Project Heretic

[TheHeretic]

Hi all

I have been lurking for a while, and I have had a few BMW Boxers over the years and many many other bikes too but ,I thought it was time to show my current BMW Project !!!!

Bought used showing 9000 miles on it from a "dealer" unseen very cheap. got it delivered rode it and thought hmmm this handles like a dog.... took it home had a look and found a catalog of horrors with frame bolts missing and bolts loose here there and everywhere, so what started as a simple "bolt check" kinda took on a life of its own as I started thinking "what it I just do that and change this" OMG its gone mad.

I Wanted a bit more power too (having a tuned GSXR1000) so I looked at turbo's this led me to the door of RSR racing, now if the guy running it put as much effort into the business as he does writing diatribes about others failings he would have a helluva business, but alas after emailing him a few times i am sorry to say my conclusion came to one word: butt crevice as the movie quote go's "never have I met a man in more need of a good blow job...."so dealings with them were put to bed...

Not long after that I stumbled across http://www.tts-performance.co.uk/ who do a rotrex supercharger kit , a quick email and a few calls to the main man sealed the fate of my bank balance !!!

So spec just now is as follows

R1150R twin spark

Body colour: Orange basecoat and clear with custom graphics
Shocks: Front and rear changed to Maxton built to suit me
Wheels: spoked, new stainless spokes hubs/rims painted Orange/White (in progress)
Brakes: uprated EBC pads
Fuel/Ignition System: 3.5 bar pressure regulator, uprated injectors, Map Sensor, aftermarket ECU (TBC) to allow fine tuning of both fuel and ignition maps
LC-1 Wideband Lambda Controller
Engine: stock internals (just now until I break it) TTS racing Super charger(in progress) Catalytic converter removed aftermarket exhaust can,
custom trigger wheel with 24-1 teeth to allow better resolution of the signal to the new ECU. (a cam sync sensor might be fitted later)
Gearbox/Rear drive: Stock, we will just have to see how far I can push it before it cries enough
Renthal handlebars
BMW switchgear junked, Royal Enfield switch-gear on the Left (includes a choke lever) Yamaha YZF 750 Switchgear on the Right)
Both BMW master cylinders junked Yamaha YSF750 with Pazzo levers replaces
BMW Huge clocks junked Koso white faced Gauge installed with elecrtonic speedo pickup coming from the disc bolts (this allowed me to junks the mechanical speedo drive helping with the spoked wheel install)
Single round Headlight junked, Twin 4.5" "bates" headlights on a custom bracket
Screen & bracket junked
Small L.E.D. diamond pattern Indicators
Clear Rear L.E.D. Tail light
EVERY possible crappy plated BMW torx bolt, nut, plug, plins etc replaced with Marine grade stainless steel Allen bolts
Front & rear frame, forks, tele lever, footrests, all brackets painted black & lacquered for durability.

Yes I know the amount of money being spent I could have bought a new R1200 or whatever, but that misses the point of this bike, its relaxation for me from when I am home from working away, i don't trust anyone else to work on my bikes, and in the end I can stand back and (hopefully) be happy that I built my bike my way, and being a BMW not normally messed with in this way, hence its name (and my user name) plus if it shocks a few sports bikes riders in the process that will be an added bonus..

Also waiting on my bike lift to be delivered to save my back.

Just waiting on parts now, I will add updates as and when work allows.



As I bought it




Super charger kit




Change of colour



New Speedo



Dissected wiring loom to remove the motronic



About as far as she is getting stripped for now





Getting ready for the super charger kit



Bars, new speedo & levers

[peels]

supercharger....?

I like it. Wasnt aware that was available.

good luck! Id like to hear/see the results of that.

[Ridgered]

Wow, and here I was all chuffed with my custom seat and lowered pegs! Astounding amount of work and creativity. Cool to see how it works out!

Bill Morrell
Vancouver

2002 R1150 R - you blue beauty

[Samiam]

Kudos!!! I salute you, sir! You have guts, imagination, skill and much more skill than the average rider. Please keep us posted on how this works out.

