New to BMW

[Rob]

Aw Rob, reading that caused activity in my tear ducts. You need another airhead.

[Zombie Master]

At least it is a Ruckus!!!

I don't consider the Ruckus a scooter.

Did you teach trump how to back-peddle?

My bad! I thought we were talking about the Grom, which is not a scooter. I wasn't back peddling, I was mistaken. The Ruckus is indeed a scooter.

[Rob]

Now that I could believe.

Small, Honda niche bikes.

(not a Grom...)

[Ken in Oklahoma]

Thanks all for the love. From what I've seen online and people I've talked to in person, it seems like these bikes have a good group of followers.

I already ordered the service manual and some bike-specific tools. . .

Well, there are airhead service manuals and there are other airhead service manuals. Inside of them, sprinkled among the wisdom, you will see some confusing procedures and 'facts'. No single one is correct or complete or necessarily understandable. Including the official BMW manual.

Plus you will want to visit the various online web sites put out by various knowledgeable airhead lovers. Included are Duane Ausherman, Snowbum, and several others who don't come to mind at the moment.

Ken

[Kurt in S.A.]

Anton Largiader has some good pages on his website. Mit pictures!!

Kurt in S.A.

[The Veg]

Welcome J! (if I may call you J)

As you may have gathered, tangents (also often referred to around here as 'thread degradation') is our favourite sport. Don't worry; your questions will still get answered.

Back to the helpful stuff, IBMWR Tech Articles can be useful too: http://www.ibmwr.org/r-tech/airheads/index.shtml

And you can find even more cool BMW-rider community here:
http://www.bmwmoa.org/?

And a group more specific to your bike:
http://www.airheads.org/

Keep us posted on your progress!

[jskafff]

Thanks for all the extra tech links. I'm only 26 so online is usually the norm for me. I got then Clymer manual for now and I'm actually kind of excited to go 'old school' and just flip through the manual for the info I need.

Update 1: Engine wasn't turning over from rust and it looks like it's probably just the right cylinder which is a bit frustrating since the left looks pretty good. I started spraying each cylinder down with penetrating oil so I'm hoping I can get it to break free if I spray it every so often over the next week or two while I work on some other stuff. For whatever reason the right side of the bike has way more oxidation. I removed the gas tank and a fair amount of very terribly varnished gas. There's tons of rust so I'm going to clean it and see if I can get it to be usable without having to send it out. Doesn't look like it rusted through at least it just looks like surface rust. The fuel lines basically disintegrated when I took them off (as expected). The left carb came off no problem and looks like it'll be fine with a good cleaning but the right one is completely cemented with white powdery oxidation so I couldn't even get the throttle cable out. Are there any tips to breaking that free other than some penetrating oil and prayers or with it being so bad should I just cut the cable and expect to replace the carb/cable for that side?

[SteveD]

You'll want new cables regardless. I'd be inclined to drop the carb in a bucket of something that might help loosen stuff. The jets and screws might be solid and difficult to remove but a good soak might help. I'm unsure what solution would be best.

Then an ultrasonic bath to finish off.

[jagarra]

Fuel components will be a big issue. You may want to go to your local auto parts and get a can of Berrymans to soak the carb body in, its a large can with a top like a paint can with a basket for dipping smaller parts. I figure you will need new diaphragms as well as new floats, which will be heavy from soaking in gas so long.
A good varnish remover is Stabul fuel additive. Maybe adding some to the tank and letting it sit may clean out some of the varnish at the bottom of the tank.
Again, I have had good success using Marvel Mystery oil to free up stuck rings, in the case of the right side being bad I would lay the bike on it's left side, and pour a few oz of the stuff through the sparkplug hole. Anything migrating to the crankcase will be drained when you change all the fluids.

[Rob]

And while you shouldn't expect to be doing a complete tear-down at this point, you will probably want to drop the oil pan to clean it out, as well.