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Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

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CWRoady
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Re: Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

Post by CWRoady »

Thought I would close the loop on this. I did a 130 mile loop today with a good 70+ miles of freeway for good measure and my fill plug vent works beautifully. Everything is dry as a bone, like I have been trying to attain for quite a while now. Props to my brother in law for an ingenious design. We ended up with a taller reservoir than would be desirable, if it weren't for my panniers hiding it anyway. If it weren't for the basic invisibility of it behind them, I would probably experiment with a shorter stack off the plug. As it is, I have fought this long enough, and very happy to have a vented FD on my '55 and have not had to permanently modify anything. The original plug can be used still, although I can't envision ever using it. If anyone needs or wants more details, I will be happy to share them, send me a PM maybe ... don't want to bore everyone, but ... it works!
Chris
1955 R50 / 1973 R75/5 / 1974 R90/6 Hack / 2015 RT
Yard Art 1968 +/- Hodaka & SACHS

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jwonder
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Re: Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

Post by jwonder »

Chris,

Can you send a picture of the final result please, I am going to be doing the same thing on mine!
James Wonder
Vice President, Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners
2022 BMW Friend Of the Marque
Long Island, New York

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CWRoady
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Re: Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

Post by CWRoady »

My brother in law (Porsche/VW wrench in a former life) was the designer/fabricator. The first attempt was basically an open fitting he had in his pile of odds and ends with some filtering skotchbrite type material stuffed inside with a misc freeze plug on top as an umbrella cap. No bueno. He really put his thinking cap on for round 2.

Working from the bottom up, using brake line tubing, close the bottom end and put a breather hole in the side, then silicone it into the base plug fitting previously used. Silicone the opening in the base plug fitting to reduce the opening. Braze a section of conduit to the fitting as an oil reservoir (not really sure how much oil, if any, it will actually see). Mine is probably much longer than is necessary, and the top section was siliconed vs brazed on to allow me to shorten it if I want to experiment .. I'm glad to be done and will leave it like it is.
For the top section he went back to his odds and ends and found a spark plug saver, a small galvanized plumbing fitting, the freeze plug cap and some filtering material. Bob cut some air vents into the pipe fitting and brazed a nut into the opening to thread the vent cap too. Stuffed some filtering material into the opening for insurance and siliconed the top section onto the conduit brazed to the plug.
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Here is the installed pic as hidden by my panniers and from behind the curtain. Certainly not an attractive addition but a beautiful example of function over form. One could switch between this vent and a standard plug if they were in a beauty contest :-)
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Chris
1955 R50 / 1973 R75/5 / 1974 R90/6 Hack / 2015 RT
Yard Art 1968 +/- Hodaka & SACHS

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CWRoady
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Re: Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

Post by CWRoady »

Refinement continues .. version 3 and 4. Testing soon.
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Chris
1955 R50 / 1973 R75/5 / 1974 R90/6 Hack / 2015 RT
Yard Art 1968 +/- Hodaka & SACHS

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JakeF
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Re: Non Vented Final Drive on my ‘55 R50

Post by JakeF »

Hey Chris. On the site today for another need and saw your post. Figured I would post a couple photos of the vented plug that the original restorer (deceased) added to my bike and I never knew what it was for, or that it was a modification to original until we texted back and forth about it last night. Let’s try and get some ride time next week.

For anyone reading this I have no idea where this cool little plug with a spring loaded valve came from.
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JakeF
1956 R69, 1976 R90S, 2008 R1200GS

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