Rebuilding a BMW R80 Airhead Transmission

Seven years ago I dragged this 1978 BMW R80 out of a basement in Massachusetts.  I immediately found out it had badly rusted cylinders and the pistons were frozen. I didn’t document what happened next, but the top end got completely rebuilt. The cylinders were sent out to be serviced and to accept R90 pistons,… Continue reading Rebuilding a BMW R80 Airhead Transmission

KTM 500mx Piston

DSC03306, originally uploaded by evanfell. This is the piston from the 1988 KTM 500mx I picked up (see the previous post). You can see the giant gouge that was created as coolant flooded into the cylinder from the blown head gasket. When metal changes temperatures that quickly there’s really no predicting how severe the damage… Continue reading KTM 500mx Piston

XL600 XR600 Motor Transplant and Revival

In just over 4 hours today I tore down the bike, replaced the motor, cleaned the carbs, flushed the oil, lubed the cables, cleaned the throttle, adjusted the brakes and inflated the tires. The replacement motor starts easy and runs well. I can’t wait for the morning so I can go ripping around.