WWII BMW R35 valve adjustment,kicker gear replaced

Foto of BMW R4 , very similiar to R35, R4 has leafspring forks similiar to Indian motorbikes

Right side shifter on R4.

Foto above of nut i overtorqued renderering the rear wheel frozen, wont be making that mistake again.

After some 60 years of service ,everything wears out, After the valve service, new valves , pistons, bore, valve adjustment,,, the kicker gear wore out and stuck., no movement.

New kicker cover w new kicker gear, could have just swapped gears but i got the whole assembly.

BMW R35 after tear down.

kicker gear on trans is excellent.

Kicker gear shredded after million starts,this locked up the kicker so no movement.

I got this Bing carb, i have never ever seen another one for sale, best little carb i have ever used.

new Made in Germany gas shutoff also. Why if you were an engineer would you put a gas shutoff directly above a battery? Nothing like putting out a motorcycle fire w a Pepsi.

BMW R35 350cc cylinder, remove the top half of engine lid and gas tank to service valves.
You could just remove that front 2 bolt window, but its just easier to pull the top lid and tank and do it right.

Here you can see the tops of the pushrod tubes, you can almost check valve clearance like in a Knuckle or Pan, roll the pushrod tubes in the relaxed state,not alot of play , just enough to roll the rod in your fingers.

Valves and rockers w lid and gas tank off.

At one oclock in the foto, feeler gauge at valve, loosen nut w ratchet, adjust pushrod tube nut w wrench to correct valve setting, tighten rocker top nut w ratchet. Roll pushrod tubes w your fingers, doesnt get much easier than that, Idiot proof.......

1941 BMW R12 runs again after 50 years. setting up valves and magdynamo timing

Some fotos folks sent me on wartime BMW R12 bikes .

What is the location of this foto? my guess Southern Germany,or maybe Caucasus or Ural mountains...the mountains in the background are the only clue..

The BMW R12 engine when viewed from the front, rotates in the clockwise position, i had to find the correct R12 mag/dynamo that also rotated in the clockwise orientation for the mag to spark.The mag that came w it was a counterclockwise spin so it must have just been thrown in to sell the bike to the fellow i bought it from. No way in hell was it going to start spinning the wrong way.

After at least 50 years, the ww2 BMW R12 came back to life, serviced the cylinders w new valves, pistons, serviced the mag/dynamo. Carefully after much trial and error set the valves as in the foto above between #35 and the valve end ,.The original manuals call for one to fit a piece of paper between #35 and the valve end, Looking into the spark plug hole w a very bright flashlight , i could see the piston get w/in 10mm of TDC,as the piston ascended to the TDC position. remove spark plug wire terminal from mag, rotate mag sprocket until one is in the middle of the brass portion that is visible,thats where the point just starts to open, install mag, prime and kick started back to life. Theres plenty of great part sources in Germany and some very good online sites w proper instruction, The throttle control or "gasgriff" was worn out, the internal slider in the original Sum carb or Sum vergasser was sticking,so those parts will have to be ordered. should be a daily rider if there isnt any other big issues. W proper instruction its a relatively easy service.

There are R12 bikes w 2 carbs , this is a single carb bike. Be great to post a foto of a twin carb engine.

Here you can see where to check your valve gap. needed a 15mm, 13mm and 12mm wrenches. i found removing that inside center cylinder nut made it easier to make the adjustments.Position the valves at the relaxed position, then back off the 15mm "nut" closest to valve end. lock the 13mm lock nut against it, and valves are adjusted. By far Knucklehead valve adjustments are thee easiest.

It was kool to bring another relic back from the dead.

1955 Porsche runs w Pertronix ignition

Clearly visible is the characteristic bent window for 1953,1954 and 1955. Before 1953 the windshields are "split window".Plenty of work ahead. Running 912 engine, superior oil pump over the 356 engine for starters. Solex carbs,12 volt system. very reliable.

After the 3 ohm Bosch blue coil failed for unknown reasons i replaced it w a Pertronix 45,000 watt .6 ohm coil, adding this to the Pertronix electronic ignition, swapped out the original 1955 ignition switch and starter push button for replacement Bosch ignition switch which had a different wiring pattern and a 15 amp push button starter.Hotter spark at the plugs, Now its trouble free starting. The Bosch coil would bench test fine as a working unit , but under a electrical load the primary or secondary winding failed, I would certainly buy another Bosch coil if i needed it, just bad luck it failed, I wouldnt go less than 15 amps on the push button, for some reason they smoke and fail at less than that amperage.I also used a Dremel tool w the mini steel wheel to polish the fuse terminals and fuses, believe it or not it restored the signal lamps.

