, half my left kidney and a parrot

Heyas, so im on to fixing a couple broken bits on the frame prior to painting.
The first thing is the centre stand and ive noticed a problem I hadnt seen before -
It appears that one of the cast 'eyelets' has bent... how can this be straightened ? Blow torch to red hot perhaps ?

Heat 'er up and put a big shifter on there and twist. Be sure of parallel to the other side and use your centre stand to set the distance between the two mounts.
When you get things straight, including the centre stand if it has also bent, aim for as close fit as possible.
You'll see how the stand contacts the mounts and any necessary adjustments will be fairly obvious.
You'll prolly need to build up the 'tops' of the centre stand where it contacts the mounting tabs on the frame. Difficult to do properly without the wheels and all in place........

No need to get the tabs super red hot, just enough to bend with a little effort. They are cast steel as far as I know.

Yes Me109, the stand is also bent... the poor ole girl has been knocked over a couple times.
Almost nothing pissed me off more than parking in a car park on the centre stand only to return to find her laying on her side.

The tops were done a while ago, but was a quick build up weld that didnt have a nice surface contact. You can see it a bit in the top pic.
I intended to grind the tops down to a point where I could weld a small section flat bar to the tops, then I saw the bent eyelet.
I had this in mind prior to pulling f&rear ends off and have pre-measured & calculated how far to grind & what size tab to weld to the tops.

Thanks for your feed back, glad to know im still thinking along the correct path.

The crank arrived today and looks to be a pearler... nice-n-smooth, clean faces. A quick triple check on a mic tomorrow will confirm the bearing size required.

I also received some new spray painting gear & will build a spray booth to paint the lot my self.
Will bright red snowflakes make it go faster? ... They will match the red piping on the Corbin seat I have ordered... does that make it go fasterer??

Gday folks, long over due for an update...

After a couple lay weeks & request's of assistance by friends on other projects, I have managed a little more progress on Betsy.

For the moment I am focusing on cleaning & restoring the items that will require repainting, which is basicaly... everything.. lols.

I got the frame, steel & alloy cleaned up enough for close inspection & welding needs to centre stand but my friend went on holidays putting the welding off until his return... I will need to rebrush it all again prior to painting.



Another long process was the body work stripping, but not the OEM paint... that cleaned up rather easily. The drama's were the fairing pieces that I had redone in the mid 90's. The undercoat / primer he used simply would not get any softer in texture than sticky chewing gum... requiring up to 5 applications to get back to bare fiberglass. I will need to do some fiberglass repairs in the mix of things, I will cover that when I get up to doing it.



The tank needs some minor attention and an internal clean & derusting... the petrol cap is a loss I feel. I wont get to the tank for a little while yet.



I have finally started what will be a long road of spray painting that will be broken into several sections done over a few months. Mainly because I have kicked the landlords car out of his carport so I could build a half decent spray booth under cover... on my unlimited budget I came up with this -



After considerable thought as to what Betsy's new dress would look like,
I have begun creating (I can hear the purist's scream)



With doing a little each day, the day will come when there is nothing left to do except go for a nice long ride

Can't have too much gold.

I love gold wheels in particular.

Chuey

That looks flash.
Can you name the paint and any under prep?

Thanks Steve,

The paint is from Paint Place, previously the Wattyl retail stores I think, Carmaster brand.
All products are 2pac Acrylic Urethane Enamel.

Prep steps have been; bead blast, dry hand sand 200grit, hand de-wax / de-grease, 2 coats Alloy Etch High build primer (black or grey... I chose black because of the difference it makes to the gold top coat, has a deeper look than painted over grey primer) & 400g light dry sanding after each, 3 coats Paraglaze 706 GP3 Metalic Gold & 600g wet sanding in between coats.

Ive got a couple drips & blotch's of heavy spray to tidy up, a 800g wet sand will sort that... but this morning I also noticed a 6inch patch on the rear mag that has 'broken bubbles'... this would be from the gun spitting water. I will need to heavy 250g sand here and spray it again, being fussy because I can, a couple patch's that appear light coated will also get another spray.

Then the final process will be 4 coats of clear with a 800g wet sand between each.
Only 1 top clear coat will go on the Brembo's.

To date I have primed all the alloy ready for top coat of black; fork sliders, rear brake retainer & arm, airbox... and even the brake rotors.
The rocker covers, starter cover 'BMW' & diode housing (whats the correct name? doh) will have gold high lights on black, not the standard polished silver alloy

Toga wrote: With doing a little each day, the day will come when there is nothing left to do except go for a nice long ride

Great stuff, Joe.
A bloody lot of work, but I can imagine the grin on your face when you are ready to get started with the second million.