Fiona Work Notes

This post is to track ongoing and finished work done to bring Fiona, my '99 URAL Patrol sidecar rig with a BMW R80 engine.

Yes, Fiona, as in Shrek's wife, who is also green.  We arrived at the name today.

1.  Clutch:  Turns out the PO had the wrong pressure plate/cover.  He'd been referencing what turned out to be the wrong diagram of a BMW Clutch Assembly from the Clymer's Manual:

The above diagram shows six spacers, #6, which are for the "lighter"

duty motorcycle such as the R65.  This is NOT the one to use.

this is the diagram I am using.  

Basically, the conversion uses a /6 clutch pack but with a /2 clutch disk

I ordered the correct Compression Ring from Richard Winter, #5 above along with a replacement Pressure Plate, #2 above as the one that came from the PO looked worn and damaged.  Once I get those two pieces, I'll be able to re-assemble the clutch pack and put the drive train back together.

Update: Got email from Richard Winter the day after we talked about the parts above and how I had the wrong pressure ring.  Got email with pics from Richard the next day, he's got the parts and shipping them to me.  Payment via Paypal.  No fuss, no muss, damn quick service!

 The right, /6, pressure ring aka cover plate

By the way, the major work in the conversion by Richard Winter is the welding/cutting and modifications needed to mate a URAL gearbox to the BMW engine.

Stock URAL 750 Gearbox

source: Oldtimer Garage

Richard Winter-modified URAL gearbox.

Note how the opening for the URAL starter was removed and filled in.

Mounting holes were added to match the BMW Engine's case

The diamond plate can be removed to inspect the clutch screws

2.  Wheel Bearings.  I removed the wheel bearings and associated hardware from the pusher wheel since I had it off anyways in order to dismount the Final Drive.  They are the old type bearings which need to be repacked at set maintenance intervals.  I checked with URAL and I ordered one of the new wheel bearing kits that come with the sealed bearings to replace the old bearings.

3.  I've ordered a used R80 Air Box from eBay, hoping to be able to modify it later on to provide a sheltered area for a stock BMW air filter for the carburetors.  In the meantime, I'll ride Fiona with the "muffin" air filters directly attached to the carburetors.

4.  The U-joints on the sidecar drive shaft are the old type, lacking grease zerks, so I'll arrange for their replacement with newer models that have the grease zerk.  They do feel nice and smooth and tight so they're still usable in the meantime.

5.  The drive splines on the Final Drive and on the pusher wheel look "OK", better than I thought they'd look like, but still not in new condition.  New would be a small flat tip instead of pointy triangles.

I was happy to find grease on the splines on the pusher's wheel hub.

6.  Main drive shaft U-Joint:  Turns smoothly, no play and I injected the zerk with new grease.

7.  Now I understand why Bud P., the PO, made the comments about how stupid it was that one has to move the sidecar over to the right a bit in order to be able to unscrew one of the four nuts holding the Final Drive to the swing arm.  Looks like someone else basically unscrewed the studs free of the FD case, not just remove the nuts securing said studs to the swing arm.  Doh!

Found two studs loose and one missing out of a total of four.  I then found the missing stud in the box of stuff Bud P. had given me.  Sigh.  I reinstalled the studs into their respective mounting holes in the case along with some blue Loctite, hopefully that does the trick.  Update: will add lock washers as well.

8.  Checked the spark plugs, type: NGK BPR5EGP, both showed black and oil, so the engine was running "rich" before.  I put in new versions of these plugs.  Might swap for Bosch W6DC plugs later.

Gap on the old plug was set at .037

The Clymer manuals states is should be .024-.028 !!!

I set the new plugs at about  .0265

9.  Drained the fuel tank, the gasoline came out a bit darker than I usually see it.  Kind of like the color of urine?  Anyways, I will be putting in fresh gas.  While I had the carburetor bowls off to inspect for crud or water, noticed that both carburetors were missing the small screw that caps the vacuum port on them!  Starting to wonder how it ran well before.  For now, bought some 5.5mm Rubber Caps to seal these openings.

Red arrow points to vacuum port which is missing a screw/cap

10.  Drained the engine oil, black as night.  Bud P. says he put in a new oil filter 1500 miles ago, so based on the odometer reading, roughly at the 13,000 Kilometer mark.  I'll just plan on replacing it at the 15,000 Kilometer mark with a new filter.  I put in two quarts of Castrol 4T Synthetic 20W50 oil, will see if it causes any "leaks", if so, will switch back to Dino version.  I'll probably swap the oil out anyways at the 15,000 mark just for GP.

11.  Battery Hold Down Strap.  It's missing, will try and get one from the URAL dealer.  Presently, it's being held in place, mostly, via a rubber strap.

12.  Found the ground wire for the stock horn but not the power wire, mounted the horn and ran a new wire to the battery for power.  Now I have a working horn.

13.  Tapped into the high beam power wire  to provide power to the auxiliary headlights that are mounted below the main headlight; they only come on when I turn on the high beam setting.

14.  Found a broken wire connection for the auxiliary headlight mounted on the sidecar fender, fixed,
it now comes on with I switch on the ignition.

15.  Previous owner had positioned both a relay and the BMW Voltage Regulator on a bracket anchored on the stud used by the upper front arm securing the sidecar:

Checked with Richard Winter and he confirmed that it's probably not a great location for these items where they're exposed to the weather.  The PO never rode in rain (rare as it might be in Arizona) so I guess he wasn't worried.

Temporarily, I removed both the relay and the voltage regulator from the bracket and repositioned them under the fuel tank:

Took a bit to find the right spots so that the fuel tank could still be fitted where it belonged, but it wasn't too bad.  Found a broken ground wire on the connector going to the regulator so, bonus repair!

Now waiting for the arrival of the clutch parts, hopefully tomorrow afternoon.

Ready for the clutch parts to arrive...

Oh, and good news about Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol sidecar rig.  The repaired gearbox arrived at Randy's place today and last word I got was he was assembling it this afternoon!  I will be taking the trailer up there tomorrow to pick her up after an extended test drive up in Fort Collins!