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

[joedrum]

I’d say your doing the right thing if it’s not rubbing try it

 

[saganaga]

I hope so. Still don't know why it is out of spec though...

Anyways, it is back together. Just need to air up the forks, get some license plate bolts*, and do a test ride.

* License plate was held on by an interesting assortment of what a generous person would call fasteners. Removed them while swapping out the tail light assembly. I'll just buy a new set.

 

[saganaga]

Still losing air pressure. Tried some soapy water on the fittings and the valve, but no bubbles. Threw some soapy water around the fork dust cover as well, nothing. Hmmmm.... Maybe defective new seals? Slow leak in the section of hose under the instruments?

Almost tempted to throw some progressive springs on the front and forget about it, but I'd like to know where the problem is.

Edit:

Thought about it, and I'm going to assume I'm not an idiot and can install new fork seals correctly. If oil shows up on the forks, I'll reassess my idiot status. Or just try Mother Honda's OEM fork seals instead of the off-brand ones.

Think I'll put some teflon tape around the hose connectors, and try a new schrader valve. The soapy water revealed nothing, but it's losing about 3-5 PSI over the course of an hour, and there's not much air in these forks, so perhaps there's not enough air to create bubbles.

 

[saganaga]

Did the teflon tape where I could. Examined the o-rings as well - all looked good. There's one compression fitting which I tried to clean up and reconnect.

Did a seven mile ride, went from 21 psi to 15 psi. But the forks are dry. If I'm losing air this badly, wouldn't one of the forks be leaking oil if it was a seal?

Have not replaced the air valve yet. The OEM part is $20. Spendy little thing. But I noticed something looking at the parts diagram - the front and rear air valves are the same. Going to swap them and see if the problem goes away. The hose connecting the two forks seems unavailable. Dang it.

 

[joedrum]

Hmmm ...this set up has not ever been good ...heavy bike weak springs and air to make the difference bad engineering to say the least...

 

[saganaga]

Found the issue. The allen bolt on the bottom of the left fork was slightly loose. Just enough to barely leak under pressure. I must of loosened it positioning the fork. Tightened it and it is holding pressure now. But when I was doublechecking it I dropped the valve cap. Can't find it - I'll have to remove the false gas tank and search further.

Did get another test ride. Hit the freeway, did a nice 65mph. She likes speed.

 

[joedrum]

Good deal...

 

[saganaga]

Got some questions for the more knowledgeable folks at the end of this post. But first, what I've done so far:

One of the problems I've noticed while test driving was swirls in the Vetter windshield. Like someone tried to wash dirt off of it with a towel. Quite annoying.

I decided to hit the store for some PlastX (I need it for the car's headlights as well). Tried it on the windshield today - applying it and buffing it off by hand. It removed the swirls as far as I can tell in the evening's light, but when I look closely, I can spot some faint vertical scratches. There's also some faint pockmarks - like some grains of sand hit the windshield at high speed. I'll check again in strong sunlight. So far, for $9, it seems to be a large improvement. Sorry, neglected to take a "before" photo, but I'll take an "after" photo in the day.

Now the questions:

I've been thinking about the radiator flush & fill. It looks like there's a NAPA radiator hose that can be cut to make two pieces that replace the two stock radiator hoses. The NAPA hose runs $16. For the price, it seems like cheap insurance for a part that can fail catastrophically. What about the themostat? Is that known for failing? Because mine seems to be working just fine.

I will also need to take the valve covers off soon to adjust the valves. I'm not quite to the "make it pretty" phase, but I'd like to test removing a bit of the chrome on the valve covers. Some seems to be flaking, but in other sections, it seems pretty solid. Should I try sanding it off by hand? Or is this a lost cause? I noticed valve covers on eBay are running $50 a set.

Speaking of valves, its going to be time for new tires soon. What size valve stems does an '82 Goldwing take? 11mm? Or something else?

 

[pidjones]

If you have a Honda dealer do the tire mounting (mine does it @ $30 per wheel carry-in, and doesn't scratch wheel paint), they will have the stems. Since I buy my tires online, I buy tubes and stems from the dealer.

Don't bother messing with chromed aluminum! Can't get it all off and can't make it look right. Just watch for some bare aluminum covers to polish up, then keep the chromed ones for spares.

