Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Tips, tricks, questions and answers to tech questions
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Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Well, I gotta start somewhere....
(don't expect a rapid pace on this... at least not yet)

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Having a centre-stand makes any bike easier to work on, and this thing needs a fair bit of work.
(it also means it takes up a little less square footage in the workshop, and I can get around the bugger)


Obligatory up-the-hole photo....
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by mangocrazy »

Don't wish to sound ignorant nor nuffink but...


What's an Ed80?
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

mangocrazy wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 9:46 am Don't wish to sound ignorant nor nuffink but...


What's an Ed80?
:D

BMW Rockster Edition 80:
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(see more details on how I came to have this bike here : https://revtothelimit.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... on#p271758 )
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Skub »

I like the Rockster,it's just that little bit different,they should have called it the Rockstar,though. 8-)

Future classic maybe,in some world?
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Skub wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:28 am I like the Rockster,it's just that little bit different,they should have called it the Rockstar,though. 8-)

Future classic maybe,in some world?
Dunno, maybe, possibly. If so then the Ed80 "might" be one the more valuable ones, but that's not my purpose.

Going to see if this one is "a good'un" or not - if so then I'll make it "mine" and sell on the bronze bike for whatever I can get for it. I don't need 2, and if the bike with 50,000 fewer miles on it is worth keeping, then it makes sense to keep it. All the mods I've done to the bronze bike are removable and will go on this one no probs. (well - except the clutch repairs)
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by v8-powered »

Rockburner wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:53 am sell on the bronze bike
Bronze? I said mine was ginger, next you'll be calling it strawberry blonde!
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by katana »

Rockburner wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 10:00 am
mangocrazy wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 9:46 am Don't wish to sound ignorant nor nuffink but...


What's an Ed80?
:D

BMW Rockster Edition 80:
Image

(see more details on how I came to have this bike here : https://revtothelimit.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... on#p271758 )
Quite like the colour scheme..

Do like that BMW engine.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Emptied the tank last night, and discovered a charging lead on the bike! So - I hooked up my old Optimate.

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I believe it may even be the original battery..... Will it charge? PLACE BETS NOW!
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I also whipped the seats off and discovered that not only did the bike still have the original toolkit, but even the OE tyre repair kit!
I've not seen one of these for 20 years.....
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Also found out that the fusebox appears to have some sort of anti-tamper switch... that small black box on the right, with "HAMLIN" printed on it.... there's a matching "latch" on the fuse-box cover.
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Have to say I'm not looking forward to trying to strip out the alarm....
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Unbelievably.... the battery is taking some charge! It nearly had enough to turn it over this evening! Restarted the charger to see if I can get it charged a bit more.

And the alarm seems to be working too.... :wtf:
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Beancounter »

v8-powered wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:58 am
Rockburner wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:53 am sell on the bronze bike
Bronze? I said mine was ginger, next you'll be calling it strawberry blonde!
I always said mine was copper.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Woohoo!!

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buggeration

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It's a start....
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Passenger!
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So: the battery is showing as fully charged, so I had another go at turning it over, just to see if it would, and yes it did turn over - but didn't fire (probably a good thing). I'm not sure if that's just bad fuel, filthy plugs, or the alarm system (but surely the immobiliser would kill all electrics??).

I was rewarded for my efforts with a string smell of old petrol.... a bit of investigation later: the quick disconnect has broken. Ah well: they've a reputation for it and I've had 4 bikes without the issue before, so it's not really a surprise. Add that to the shopping list...

Pulled the tank off to check out the status of things below and it all looks ok, relatively clean too. Found matey tucked up behind the connectors behind the headstock, decided to let him make his own way off the bike.....

That was friday night, spent most of Sunday cutting down my ginormous workbench so a more reasonable size, I now have more room to work on bikes, and a couple of 2mx0.35m 18mm ply planks which I'm wondering what to do with..... I've already shelved every available wall!
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Lots of wires on these alarm things...

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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Count Steer »

Dunno about the immobiliser but I spent days trying to get a bike to start after it had been laid up for a few months. It would spin over like a good un but of sparks there were none, not even a feeble one.

Eventually an electrician neighbour cast an eye over a wiring diagram and said 'Wassat do?'. It was the kill switch.

*waggle waggle*
*press*
*brrrrmmmmm!*

I guess it had corroded while sat. I'd certainly never used it in the years I'd had the bike. Maybe the immobiliser works like the kill switch?
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Finished off stripping the alarm yesterday, dismantled the fuse box only to discover that the two alarm loom wires that had been fed into it weren't joined to the loom at all, and in fact were only inside the fuse-box to hide the alarm's independant fuse-holder in the box! Gah!

Also stripped the dissolving loom sheath off the switch-gear, and headlight harnesses and re-covered them with fabric loom tape.

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Funnily it's only those 3 sub-assemblies that had shitty sheathing, the rest of the loom is fine.

Today I ordered up a new male fuel connector from Motorworks - once that arrives I can see if the bike will fire up.

Going to put a drop or two of oil down the plug-holes and rotate it by hand first though.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Pulled the alt-cover off yesterday :

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Looks new!

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I also pulled the plugs (used, but still very usable),

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the lower plugs were more oily - but I'd expect that (they're always manky).

I sprayed a small amount of light oil (3-in-1) into each combustion chamber, just to loosen off the rings (well - that was the idea). Left the engine for a bit, then rotated it using the alt-belt nut (a 16mm oddly, it's the only place I've ever seen a 16mm nut) and the engine turned over smoothly and quietly - all good!

I have a feeling that this bike had a full service just before being put away by the previous owner. The engine oil is a) slightly over-full, and b) bright red. It's obviously virtually new.

