Ice, Ice Baby...

Sunset on the 2nd day of ice storm

Some select pockets of NC got severe ice Thursday night through Friday afternoon, with major damage and the accompanying power outages. Some of the restoration work has been truly heroic and epic in proportions in Alamance, Guilford and Orange counties, while the rest of the state was relatively unaffected. We had more trees and tops come down on our property than we did in the statewide ice storm of February 2003, but not as much as back after Hurricane Fran in '96. Here are some snaps of the damage around our house. So while we've entered day four without power (so, no heat OR water as we're on a well), thankfully, everything big fell AWAY from any structure so we're blessed its only cleanup at this point (lots of cleanup):

Gosh Darn It!

Ok, not the words I've really been using...

Rare, "unobtanium" right ATE caliper on the BMW R65

I performed, or I should say, started, the rebuild of the 2 ATE calipers on my '81 R65. The right side, which was the side that was frozen up, came off and came apart with little resistance. After hours (literally) of scrubbing and cleaning, I had a very clean and serviceable caliper that took the rebuild bits – along with the little o-rings from Mike V– just fine. There was some pitting on the pucks, but these were above the seal line so I dressed 'em up and reinstalled. All's well says I.
Then came the LEFT side. I was stymied in minutes. The 2 bolts mounting the caliper to the fork leg loosened just fine by hand, and the top 8mm hexbolt holding the caliper halves together broke loose too.
But the lower bolt was another story. I was initially being careful, as it looked a little rounded by a previous owner, but no amount of pressure using a breaker bar would pry it loose. Hours of liquid wrench, PB blaster, and heat from a propane torch only yielded a severely buggered head. As this head is the one that stands proud, I even tried locking it in a vise and rotating the caliper around it. No joy.
I'm ashamed I let it degrade this far, but it ticked me off that bolt wouldn't give up.
I really think some previous owner musta JB Welded that bolt in there.
Sigh.
In defeat, I'm off to Bombar's Beemers tomorrow to see if it can be tapped out. I need the leprechauns on my side for this one.
What follows are photos of the successful rebuild of the RIGHT caliper: