Homegrown Restoration! 1982 Standard - Dressed

This is a new thread called "Restorations" as a result of the simple fact that collectively, we have a wealth of experience bringing these "Classic Wings" back to life! From the "Barn Find" to "Garage Queens", we have seen and restored (if not just making them road worthy again) Classic Wings to either former glory and "just fun to ride" bikes. The purpose of this thread will be a place to post pics with a story about our efforts and/or restorations so that our collective experience can help anyone that is interested in bring a Wing to life, see the pitfalls, tips and tricks that we have learned along the way and just share our experiences for others to have fun with!

So....come on and join me for a trip through the restoration process! :good: :hi:

Gerry

In summer 2007, I was asked to be prepared to perform a funeral service for a man in our church that the doctors said they were not sure how long he could survive with a condition he had that continually caused his skin to slough off without reason. My Pastor was going away for 10 days and my Pastor'straining was finished and it was time for the rubber to meet the road (no pun intended :hihihi: ). He wanted to get together with the family so that I could meet them and we could prepare for the worse.

Turns out....he recovered! :clapping: We still went to meet the family out on their farm and got into a motorcycle conversation (I was surrounded by all kinds of Harley's!). My Pastor had an '86 GL 1500 and I mentioned that I always wanted an 80's wing since they first came out. Well, turns out a family member says, "I got a '82 Goldwing out in my front yard. You are welcome to it if you want"! I could not believe he was serious! ........He was! :salute:

I only have one thing to say........"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE!" :doh: Turns out, it sat outside for 12 years in the NJ Pine Barrens and had not been run at all. He helped get it loaded on their Harley trailer (apparently it is an accessory all Harley owns need? :hihihi: ) and we got it home. I should have concerned when even his family keep saying "Thats quite a project ya got there". Here are a few pics right after we got her home:

More to follow! :thanks:

opcorn: I've seen this movie, the ending is awesome.

~O~

MCGOVERN
That bike has really come a long way,a true testement to yourself.

it was pretty when i saw it in person

I love that windscreen!

slabghost":294gl3mc said:

I love that windscreen!

Click to expand...

Yea....me too! Too bad it was too far gone, yellowed and cracked from sun exposure. Never found anything else like it for the Vetter fairing.

Well.....we got a Classic Goldwing (Yea!!) Now what??? Well, I started with cleaning out all of the pine needles and washing everything off. (Looked a tad better afterward?? :smilie_happy: ) Got a new battery, pulled the plugs and turn it on.....lights work, turn signals work, push the start button and the lights dim.....but no start. (Doesn't even try). Hmmmmmmmmm. I needed Goldwing help! I googled Goldwing repairs and found the Saunders site! Joined and asked how to get the engine to turn over and other Q&A and got some great advice! My only real complaint was that it was real hard to find specific stuff for 1100 without reading what seemed like hundreds of thousands of posts!

I did notice that an 1100 Guru kept responding and had a link to this CGW website. Turns out ...the Guru also owned the website! :thanks:

Short of it is, everyone was saying PB blaster or ATF in the cylinders, trans in neutral, plugs out, try turning the stator nut, pop the clutch, blah, blah blah......I tried them all and nothing worked!!! oh2:

So I took my team (my 16 year old and 11 year old daughters) and said "take that engine out"! Well...needless to say, my 16 year old said "Huh? Ihave never done this before". I said, "a person assembled it a person can take it apart. Find wrenches that fit and ask if you get stuck!" 4 hours later, we had the engine out and on the floor. (My girls did great!)

We pulled the heads (rust inside), punched, kicked, heat from a propane torch...we did everything we could and still no movement. Finally, we decided a slight tap on the case with a 5 lb maul was in order and this is what we found inside:




Not sure...but I don't think that is normal? :hihihi: :hihihi:

Ok...ok...ok...so the engine is a little under the weather. :smilie_happy:

I did as much research online as possible on what I needed. What I knew was:

The Vetter radio, speakers and windshield were shot.
The faux tank was rusted thru in a few places.
All brakes were frozen solid.
Front forks and brakes were covered in old oil and dirt from the seals leaking.
Tires?? (Please....it sat for 12 years)
Seat doesn't look real comfortable at the moment.
Exhaust split in two when I touched it.
Carbs??? (The corrosion level on the aluminum was real bad)
(Not looking good)

But hey.....I do have a brand new battery! :smilie_happy:

Started stripping it down to the frame:

Soooooo.....what first?? I need an engine to start with. Ebay happens to have a wrecked '81 that looks real good otherwise! Says it has 45K miles on it, carbs are rebuilt, Road Sofa seat, aftermarket exhaust and chrome goodies! Drive over to check it out (it is local) and a College kid owns it. Tried to make it into a race bike with his own mods! Turns out it was originally an '81 Interstate. I bid and win for $400! (Yea!!) :clapping:

The '81 starts right up! Take a very short hop on it to be sure everything else that is supposed to work does and other than wanting to go left by itself, it seems OK to me! (Mind you, I know very little about Goldwings at this point!) Get the bike home and start looking at differences between the two. I do not have a title yet for the '82 so I decide that maybe it would be best to swap stuff and make the '81 the runner! Get the '81 title from PA and it has a note on it..."Mileage exceeds normal mechanical limits" huh?? :shock:

The PA title says it had 147k on it some 5 years before I got it! :rant: :rant:

No matter....the engine runs pretty good (at least as far as I could tell...who knows what it should sound like?) Start swapping parts from the '82 hoping there is no frame damage...but...no such luck! Bent at the triple tree and left lower frame! :rant:

