1974 BMW R60/6 - Glamour pics added

98kellrs

Been Around the Block
  • I picked this little girl up the other day; I was quickly realising that my XS project was going to take much longer to come to fruition so decided that a runabout was needed. Scored this beauty for a very reasonable price (by Australian standards!) after selling my car, and instantly fell in love with her.

    I am determined not to wreck this one with too many mods, I'll leave that for the XS build, but instead I'd like to restore, polish and fix her up with perhaps one or two minor modifications. The PO has already done the following:
    • Ported the heads
    • Installed Mikuni VM28's to replace the stock Bings
    • Installed progressive fork springs

    So far everything looks in pretty good shape, but I need to address the following:
    • Leaking sump gasket
    - Fixed
    • Very grabby clutch (new clutch came with the bike in the box
    - Clutch replaced
    • Gauge lights and idiot lights not working
    - New Aftermarket gauges purchased
    • Tach has no needle and doesn't seem to be hooked up
    - New Aftermarket gauges purchased
    • Rims, Drums, Spokes need a good polish. Don't seem to have pitted or rusted at all but very dull looking
    - Replaced rims and spokes due to cracks in front and rear rims

Now for the few pictures I have got so far!










 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Tried to start her up this week and no juice...battery completely farked. Replaced the battery and noticed the positive lead was almost completely sheared so have a new one of those on order.

Also popped into a local airhead supply shop and grabbed engine and gear oil, a new oil filter and a sump gasket. Managed to get the sump gasket on in an afternoon but when putting it back on I quickly realised why it had been weeping; stripped thread in the casing! And then I ran out of time with Christmas fast approaching. If anyone has any suggestions on a repair solution I'd greatly appreciate it but it seems there are a few things on the market for repairing such issues.

Also she's started running really badly since the new battery went in so I'll double check everything and then look at the jetting on the Mikuni's as I don't think these have been looked at since they were fitted; the plugs are fouled right up so I think she's running pretty rich at the moment.
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

ManxieRacer said:
Also she's started running really badly since the new battery went in so I'll double check everything and then look at the jetting on the Mikuni's as I don't think these have been looked at since they were fitted; the plugs are fouled right up so I think she's running pretty rich at the moment.

Here's what you'll need in your carbies....adjust needle accordingly depending on altitude.

pilot jet: 35
main jet: 130
carb slides: 2.0
6DH3 needle clip in middle position (depending on altitude)

Do yourself a favor and lengthen those vent tubes on the sides of the carbs to drain under the bike. Otherwise you're gonna get gasoline pissing on your boots. Ask me how I know.
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Kanticoy said:
Here's what you'll need in your carbies....adjust needle accordingly depending on altitude.

pilot jet: 35
main jet: 130
carb slides: 2.0
6DH3 needle clip in middle position (depending on altitude)

Do yourself a favor and lengthen those vent tubes on the sides of the carbs to drain under the bike. Otherwise you're gonna get gasoline pissing on your boots. Ask me how I know.

Can't believe I missed your post, thanks very much for the heads up! I haven't been able to get near the bike with family duties over the last week but will get stuck in tomorrow. Where did you get your jetting settings? Or just trial and error over the years? I had noticed where the piping sat, definitely on my to-do list.

I've been reading your build thread for inspiration :D
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Trial and error my friend. I've become a little bit of a BMW fan over the years! ;D
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Ah very good! I plan on keeping a notebook of all my settings to help me learn what works and what doesn't.

Do you think I'd need different jet sizes for a free-flowing muffler setup? Or just get away with needle adjustment?
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Just ordered a Corbin-style seat to Cafe the bike up a bit. Never been a fan of the bigger style seats so that had to go! Not bad for <$300 delivered and fit all the stock latches and hinges too!

a20792913cb60cbf61eb70_l__02645.1361299191.1280.1280.JPG
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Replaced the battery cables yesterday as the positive lead was almost completely sheared, got everything hooked back up.

Before:
IMAG0608.jpg


New Cables:
IMAG0600.jpg


Also whilst I had the top covers off, gave them a 5minute polish to tidy them up a bit...before:
IMAG0601.jpg



After:

IMAG0609.jpg

IMAG0623.jpg
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Pulled apart the gauges today to investigate the reason why none of the lights work. Seems like corrosion on the points is the issue; all bulbs are tested and working fine however the copper circuits have gunk on them and in some places the copper has sheared completely. I'm lead to believe that in the case of the alternator the bulb having a solid connection is a requirement to complete the circuit so I'm going to bump this up the priority.

