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

[saganaga]

Cost me fifty and some labor, but I got a replacement cover.

A little tip: to make the cover easier to remove, flip the bike upside down.

Cover was caked in mud, oil, and grime on the outside, with some sludge on the inside, but after spending an hour with some Dawn dish detergent, an old toothbrush, a scotch pad, and a big bucket of warm water, got it mostly clean, other than the gasket surfaces which I haven't bothered with yet. (And for the record, this was also missing the washer for the oil filter!) Noticed some of the gasket surfaces had a blue silcone-ish sealant around them. I'll check mine, but I wonder if someone had worked on this before.

Before installation, I'll clean up the gasket surfaces with the Nasty Stuff, and use some brake cleaner to get rid of any residue.

Thought you guys may like pictures of the place I went to. The boneyard is called Sport Wheels, and it's out in Jordan, MN.

The large container in this picture is engine oil.

Someone else needed a cover. Also, I've noticed that of the missing heads, most of them was the left (same as this engine). Even the engine I pulled my cover from already had the left head salvaged.
Statistical fluke, or is there a reason?

I really like this setup. They wanted $3,300 for it, IIRC. Too rich for my blood. But it was a really nice trailer, and the combo looks sharp.

Goldwings and more Goldwings in their used building.

Vetter fairings galore! They had piles of sorted stuff like this.

 

[mcgovern61]

Wow! What a yard! :yes: :rocks:

 

[joedrum]

Dittos

 

[Ansimp]

Left heads favoured possibly due to hydro lock.

 

[pidjones]

Guess I'd better hang on to that front cover from the '79 junker. BTW, I would put the calue of that whole pile of Vetters at <$10. I can't give them away!

 

[saganaga]

So, pulling the front transmission cover, and since the timing belts are about right there, decided to replace them. So I rotated the engine to align the timing belt marks and hmmmm... Was this off a tooth?

 

[mcgovern61]

Timing marks look good. Do you see something amiss not showing up in the pictures? It is hard to the flywheel marks in the last picture.

 

[pidjones]

The camera shot is looking down hill on the right belt. You need to get down on its level to see it straight-on.

 

[desertrefugee]

Looks good from here.

 

[dan filipi]

desertrefugee » Today, 4:36 pm[/url]":1ham2gbt]
Looks good from here.

Me too pretty much, except for the crank T1 mark which is hard to make out.

 

[saganaga]

mcgovern61 » Today, 2:43 pm[/url]":1y8mprjt]
Timing marks look good. Do you see something amiss not showing up in the pictures? It is hard to the flywheel marks in the last picture.

Flywheel seems slightly off. I installed the new belts, tensioned it via the service manual, and it seems to line up correctly now. I then turned the engine over by hand until everything lined up again. Seems good now.

Reading, I guess it's not too atypical for these not to line up all the way. :roll:

Anyways, I'm done for the night - got the gasket surfaces cleaned up, the pump installed in the new transmission cover, most of the o-rings are in place. At this point, if I continue, I'm going to try to rush it and that'll lead to stupid mistakes.

 

[Ansimp]

desertrefugee » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:36 am[/url]":1ren8ttv]
Looks good from here.

+1 :good:

 

[saganaga]

I know the picture is hard to make out, btw, but the flywheel timing mark as lining up with the top of the "T". Not sure how they did that.

 

[saganaga]

Bike is mostly back together. Filled it up with distilled water and let it sit for a bit with the oil drain plug out while I checked the valve adjustment and cleaned up the garage a bit. No water collected in the oil sump so I didn't horribly screw up. Then installed the drain plug, filled it up with oil and let it run with a few dry shop towels underneath until the fan kicked in. No leaks. Waited a bit for it to cool down slightly and drained the water. No cross contamination that I could see. Water looked clear, and the oil level went down a bit (not too surprising with a new filter).

Engine is still warm and it was too late to start the bike again (city living), so I'm letting it cool completely overnight before filling it up with antifreeze.

Reused the old pump - bearings seemed good and it had metal blades, which makes me think it isn't original. Hopefully that won't bite me later.

I think I have an hour left on it before I can ride it - antifreeze, install false tank, seat, and Vetter.

Then front tire, carbs balanced (I really need to do it), new grease on the splines, phone mount and USB for navigation, and a cupholder and I'm done for the year.

 

[joedrum]

Great work it seems

 

[julimike54]

Getting Close! :Egyptian:

 

[saganaga]

Took it out for a 70 mile spin today. Ran pretty well, but the clutch still acts engaged at higher RPMs, which makes me think the scavenger pump is still partially clogged. As long as I baby it, it is fine.

I think I'll continue babying it for awhile, but I need to pull the engine sooner or later.

 

[Ansimp]

saganaga » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:12 pm[/url]":2rxwqr4f]
Took it out for a 70 mile spin today. Ran pretty well, but the clutch still acts engaged at higher RPMs, which makes me think the scavenger pump is still partially clogged. As long as I baby it, it is fine.

I think I'll continue babying it for awhile, but I need to pull the engine sooner or later.

Maybe try some sort of oil running flush, like sea foam or an atf mix to clean out the scavenger pump and clutch plates.

 

[saganaga]

Ansimp » 40 minutes ago[/url]":2c031wqj]

saganaga » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:12 pm[/url]":2c031wqj]
Took it out for a 70 mile spin today. Ran pretty well, but the clutch still acts engaged at higher RPMs, which makes me think the scavenger pump is still partially clogged. As long as I baby it, it is fine.

I think I'll continue babying it for awhile, but I need to pull the engine sooner or later.

Maybe try some sort of oil running flush, like sea foam or an atf mix to clean out the scavenger pump and clutch plates.

Did sea foam. No dice. I could try ATF, but at this point, I think I'm just fooling myself.

I guess the only thing I haven't checked is the oil filter screen in the GL1100. Which would be nice if that was the problem, but I'm not sure what that even filters.

 

[saganaga]

Front Kenda Kruz is on. No problem seating the bead with the air tank. Did take a decent amount of weight to balance, which I dislike, but it is a cheaper tire...

While installing the tire, I polished the (aftermarket?) chrome brake caliper covers to a mirror finish and put them back on the bike. Then I discovered the angled tire valve I installed hits the left cover. :head bang: The cover seems about a 3/16" too wide.

I'm leaning towards taking them off, using a dremel to cut away a 3/8" strip on both of them, painting the cut edge to prevent rust, then reinstalling them. I was going to buy a can of metallic rustoleum, spray a bit into the cap of the paint can, then dab the paint on the edge with a foam brush. How does this sound?

One nice thing I discovered today is that Amazon sells sheets of black 1/8"x12"x12" ABS plastic for under $4. I'm guessing the hard side bags that came with the bike are made out of ABS. (Correct me if this is an unsafe assumption - these are aftermarket, not OEM). There's one cracked side bag, and one cracked lid. I already have a can of MEK, so this repair is looking to be pretty cheap. Has anyone done a ABS weld like this? Any tips appreciated.