ALL STOP! Now what??????? Low and behold, the PO on the '82 finds the NJ title and it is clean!! Turns out the bike only had 23,494 miles on it before he parked it. He then told me...THE REST OF THE STORY. He remembers he might of had a drink or two before parking it and thought it was running when he shut it down. (It was not the best time in his life). The bike had been something he and his now ex enjoyed together and it had too many good memories with it that he couldn't bear anymore. So he got a Harley! After much talk...it looks like he might of run it out of oil from a loose oil filter and seized the engine at idle. I said...thats OK..got me a real good '81 engine to put in!

gee gerry i had a long spill going on that your last post killed ...but you need to use the frame with the title you can get number one thing and go from there i dont care how many miles it has ...take the timing covers off and chect the belts for slop ...a must if there sloppy you ca put the motor in a sweet spot and adjust the tensioners useing the crank bolt to trun it ...do both sides....then do what you have to do to move everything in the right frame....it looks to me you got the parts as i did to get one good bike out of the two .....i did you can too :mrgreen:

How is this helping newbies on restorations??? Well, I just needed to tell the story of how the '82 ended up with an '81 engine and what NOT to do!

Again...don't know much about Goldwings....but Imma learnin real fast (not by choice). I figured my local Honda Dealer would be a good resource for hard repairs and info.....NOT!

Bike more than 10 years old....don't even think about asking...they won't work on it. :rant: Advice from them......NOT! :rant:

On my own again! At least I have my girls doing a lot of the work! They have at this point, they have pulled two engines and helped me strip the '82 to the frame. It is decided....the '82 will be the runner! We pull the tank, clean everything on the frame, prime and paint with rattle can gloss black.

So where would you go from here??? Painted frame....good title...working engine and carbs....time to check wiring. The '82's wiring had been hacked in a few places in the back and the '81 wiring was hacked in the front. No brainer.....mix and match until I get one solid, no hacked wire harness! '81 coils looked good...no cracks, '82 connectors are better shape, '81 gas tank and float good, '82 rear air shocks good...and before you know it..piece by piece, bolt by bolt we start the build a runner! :clapping:

Lots of info out there for Vetter fairings and timing belts and so on. I decide that it is best to just use the best parts and see whats left in the end. Here is the initial setup on the '82 frame:

New tires front and rear - '82
Brakes front and rear - '81
Tanks (faux and real) plus covers - '81
Great seat from the '81
Chrome goodies from the '81
Mix of wiring from both
Lights - rear '82, front Vetter
Engine, carbs - '81
Exhaust - Jardine aftermarket (noisy)
Cables, handles -'81
Handle bars - '82
Rotors - '82 (pulled the '81s and set them aside)
Rear -'82
Fairing - Vetter (cleaned up and polished like new) new windshield

The PO said the '82 rear bags were pretty deep. Looked for a time and finally found all three bags plus real good clean bars and bumper for $100 bucks on Ebay. (Ebay is becoming my friend!) We did a rattle can paint job and this is what we got:



My 11 year old did the pin striping with me! I hadn't painted the bags yet, the bike was only ready for the run around the block at this point. No real adjustments made yet and the forks still needed seals.

opcorn:

I like it Gerry, nice job. :music:

The bike is running......brakes are working......lights are working.......good tires (New Bridgestone Spitfire S11'sI know I know, I don't work for Bridgestone, they just hold up real well!)....battery is good (seems to be working)....and it goes in a straight line! Those darn fork seals. Called Honda again (had to at least try once more) and they said, "If I take the forks off and bring them..they would do the seals...$210 bucks :shock: ". WOW, must be hard to do! That was a lot of money! Soooo....we pulled the forks from the '82, took them over and said, "Here ya go! "

He looked and said, "Nope...can't do it! The forks are pitted from rust and they would never seal correctly. We cannot take the chance." :rant: Now what!!!!!!!!! Off to Ebay again......set of forks. While they were apart, I checked the steering head bearings and since the '82 only had under 24k on the frame, the bearings were actually near new in condition. Intsall the new forks! (Yea!) Guess what........THEY LEAK!!!!!! :rant:

So it looks like the team is going to have to tackle the fork seals (Scary). Lots of good advice at the Goldwing sites, but they still made it sound scary...worrying about the springs being compressed and popping out......oil blowing out everywhere...we was a-scared! I do not have a shop or a bench and everyone said it was a must! I went to Ebay and invested in Haynes and Clymer Manuals for more guidance (they scared me too!) We ordered the new seals from Honda and started the dreaded "SEAL REPLACEMENT PROCESS" :shock:

I am here to tell you....WHAT A BUNCH OF HYPE!!!!! :sensored: The forks came apart easily, the seals popped right out! My 16 year old daughter had the left side done in 15 minutes!!!! (Not counting removing from the triple tree which required the removal of the gauges) Made a seal press from a PVC pipe and filled with ATF. Popped them back on, added air and ...voila...they worked fine (and have stayed sealed ever since!).

typical of moderin buisness ...they dont anything thatr a 12 yr old can do ...they like to keep the jobs down to pre school level :smilie_happy: :mrgreen: :Egyptian: :music: :salute: :builder: :clapping: :music: good going girls ...dont let your daddy mess anything up :hihihi:

:smilie_happy: Can I borrow your daughter? :smilie_happy: :whistling:

Thanks guys! My girls aren't afraid of nuttin anymore! (Cept maybe a certain knocking the '81 engine makes :smilie_happy: )

For Newbies...I want to clarify that it is NOT neccessary to remove the triple tree and bearings to do the fork seals! I had to remove it beacuse I was swapping out the bad forks with good ones and it was prudent to check the steering head bearings while I was there.


Next: We add up the cost to date. This is all prior to any adjustments, belts, hoses or being able to pass NJ State Inspection.