Here we have the /2 Bosch Magneto, although this one still works OK, it is our experience that its more a question of "when" than "if" the 40 year old coil will fail. The old coil feels soft and squishy, that means the lacquer insulation is breaking down. A bad coil will make the bike difficult to start, especially when hot. This is one item we will replace with a new one before it lets us down.

The oil pan was removed and as you can see the oil was old and sludgy. Good new is we don't see any metallic particles but its a good thing we didn't run the bike with this oil. Always remove the oil pan before riding a newly purchased old BMW. At the very least clean it. The /2's do not have oil filters, when we get to the slingers we will know if they are full of sludge.

The pistons are still the original 71.95 MM size, that means this engine has never had an over bore. These pistons are scuffed pretty good on the sides and although they would probably work OK we will replace them with a new set of first oversize.

Since BMWs don't have a lot of chrome and the German chrome never was very good, these are the parts we will be reechoing. Its not cost effective to rechrome some items such as exhaust pipes, mufflers, wheel rims and fender braces. For parts like these its advisable to simply replace. Its a toss up about chroming axles, they are a precision fit and if the chrome gets to them they will probably be to tight for the bearings when they come back. We will go with a new set of stainless axles in their place.

These aluminum parts are in good condition. Aluminum polishing costs much less than chrome so we will send these parts to the polisher. Don't bother polishing any part that has a dent in it, the defect will only be magnified when it gets polished.

Here's a photo of the parts we will be sending out for cad plating, its basically all the steel parts that have the dull silver finish. Cad plating is very inexpensive if you do the prep work yourself. Each part must be bead blasted perfectly clean and free of the old plating, be sure to dress any buggered parts with a file before blasting. If the holes in your wheel seal nuts are elongated you can drill them oversize and they will look new again. Do not use cad plating that is only acid dipped, if you want the best possible finish its worth the effort to bead blast the parts first.

The shocks have leaked some oil and they are old, our bike will get new shocks front and rear. These are not easy parts to replace so its best to change them for new if you want to do the job right the first time.

Here's our engine block, the timing gears are perfect and the crank looks good so far. We will know more when we get it completely disassembled.

Next week in episode 3:
We will get deeper into the engine and inspect the rod bearings and slingers and our frame parts should be back from the powder coaters.

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