'83 interstate cleanup/personalization

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kerryb

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It has been a few years since I worked on a new-to-me wing. I rebuilt the "camp bike" a few years ago, it was a standard/interstate mongrel with a vetter fairing, and then discovered the aspencade had better air turbulence behaviour so I moved the trailer hitch over and sold the mongrel. How many '83 wings do you really need? I now know the answer to that question is actually two. One for my home, and one for my winter stay in florida. Had a 77 cb550f in florida last year and discovered it wasn't big enough for the freeway (for me) and lacked wind protection for those colder days.
I always wanted an '83 interstate (fewer electronics) so when this one came up at a great price near home I bought it, then thought "what am I going to do with two of them?" So the decision was made to get it ready to be the florida bike.
So this thread will be about what I find, fix, and/or change to make the bike more suitable for me. For starters, the floorboards have to go, I'm too short and they are in the way. The custom seat has already been replaced with a recovered stock model. The custom one was so wide I couldn't reach the ground from the seat. So that seat will be available to someone taller!
Just realised I have no pictures availble from this device so that will be next post.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=219849#p219849:uh5a7sqi said:
mcgovern61 » Tue Nov 03, 2020 2:24 pm[/url]"]:useless:

Ok, lets try to fix that problem.
This is how it looked as sold. package deal with the lift, factory service manual, all receipts from 1 owner and a Clymer manual too.
The goal is to go through this bike to make sure it is roadworthy. Remove a lot of farkles to make it weigh less and figure out how to use the nice pioneer stereo in the dash.
 

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a quick look-over revealed a few issues to be addressed to make it roadworthy, and a few more to make it mine.
1. Strip off most of the accessories to lighten it up and clean up the look. the sharp-eyed already noticed the seat change. The custom seat it came with is too wide for me to reach the ground! Any tall guys looking for a custom seat?

In addition to new timing belts and tires, I found these areas that need attention before launch. Right front brake seals, flush all fluids and check piston and pad condition. One fork seal leaking, replace both and inspect forks. New tires. Small oil leak under water pump weep hole, inspect water pump and check seals. gas leak under carb #4, runs good, so maybe just new bowl gaskets.
3-wire alternator fix is already done, but I'm not in favor of butt connectors so I may just do a solder splice to be sure. remember, it will live near the coast with salt air.
The good news is that the rear master cylinder appears good, the linked brake lines are in good shape, and the paint work is clean and blemish free...too bad it's brown.
The jury is still out on whether it needs head gaskets, the smoke from the left side might be from storing on the sidestand for 3 weeks, but a fill and check of the coolant reservoir revealed a drop in level when it cooled off...darn...seems premature at 69k miles.
 
Aren't the Interstate seats different from the standards? Else I'd be tempted, but I have my inner Scots skinflint to remind me to guard my wallet.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=219857#p219857:3vqw44b2 said:
saganaga » Tue Nov 03, 2020 11:57 pm[/url]":3vqw44b2]
Aren't the Interstate seats different from the standards? Else I'd be tempted, but I have my inner Scots skinflint to remind me to guard my wallet.

When I rebuilt the mongrel, it started life as an '83 standard, I swapped in seats from both an 83 interstate and aspencade to test fitment to my self (butt comfort) all combinations worked well.

Does anyone know if there were any changes to frames, faux tanks, or rear luggage racks to make the seats different?
We should get Joedrum on this, he would know about frame changes.

I'll take some pictures to look for differences.

The difficult part it seems, is finding a set of '83 aspencade footpegs for this bike. I would trade the farkles for a set of those pegs!
 
Upon closer inspection, it seems the rear master cylinder isn't leaking because there is no fluid in it...arrrgh!
Maybe it's time to try the 1800 mc upgrade, better now than later when tooling is somewhat diminished.
Tomorrow's task will be to get some pictures of the farkles and take-offs to see if anyone wants them. I could use the space they're taking up.
 
Excess chrome is coming off, I like my bikes plain. Is anyone interested in a set of chrome bag guards, or Honda running boards with passenger boards too. I will never put these back on. Chrome front fender guard is coming off too, but that will will have to wait till the front wheel is off.
There was someone interested in the big seat, so I'll get some pics of it and post them soon.
 

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more teardown, got the front wheel off and was surprised to find just a little slop in the bearings, so I guess I have to do those too.
Question...can a compression test be used to verify a head gasket leak? I think the gasket is leaking because of a little smoke from the left side. I don't have the fairing off yet to look for bubbles in the radiator, I guess that needs to happen before too much more disassembly

Here is the available seat.
 

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I've been lax in updating this thread...
Here's what we have so far, Brake calipers are all rebuilt, only needed one new piston. Left head gasket is replaced, no evidence of a leak but I can never tell anyway! Handlebars extended 2" with some vintage risers I took off a cb750 barn find. This required a new longer front (left side) brake line. Of note: my brake bleeding has gotten easier because I wrap Teflon sealing tape on the bleeder screw, then use the compressor from an old refrigerator to draw vacuum on the caliper and just watch the reservoir level until air stops coming out. I do have to pump the lever occasionally to make this work.
Added crude homemade gears to the air mixture screws on the carbs so adjusting them is just poke it with a sharp stick!
got the new seat cover installed on the used seat I bought online. Had to make the aluminum fasteners (they look like nails) from scratch because the originals didn't survive. turned down some aluminum roofing nails on the lathe. Should have thought to anneal them before installation because now I can't bend them over to finish. I'll cut them short and put on a plastic cap.
 

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Also: finally got my carb float levels to where I think they are supposed to be...only took $200.00 in new float valve needles and seats from Honda! New fork seals and oil. I had to clean up some pitting on the tubes to get the seals on, them I used my special oil infuser to put the ATF back in because I hate trying to put the fork caps back on after refilling. It only takes about 15 minutes for the atf to go back in through that tiny little tube! I'm going to have to Rube Goldberg some way to put those caps back on!
Oh!...only had to drill one fork bolt to get the fork apart, learned to use copious amounts of heat on the fork slider with Pb Blaster boiling away. Lucky I keep spare fork bolts and washers in stock.
 

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For the fork tube caps, I took a 2x3 and cut out the center enough to fit over the cap. You get great leverage with a 2x3 while pushing the springs down and twisting the cap on.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=220532#p220532:cvlu3mgo said:
mcgovern61 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 8:00 pm[/url]":cvlu3mgo]
For the fork tube caps, I took a 2x3 and cut out the center enough to fit over the cap. You get great leverage with a 2x3 while pushing the springs down and twisting the cap on.

That's a good idea, thanks. I shall try something like that.
 
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