Which is more than I can say for the battery. I've had it on charge for a weeks or two now - trying to bring it back, and I put it on the bike yesterday to see if it would turn the bike over.....



Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click-Click


nope - no go. And it got noticeably weaker on the 2nd and 3rd attempts.

So - it may well be new battery time.

I've also replaced the broken fuel-line-connector but I've not yet replaced the tank and tried the bike with fresh fuel. That's the next step. I've got a jump-starter which I know has plenty of juice for this (used it on my other bike a few times), to get the bike started.

Still weighing up whether to go full-on and do all the "upgrades" (strip the ABS, replace the calipers and discs, etc etc).

I'll do a valve service once I get it running - but to road test it I'll need to get it MOT worthy and then taxed and insured.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Quick update:

I had a week off last week so, once the new work-ramp arrived I did a few bits and bobs on the Ed 80.
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I pulled the filler bolts for the gearbox and final drive - oil in both is like new. I'm convinced this bike had a service and was then put away. THe oil filter "does" have some surface corrosion - but I'm guessing that's more from sitting in a slightly damp garage for a few years than from road-dirt-impacts. (Having said that - the air-filter was pretty filthy, but then that's often not changed due it being a tad awkward to get at).
ImageImage

I figured while I had the tank off, I'd do the filler neck mod (add about 1.2 litres to the usable capacity of the tank)
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I also found a jump-start kit in my box of bits, so.. on it went:
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And I pulled off the OE end-can and fitted a tip I had spare, makes getting the rear wheel off much easier, and I can fit a full-size left pannier also looks better and is not much louder! :D
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The battery is definitely kaput - so there's a new one on the way, along with a plethora of other little bits it needs (like a clamp for that exhaust tip)

I did try starting the bike again - but still no go. My jump starter isn't the easiest to use, so I'm waiting for the new battery to turn up before starting to figure out what's not working - I'm guessing it's either fuel or spark... and likely a poor bit of soldering on my part from removing the alarm/immobiliser loom. :(
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Finally found the gumption to get into the workshop and look into why the Ed80 isn't firing up.

First hurdle....
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Snapped this useless piece of trash trying to loosen the very first plug.....

Used the new spark-plug holder.... very handy indeed!
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All 4 plugs spark fine:
(I've seen bigger sparks.... but they're definitely there)
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(images cropped from videos so not best quality)

Stuck the tank back on to feed fuel, and still nothing.

I can hear the fuel pump priming the system, so that's good, and there's definitely fuel within the hoses (when I undo the hoses fuel drips out).

I start to ponder if there was something in the alarm wiring that would prevent the injectors firing - but I didn't remember there being anything like that, and I believe the injector wiring comes straight out of the Motronic control box, so I doubt the after-market alarm would be that intrusive..

Do some digging on UKGser (my current main source of info), and realise I can check if the injectors are firing by looking at the voltage on the electrical connections. So I do that, and yes, there's signals coming down the lines. Not sure exactly what the readings are (I think the battery in my multi-meter isn't great, and obviously the signals are varying). But there ARE signals.

So - it's hopefully not anything electrical.

I then pull each injector to see if there's anything wrong with the injectors....
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nada.

Ah-Ha!

It's the injectors!

Ponder... ponder.. would both fail simultaneously?

hang on: I've got another bike here....
Rip an injector of Rock4 and check that on the Ed80. Still nothing .

Hmm - I KNOW that's a good injector, and the Ed80 injector fitted to Rock4 works fine (plenty of fuel spewing out).

There's no pressure in the injector manifolds... or rather .. very little pressure: the good injector "was" spewing out "some" fuel, but nowhere near as much as it should be.

There's 2 causes for low pressure in the injector manifold: The pressure regulator has failed (less likely), or: the hose in the tank between the pump and the mounting plate has split: VERY likely. That's a known problem on these bikes and it's generally an age-related issue, so very likely to be the case here.

So - I syphon out all the fuel from the tank (again) ; ptui.. I hate the taste of unleaded.... mind you 98RON is better than 95...

The fuel pump gubbins is all mounted to a plate on the underside of the tank, inside:

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Last time I did one of these.... I'm not sure I got it oriented right when I re-fitted it.... so:
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These little studs are tiny, and the lock-nuts tend to be very tight, so I dug out some penetrating spray:
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After a close look, I realised that some of the studs had a little plastic collar around the exposed part of the stud: so I pulled them off with a pair of pliers and put the graphite spray to work overnight. Hopefully it'll make the nuts a tad looser, to be frank I'm terrified of snapping one of the studs, every time I do this job: they're only an 8mm nut, but it feels like you're undoing something bolted to the Firth of Forth bridge when they haven't been undone for a while, and afaik, these have NEVER been undone. I'll also drip some ACF50 on them today before having a go at them.

Quite happy to be making a little progress and I'm very happy that it seems to be a non-electrical issue that was causing the problem... I was worried that I may have missed a joint, or badly soldered a joint when I removed the alarm.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

Well, that went better than I expected!

The fuel panel came off with no trouble at all.

It's obvious though why there's no fuel getting to the injectors...

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That's 20 years of sitting in petrol....


Even the breather hoses are knackered.
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Tried to get a close up...
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Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Motorworks I go....
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by cheb »

Good to find an obvious solution.
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Re: Ed80 Recommissioning blog

Post by Rockburner »

cheb wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:02 pm Good to find an obvious solution.
I was sorting of expecting it tbh.

Hopefully the pressure regulator is ok still. I've not heard of anyone having an issue with the regulator before though.
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