If your going to replace the electrical, best to swap out everything, the old components had some 54 years of service, if they weren't going to fail today they certainly were going to fail under stress at a very inconvenient critical time.

The muscle car Cragar ss rims, tires finnally failed , the front tire started wobbling , like it was gonna catapult off. Originally the 1955 would have ran 16 inch rims , I'm just building a runner so , 15 inchers are fine,, 165 65 r 15s would be original but they are actually not a very common tire so i added, 185 65 r 15s, common size and the same as a 1963 Alfa Romeo uses, The car can fit 195 65 r15s .
The flares gotta go , i have complete qtr panels to swap them out w... Turns out the car was amateur raced in Riverside and Arroyo Seco in the Southland. The fellow ran a Corvair engine which is similiar to a VW or Porsche air cooled engine. The VW trans turns out to be original to the car. Hooking up a 912 engine to a 1955 VW trans was straightforward. the carb linkages had to be made to fit and work. I always hated Solex carbs on 1950s-60s Alfas but on Porsches they are fine units.

Installing 1949 BMW R35 timing chain

After having having the valves get stuck and stopping my r35 one day i tore it down to service the valves, Next ,I put it all back together and hooked up a new hot 6 volt battery... ZERO..Nothing....^&%^%$%$_@!! What the FK is wrong now? No spark at the plug? No spark at the points/circuit breaker...the shaft isnt even moving?? Turned out to be the timing chain brokedown at the link pin. I looked all over the internet and truthfully , little to nothing on servicing it. My parts guy in Berlin I found on Ebay Germany, Koni had awhile back sent me a timing chain w a new set of points, the guy is always thinking ahead,all the parts for old Zundapps, BMWs , NSU bikes are all back in Germany, you don't have to be super fluent either to communicate. So heres a easy tutorial on how to do it.

R35 timing cover w points/circuit breaker.

points, condenser.

Lichtmaschine or light machine , ie generator and belt. Remove the outer cover, 2 screws or bolts. Next remove the inner cover , that will reveal the 2 gears. Line the gears up w the arrows point at each other, install the new chain, old ones are stretched out and useless.

New R35 timing chain installed note the 2 arrows on the left gear (oil pump) at 3 oclock and the right gear (cam)at 9 oclock. arrows point to each other for correct orientation. You dont have to swear and get too pissed off, its a pretty easy install. Not like where the chain is a link short and too tight to fit. The gears weren't too whipped so i left them on, it ran great until the valve,timing chain meltdown. R35s are fun bikes , light weight 350cc.

1958 Porsche 356 Speedster and Coupe

1958 Porsche Speedster on rotisserie getting blasted..previous owner loved bondo, alot of amateur welds, but excellent steel overall. , Best to take plenty of fotos during rebuild.

Theres the tall shift lever,that today is so hard to find, even on ebay. Classic Speedster dash.

Below , as-is original 1958 Coupe..someone garaged this one regularly.

Beautiful Jaguar E type, on its way to Switzerland,

Immaculate Jaguar engine ready to bolt in and go..

Panzerbike...really big German iron.

you have to look at this guys site

http://harzer-bike-schmiede.de/panzerbike.html

1936 Harley Davidson Knucklehead OHV parts that are one year only.

Close up of "telescopic" downtube.

square toolbox bracket

1936-40 neck,if i'm incorrect email me...The folks who make very nice knockoffs dont quite get this casting 100% correct.

1936 fragile sidecar loops, most sheared off from stress load. note the curvature of the tubing, last year for that.

1936 only Knucklehead frame showing brazed welding thru out construction, 1 tube from the neck all the way to the rear axle stays.

Check out this very, very rare foto of the Harley Founders and the "new" E-Series Bikes.
Given that this was February of 1936, Workers who had not been laid off were on a reduced schedule.
Management had all taken pay cuts - - - -(something to be learned by that today!).
The look on their faces tells it all. "This overhead valve v-twin has got to get us out of near bankruptcy".
It did.

