Ride and Sync

I put the rear fender back on, and lights, rewired the brake and turn signals. I decided at 50 degrees I would go for a ride and see how the bike handles after spline lube, and swing arm bearings, etc.

The bike shifts very easy now, and tracks well. The older shocks I put on seem a bit more spongy but ridable.

When the weather turns nice again, I have decided to give the front fender, rear fender and tank another coat of paint. The Black Rustoleam is protective, but I'm thinking of putting a lacquer coat of Dupli-color on the "tins" to make a nicer look, gloss black.

I have not put the new BMW emblems back on yet since I'm not done painting. The bike looks rough, but runs nice.

After the ride I used the carbtune on the bike, to see where the new throttle cables were at. At idle adjusted the screws so they were even, right around 800-1000 rpms.

I also tried to sync the throttle cables at higher RPM, did the best I could do alone, it is very hard to do this quickly alone, need a helper next time to get it right.

Mighty Vac

Today after failed attempts to get the front brake bleed correctly, I broke down and bought a Mighty Vac. Since I will attempt to bleed the brakes in my RS after the winter I thought this would be a good investment, $39.99 at O Reily's.

After hooking it up I followed the instructions to bleed the brakes. The handling is better, but not quite there yet. I pulled the caliper off to tap any loose bubbles that might be in the piston area. I put everything back together with only slightly better results. I will try again after winter break. Not sure the bike is ready to ride, it stops, but probably not like it should.

Spline Lube

Gearing up for a spline lube, since the rear frame member is off.

Steps I performed, I knew I was going to remove the transmission

Remove Rear Frame/Seat

Remove Airbox/Tubes

Remove Battery/Battery Box

Remove Swingarm with Wheel/shocks connected (disconnect final drive from tranny)

Remove Clutch Release Mechanism

Remove Transmission

Clean up splines, relube

Clean up Clutch Release and re-grease

I had to order a new clutch throwout bearing, this little item set me back $28.00

After the splines were all put back together, I packed fresh grease in the swingarm bearings area, and put the rear section back together. The swing arm is no to difficult to align up centered. I use some wooden skewers that were just the right size as spacers as I tightened everything back up.

Fins to the Left, Fins to the Right

Took my new exhaust fin wrench out to the garage and tried it out on the left and right nuts. After spraying some deep creep into the groves, the nuts came right off, fresh antisieze paste looked like it had been applied recently.

Buffing up the rear

ith the tank off, and master cylinder getting repaired, I thought it might be a good idea to good ahead and paint the rear frame member, I have been lightly sanding areas where rust has been starting to show up.

I removed the seat, unbolted everything, and put pull strings through the rear frame tubes for the brake lighting.

It might be a good idea to go ahead and do a spline lube with everything off the rear, that will entail removing the swing arm, etc, which I do not have the right tools to do right now.

Rear Brake Lighting, just in case I forget

New Throttle Cables

Need to sync carbs, now that new throttle cables are on.

Master Issue

This weekend, found a pool of brake fluid dripping down the side of the bike, and discovered it was coming from the back of the master cylinder. I pulled the assembly and found some rusting on the outside of the plunger, and decided to pull it apart to inpect.

The inards did not look too bad, pull all the parts, plunger, spring, rubber gaskets, etc. I pulled the top resivour off, and unscrewd the brake switch.

There was some rust on the inside, so I soaked in 100% vinegar for two hours. This cleaned it up nice, and I soaked with thin oil to keep it from rusting again.

Cleaned up all the parts and re-assembled, re-installed, and bam no brake pressure. I will buy a rebuild kit as air seems to be seeping through at this point.

Here is the rebuild kit, $69.00

Picture of ORIGINAL internal plunger for reference