Monday, October 11, 2010

Termination Dust

Part of this weekend was spent at Twin Bears camp along Chena Hot Springs Road at a men's retreat. Friday was cold and wet and you could see a slight sheen on the roads from the ice. These pictures were taken on Saturday afternoon and it was beautiful and it would've been a great day for a ride with temperatures venturing a above freezing. Quite a few guys brought their four wheelers to ride on the trails but I settled for walking around the lake taking pictures and just relaxing.
Twin Bears camp
I'm headed back to Barrow this week and it just seemed to be a good time to just relax. As you can see from the frozen lake, the temperatures have been well below freezing for a while and if we get a good snow fall, it may actually stay for a while.

Sunday brought a bunch of "termination dust" (as they call the first snow that will probably stick around) or at least enough to make the roads really slippery Monday morning. Several vehicles in the ditch just on my short commute. I guess it may be time to park the bike and get started on some of the repairs. Looking at the valves through the exhaust ports last spring showed the edges starting to thin. This usually points to the exhaust valve receding into the head. Valves and valve seats need to be replaced, not a job I have the tools to do. I did find a shop to do the work in California so I just need to pull the heads, package them up and send them down. I've heard a lot of positive comments about the shop on the airheads.org mailing list. There were also a lot of warnings about having the job done at a dealer since most of them don't have any staff familiar with these old engines. The valve recession issue is fairly common with early 80s BMW airheads due to the elimination of leaded gasoline. Newer years had different metallurgy in the valve seats and smaller diameter valves which apparently eliminated the problem. Or at least that's what I've read on the Internet...

8 comments:

  1. Nice photos around the lake. It looks beautiful and peaceful. Was that a church retreat?

    That's one of the things I dread dealing with as the miles gather -engine wear. I like the info on the club forum too.

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  2. Lovely pics. Honestly I've had my share of frozen lakes while in Alberta. Not missing it a bit.
    Please explain, what is a men's retreat? I am sure wellness, meditation and prayers are involved... not!

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  3. Mike & SonjaM:
    Yes, it was a church retreat. But one of the main intents was to get new folks connected with others in the church. There was a lot of introductions and talking going on interspersed with ATV trail rides, target shooting, hiking, and plenty of food. Fairbanks has both an Army and Air Force bases plu the university so there is a large transient population who are away from home some for the first time ever.

    Thank you for the comments on the pictures. It's a new hobby.

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  4. Love the photos of the frozen lake, but I'm glad it's your lake and not my lake...not that I have a lake. But if I did, I wouldn't want if frozen yet! :)

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  5. Kari:

    I'm amazed at how many lakes are frozen already. Last weekend, the forestry students were having logging contests at a lake near campus. Now it is frozen over solid enough that I saw x-country ski tracks across it.

    Richard

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  6. I was worried at first when I saw the word "termination". Glad it wasn't work related!

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  7. Great post. What is the name of the California shop, by the way? I may be needing new valve seats in my R90/6 soon. The leakdown test was good but it is smoking a bit.

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  8. Forest:

    I'll be sending the heads to Ted Porter's Beemershop down in Scott's Valley. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

    Richard

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