Wed, 12/31/2008 - 12:22
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Hi,
I'm in the process of getting my 1967 R69S up and running - it's been sitting for 20 years (Chicago.) I now live in South Texas. The project has just started - it's my only motorcycle. In 1984, I traded my 1982 R100 for the R69S. Previous BMW owned 1980-82, 1972 R75/5.
Grease. Sounds simple, but the bearing grease on the shelf at the local auto parts store - just doesn't seem/feel thick enough. In the Reparaturanleitung 01 59 9 0999 176 3 VIII. 72 - BMW R50 R60 R69S, p.23, Wheel hubs and other grease points - drip temperature 356 F. The stuff I purchased claims to have a drip temperature exceeding 500 F. - it's not synthetic. Ideas?
Engine oil - Castrol 10w/30 or 40 since I now live in South Texas. Trans, swing arm & rear drive 90W. And anti-seize in lots of other places. Ideas or confirmation.
LED's - Has anyone tried LED's to replace an existing 6v bulb. ( I do not plan to switch over to a 12v system.) This is the only reliable source for 6v bulbs that I know of ulismotorradladen.de/englisch/englisch.htm - other sources and experiences.
Thanks.
Tim
- 315 reads
Thu, 01/01/2009 - 01:19
#2
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R69S - Grease, Oils, LED's - out of the garage, after 20 Yrs
Hi,
Thanks for the welcome. I've gathered up your advice and will consider all of it. I'm slowly proceeding with what has come to be a project. Lighting will become the final problem.
Thanks.
Tim
Sun, 01/04/2009 - 11:04
#3
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R69S - Grease, Oils, LED's - out of the garage, after 20 Yrs
Vech the source.
He recommends Rotella T 30W and 40W engine oil. So that is what I use now. You can get it from Vech or from:
http://www.starboardsupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/3008188
http://www.starboardsupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/3008192
__________________
Tim -
Welcome...I'm in North Texas...well, north of you...
Couple of websites to become familiar with:
Duane Ausherman - http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/index.htm
Craig Vechorik (Vech) - http://www.benchmarkworks.com/
Vech would be my first choice for parts here in the US. He works closely with BMW Mobile Tradition (now BMW Classic) to get quality parts here. Also check out the links to suppliers and services on the main club webpage - http://www.vintagebmw.org/version6/.
Grease - for me, standard wheel bearing grease is good enough for wheel and swingarm bearings. I've handpacked my wheel bearings with the stuff in a tub and used the standard tubes in my grease gun to pump grease into the swingarm bearings. My '69 R69S has the grease fitting on the back of the crossover tube for the front swingarm and the hole drilled in the center of the rear swingarm pins. I use a "concoction" of wheel bearing grease and an Texaco NLGII-style grease for things like the tranny input splines and rear wheel splines. The Texaco grease is very stringy stuff and stays put...I usually mix in about 30% of the moly wheel bearing grease.
Engine oil - oh boy, that's a big one...lots of opinions there. IIRC, the original owner's manual called for 30W in the winter and 40W in the summer. I would think that 10W30 is too light for use in Texas. I initially started with 10W40 and am now using 20W50. The stock for these oils is the 10W or 20W part with viscosity modifiers to allow them to thicken for higher temperatures. In addition, the modifiers breakdown over time, so that after a while, the oil can't really get to the 50W status and becomes more like 40W. Another thing to consider is using only oils that have the SG API rating...nothing higher. I've ended up using BMW's oil. These rated oils still have sufficient amounts of ZDDP which is an antiwear compound that was eliminated in later rated oils primarily because the various compounds began to clog up automobile catalytic converters. I would think that any of the "energy saving" oils are really not good for the engines.
There's some consideration for the type of bearings in the bottom end on these bikes...roller versus plain bearings....and what type of oil to use. Some oils let the plain bearings slide while others allow the roller ball bearings to roll. I suppose you wouldn't want the ball bearings to slide...they're suppose to roll. I've not been too worried about it but it might be worth considering.
Gear oil - I've used either Castol or Valvoline 80W90 hypoid GL5 gear oil thorought the drive train. There's some discussion about the higher sulphur content attacking yellow metals within the tranny, etc. I've not heard specific evidence of this actually happening though.
Vech has "warnings" about both gear oil and engine oil on his website. Give it a read for his perspective. Also search this forum for past discussions on oil.
LEDs - Vech can keep you supplied with 6V bulbs. CuLayer offers an LED replacement for the tail light: http://www.culayer.com/Coffee_Can.htm. LEDs tend to be directional, so they might be a problem for things like barend signals. I wonder how they might work in something like the speedo...that light needs to throw the light around the dial...I wouldn't think an LED would do that.
How many miles on the engine? Do you know about slinger cleaning and the requirement to do that every 30-40K miles? Vech goes over the issues on his website. The slingers can only be cleaned by complete dismantling of the engine. People have been putting strong magnets in the bottom of the oil pan to help collect the small metallic bits floating around. A magnet in the drain plug would help too. Search the forum for the guy named "Vonkas" and see what he's done by installing a filter in his oil pan. It has some people thinking about doing this sort of conversion.
There's a Yahoo /2 forum where Duane and Vech contribute as well as others - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/slash2/. You might want to consider registering there to expand the "opinions" you will get. Oh, another very good site for visuals of overhauling an R69S is Marco Hyman's at http://www.snafu.org/restore/.
HTH...Kurt in S.A.
Kurt in S.A.
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2