a couple of very small points.
I would replace the needles and needle jets. On my high mileage bike it made more than 40km per tankful difference.
Motobins sell a bright 20 watt 'pilot' light that uses a lot less current for your riding light.
you could order all of these parts from them. it would be worth setting up an account, then if you are in need of anything you will already be a customer.

Hi.
Thanks for the tips.
I have given the carbs a strip down, clean and a renewed some gaskets,rubber inlets, O rings, diagphrams etc but not much else since they were running OK before. However, I will take your advice and give them the full monty. I read a lot of stuff on 'snowbums' Airhead page ( That guy is an encyclopedia, where does he get the time?) and kind of scared myself into ordering new floats too. A pair of vacuum gauges are on the way ( ebay again) so I can take care of the balancing. I'm also about to renew the fuel hoses so that begs a new question.
Should I fit in-line fuel filters? Again, Snowbum kind of got me wondering since he states that these inline filters mess with fuel delivery. (10 pages of very complicated explanations as to why!).. Anyone got an opinion?
I personally thought it would be a good idea.
Regarding the running light. Again, I shall follow your advice. The LED was OK but I'd rather go with the bulb that was made for the job.

Currently overhauling the front end and messing about with wheels and tyres but thats another story.
Thanks again.
Ian

__________________
If you never make mistakes, you ain't trying..

Ian
My BMW R100/7 ran for years with inline filters; never any problems.

Paul,

Thanks for the confirmation.

Since asking around on the subject, I have been getting a lot of:-
" Yeah! I heard that too but they ran OK on my bike"

I think it's a case of, yes, in theory and if you took oodles of measurement in various conditions, you may find a slight drop in fuel flow. In a real life situation, it does not seem to ( noticeably) affect running at all.

I am sure, and logic dictates, that the filter will impede flow slightly. The article I read seemed to suggest that, due to one factor and another, gravity feed, restricted flow, big big carb, vacuum in the tank, it was made in Germany in January and a fish blew a bubble in the Atlantic just before full moon.) and in certain circumstances ( throttle setting, road speed, how many litres in the tank, ambient temp etc etc) , fuel starvation 'MAY' occur. Well I guess this 'MAY' may just refer to MAY 32nd Two thousand and twenty twelfth according to all the people who have now told me that they use them with no side effects other than cleaner fuel.
That's what I want to hear.
Thanks.
Ian

__________________
If you never make mistakes, you ain't trying..

The big risk with a partial fuel flow reduction on a bmw is it will make your engine run lean, and then at high throttle openings you have a high likleyhood of melting pistons.
It is easier to clean carbs.
bmw fuel flow is barely sufficient when it is fine so cant really accept any degradation. Better to fuel up regularly so you dont use the trash that gets released when you switch to reserve.
As to the argument, it worked fine in my bike.. well it is perfectly possible to cross the road without looking. and no one here who was hit by a bus will report the accident. That does not make it the preferred method. Be wise and choose the option which 'fails safe'.

Good point well taken! I will look further into it!
( I prefer to fail safe if fail I must.. but I try not to fail in the first place!)

I suppose this issue may well apply to another topic which I was going to raise at a future date but now would seem a good time!

I have heard the same logic applied to whether or not you can use unleaded petrol in a BMW boxer. The two previous owners of my bike have both said they had used unleaded for years with ' no problem!'
I have since learned that using unleaded may not give rise to a 'sudden death' situation but may gradually degrade the valves/seats over time resulting in some costly damage. The fact that my bike runs very well at the moment does not negate the possibility that some damage is occuring, albeit at a slow rate. Since the bike has only done a few hundred miles in 6 years, any slow degradation is maybe not going to be obvious.
Since I am currently giving the bike a thorough 'makeover, I had intended leaving the engine alone until after the bike is MOT'd ( annual safety test in UK!) and Road Taxed.
Since I am not sure if my engine CAN run (undamaged) on unleaded since the engine was replaced with a new 1984 engine. ( By the Police I believe!), I think it important I find out.
So, how can I tell , by visual/physical check, if my engine is 'Unleaded'.
OR
Is there a way to find out by engine number.

Since I believe the conversion is quite quite costly, What would be my best options?, bearing in mind I am about to put some serious mileage on it.
Some of those miles may quite well be fuelled by some dodgy petrol. ( If the stories are true!) so I want to give the bike the best chance of making it and not getting egg on by face! ( or crud in my carbs.)


Thanks a bunch for the input. It all helps so keep the comments coming!
Ian.

__________________
If you never make mistakes, you ain't trying..

IF it were me I would ask Motobins, or post a question on Welcome to Boxerworks.com

I think you are ok, I think about 1982 is when they started making the low quality fuel engines for the 800cc. I think if there is a blue dot on the underside of your cylinder head you are definitely ok. I would just run it anyway, who knows how many thousands of carefree miles it will run. Changing worn out valve seats cost no more than changing out your near new ones.

I did know the answer to this once, as i researched which bike to get before I bought mine. I went for a 1985 monoshock, because this model is set up to use poor fuel , and does not have the drivetrain issues attributed to the parlever models. or spline issues with the earlier bikes.