NOS chrome from Germany

I got another shipment of parts from Germany last week. Among them were some genuine NOS outer door latches and rear window hinges. I may not be replacing all of the original chrome bits, but those parts looked especially pitted and without a doubt needed to be replaced.

Brake wheel cylinders

Rebuild kits for the wheel cylinders are ridiculously expensive and the ones from the car weren't looking so hot any way. So I gave Ireland Engineering a call. They set me up with brand new ones for little more than the cost of rebuild kits. The 700 used 20 mm cylinders in the front and 15mm in the rear. I was able to find a 22mm for the front and a 17mm for the rear. I think the 17mm ones are off the rear of a 2002 Tii and the 22mm ones are off the front of a New Class 1600. Some modification will be required for the one set but that looks pretty simple and straight forward. Next up, getting custom pads made.....

Coils

I decided to use a "matched pair" of coils from Hot Spark out of TX as an ignition system upgrade. Which according to the manufacturer are for "1970-1980 BMW R-Series Motorcycles with original points-based ignition system with two Bosch 6-volt coils, wired in series (for 12-volt electrical systems)." The 700 uses two Bosch 6 volt coils wired in series in a 12 volt system, they are just much smaller than what was used on an R-series airhead a decade later. I will probably also upgrade the condenser to one from a R-series bike of that era to ensure max performance in the system. Otherwise the ignition components will remain stock. I feel a little bad replacing the originals as they are beautiful pieces of art in their own right, but we NEED extra power wherever we can find it and this is a pretty obvious place. I do prefer the stainless steel bodies of the new ones though.......

"Special" paint

I got this amazing product made by a company called SEM that is a three part process for painting leather, vinyl and plastic. They claim that you can even use it for seats. I am using it for the door handles, dash knobs and door sill plates. Since I am doing a custom black vinyl interior, the various shades of off white and grey that these parts came in had to go. I did the handles first just to make sure I knew what I was doing. I have two sets of them, so if I had screwed this up I had back ups. Glad to say it went on smooth and tomorrow I will do the other parts.

Dash

I made a number of plugs and filled the holes in the top of the dash today. Those holes are where the ashtray and dash cover went. Those parts won't be going back on. I welded it in short sections to keep the dash from warping due to heat. its like 18 gauge steel, and that's fairly thin. I will also be filling the holes on the face of the dash where the trim, lighter and stereo went. Those parts will also not be returning. I didn't take a before pic, so I cropped an old one to show the holes.

Rack it up

Today, I rebuilt the rack and pinion steering mechanism. The sealing boots were torn and the grease looked awfully dirty. Sure, there is a grease port on it and I could have easily settled for simply squirting new grease in and driving the old out, but that's just not in the plan. I disassembled the entire unit, degreased and then washed all the internal parts with water and blew them dry. I did this to make sure that there was no degreaser left on the parts before I greased and assembled them again. I installed brand new OE boots that I got from germany in the last shipment. I also checked the pinion end play per the service manual specs. It definitely feels better, so now I can throw it back in the parts box until I am ready for installation.