Engine Swapping

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goldwing81

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Mar 7, 2010
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After 30 years of not riding I purchased a 1981 Goldwing. I was told it would need a valve. It needs much more than that. I pulled the left head and found that the valve had broke. The block is ruined as well as the head. I used a sawzall to free the piston from the broken sleeve and casting. The motor turns over. I have purchased a 1984 GL1200 block for 50 dollars. Will the components from the 1100 fit in the 1200 block, I know that I will be purchasing new pistons as the bore is larger on the 1200. Its spacing, journal sizes, wrist pins, alignment, etc... that I dont know about.

Has anyone done this before?

Thank you
 
i dont think this is doable the 1200 is completly different motor. 1100 and 1000 are close to the same and can have some parts mixed . i dont know all this first hand but ive read alot on the forums. but on the good side i can tell you a great mod for your bike considering where its at. one of the flaws in the 80 81 1100s is how much rpm they turn at hiway speed i think close to 5000 rpm at 70mph. if you put a 1000 motor in your bike it will drop the rpm at 70mph to about 3400 3500 rpm which is great for touring and comfort on long rides this is what i did to my bike except mine is a 1000 with final drive from an 81 1100 fitted this was a difficult mod on a 1000 but a 1000 motor will fit right in the 1100 and bolt right up. with some mods to ignition and such nothing big. i couldnt be happier about the way my bike works. just something to consider. if you need more insite just post
 
Why would you want to move the 1100 internals into a good 1200 block, or is there something wrong with that too?

I dont know what internals will crossover but I'm curious.
Are you planning to rebuild the 1200 motor and put it in the 1100 frame?
That in itself presents some challenges.

I have a 1200 here with a head off and just curiosity I set an 1100 head on it. It fits and uses the same head gasket so that much I know. What electrics I've gotten into look similar so that shouldnt be a problem.
 
goldwing81":17sqcjo7 said:
After 30 years of not riding I purchased a 1981 Goldwing. I was told it would need a valve. It needs much more than that. I pulled the left head and found that the valve had broke. The block is ruined as well as the head. I used a sawzall to free the piston from the broken sleeve and casting. The motor turns over. I have purchased a 1984 GL1200 block for 50 dollars. Will the components from the 1100 fit in the 1200 block, I know that I will be purchasing new pistons as the bore is larger on the 1200. Its spacing, journal sizes, wrist pins, alignment, etc... that I dont know about.

Has anyone done this before?

Thank you
Click to expand...

I just pulled an '81 engine and I am installing an '83. Before I open up the '81, it could be shipped. It runs strong, starts every time, but has some noise in it. It seems like loose bearings, but no one is really sure. here are some videos of it in action if you are interested:

 
I don't know anything about the 1200 engine but I do know there are 1100 engines around that are still in good shape. I find a 1100 engine and stick with the stock engine, seems to me it would be a lot less problems.
 
I was once told that the 1200 engines were wider and wouldn't fit on the frame without mods.Wanted to fit a 1200 engine in myself .If your 1100 engine is out try fitting the 1200 cases in the frame to see if they do fit.Will be cool to see if they do :good: . .Rods are a bit longer but that would be the cylinders only I guess :headscratch:.clutch would need the hydraulic or mod the case for the cable which allready has.If cylinders are longer you would end up with shorter boots connectors to the carbs.probably find longer ones from some other bike from that era :read: .Or slap a complete set of carbs from an 84 and problem solved (air box included in case is different too)Had an 87 interstate but never got to match them up cause didn't have the problem with my existing 82 asp at that time.Sold the 87 didn,t like the rake on the bike and handlebars....... too smooth of an engine and so on and so on...... only liked the speed (fast machine).You will need longer rods also.Your mod would be tougher than throwing in an entire engine in,but doesn't mean that it can't be done :music: .Hey Dan probably you can match your engine cases against each other as to the mounting on the frame.What do you think :laptop: .
 
the block hes got is an 84 with the cdi ignition in the back iknow that wont work on 1000 frame but maybe it would on a 1100 frame any other yr 1200 with igniton on front will bolt right in a 1000 frame

but this is a very complicated mod to say the least with trying to switch internals,

he needs to stick with a 1100 or 1000 motor its bad enough that he was sold a mouth full of bs along with the broken wing and then a emty block

i wish he would respond to the post so we could help him go forward
 
thanks for all of the info.

Here is what I did.

I purchased the 1200 case because I wasnt seeing much on ebay in the way of 1100's. After I posted at classic goldwings an 1100 case showed up on ebay, I bought it. I now have a 1200 case if anyone would like to buy it. I was lucky in one respect that the left side of the engine was ruined. I used the left side of the case from ebay with the right side of the destroyed engine. About the time I bought the 1100 case I determined that the pistons are matched sets. I bought those from a fellow in Florida for $40.00 and a left head for $70.00. I honed both sides and put it together. Carburetors have been another story. The first 30 miles it consumed about 4 gallons of gas and produced alot of smoke. The floats were set at .61. I ended up setting them at .750. This cured the gas consumption. I know from my experience with GM quadrajet carbs used the same type of porus material that these floats are made from, the .750 fix will not be the permanent cure, I will need to find new floats as these will become saturated with gas again.

It has been a challenge, and I would do it again.

The bike runs good for now, no noise. good acceleration and my wife likes it too.

Thanks for all of the input.

I will post a picture when I figure out how
 
It sounds like you've had a difficult time with the bike so far, keep plugging away because the end results are worth it.

I thought the 1100 block was line bored, the left and right cases are a matched set, but who cares as long as it runs right.

The .61 in. (15.5 mm) float setting is where the floats should be. I've never heard of these floats becoming saturated, more likely you've got float needles leaking by. I had the same problem with a cheap aftermarket needle and seat, had to fudge the adjustment to keep it from flooding.
 
glad to here from you goldwing 81 and im thrilled about your progress youve realy turned things around and hit this project out of the park and down the road with the best . :clapping: :clapping: :music:
 
You are correct about the line boring but the main caps and crank are in the right side of the block, this is where I got lucky. I believe Honda thought this through long and hard. If you designed the case to be split horizontally you would need a matched set. Because they went vertical you can machine the sides to a loser tolerances and bolt any left side to any right side. If you measured the width of the assembled block I think you would find variations from block to block. As long as they stacked the tolerances to the plus side the pistons would never hit the valves and you would see slight variations in compression between motors.

I bought this from Sport Wheels in Jordan Minnesota. When I got the bike home and found out what was really wrong I emailed them to see if they could help me. They never responded. Some customer service huh...

Its a great day for riding

Thanks again for all of the help.
 
well as it turns out you were not going over the deep end on what you were trying to do.....im not sure you could have put the 1100 internals in the 1200 block but ive been goin though info cause im thinking or going to make a bobber bike with a 1200 motor mixed with 1000 heads ....

i came across specs that the stroke on 1000 1100 and 1200 are all the same with the bore being different 72mm 75mm and 76mm...

i thought for sure that stroke was longer on the 1200s ....im still investigating it could be the info is wrong that i was looking at ....makes me think the combustion area was increased to most to come up with the extra 100cc and that it was done with the block cause the 1200 is wider from side to side....

if you know anything different than where the info is leading me id like to know.....
 

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