Man, removing the Motronics alone was enough to get me hooked. I wish you'd do a tutorial on this whole project. (Kinda like Jim von Baden)

[omg1010]

Greetings from Germany,

nice project indeed! However I have my doubts with regards to the durability of the engine with a supercharger ... First of all the oilhead engines are heat critical especially in summer (install a digital oil temp gauge and you will be surprised!). Secondly the torque/hp output might cause the engine to fail quickly (which is why RSR did never put together more than one sample bike - apart of the fact that RSR never answers any enquiries).

The reason for failure is usually the crankshaft bearings. The crankshaft is held in place by 2 bearings and with too much torque starts to slightly bend. As a result the bearings of the piston rods start to fail as well as the pistons and next is a dead engine.

I would go for the classical tuning (forged pistons, modified camshafts, chip) which along you can push the R1150 to approx 124 HP/ 124 NM. This will be much healthier for the engine and your wallet (as the parts for this will cost less than half of the rotrex kit).

Just my recommendation.

Brgds
Oliver

[sjbmw]

Wow. You are truly a ninja. If my bike looked like that and it was my job to reassemble it you would find me lying in the fetal position sucking my thumb.

Of course, pics when you are done will be most uplifting....

[fpgirard]

Wow - and post some audio on the new sound.... I'm breaking out in a sweat from these pics - head can't handle it....

[TheHeretic]

Hi

Thanks for the kind words guys, anyone can do this if the take it slowly and read, read, read, make lots of notes and take a shed load of pictures, luckily I was a time served Mechanic to trade many years ago before I went offshore, and alas playtime is over i just got a call to fly away again in the morning so no bike for a few weeks at the very least.

Its time consuming to say the least, simple things like changing the crappy screws made of cheese for the mirrors i have nice stainless m4 allen bolts to replace, but the hole for the screw is a tad too small for the allen bolt and if I drill the stalk the anodized coating would be ruined leaving yet another job!!! so the allen bolts had to be machined to make the shoulder smaller to get in the hole, thats an hour... ahh but its relaxation hahahahaha.

The ECU is WAS ready for dispatch from the manufacturer after getting some firmware tweaks specifically for the supercharger.

(edit) ECU supplier told to go forth and multiply after being caught lying to me about the unit.

Supercharger kit is still being made

& waiting on the shocks so I hope there will be loads of boxes for me to rip open when i get back from work.

rear Frame being taken back for paint



Front tele-lever just needs a polish now




About 90% of the crappy bolts i have taken out



And weighing in at a whopping 3.9kgs !!!!



Battery box & front frame back on






Speedo on



Head lights



Handle Bars

[TheHeretic]

Greetings from Germany,

nice project indeed! However I have my doubts with regards to the durability of the engine with a supercharger ... First of all the oilhead engines are heat critical especially in summer (install a digital oil temp gauge and you will be surprised!). Secondly the torque/hp output might cause the engine to fail quickly (which is why RSR did never put together more than one sample bike - apart of the fact that RSR never answers any enquiries).

The reason for failure is usually the crankshaft bearings. The crankshaft is held in place by 2 bearings and with too much torque starts to slightly bend. As a result the bearings of the piston rods start to fail as well as the pistons and next is a dead engine.

I would go for the classical tuning (forged pistons, modified camshafts, chip) which along you can push the R1150 to approx 124 HP/ 124 NM. This will be much healthier for the engine and your wallet (as the parts for this will cost less than half of the rotrex kit).

Just my recommendation.

Brgds
Oliver

Thank you for your opinion.

Its all bought and paid for now. The course is set, It doesn't matter how stormy the sea gets. If it go's bang, it go's bang.

I'm lucky that i dont need it to get me to work so if it ends sitting at the side of the road somewhere with a rod making a bid for freedom i will just build it up again.

[omg1010]

Fair enough. Wishing you loads of fun with the bike. Looks nice so far!