If the Vetter shield is acrylic, you should be able to eventualy get it very clear. Novus has a three-step system (step 2 the most important) that works great. I had gouges in my Pacifico shield that came out with increasing grade aluminum oxide grit paper wet sanding (to 2000, but I now have 7000) then polishing with Novus 3 and 2. I've never found success with polycarbonate, however - too soft and usually coated.

 

[saganaga]

I'll probably do them myself. Putting together another shopping list - angled valve stems (others report they do well on the GL1100), some tires, and a chain cleaning tool for my other Honda.

Gotta sacrifice more money to the motorcycle gods.

 

[joedrum]

Hmmmm I’d like to see and hear more about angled valve stems

 

[pidjones]

I'll probably do them myself. Putting together another shopping list - angled valve stems (others report they do well on the GL1100), some tires, and a chain cleaning tool for my other Honda.

Gotta sacrifice more money to the motorcycle gods.

Those of us running screw-on TPMS sensors are using Tee stems to permit air adjustment without removing the sensor. There is a 90 degree all-metal stem refered to often as the "Patch Boy" stem (they first distributed them" that is very popular on the 1800s. I think Wingstuff sells both.

 

[mcgovern61]

joedrum » Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:50 am[/url]":2323l7l0]
Hmmmm I’d like to see and hear more about angled valve stems

Been using them on the Slug for years! Easiest way to air up your tires I'll tell ya!

 

[Tom_Charlton]

Ref the radiator hose: Gates 21008 or NAPA 7733. The Gates is available at Rock Auto for less than $8. NAPA gets $12.50 for theirs.

 

[chilidawg]

I just bought one for $7.82 including tax from amazon, gets here tomorrow, thanks for the information!

 

[saganaga]

PurpleGL1200I » Yesterday, 6:27 pm[/url]":3bqr78xy]
Ref the radiator hose: Gates 21008 or NAPA 7733. The Gates is available at Rock Auto for less than $8. NAPA gets $12.50 for theirs.

Rock Auto also has really cheap Gates belts compared to NAPA - right now I'm showing $13.26/each at Rock, versus $32.99 at NAPA. That's almost a $40 difference for two belts - more than enough to cover the S&H costs.

joedrum » Yesterday, 1:50 am[/url]":3bqr78xy]
Hmmmm I’d like to see and hear more about angled valve stems

I was a little worried about the fit, but someone reports using them on a GL1100 - and judging from their profile, it was an '82 Aspencade. Those valve stem designs look pretty common and are easy to find.

 

[saganaga]

So after reading reviews and going back and forth, went with the Kenda Kruz (K763) instead of the Shinko 230 Tour Masters. Ordered that tonight, along with some new valve stems (angled) and a USB port. Think I'll hide the USB port under the false gas tank and run my phone on my handlebars.

I did get my replacement hard case cover today from eBay. Slightly different color (d'oh), but close enough for how little I'll use it.

 

[saganaga]

Got no riding done today due to rain, and there's rain tomorrow. But I did adjust the valves and checked the gap on the spark plugs. The valves were tightly adjusted - I checked, I was at the T1 timing mark, and they were adjusted down to around .08mm for intake, maybe .1mm for exhaust. Odd.

Spark plugs look old, but a good color.

I did discover a new rule for working on old bikes - make sure things are tight before washing. The generator bolt cover was only hand tightened. I had looked, found a ton of grime (where from, I don't know), and did the old tooth-brush with some Dawn dishwashing liquid to remove the grime before working on it. I wish I knew how loose that cover was before I did that. Luckily I only rinsed it off with low pressure, so I doubt I got any water where it shouldn't be. Still, not ideal.

 

[saganaga]

Question time - how's the shifting supposed to be on a GL1100? I've found mine is sensitive to upshifts - I have to pull the clutch all the way in, wait a half second, and shift. Is this normal?

 

[desertrefugee]

Not normal. Either your clutch needs adjustment or "other" attention, or you're not shifting at the appropriate RPM. Lot's of folks baby these things. They dislike shifting at 2K RPM. Try running it up to 3 to 4k RPM and shifting. I'll bet it'll be smoother.