Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

And one more thing, concerning base gaskets and cylinders. There are paper base gaskets and aluminum base gaskets.
And there are two types of cylinder base designs. Remember, that All 500 or 600 twin cylinders (except R69 - R69S) will interchange. By that I mean an R51/3 cylinder will fit and work ...

I disagree about no sealant on the base gaskets. In the 40+ years of putting these bikes together for myself and for customers, I have always put a thin smear of sealant on both sides of the base gasket. Putting them on dry guarantees they will weep sooner or later. I do agree that you must apply it ...

The shim you are missing is available still.
Mark Huggett, (BMWbike.com) has it in stock. I do not recall what the thickness is supposed to be, and he does not give the thickness of the shim in his parts listing. the following is from his web site.

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No image ...

You said:
Sorry to hear that my 26 mm carbs are so wrong for my R60 engine. So if I understand you correctly, any of the R60, R60/2 versions of carbs will work on my R60?

Any of the 24 mm bore carbs will work. I hope you can read the photo of the Bing chart that I posted.
When you find a set of ...

I was about to say, (I got in this late)
An R60 and R60/2 used the following carbs.
1/24/95 - 96
1/24/133-134
1/24/147-148
1/24/151-152
What does this info stamped on the side of the carb tell you? Notice ALL of them have 24 numbers. That is the bore of the carb. You cannot use a R69 - R69S carb ...

Another problem you may not be aware of, especially if you buy new oil pump gears, is the +/- tolerances of the thickness of the gears, versus the depth of the bearing carrier that they fit into. When installing new gears, always put a machinist's parallel bar across the rear face of the gears while ...

I own one.

it is a VERY heavy machine. It is NOT very fast. 50 mph is about it. It is not that the engine is not powerful, it is a combination of 1000+ pounds, and the low gearing. It is the most complicated BMW ever made, until modern bikes.
The transmission is very complicated. Not only does it ...

I do not like to use blue steel ink when checking the mesh pattern of gears. It is too hard for my old eyesight to see what pattern you can see, if any. I found that the best thing to use is good old cheap red lipstick from Walmart. You simply apply it to the clean dry teeth, with a Q tip, and then ...

Jim

When fitting the shims, on each side of the swing arm, you want a tight fit of the shims. There is a trick to installing them, however. After you get the first shim in place, and slide the pivot axle almost all the way through, take the second shim, and using a vertical belt sander, bevel the ...

Alex
Depending on your skill level, it can be done with the bucket in place. Before you attempt this, disconnect the battery!
remove the wire on that terminal, before you attempt anything. Granted, it would be easier to do with the bucket removed.
Do the smart thing, and take a good photo with your ...