Maybe some day restore a '79 - now named "Freedom"

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pidjones

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But not soon, I guess. Missed on one this week. Decided to work on the junker I picked up last month. Do the carbs and you'll have a spare rack I told myself. Separated the rack and find everything full of mud and oxidized aluminum. Carb #1 came apart Ok (so far, not one screw head stripped) and I even got all of the jets out eventually, but I'm afraid this bodybis too far gone. Don't know if there is enough metal to seal to the jet o-rings.
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Looks like you have yourself one heck of a project!


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Nope doesn’t look good ....that’s one corroded carb body ...it’s hard to imagined it could be made useable and operate in top form ....but you never know ....this reminds me of some of the racks I’ve dealt with in years past from bikes I pickup that we’re mostly junk ...I’m sure there some good parts on the bike that can be use for your good running bike ..like a parts department
 
Plan now is to get 5 small cardboard boxes and one large one. Disassemble and clean everything, put in boxes, and store in the shed. Should keep me occupied for the next week or so. Rained out the car/bike show today, so I'm headed down to the garage to restart the ultrasonic with more parts from the first body.
 
Made up a little brass drift with an inverse conical end, and was even able to get the primary nozzle out (of carb #1 body). With my tip cleaners and high G from a 12 string set, opened and strooped all of its jets. Should have a few decent spares from the rack. Will also be pulling heads as the engine is siezed. But, it's just a parts supply. Wish I had something to use them on. Plenty of '78s around, but the '79s are either priced was beyond a restore range or not restorable. Gotta kerp lookin'.
 
Carbs are all diassembled, cleaned, put in bags & boxes. About 35% of it was really useful, I'm afraid. Pulled ths heads and probably <10% of the rest of the engine is usable. Valves rusted open, cams rusted, cylinders very rusty. At least the stator measured good (although the connector was melted) so I pulled it out of the rear cover. Water and sludge poured out when the rear cover was removed. I still plan to strip the engine down fully as a learning exercise, and maybe find SOMETHING inside it that is still functional.

Surprisingly, I have yet to strip, mangle, or break a fastener. JIS bits are the best! BTW, when did Honda go to the spiral-grooved head bolts?
 
I know the feeling. Here is what the "Slug" started out with:

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The engine was locked up. When we finally got it open, we found a slightly bent piston :hihihi:

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She runs like a clock today though:

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Third 'wing is aboard! Monday, I drove over 600 miles RT to pick up a '79 that seems to be in fairly good shape and fairly complete. Although the odometer shows <78 k miles, the 2017 registration only shows a little over 41 k. Tires less than two years old (Dunlops), it is largely rust-free. AGM battery. Wouldn't start, but it's about out of gas - I'm not realky worried about that, I'll get it running right. Compression checks good.

It had been "turned into a cafe racer" by removing the handlebars and replacing them with a couple straight pieces of 7/8" tubing. Seat replaced with a chunk of carved foam rubber. Tail light replaced with a plastic unit zip-tied on. No mufflers but clean shiny headers. It came with a complete set of Vetters including the key to the bags and covers. Stock headlight and ears are in place, but I'll need to cleanly remove the Vetter connector from the harness. Trying to find a local that wants them. It also came with the original handlebars and taillight mounting bracket including rear signals.

Needs: seat, grab bar, taillight, tool tray, front signals, front brake reservoir, clutch lever(broken). I have a pretty good muffler set and hangers for it from a previous build. It also needs a good refurb by tearing it down, polish and paint, rebuild. Also the left side cover is pretty trashed and poorly glued back together. I have a spare for each side however. I will no doubt find a ton of special fasteners (like the shelter hinge pins) missing. Planning to take my time on it, and get it really right. Looks like haunting ebay is once again a thing for me. Not my first show, new belts are on order as well as filter, carbs o-rings. I have (just in case) things like head gaskets on hand.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=210517#p210517:h439x1x0 said:
julimike54 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:26 am[/url]":h439x1x0]
No pic.....did it really happen :BigGrin:
Well, I'm not dragging it out today. This is all you will get for now.
Also including some photos of the "parts" '79 I picked up a while back. Basically a usless lump, but it was instructive to tear it down. BTW, any GL1000 that requires sledge hammer, oak 2x's, crowbars, and cold chisels to split the cases is basically just a learning exercise. Took all morning to split the cases. I'll go ahead and pull the main bearings just in case they held oil and are good.
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And this afternoon finished up pounding the pistons out. Crank actually look good, and the bearings all show zero copper. I labeled the mains and put them in a box with the code from the front of the case. Left the rod bearings in the rods for now. Tranny gears are rusty, so doubt they have any use. case is beat up from splitting the halves. I'll save the crank for now. Anything else that should be saved? I damaged the main transmission shaft that the clutch basket rides on getting the snap ring off of it.
 
