The Parts Checklist

With the motor and transmission rebuild taking place any day now, I figured best to take note of what universal bits and pieces I’ll need to get the R80 back on-road. While I’ve got suitable parts in mind for almost every row in the list below, I have purposefully left a bunch of easy-to-source parts without a “status” solely because I intend to spend time finding the perfect part for each application. A headlight for example – incredibly easy to find one that will do the trick… Hell, it’s even incredibly easy to find one that will look good… But I have this picture in my head of what I want and with this build I’ll not be settling for an “easy option” if presented with one.

PARTS STATUS
Headlight
Indicators
Speedometer Sourced
Tachometer Sourced
Gaiters
Levers Sourced
Brake line
Control cables Acquired
Grips Sourced
Mirrors
Tyres
Rear sub-frame To Fabricate
Rear hugger/fender To Fabricate
Mufflers w/baffle To Fabricate
Seat To Fabricate
Brake light
Control blocks Sourced
Antigravity battery Sourced
Heat wrap Sourced
High tension leads w/plug housings
Stainless replacement bolts Sourced
Oil temperature plug
Digital speedometer adapter Sourced
Bash plate To Fabricate
Handlebars Acquired

As you can see – the list is quite comprehensive, though it certainly is not complete. I will be adding further rows and altering status’ with upcoming posts and sharing details about parts that I have selected and installed along the way. Some of you might also have noticed items on the list that might seem quite odd (for example: a bash plate on an R80? Preposterous!).

To get the ball rolling, I’ll share what I intend to pick up as my solution for the speedometer/tachometer (and idiot lights):

Acewell's "4453"

Acewell’s “4453”

I’ve elected to go with the Acewell 4453 for a few reasons:

  • ✔ I want something digital. Buuuuut…..
  • ✔ I want something that isn’t incredibly modern looking, or “blingy”.
  • ✔ I want it to have a robust mechanical to digital speedometer adapter option.
  • ✔ I want integrated idiot lights.
  • ✔ I want something that combines speedometer and tachometer instruments tastefully.
  • ✔ I want something that fits the typical “desirables” profile (small, round, solid, etc, etc).
  • ✔ I want the available RPM listed on the analog dial to suit the maximum RPM produced by the R80 boxer motor.

The Acewell 4453 combines all of the above criteria in an ideal way (in my eyes). As mentioned in reason #3; the Acewell digital speedometer has a purpose-built converter/adapter available that makes its installation an almost plug-and-play undertaking:

Acewell BMW Speedometer Cable

Acewell BMW Speedometer Cable

As touched on with my final criteria; Acewell make a few variants of this model of speedometer. The variants offer differing RPM ranges on the analog dial as indicated in the image below:

Acewell 4X53 RPM Variants

Acewell 4X53 RPM Variants

From what I can tell, the 1986 BMW R80 RT motor is capable of revving to 7,200RPM making the ACE-4453 the most suitable unit on offer. With regards to acquiring this unit and relevant speedometer cable; I’ve found a few Australian suppliers with them on offer, but thought best to support a great local store, Motociclo. They’ve got both parts available:

A little pricey huh? Yeah, you could definitely say that – but they’re worth the coin, and that price is quite standard across the board to pick one up from what I can tell. I’ll likely be putting in an order for this badboy next week.

Thanks for reading! You can expect to see similar posts to the above appear sporadically as my shopping list takes shape.

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