A family business w their names on the tanks! I think they took a little bit more pride w that in mind, You cant' always count on outsiders running the family business.

Hell of a assembly line!
More fotos and captions from Paul Seidlers 1936 Knucklehead.

Another view of the '36 only rear brake drum you mentioned in an earlier blog - -
Viewers should note the chain guard mount - - -this is the "revised" style used after the first 150 or so models went down the assembly line. Earlier style was more elaborate/ over-engineered and probably changed due to materials/labor cost shaving.

Also-see the picture of the tank/fork top - - - -the quiz of the week is"what 4 things are shown in this picture that is '36 E-series only????"- - -1) unique shift gate w/ no notches.2) 100 MPH speedo w/ no trip meter. 3) 4 drilled holes on the fork topplate. (no one seems to know why) but this is '36 only. '37 and laterversions were solid w/ no holes.And 4) barely shown---note the ride control adjustment knob is on the rightside - - -'37 and later this shifted to the left side.

The air blow out was added during the Jan-June'36 E-Series production run toblow out debris as you have correctly surmised.My 36 EL-1985 has the air nipple. Please see picture.It is one of those many '36 E series oddities in that no record was made ofwhen they added this plus I've seen later serial numbered bike w/ no airnipple.

Note the picture of the Linkhart M-5 Carb - - -note the raised "4" on theboss on the side. This is '36 only version of the M-5 carb dedicated to theE-Series bikes

My odyssey with 1936 Knuckles started w this obscure 120 mph white face no trip speedo on the right above, I couldn't find it on any bikes or books, Later i learned it was a 1937 HD 45 speedo. 2009 and one can buy excellent "remanufactured" speedos that are identical to the originals, but made in 2009. pointless to search for a junked out original, they are gone to history.

Late 1936 oilbag with "hockey puck" style stoplight switch actuated by chain. Banjo fittings on 1936 and 1937 all models. Some folks would add the rear drain plug line on 1937 oil tanks to make the more valuable 1936 tank. Four styles of oil tanks in 1936. The motor company did alot of experimenting w bikes in 1936, what worked , what didnt.

Closeup of super rare 1936 only Carb cover, when a rider tipped the bike over, the first part to absorb the impact was the carb cover, Some aluminum rocker blocks had a "air blow out" fitting attached to the rocker block, my thinking is that the intention was to blow out debris in the oil line.No clogged oil line therefore no blown apart siezed engine.

1936 only relay bracket for Delco relay, Early distributor with "hole" on the side to feed distributor wires. Hole is not visible and is closest to 4 fin cylinder.

1936-37 only clutch pedal, Square footboards beginning in 1914 continue to 1939. A neat holdover from the earliest bikes. I'm running a belt drive vs stock chain, i've got the original clutch set up boxed up.Far less vibration ,noise and wear and abuse.
The engine case also shows the 1936-39 reinforcement rib at 9 oclock and 11 oclock in this foto, to add strength to the engine case, 1941 -1947 knuckles carried that rib out a further 2 inches.

1936-39 carb manifold secured to Linkert M5 carb, Some of these manifolds would surface w a machined hole w a screwdriver slug, My personal thought is folks were gas priming the carburetor in one location vs 2 locations on each head. Above the manifold, the 1 year only top motor mount. I used about every compound i could to seal up air leaks, the most effective being teflon tape,

Early 1936 rear head w primer cup,early 1936-1937 "baby food jar" rocker housings. Note the reinforcement rib on the support bracket, The story is theres 3 different head styles for 1936.

Presently i dont have fotos of the other styles to post. Primer cups function to "squirt" gasoline into head for hard starting, Gas caps w the "syringe" fuel "injector" are super rare, i have seen well made knockoffs but not in at least 5 years. Definately 1936 only.

Early 1936 front head w slotted screw vs primer cup, later heads have the unfinished non machined "bump" and 1940s era heads have done away w them. Another holdover from early bikes that were primed w fuel for hard starting

If anyone has fotos of unique rare 1936 Knucklehead parts please contact me so i can post them for study.

I'm more interested in peoples fotos of parts and descriptions vs opinions, I love all motorcycles, scooters etc, to me its all fun. scooters for buzzing down alleyways in Naples or big German iron.