'85 GL1200 Limited parts bike? NOT!

[SteveA-wing]

As I said earlier I came upon an '85 GL1200 Aspencade that was last started in 1994 with only 8550 miles. It has been garage kept since the owner passed away. This bike is 100% there with no abuse, but a lot of rheumatism from sitting all that time. Unsure yet what I'm going to find as I start going through it. A lot of surface rust that will need to be dealt with but this will be a summer project. I also recently picked up an '85 GL1200 LIMITED. This one was basically gotten as a parts bike and shows signs of "Shade Tree Mechanicing" I started evaluating it and correcting some wiring issues just to see how far gone it was since it was rolling and stopping. The guy I got it from had bought it not running and never got it running, though it would kinda run if you gave it a shot of either. I went ahead and put in a rebuilt set of fuel injectors and a new fuel filter. Tested fuel flow and pressure before trying to actually start it. I removed a rats nest of wires that were tagged across fuses and hooked the battery up. Tried to start it and it spun over pretty good and according to the Diagnostics on the ECU the Camshaft position sensor was either bad or an open wire. Long story short I found that the cable from the sensor had been misrun and was being twanged by the throttle cable. It had caused one of the wires to be pulled out of the connector. Repaired the broken wire and dressed it properly so that would not happen ever again. Crossed my fingers turned the key and hit the start button. SHAZZAM! It fired immediately and ran pretty good and idled at 1050 rpm. It smoked quite a bit when I first started it, but I ran it at idle about 15 minutes to normal temperature and it quit smoking. I was floored I have never had a fuel injected bike before. I am amazed that is not cold natured like my GL1100. There are still lots of ills that need correcting but I think it's going to be a keeper. It's missing the lowers with the cornering lights along with most of the bolts that should hold the fairing. I've got to troubleshoot the wiring for the radiator fan as that's been hacked also and wired direct into the fusebox. I'm retired so I've got something to do, keeps me out of the Senior Citizens Center playing Bingo. I'll post some pics as soon as I get it off the lift and outside.

 

[Dusterdude]

Welcome

 

[dan filipi]

Sounds like you've got a couple nice projects there.

 

[SteveA-wing]

I had some time today to further do my evaluation and order needed parts, I pulled the fuel sender to see why it wasn't reading and also to have a look inside the tank. It had about 1/2 tank left. However when I turned off the petcock to drain the tank it did start peeing on me. Turned it back to open and it quit. Looks like new fuel cutoff time. It didn't smell bad at all, smelled like real non ethanol gas. Believe me I have smelled some that would stink up the whole shop. Well after draining the tank, it did have some trash that will need to be cleaned out, but hardly any rust. Believe me I have dealt with much much worse. Took the sender apart and luckily the resistor is still in good shape, I'm just going to have to do a little work on the wiper to get it working a little better.

 

[Rednaxs60]

Pictures not too bad. That crud can be wiped out, then once fully dried, use a shop vac and small brush to clean out the remainder. Can get your hand in the sender unit opening.

 

[SteveA-wing]

Opening is too small for my hand, but someone suggested using a wooden dowel with a cotton rag attached to clean out the remaining crap. As you say once I get it cleaned out and dry, I'll vacuum out the remnants. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll give that a try later and let you know.