Facelifting a 1998 1100 GS.

k80matey

k80matey

I'm too poor to buy rubbish.
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Had her about 6 weeks and love these bikes. Fasteners are pretty grubby and some of the plastic is very light grey indeed, should of course be black. Tried Back to Black on the plastic, great for about 5 minutes, then grey again. Is there any way to restore these?

Bought a SS fastener replacement kit. £130 job. Anything to watch out for when swopping them out? First two minutes found I couldn't undo the gearbox filler nor the bevel drive filler. Will try again tomorrow. Weetabix - bollox!
Tomorrow is porridge (salt), boiled egg and soldiers.

Wondering if I can slacken fasteners in situ, remove, then copper grease, replace and re-torque without removing some casings; rocker covers, brake discs etc., or is it best to have them off and renew gaskets. Want to do a proper job but don't want to do unnecessary work.

Pannier frame bolts don't look as sturdy as the OE ones although they may be fine; anybody tried them?

Last question; the red hook thingy that locks the pannier handle down on my RH one is broken - how to fix/replace?

Thanks.
 
To restore the plastics, I'd try Autoglym Bumper Care. It looks like luminous green snot but usually works better than anything.

There is a homespun remedy involving smooth peanut butter, so take your pick.
 
I found it easier just to take off the plastics and give them a coat of smooth rite satin black paint. Did this a few years ago and they still look like new.
 
i used a heat gun on mine ( the black plastics like the handguards and the plastic over r/h side below the tank ) worked for a few months
 
When replacing fasteners in alloy castings with stainless ones, always use aluminium grease on the threads (or Copaslip) to prevent the threads corroding. One at a time has worked for me (eg the front engine cover.)

Stainless doesn't corrode as such, but the alloy will and the ali grease
prevents that.

Also, use the same stuff if replacing nut & bolts with stainless (ie, a new stainless nut & bolt.) Stainless steel 'galls' on the threads when tightening if assembled dry.

Try a hot air gun on the filler/level plugs before trying to get them out. Heating and cooling may break the hold of the corrosion which can occur.
Be careful - it is possible to round the internal hexagon if you put too much force on the allen key if the plug is seized by corrosion.

Then you'll have a bigger job to get it out. :blast
 
Last edited:
Plastics

For the faded plastics I use a good silicon spray after every wash comes up like new.

You need to be very careful with the gear box drain plug that is recessed, if it is stuck it will be very easy to burr and then you are into using other means to remove. I would suggest when you have this plug out if at all worn renew now to save any future problem.
 
Thanks for all the replies, much good stuff. Had a bottle of T Cut on hand so tried that first. Looks much better after a couple of goes, will see how it lasts.

Interesting and frustrating day with the SS fasteners. All are treated with copper grease before using. One rounded Allen bolt on the r/h calliper, four immovable ones on the l/h calliper. These are blind so no way Plus Gas is going to be of any use. Stuck, any solutions out there?
 
k80matey said:
Thanks for all the replies, much good stuff. Had a bottle of T Cut on hand so tried that first. Looks much better after a couple of goes, will see how it lasts.

Interesting and frustrating day with the SS fasteners. All are treated with copper grease before using. One rounded Allen bolt on the r/h calliper, four immovable ones on the l/h calliper. These are blind so no way Plus Gas is going to be of any use. Stuck, any solutions out there?
Click to expand...

Where did yuo source the S/S fasteners etc?
 
I am OCD on cleanliness and have replaced loads of bolts. I was however warned off brake bolts being Stainless as they might snap at an inopportune moment. So I just got new bolts from BMW for the brakes. They haven't stayed nice for long though. And that's without the addition of salt or any sort of crap, BMW should be ashamed of the quality of some of its kit. Waste of money replacing them.
 
B4ndit said:
I am OCD on cleanliness and have replaced loads of bolts. I was however warned off brake bolts being Stainless as they might snap at an inopportune moment. So I just got new bolts from BMW for the brakes. They haven't stayed nice for long though. And that's without the addition of salt or any sort of crap, BMW should be ashamed of the quality of some of its kit. Waste of money replacing them.
Click to expand...

Don't see the point of replacing rusty fasteners with OE parts which are going to go the same road.

Understand that SS may be slightly more brittle but I figure with two calliper mounting bolts, four calliper bolts and five disk bolts I should be safe enough.
 
Just read on a thread on another forum, a strong recommendation for boiled linseed oil used to restore plastics!

Guy said bits he did still looked good 9 months later!!

Might be worth a try.
 
k80matey said:
One rounded Allen bolt on the r/h calliper, four immovable ones on the l/h calliper. These are blind so no way Plus Gas is going to be of any use. Stuck, any solutions out there?
Click to expand...
Use a Torx bit. Hammer it in and it will "cut" its own way into the Allen head. The hammering will also likely free the fastener a little too.

If you can add a little heat (hot air gun is good enough usually) the calliper will expand faster than the steel fastener.

Coppaslip will do but this stuff is best when using Stainless to aluminium combination (and a tiny amount is enough, no need to slather everything in anti-seize):

i-FCKCtjX-M.jpg


The same Torx and heat treatment will work on the seized oil fillers too. The heat is particularly useful on a bike you don't know the history of; I've found thread lock compounds used in some weird applications before now, far better to invest in a hot air gun than mess about with stripped threads in casings.
 
k80matey said:
...One rounded Allen bolt on the r/h calliper, four immovable ones on the l/h calliper. These are blind so no way Plus Gas is going to be of any use. Stuck, any solutions out there?
Click to expand...

A sharp tap square on the bolt head with a 1lb hammer for the ones that aren't rounded. If that doesn't work an electric heat gun to heat the alloy and possibly thread seal as well. I think that you need to get to about 120ºC to soften the blue thread seal. If necessary drill the head off the rounded bolt but I note that you called these Allen bolts. The originals are star drive Torx head bolts and it is easy to use one bit too small and think that you've got the correct size:blast DAMHIK

Remember that any thread originally dry should have the torque setting reduced by ~25% if re-assembled with Alu-Slip or Copper-Slip.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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