Previously, I removed the heads, cylinders, pistons, rings and connecting rods. I installed new rocker arm needle bearings to replace the broken bearing cages. I disassembled the heads and inspected the valves and seats. You can read how I did that work here.

• 11 BMW 1977 R100RS Remove Pistons, Connecting Rods & Inspect
• 11 BMW 1977 R100RS Replace Rocker Needle Bearings, Remove Valves & Inspect

You can read about how I did this work here:

• 11 BMW 1977 R100RS Install Connecting Rods and Assemble Top End

Top End Rebuild Work

I had the Nikasil cylinders replated and honed to match the new high compression (9.5:1) pistons. I had the connecting rods refurbished and I had the heads rebuilt. So now it’s time to put it all back together again.

The cylinders had the push rod tubes and the two short studs at the 12:00 and 6:00 position of the heads removed, so I also have to install them.

I started from this:

Ready To Remove Heads & Cylinders

Engine Out of Frame

Piston Crown with Carbon

Rod Components

Score in Right Cap Bearing Sheel

Right Side Crankshaft Throw

Cylinder Grunge

Left Exhaust Lower Rocker-Recovered Needle Bearings and Cage Pieces

Right Intake Rocker Busing

Right Intake Rocker Shaft

Valve Assembly Components

And finished with this:

Push Rod Tubes Installed

Piston with Rings Installed

Sliding Cylinder and Piston onto Long Cylinder Studs

Ready to Snug Cylinder to Engine Block-Push Rod Tube Rubbers Started

Left Head Orientation-Exhaust to Front

Top End Installed

Valve Cover Installed

I’ve posted a series of write-ups that cover rebuilding the front end of this bike.  You can find them here:

• 31 BMW 1977 R100RS Remove Front Forks, Handle Bars, Steering Stem, Fork Lock
• 31 BMW 1977 R100RS Replace Steering Head Bearings, Rebuild Front Forks
• 31 BMW 1977 R100RS Install Steering Stem, Front Forks and Toaster Tan Top Brace
• 34 BMW 1977 R100RS Rebuild and Restore Front Disk Brakes & Master Cylinder
• 36 BMW 1977 R100RS Wheel Bearings-Replace & Adjust Preload

These write-ups cover disassembly of the handlebars, forks, steering stem, steering damper and fork lock, rebuilding and restoring the wheels, wheel bearings, fork damper rods, fork sliders, steering stem bearings, fork lock, steering damper and installation of a new Toaster Tan top brace and steering stem “acorn” nut.

I also used Speigler braided steel brake hoses, stainless steel caliper brake lines from Rocky Point Cycle.

Here is what I started with.

Torn Top Plate of Left Perch

Fork Lock

Front Wheel Left Side of Hub Showing Corrosion

Master Cylinder Grunge and Rust

Original Caliper is Faded, Axle is Rusty, Fork Lowers Chipped

Friction Material Is Separating from Steel Backing Plate

Exterior Fading of Caliper Anodizing

Telefix Fork Brace Needs Refinishing

Stock Fork Brace-Fender Mount

And here is what I ended up with.

Fork Lock Installed in Powder Coated Frame

Powder Coated Front Wheel with New Wheel Bearings Ready to Roll

Repaired & Painted Control Housings

Rebuilt and Refinished Master Cylinder Mounted on Spine Tube

Toaster Tan Top Plate & Steering Stem “Acorn” Nut Mounted

Toaster Tan Top Plate

Stock Fork-Fender Brace Mounted on Rebuilt Forks

Speigler Braided Steel & Rocky Point Cycle Stainless Aluminum Caliper Line

I refinished and rebuilt the master cylinder and calipers. You can read about how I did the work here:

• 34 BMW 1977 R100RS Rebuild and Restore Front Disk Brakes & Master Cylinder

This bike had the blue front calipers and the ATE front disk brakes with the drum rear leading and trailing shoe brakes. Originally, the wheels were wire spoke but a previous owner upgraded them to the later snowflake wheels.

As Purchased with Later Snowflake Wheels

Blue Anodizing on Calipers Has Faded

I rebuilt the two front calipers, the master cylinder and replaced the rear brake shoes. The blue anodized calipers had faded so I had them anodized, but this was a dismal failure. Either the shop who did the work botched it or it’s not so easy to anodize old parts. I found a paint that replicates blue anodizing. I stripped the botched anodizing and painted them. I like the result.

I replaced the lower steel brake line that goes between the caliper and the union that is inserted into the lower front fairing with stainless steel lines from Rocky Point Cycle. I replaced the rubber lines with braided steel lines with a translucent blue cover and chrome unions from Spiegler Performance Parts.

Here is the finished product. When the fairing comes back from the paint shop (soon, real soon now 🙂 ) I’ll connect the upper steel lines to the braided steel line through the bushing in the top center fairing panel.

Refinished and Rebuilt Calipers Installed in Fork Lowers

Speigler Braided Steel & Rocky Point Cycle Stainless Steel Caliper Line

Refinished & Rebuilt Master Cylinder Mounted on Spine Tube

A lot has been written about the procedure  to correctly set the wheel bearing preload. There is more than on technique for determining the correct preload. And wheel bearings can fail if the preload is set too low or too high. For that reason, I’ve put off setting the preload for many years and had a shop or Woody’s Wheel Works do it. But on this project, working on the wheel bearings was one of the items I had on my “Learn New Skills” list, so, now’s the time.

You can read about how I did this work here:

• 36 BMW 1977 R100RS Wheel Bearings-Replace & Adjust Preload

This bike does not have the original spoke wheels. Instead it has the cast aluminum alloy “snowflake” wheels that came latter. The rear snowflake has a drum brake while later versions of the snowflake rear wheel have a rear disk brake on the left side.

“10 Foot” View Showing Later Snowflake Wheels Installed

It seems that airhead wheels are a component that BMW changed a lot over the life of the airhead bikes. Further, parts fiche diagrams are notoriously confusing and frequently show incorrect parts. As I tried to get solid information about my wheels, one sage, long time wrench advised me to just inspect the parts that are there and replace what’s worn.

That said, these wheels had parts that took me some time to figure out. First, the snowflake drum rear wheels were only available with an aluminum hub in 1978. Later versions had a steel sleeve in the hub that the rear wheel bearing outer races fit into. This is an improvement as the aluminum hub to steel race interference fit was prone to allowing the race to spin in the aluminum hub which leads to a mess not to mention it can lock up the rear of the bike if the bearing seizes to the axle.

My drum snowflake rear hub has a steel sleeve as shown below. The inner edge of the hub is magnetic and you can see the line between the inner sleeve and the outer aluminum of the hub.

Rear Wheel Hub Has an Inner Steel Sleeve

I used the spring scale method to determine the preload. This is a simple technique that is precise enough.

Pull Gauge and String Wrapped on Axle Spacer Tube

I had the wheels powder coated as well.  Here they are with the new wheel bearings installed and adjusted.

Rear Wheel Ready To Roll

Front Wheel Ready to Roll