Uncle Ben's Bike - Reassembly

I probably should have written this in a more realtime fashion so I can remember all the bits. Once the painting ordeal was complete, the reassembly went reasonably quickly. I had been collecting bits over the months, so I had a lot of the parts I needed once I dug in. First up was respoking the wheels. I used Buchannans SS spokes and nipples. I also stripped and polished the rims. Things turned out pretty nice.

Next up was to get the engine back in the frame - without scratching things too much! I was working by myself, so I ended up putting the engine on it's side and then lowering the frame around it. I then replaced the lower mounting bolts, turned it upright and it worked great. It was simple matter to then bolt on the transmission.

I then mounted the swing arm and set up the wheel bearings. BMW's use a tapered roller bearing stack that needs the preload set up. I'd never done this before, so it was a bit fiddly, but in the end things seemed to go together correctly. I then mounted the tires and balanced the wheels.

Swing arm awaiting seals

Staring to look like something

I had decided to make a custom battery holder from the start. I used a blanking plate supplied by Boxerworks to eliminate the stock air cleaner and in it's place, on top of the tranny, I mounted the battery. I thought it came out pretty well. I also decided to put the crank case breather inside the starter cover. I hope it doesn't spew oil in there. I wanted to use peashooter mufflers, but couldn't find any in my budget. I ended up going with Dunstall replicas. Although they didn't look exactly like what I was after, they ended up sounding great.

I went through a bit of hell with the front brakes. The original set up had the master under the tank and was actuated by a cable from the front handlebars. Since the original master was toast (rusted and pitted) and the throttle control was trashed (corroded, teeth worn, etc) I needed to replace them. I also had read this set up suffered from a lot of issues (leaking fluid under the tank, poor braking due to the cable, etc. ) that I changed to a later style. This used a handlebar mounted master and simple junction block under the tank. I also upgraded to SS lower lines. It took a bit of fiddling, but came out OK.

I then started in on the wiring. I was able to use the original harness without much modification. All that was really changed was the ignition as it had a Dyna III and aftermarket coil. (I also had to fool around with the turn signals, taillight and horn.)

I was getting close to completion. Here's a shot just before turn signals, taillight, horns, grips, etc. I had originally considered painting the body work, but frankly ran out of interest and budget. Also the original paint cleaned up well enough I decided to use it. Unfortunately, the battery color didn't work. Oh well. 

I have to wait for a few bits, so I can't start it up and try to ride it. I'm hoping the transmission (which I didn't do anything to) is OK!