A nice surprise today. Decided to do some looking around on this new '79 and found a wire leading from one of the fuses too.... a Dyna 3 module! It will come out and be replaced with stock points for my true restore, but might go in the Hunley if my planned Ford TFI module experiment fails.

Also, I've bought a taillight and located a seat (needs a new cover, but otherwise looks OK). Just need the unobtainium passenger grab bar and front HONDA emblem that goes over the brake spliter (I have the rest, just need the emblem). Of course, that is until I get into the brakes and engine/drivetrain details.

The left side cover was busted in four pieces (I have another) so I glued it back together with ABS plumbing cement. Still a couple small chunks missing, but it mounts Ok and with those chunks patched and some filling/sanding, it should do well for a spare.

I still need to get into the headlight housing and remove the spiced-in Vetter connection. Hope it isn't a hack job.
 
Beat (literally) on the mufflers I plan to use on the '79. The ends had been smashed a bit and the original carbon gaskets were VERY hard (cold chisel had to be resharpened a couple times). I put the head of my large ball peen inside and tapped the outside for almost an hour to somewhat straighten the end out. Still need a bit more, but it is at least "rounderized" now. The headers on the '79 are nice and round and smooth, and I have new gaskets. Will try to do all of the cleaning and polishing without pulling the cross-over apart. I pulled one of the shields off and polished it, beat out a couple mild dents. They won't be perfect but this will never be a conquers competitor. I just want to do a faithful restoration on it.
 
As promised, I finally pulled it out of the family room side of the basement and into the garage. Took some photos as I swapped the bikes around. Headlight was removed to permit removal of the Vetter umbilical and will stay off until I can heal all of the wounds caused by the Scotch-Loks. After getting it in the garage, I pulled the cam belt covers and installed new timing belts. The old ones were stiff and the vendor info worn off the outside, so they were definitely due. Pulled the plugs and hooked up the battery (I had charged and stored it in a plastic battery box). Checked compression, and Yahoo! all 180 +/- 5 psi! The bottom of the engine is covered with oil and there is no obvious source, so I'll clean it well and watch. Although, the '77 that I had back in 2004 had the same oil coverage and it turned out to be from leaky fork seals. The cap over the rotor bolt was jammed and rounded so I had to chisel it off but luckily I had a spare from the junker engine. I think tomorrow I might just hook up the external fuel cell and see if it will fire.
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She runs! Not great, and POURS fuel out of the carbs, but started without choke. (Choke is frozen - probably the cable.) Drained the carbs (I had run her on aux fuel tank). Sprayed her down with a full can of foamy engine cleaner, let it work, then hit her with the power washer. Letting her dry before bringing her inside. Might speed that up with the leaf blower.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211622#p211622:ust7ij6k said:
pidjones » Today, 8:59 am[/url]":ust7ij6k]
She runs! Not great, and POURS fuel out of the carbs, but started without choke. (Choke is frozen - probably the cable.)

One possible cheap fix for a frozen choke cable is removing the cable completely, hanging it vertically, and spraying the cable (using the straw) with PB Blaster.

Let it sit for awhile, then work the cable back and forth in the housing. Once it is moving smoothly, hang it vertically again and dribble down some light engine oil.

Or you could just replace the cable and housing. Probably easier and cheaper to buy a replacement cable made for the motorcycle, but you can always make your own if you can't find it. Had to do that for my Honda scooter. Bought a longer generic cable, cut off an end, pulled the cable out, cut the housing to length, filed the end of the housing, put on a ferrule (IIRC, same size as a bicycle brake cable ferrule, YMMV), got one of the soldered-on knarps and put it on.
 
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