Stebel Nautilus Air Horn for BMW

Worked all afternoon getting the air horn wired up. mounted the unit on the sidecar frame in the front. Pre wired the unit to the stock horn switch and ...nothing. disassembled the switch, cleaned the contacts and spent 45 minutes reassembling the thing. A tiny little circlip is easy to remove but a bugger to reset. Damned thing still didn't work. Time for a new switch assembly it appears. I went over to Radio shack and purchased a pair of push button switches for $4.00. Decided to jury rig in a switch until I acquire a new BMW switch.
Fabricated a switch mount out of old junk I had laying around. Somewhat of a "hokey" mount but it functions and will do for now.
Horn is LOUD. 139 Decibels according to the paperwork. Uses a relay system and was pretty easy to mount. My non working switch added a couple hours to the installation.

I didn't have a spare key for the R100S ignition so ordered a key blank from Hucky's BMW Parts. Then I couldn't find a lock / key place that would cut it for me. I've seen some lock smiths who weren't exactly rocket scientists so how hard could it be? I gathered up a couple different small files and made an impression of my good key in a piece of epoxy. Then just slowly / carefully started filing on the key as close as I could to the original....and low and behold I had a working spare key.

Last Chance Rondezvous / BMW Service / Stebel Air Horn

We took a quick trip up to Montana for a family visit and an early Christmas. Flew up and drove my wife's car back down.
Yesterday was a day of Motor home maintenance and the rest of the week is designated for motorcycle maintenance and repairs.
Today I changed the oil & filter. Also changed out all the gear lubes. Transmission , final drive, and drive shaft reservoir. Pulled the valve covers and checked the valve clearances. Found both exhaust valves just a little tight.

Also reset the points as they were a little tight. The cam rubbing block has worn a bit since I replaced the points a few months ago. Tomorrow I'll re-sync the carbs with the Twin - Max Synchronizer. I purchased a Stebel Air Horn a few days back and it arrived today. The stock BMW horn is feeble at best. The Stebel cranks our over 100 decibels so it should grab attention when needed.

I fabricated a mount out of old BMW clamps I had laying around. Am mounting it to the sidecar frame up in the front. Got it mounted today and tomorrow I'll need to wire things up. I'll post a photo of the finished product when it is done. I ordered a pair of after market /5 cigar mufflers tonight. Under $150.00...the high end stainless ones go for around $500.00. I'm not sure which bike they'll go on, but might mount them on the sidehack tug.(?) They are very quiet mufflers. I have an original pair of them on the /5 now and sure like the low sound they emit.

We are attending the BMW Airheads Club Annual Last Chance Rendezvous this weekend. Starts on Friday for New Years Eve and continues until Sunday. Weather forecasts are for clear, but cold weather. Lows at 29 - 32 degrees. Highs in the upper 40's and low 50's. We'll take plenty of warm clothes for camping out for sure! Purchased a pair of (too costly) Therma Rest air mattresses and tried them out at Bashfords a couple of weeks ago. I think they'll help a lot in the warmth / comfort department.
I'll post photos and description of the Last Chance gathering next week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Niland California via Sidehack

We decided to make a quick overnight camping trip over to Niland CA. and Bashfords Mineral Spa. Packed up the hack and left Yuma around 11:00 AM Sat. I had purchased an expensive pair of sleeping pads (Thermarest-NeoAir) and was dying to try them out in the rocks of the famous Bashfords "Outback". We pulled out of home at a pleasant 78 degrees and headed out over the Colorado River into Ca.

The pyramid below is known to be "The Center of the Earth" is these parts. Not sure what it is all about but it is a cool building.

Some of the Mountains along Ogilby Road near Black Rock CA. an old mining town.

We always stop for a break at Glamis CA. and always see some bad ass sand rigs. This is an old school rig with a killer 1920 Model T Air Horn.

That brass air horn would look good on a sidecar.

The sand is plentiful here. lots of folks playing about in the dunes.

A great ride through here

Great contrast where the dunes end and the bleak desert begins.

We pulled into Bahfords Spa to find the office now a vacant lot. Found that the office/residence burned down last summer.
Our camping spot in the Outback. Had a great sunset.

The new NeoAir sleeping pads were awesome! Even in the rocky ass camping area.

Sunday morning dawned at 70 degrees and not a breath of wind.

Decided to make a run over to Slab City to check it out as Darian had never seen the place.

Here we have one of the concrete bunker guard houses. There are a couple of them still about.

The stage and party spot for Slab City. Complete with old aircraft seats.

Lots of "collectors" around these parts.

The derelict train station in Niland: Cool architecture

We made a straight run to home from Niland, with a stop for breakfast and a stop at Glamis.