77 R100/7 BarnStorm

[Windwalker1]

Finding it now neccessary to keep track of what im doing with this bike. Sure looks good in that 70s red.

Test drove it from the back of the warehouse, first time hearing an older airhead and hearing nothing but an awesome sound coming from a cool bike. Didnt hear the left carb float super high, or the Tach whacking away inside the Pod.
Didnt hear the clutchs' hollowly howl from only a few drops of oil in the bottom of the trans.
Noticed the tightest brake lever in existence, boy did i ever. thx to a PO for installing the cable backwards, thats an easy one. Note:
I think i should check all my fluids.

A few broken fins just behind the valve cover, looks cool, does it still Cool?

Nor did i notice the poorly mounted front wheel wobbely wobble with all that extreme knocking from strange non relative action from whacked valve setting. Almost like one side was adjusted and the other not bothered with. or maybe a terribly tuned carb with everntually lead to valve migration?

Carbs cleaned and rebuilt, new rubber sleeves, Valves done with rocker adj,Set timing and uncrushed the wires going to the points system. Thats why she had no power when getting on it, and the F was almost nowhere to be found in the window.
Fired up, ( Before being aware of no existent trans oil, i hope that howl quets down)
Starts right up, to Rich, turn back in to factory specs, smokes a bit Blue, but idles so smooth now. Big difference when you have two cylinders firing. Very solid, wanted to go for a spin, but alas, it was snowing, and its not registered yet. However, turns out not riding until i put oil in the transmission is a wise decision afterall. Thx to the BMW gods.

Yes this was the bike for me, the bike i had planned on using as a donor for a /2 project. Next time i go to build it, i will buy separate parts......

just some thoughts and views. Seems heavy still, and the call of the chop is appealing, but looks so retro. perhaps a seat mod, wife has said not too already, she likes it. I choose riding over vanity, or course but perhaps there is a way.

[Windwalker1]

This morning: Drained what was left of transmission oil to see what i could see; hoping there were no signs that the bike was ridden much with dry gears. So off comes the drain plug to inspect the magnet on the bolt to see the texture and consistency of the metal residue.what was there was minimal,and very smooth, not unlike the oil itself. (very good?) no flakes or bits to be seen. And the small amount of oil that did come out was clean. Feeling like i dodged a bullet on that one.
PO states he bought the bike in 2005 and has sat in the warehouse since. Unregistered.
Bike has 29k original miles. supposedly, but many mysteries surround this claim.

New finds: Head has been machined for dual plugs, but ignition has not been changed or updated to run dual wires. just dummy plugs in the bottom. Different heads than original?
Bike has clean title and everything seems straight but still wonder if the bike has been downed. oil pan does not leak but is pretty banged up.(maybe from maint or moving the bike. i had to put the center stand back on, so maybe the practice was to put the bike on blocks for maint? Also the few broken fins on upper part of the head makes me question...

[khittner1]

That's a nice-looking bike, at least on a computer screen. The body work, paint (it looks like Porsche "Guards Red"--a popular repaint scheme back in the day), handlebar, valve covers, /5 rear turn signal pods, and broken head fins are not OE 100/7, so it may have been crashed and reassembled. If you're getting blue smoke after tuning, it probably has more than 29K miles on it---129K wouldn't be surprising. The gearbox's capacity is 800cc, so the amount you found in there was considerably less than that? With that much sitting, some might be concerned about corrosion on the portions of the gears, shafts, and bearings that weren't submerged in oil. You may want to change the gear oil again after some short rides to remove any corrosion grit that gets ground off after you begin using it. The same goes for the final drive, and, perhaps, the driveshaft oil supplies. I don't think I'd immediately start rebuilding major components, but others may differ.

It's not a big-buck bike, but I wouldn't cut it up---save that treatment for some non-running pile of parts.

[Kurt in S.A.]

The '77 R100/7 was the pinnacle of engine power, before the EPA standards kicked in. If only some of the external bits such as valve covers have been changed, well work keeping it together.

Most any head can have the dual plugs added later...a straightforward machine job. So, the heads could be original.

Kurt in S.A.

[Ken in Oklahoma]

The '77 R100/7 was the pinnacle of engine power, before the EPA standards kicked in. . . .

Au Contraire' mon ami! I stoutly maintain that the '77 R100 RS with the large header pipes is the pinnacle. Coming in inches behind the RS would be the '77 R100S.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Ken

[Kurt in S.A.]

Ken -

You're right...I was just throwing a blanket around the '77 1000cc models in general!

Kurt

[Windwalker1]

So, ive read that transmission fluid can flow into the driveshaft and from there into the final drive; i think ive found out where my transmission fluid ran off too. Checking the finaldrive level today yielded about 2 cups of hypoid when unscrewing the filler cap, frothy, but not grey, and was clean.
Am i right in thinking that somethings up here?
At first i wondered if the tranny, drive shaft and final drive all shared the same oil?

on the upside, the loud growl from a gearbox low on oil has turned into a nice quiet purrr.

oil in the final drive was seemingly normal, about about a shy 1/8" inch

[khittner1]

There shouldn't be oil migration between the transmission, driveshaft, and final drives; there are seals between them that may need to be replaced in your case. The final drive should have about 350cc's in it; the driveshaft should only have 100-150cc's when it's properly filled, with the gaskets and seals keeping fluids where they belong. I don't know how that translates to "cups" or "a shy 1/8 inch". The first signs of an overfilled final drive, or oil migration in from the driveshaft housing, in my couple of instances of limited experience, have been oil dribbles from the final drive's vent on top of the housing.

[Windwalker1]

Right, thx,I have more investigating to do before I assume the seals are bad between transmission, drive shaft and final drive. I just found it odd that the transmission has almost no oil, I guess 70cc, and the final drive had about 250cc more than it should have. Manual says level is right below threads of filler cap.
I have also recently read that water can get into the final drive from condensation and lead to the frothy consistency I found inside.
Wish I could contact the original owner and see what the story is. All I know for sure is the bike was bought in 2005 and sat since then.
Nothing to do except change the fluids to right specs and keep an eye on the levels. Too bad winter is at the door here in NY.

[SteveD]

Does this model have the hole in the bottom of the final drive that needs to be periodically unblocked?