Brgds
Oliver

[sunilsingh18]

Wow That is quite a project. Do you have a temperature sensor to monitor the thermal load on the engine. I would think that would be critical to performance. what good is extra air if it too hot ...it will expand and the volumetric efficiency will remain unchanged even with additional air in the manifold. Eventually it is the number of oxygen molecules in the charge...if the temperature is high the density reduces.

That said I salute you for undertaking such an amazing project..would love to hear the results...dyno testing and all

Sunil

It is all about the miles you put behind you

[TheHeretic]

Hi all

There are two bungs being inserted in to each head to allow the speedometer to monitor and display the temps at the heads, the speedometer can be programmed to display a warning light at a
pre-determined temperature. The intake air is cooled via an inter-cooler and the rotrex super charger itself is cooled via it's own dedicated oil supply (shown in a picture above ) I have considered a water/air cooled inter cooler with two small Motocross radiators filled with a coolant circulated via a small electric pump.

There is also some research being considered with regards to adding a water jacket to each barrel, a pair of barrels are being sourced to investigate this. Adding a water jacket is a common trick with some of the scooter racers and not really a huge engineering challenge but that will be reserved for the future and only if required.

[peels]

that is VERY cool But.....any chance you could loan me some of your free time. kiddin.

Watching this closely... cannot wait to see the results. Are you near a dyno for tuning purposes?

[TheHeretic]

Free time...... . Hahaha

I spent 240 days out of 360 away last year so free time is a premium

Closest Dyno that might be able to map it is about 150 miles away.

With auto learn and wide band I might try to get it at least running before
I trailer the bike for a day on the dyno.
Also waiting on zircotec to get back to new about their new exhaust coating
to help getting heat out the tail pipe and not radiating out earlier.

[sunilsingh18]

Seems you have covered all the bases....I salute you....an amazing project. Would love to know the results of testing

Sunil

[peels]

Free time...... . Hahaha

I spent 240 days out of 360 away last year so free time is a premium

Closest Dyno that might be able to map it is about 150 miles away.

With auto learn and wide band I might try to get it at least running before
I trailer the bike for a day on the dyno.
Also waiting on zircotec to get back to new about their new exhaust coating
to help getting heat out the tail pipe and not radiating out earlier.

do you have a number you are hoping/shooting for?

I bet this thing makes a cool noise when its done.....

[TheHeretic]

I'm not thinking about numbers. But the guys who make the charger kit are expecting a healthy motor to make around 140.
I will be happy if it actually accelerates in top gear when I open the throttle instead of the usual boxer rattling sound

[peels]

I'm not thinking about numbers. But the guys who make the charger kit are expecting a healthy motor to make around 140.
I will be happy if it actually accelerates in top gear when I open the throttle instead of the usual boxer rattling sound

Id be curious to see if this does anything much to low end....or just adds heaping cream cans full of top end... 140 is a great number.

My old bike was 148-or something. (FZ1) And I loved all of 148 of them....

I find that top gear on these beemers is tall for sport riding. I hadn't thought of slapping a blower on it to make it better, though. LOL It is GREAT for highway driving, however.

good luck! I love stuff like this.... I will be staying tuned.

[riceburner]

I'm not thinking about numbers. But the guys who make the charger kit are expecting a healthy motor to make around 140.
I will be happy if it actually accelerates in top gear when I open the throttle instead of the usual boxer rattling sound

Interesting, the shorter top gear on the Rockster means it can accelerate quite briskly from 80-ish in top (up to 120-ish). (Ok it's not in R1 territory, but it'll stay with quick saloon cars) I didn't think the taller top gear on the 'R-R' made such a huge difference.

[todehnal]

Enjoyed reading through your rebuild. Quite and undertaking, for sure
I have a bare bones 04 R1150R. I was admiring the screen and mountings from your original single headlamp picture. If you haven't junked these items too deeply, I sure would like to try it out on mine. Feel free to drop me an email at [email protected] or give me a call on 628-541-0775
Thanks, and good luck with your project...........Tom