The Mayflower: AKA - I bought a non-running '82 GL1100

[saganaga]

chilidawg » Today, 11:10 am[/url]":1nwxbzvb]
There is a much simpler way to remove the final drive flange from inside the wheel hub.

Hold the wheel out at arms length (flange side down) and drop it onto a plywood sheet.

Pops right out every time for me.

I'll try that next time this happens. Although I put some of the loctite molykote equivalent on the pins, so it'll probably not be a problem from now on.

 

[saganaga]

Ordered the caliper bolt and a new gearshift oil seal today.

For the cost of the caliper bolt ($2), I'm hoping that cures the rear caliper seeming a little loose. And I hope the oil seal ($5) stops the left side of the engine from accumulating a dirty layer of oil. We'll see, but both should be easy fixes (knock on wood).

 

[saganaga]

Got the Vetter headlight separated yesterday. There's a tab that has to be held in, then the bezel rotated counter-clockwise. Some swearing may be called for - mine was packed with a lot of dust and dirt. Cleaned it all up, and ran a thin film of axle grease around the bezel to make future removal a little easier.

Good news is that the headlight in mine takes a HB2/H4. Supposedly some of these Vetters were sealed beam.

Bad news is that there's very little room to fit an LED bulb. I'm browsing Amazon for very compact LED bulbs. Something like this may work, but I'm uncertain about the fact it vents internally into the headlight housing. The housing should be able to easily handle it, but I'm not sure about the life of the bulb.

 

[Ansimp]

That is the main reason that I am happy with my HID 35w H4 bulb replacement assembly.

 

[saganaga]

Ansimp » Today, 6:07 am[/url]":73hj8pnb]
That is the main reason that I am happy with my HID 35w H4 bulb replacement assembly.

I may go that route if this doesn't work.

Right now the LED bulb I ordered is 27.5W, has no canbus, is compact as an incandescent, and has the LED emitters in the same place as the filaments in an incandescent bulb. Which seems to nail everything I need. Color is a little cooler than I'd like (6500k, was hoping for a little lower), but it's $30.

 

[Ansimp]

saganaga » Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:23 am[/url]":e58bkwto]

Ansimp » Today, 6:07 am[/url]":e58bkwto]
That is the main reason that I am happy with my HID 35w H4 bulb replacement assembly.

I may go that route if this doesn't work.

Right now the LED bulb I ordered is 27.5W, has no canbus, is compact as an incandescent, and has the LED emitters in the same place as the filaments in an incandescent bulb. Which seems to nail everything I need. Color is a little cooler than I'd like (6500k, was hoping for a little lower), but it's $30.

:good:
On the Valkyrie I was able to use an Led with a remote ballast that fitted.

New LED headlight bulb

• Ansimp
• Oct 1, 2016

 

[saganaga]

LED replacement did not fit.

Dang, dang, dang.

Three choices - replace the bulb, replace the socket, modify the fairing.

1. Bulb replacement needs no explanation. I'll have to look at remote ballasts.

2. Socket replacement may be a possibility. If I could find a H4/HB2/9003 socket that's about half the length of stock, I think I could make things fit.

3. Vetter modification is also a possibility. I think there is space in the Vetter, but just cutting a hole behind the headlight seems to be a great way to fill the Vetter with bugs and rain. Which means a mod. I actually have an idea on how to do this.

I'm going to sleep on it tonight and take another look at the Vetter fairing tomorrow.

I could also buy a sealed LED bulb, but that puts me SOL if it ever burns out on the road, so I prefer to make reverting back to a regular H4/HB2/9003 bulb easy.

 

[saganaga]

Looked at it in the light of day and did some measurements. I needed less than an additional centimeter of clearance.

The Vetter fairing seems to have a ABS shell, and the black plastic trim on the front of it is a separate piece.

First I removed the headlight and the headlight bucket. To remove the bucket, you have to adjust the headlight up/down adjustment until it is no longer attached to the bucket. Then there's a bolt on either side. After that, it's just pulling it out.

A few holes already in the trim, so presumably that isn't meant to be waterproof. A quick caliper measurement shows about a centimeter of space behind it. Encouraged, I removed the trim.

I took a hole saw to the trim, made two holes, and filed it down with the rasp. Plenty of room for up/down adjustment now.

I then reinstalled the trim. Note this requires removing one of the rubber mounts to get the trim back in. PITA to do.

Everything works.

Here's some before and after shots. Note I think my camera apparently auto-adjusts brightness. In reality, the LED is a lot brighter - took it on a short test drive and it does make a large difference.