Given the price of second hand gauges, and rarity of gauage parts I think I'm just going to go with an acewell unit which has some comprehensive and positive reviews on the airhead forums. Now to wait for the next pay day...
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Just placed an order for one of these, hopefully should have it by the weekend! I'm getting the gearbox speed sensor cable too, so no messing around with magnets or anything like that. Can't wait!! :D

62-0013-A.jpg
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Keep it going! Can't wait to see it come together.

Not sure what you're doing with the 'dummy' lights, but it seems to me the charging light on the airhead is actually a critical component to the charging system itself. I really should know that part better given I have an R75/6 :)
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Tim said:
Keep it going! Can't wait to see it come together.

Not sure what you're doing with the 'dummy' lights, but it seems to me the charging light on the airhead is actually a critical component to the charging system itself. I really should know that part better given I have an R75/6 :)

Thanks, yep you're dead right. The charge light will be wired as a separate idiot light on it's own. That will complete the circuit and it can behave as normal. How's the R75 going?? Got a build thread anywhere I can drool over? ;)

As an update the clutch has been replaced, new rear seal fitted at the same time and heli-coil inserted in the stripped sump bolt, hopefully a few tweaks to the carbs and I'll be able to get riding over the weekend :D

ETA on the seat is still a week or two away so once that's on I'll have a look at chopping the fender and repainting the tank.
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Interestingly my charge light isn't working, yet I'm still getting 13v worth of charge...I know another airhead over here that has no instrument cluster at all and is also still managing to charge slightly too.

Anyway, some info for my records; currently the bike is running pretty reliably (I wouldn't say smoothly just yet..) and I've got the following in my VM28's:

Pilot: 35
Main: 110
Slider: 2.5
Needle: 5F21
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

Bit of a rollercoaster week bike-wise, on the plus side I managed to finally get out on a decent ride! Woohoo! The bike felt GREAT! So responsive and nimble through the corners, and enough power to keep pace in traffic. The was a bit of a stutter when transitioning between the pilot phase of the carbs and the main jets, however with a few WOT runs that seemed to clear itself ;).

Brakes were adequate, and clutch felt much better too. The issue of the sticky throttle is now my number one problem to rectify after the speedo is installed. Currently approaching traffic lights I have to roll the throttle off with my index finger and thumb, and pull the brake on with my other three fingers which isn't ideal by any means. If anyone pulled out in front of my I'd be toast for sure. :(

Now for the down side; having major difficulties with the Acewell, everything is hooked up but the digital dials are not getting any juice. I know the grounds are all fine as the idiot lights, analogue dial and my independently wired charge light all work perfectly. I'm 90% sure it's a defect with the unit itself however it's a public holiday over here so unable to contact Acewell until tomorrow (Tuesday).

Other than that my new seat arrived and looks great! Really impressed with the quality of the upholstery and everything is very neatly finished off. Unfortunately it doesn't quite fit over the hump of the rear fender and as such sits wonky and won't latch closed however I'm soon to eliminate that oversized fender anyway so that should fix the issue.

I'm also working on installing my new Posh indicators onto the fork tubes using a cheap and ugly bracket. I had planned to locate them on the stock headlight ears however they would have been partially obscured by the key in the ignition and I wasn't keen on that.
EP030-One-Side_edit-562x562.jpg


For those afraid of text updates, I'll put some real pics up once I've resolved the issues with the speedo and seat. At the rate I'm going I need to get this moved out of the "restorations" section and into the Cafe Racer section as the mod list keeps stacking up... ;)
 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

OK so a bit of an update;

Still can't get the Acewell working properly. It worked briefly then stopped, then worked again, and then stopped again so I've sent it back to be tested and hopefully a replacement unit will fix the issue.

Besides that I have installed the new seat, indicators and bar end mirrors and took her out for a couple of decent runs over the weekend. I also bodged up a smaller fender out of an old one I had lying around.







 
Re: 1974 BMW R60/6

here in the german airhead-forums people complain about the acewell too - it seems to have troubles connecting properly with the bmw. i use a motogadget tiny, no problems at all (but only if you connect the cable for the charging-light with a 47ohm/5watt resistor)
 
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