jmacbride
Member
Howdy. My name is Jack. I just recently moved to Peoria Arizona, in December of 2014, and left all my rides behind. I had been working for IBM for the past 10 years and found out back in Sept that I was being laid off. My wife and I prayed about our situation and a peacefulness came over us. We have been thinking about relocating to the Phoenix area for some time now and came to the realization that now was our chance. I had been living in Denver Colorado for over 30 years and needed a change. I was pretty tired of the cold weather and short riding season. So, we rented the house to our oldest children, packed up the Mountaineer, and headed out. Anyway, to make a long story short, here we are. We both found jobs and are loving it here.
Being without my motorcycles is a bummer though. I sold my Honda Shadow back in January so we could pay the bills and we haven't had an opportunity to go back to Colorado to get the rest of our "stuff", So I decided to find me something here. After a few months of searching I found a good deal on an old GoldWing. It's a 1978 GL1000. I've owned a few oldwings in the past and have always loved them. I've had a '75, a '76, and a '79 model. I've done just about every repair imaginable on these so hopefully I can spread some of my knowledge on to others. This '78 is a real gem. I got it from a guy out in Tempe who has a shop that builds trikes. He had it listed on Craigslist. It looked great although the pipes were a little rusty, it had California plates on it. He claimed to have bought it at auction and just wanted to get rid of it as he had too many projects going on already. I checked it out as best I could with it packed in his shop between a hundred other bikes. The oil was black and smelled like turpentine, it turned over and actually started. It belched out a huge cloud of smoke. I looked into the gas tank and was amazed how clean it was. I made the guy an offer and he took it. His tech had this look on his face of unbelief and asked me if I was sure I knew what I was getting myself into. It's a Goldwing, these things are bullet proof! I rented a trailer and hauled it home. I told them I would have it running in less than a week and they both just laughed and said "sure you will". That was a Saturday, I got it home to our Condo Complex where at least we have a parking garage and got right to work.
I didn't bring any tools with me but have been collecting tools every chance I get at garage sales, estate sales, and the Goodwill store. Anyway, I changed the oil and filter, poured a bottle of carb/fuel injector cleaner into the tank,and changed out the spark plugs. I fired it up and man did it smoke, So much so that some old lady called the fire dept! I kept it running by twisting the throttle and played around with the idle screw and the air screws. after about a half hour the smoke started clearing up and I actually got it to idle pretty decently. Who knows how long it had been sitting on the side stand but I'm pretty sure all the smoke was just from residual oil that had worked its way into the left hand cylinders. I could see there were new gaskets on the fuel pump and the carbs were unusually clean, someone had recently had work done to it before it had sat for several years. I took it out for a spin and was pretty pleased with how well it ran. I ordered a sert of front wheel hearings, brake pads, and an air filter off ebay and installed them a couple days later.
I got a call from the guy I purchased it from telling me the title was in, he was actually a dealer and taken care of that part for me thankfully as I have no experience yet with the AZ DMV. I took a ride down to his shop in Tempe to pick up the title. You should have seen the looks on their face when they saw me ride up on this gl. they were in shock, with their jaws just hanging open.
Anyway, I'll post some pics of this bad boy as soon as i figure out how, and thanks for letting me join. ttyl
Jack
Being without my motorcycles is a bummer though. I sold my Honda Shadow back in January so we could pay the bills and we haven't had an opportunity to go back to Colorado to get the rest of our "stuff", So I decided to find me something here. After a few months of searching I found a good deal on an old GoldWing. It's a 1978 GL1000. I've owned a few oldwings in the past and have always loved them. I've had a '75, a '76, and a '79 model. I've done just about every repair imaginable on these so hopefully I can spread some of my knowledge on to others. This '78 is a real gem. I got it from a guy out in Tempe who has a shop that builds trikes. He had it listed on Craigslist. It looked great although the pipes were a little rusty, it had California plates on it. He claimed to have bought it at auction and just wanted to get rid of it as he had too many projects going on already. I checked it out as best I could with it packed in his shop between a hundred other bikes. The oil was black and smelled like turpentine, it turned over and actually started. It belched out a huge cloud of smoke. I looked into the gas tank and was amazed how clean it was. I made the guy an offer and he took it. His tech had this look on his face of unbelief and asked me if I was sure I knew what I was getting myself into. It's a Goldwing, these things are bullet proof! I rented a trailer and hauled it home. I told them I would have it running in less than a week and they both just laughed and said "sure you will". That was a Saturday, I got it home to our Condo Complex where at least we have a parking garage and got right to work.
I didn't bring any tools with me but have been collecting tools every chance I get at garage sales, estate sales, and the Goodwill store. Anyway, I changed the oil and filter, poured a bottle of carb/fuel injector cleaner into the tank,and changed out the spark plugs. I fired it up and man did it smoke, So much so that some old lady called the fire dept! I kept it running by twisting the throttle and played around with the idle screw and the air screws. after about a half hour the smoke started clearing up and I actually got it to idle pretty decently. Who knows how long it had been sitting on the side stand but I'm pretty sure all the smoke was just from residual oil that had worked its way into the left hand cylinders. I could see there were new gaskets on the fuel pump and the carbs were unusually clean, someone had recently had work done to it before it had sat for several years. I took it out for a spin and was pretty pleased with how well it ran. I ordered a sert of front wheel hearings, brake pads, and an air filter off ebay and installed them a couple days later.
I got a call from the guy I purchased it from telling me the title was in, he was actually a dealer and taken care of that part for me thankfully as I have no experience yet with the AZ DMV. I took a ride down to his shop in Tempe to pick up the title. You should have seen the looks on their face when they saw me ride up on this gl. they were in shock, with their jaws just hanging open.
Anyway, I'll post some pics of this bad boy as soon as i figure out how, and thanks for letting me join. ttyl
Jack