Old halogen bulb is on top (Wagner Britelite 9003 bulb), new LED bulb is on the bottom. Low beam to the left, high beam to the right.

All in all, for $30, I'm pretty happy.

Am a little concerned about the socket though - even with the stock setup, it looks like it is in a good place to get shorted out by rain. I may want to address that sooner or later.

 

[saganaga]

Did a test ride with it tonight. Went to a parking lot and double checked the low beams - looked good from what I could tell. Shouldn't blind oncoming drivers. Low beams are much improved. Still a challenge on some local roads I'm not familiar with, but that's due to poor pavement conditions.

As for the high beams, they are BRIGHT. Almost too much. Road signs are dazzling.

But I think brightness (as well as the color) isn't too much - passed one cop car sitting in a parking lot without any issues.

All in all, for $30, I'm pretty happy.

I did realize in retrospect, I had plenty of materials to improve the waterproofness of the rear of the socket. So I'll probably yank the light one more time and address that issue.

 

[Ansimp]

:good: :salute:
Waterproofing should not be a major concern apart from water getting into the Vetter side storage areas.

 

[saganaga]

Ansimp » October 12th, 2019, 2:12 am[/url]":2h2uzy9k]
:good: :salute:
Waterproofing should not be a major concern apart from water getting into the Vetter side storage areas.

I don't think that should happen. But shouldn't riding in rain force water behind the headlight shell and near the exposed plug?

 

[saganaga]

Someone near me bought a Goldwing for just the engine and was going to scrap the rest. Including a spare set of timing belt and valve covers.

This should be easier to clean up than the flaking chromed versions I have.

It was a bit of a drive, but I got to see a nice garage and a Triumph TR6 being restored. Triumph cars were before my time, but it was rather neat seeing a straight six with stock CV carbs.

 

[joedrum]

Yah those chrome ones were just a poor product period

 

[mcgovern61]

Someone near me bought a Goldwing for just the engine and was going to scrap the rest.

I did that! The Slug was a barn find that sat for 12 years out in the weather with a blown engine when we got her:

I bought a wrecked '81 for the engine and got a great seat, engine, chrome goodies, exhaust, brakes, gauges, etc...

The '81 had a fight with a tree:

Eventually, I was able to rebuild all of the '82 parts and install them as we went.

 

[saganaga]

Trees do have the nasty habit of jumping out in front of people.

 

[saganaga]

Replacement on the aftermarket front fork running lights. One was burnt out, so I replaced all four with cheap amber LEDs for $10 total. The result is noticeably brighter.

New bulb on top, old bulb on the bottom.

On reassembly, I put a little bit of anti-seize on all the screws, and a thin film of dielectric grease on the bulb bases, because while the conventional wisdom is that one grows wiser with age, I'm thinking that actually one grows lazier with age and doesn't want to create a problem several years down the road.

Debating if I want to do any more LED conversions. I could see an argument for having brighter turn signals, but that's four bulbs and the flasher. Instrument lights would be another option, and while I'd like brighter turn signal indicator for daytime use, I've heard LED instrument lights can be a bit too bright on a motorcycle for nighttime use.

Thinking of what I have on the accessories circuit now, and I may have to do some forensic electronic exploration to see. ~3A for the USB charger. Presumably 50W, or about ~4.5A for the radio, assuming it is wired to the accessories circuit, which I kind of doubt, and that needs to be addressed. ~0.2A for the new fork bulbs, again, assuming they are on the accessories circuit.

So all in all, 8A will be on the accessories circuit. Fuse may be 10A, but I have no qualms in upping it to 15A. The stock wiring is a large enough gauge for the short run to handle 15A, IMO. I would like all three aftermarket accessories that I listed to be on their own separate circuit.

 

[dan filipi]

I concur growing lazy with age.

 

[saganaga]

Tested one of the timing belt covers. Polish is not going to be enough to remove the oxidation. 600 grit is looking iffy. May have to go lower.

Think this may end up being a winter TV watching project.

 

[pidjones]

saganaga » Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:46 pm[/url]":3i8a4cfq]
Tested one of the timing belt covers. Polish is not going to be enough to remove the oxidation. 600 grit is looking iffy. May have to go lower.

Think this may end up being a winter TV watching project.

I started with oven cleaner to take off the clear, then 600, 1000, 2000, jeweler's rouge on buffing wheel. The silicon carbide was wet sanding.

 

[mcgovern61]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... jxdjf4TmNc