Hello Everyone,
I've had a motorcycle all of my adult life whether running or not, and have always loved riding in small groups on short trips finding interesting places, historical sites, good places to eat in the middle of nowhere, or just a place by a lake where everyone can get together and fire up the grill. Camping is not out of my scope of fun either, though the wife likes a little more comfort these days
I'm currently going through the cooling system and changing out the head gaskets on my GL1200 which blew due to an overheating, poor water circulation issue. When I got to the water pump it looked to be different than the OEM style, and it had 3 of the cast aluminum blades on it busted. I'm still looking for the pieces and hopefully most of them disintegrated, but will be probing, flushing, etc., to try and recover every single piece. It's been a while since I've gone into the heads on a bike so I am taking my ever-loving time doing it. I have the front cover off and the old pump out and am cleaning everything in sight. The left head is ready to come off and needs some more tapping before freeing itself from the old gasket and alignment pins. I have new, OEM gaskets to replace with, and am sort of anticipating that the heads may need some machining and all new valve seals. A few more taps and I'll know for sure.
I bought this bike a couple of years ago and have discovered after getting the wrenches out that it wasn't very well cared for. It has been poorly maintained but these bikes are resilient and bounce back pretty well, from what I have heard. There was oil film all over the internal parts, sludge in the bottom of the front cover, and some metal bits piled up under the oil pump. I am thinking that the bits are from the transmission which is hopefully not too badly damaged, but it is looking more and more like I need to go ahead and pull the engine and split the crankcase...sigh. I was hoping not to have to go this deep at this stage, but I'm not sure what I'd be leaving behind if I didn't go all of the way through it.
If anyone else has ever been through one of these in this shape, your input (and encouragement) is appreciated.
Anyway, glad to be here amongst those with a common interest. If there is anything I can help with, let me know.
I've had a motorcycle all of my adult life whether running or not, and have always loved riding in small groups on short trips finding interesting places, historical sites, good places to eat in the middle of nowhere, or just a place by a lake where everyone can get together and fire up the grill. Camping is not out of my scope of fun either, though the wife likes a little more comfort these days
I'm currently going through the cooling system and changing out the head gaskets on my GL1200 which blew due to an overheating, poor water circulation issue. When I got to the water pump it looked to be different than the OEM style, and it had 3 of the cast aluminum blades on it busted. I'm still looking for the pieces and hopefully most of them disintegrated, but will be probing, flushing, etc., to try and recover every single piece. It's been a while since I've gone into the heads on a bike so I am taking my ever-loving time doing it. I have the front cover off and the old pump out and am cleaning everything in sight. The left head is ready to come off and needs some more tapping before freeing itself from the old gasket and alignment pins. I have new, OEM gaskets to replace with, and am sort of anticipating that the heads may need some machining and all new valve seals. A few more taps and I'll know for sure.
I bought this bike a couple of years ago and have discovered after getting the wrenches out that it wasn't very well cared for. It has been poorly maintained but these bikes are resilient and bounce back pretty well, from what I have heard. There was oil film all over the internal parts, sludge in the bottom of the front cover, and some metal bits piled up under the oil pump. I am thinking that the bits are from the transmission which is hopefully not too badly damaged, but it is looking more and more like I need to go ahead and pull the engine and split the crankcase...sigh. I was hoping not to have to go this deep at this stage, but I'm not sure what I'd be leaving behind if I didn't go all of the way through it.
If anyone else has ever been through one of these in this shape, your input (and encouragement) is appreciated.
Anyway, glad to be here amongst those with a common interest. If there is anything I can help with, let me know.
