The plan is to turn 140,000 into 50,000

[chilidawg]

So here's where I'm at now. to get here, I had to break just about every rule in the book, that little "have patience and use a rubber hammer" snippet, went right out the window. I used a steel hammer with a wooden drift mainly, but at one point I had to actually lay a steel hammer on aluminum, Something I've always promised myself I'd never do. Major Kudos to anyone who's ever done this job with the motor still in the frame. :good:

These are the 9 screws for the cover, I wish I'd paid attention to where the long one came from, the 4 on the right are out of the little water pump cover.

New water pump arrives on Friday, plenty of time for gasket prep. :crying:

 

[pidjones]

As I remember (6 years ago), the right head came off while it was still in the frame. And it was no major issue - just a lot of pounding and a few new words. The left was done with engine on the dolly, and not that bad either. I did use wood on one but can't remember which. I do remember that I was using my plastic dead blow when each let go.
I've not tried the front cover. If it ever needs to come off, I'll pull the engine again.

 

[julimike54]

Thought I had a picture of the bolts, I don't I had followed someones advise to draw the cover on cardboard and place the bolts into holes in cardboard when removed. Don't have the cardboard either, I'm not much help.....

I'd try placing bolts in locations on the cover till all have the same amount sticking out the back side of the cover, an idea :headscratch:

 

[dan filipi]

Clean then blow out the holes with compressed air. I’ve done the water pump on bike a couple times and had coolant in the holes cause a “hydro-lock” of the bolts going in making them feel tight when they aren’t.

 

[chilidawg]

The new water pump arrived today so I cracked open the gasket set, few anomalies here, like:
1. I can see where the big one goes but have no intention of changing it out. Am I wrong there?
2. I have absolutely no idea where the small one goes at all.
3. The middle one is slightly too small to stay in place but after cleaning it off, the old one does, perfectly. So guess what?!

This is the old middle one in place. Am I wrong here too?

This is where the big one goes, I don't want to pull the gear linkages unless I really have too, Or that gear cluster cover just to get at it.

I don't know why the 1st and 3rd photos swapped places, probably this old shop laptop. Perhaps the Moderator can help me with that, I'm clueless!

 

[Ohara]

Thanks for sharing. opcorn:

 

[chilidawg]

Well, that's the front cover on. And man, that was pensive! So many things to go wrong. Was the neutral switch in the right position, or did it just crunch up where it never could work? Did any one of those O rings pop off just when I didn't need them to? There's just so much stuff to keep separate in there?

But it is what it is! I'll find out for sure when it finally gets run I suppose? Very iffy operation though! Phew!!

 

[chilidawg]

Because I read somewhere that the neutral light works because of a ground, not grounded in any other gear position, I tested the switch before the cover went on and all looked good.

So I just tested for the same thing (with the cover on) and all I'm getting now are grounds, in any gear position.

I think that may have answered my 1st question, looks like I might have a green light on this bike, permanently, but like I say, we'll see.

 

[dan filipi]

Unfortunately sounds like it. With engine still out, it’s the best time to fix that.
When going together, it helps to use Vaseline on the parts to hold them in place.

 

[pidjones]

I pulled the neutral switch apart on my 1000 and cleaned/refured contacts/reassembled/epoxied. Working great for me now. The phenolic insulator unscrews once you scrape the glue off of it.

 

[chilidawg]

Y'know I'm not absolutely sure all is lost in this respect.

In the photo you can see my trusty amp clamp connected to the neutral light wire and grounded to the motor, it's bound to read ground when set on Ohms because I just connected it that way, it's the only way I can think of doing it with the front case installed, put it this way, if I taped the neutral light wire directly to the motor, would it be grounded? Yeah Bubba!

I think in this case the truth is in the quality of the ground and how much the ground reading changes (if at all) when the gear lever is operated.

In my case the ground reading changed significantly, immediately, both ways, when the lever was changed from neutral to 1st and back and from neutral to 2nd and back.

Meaning that the switch arms should be securely within the capture assembly, and if it's in there, it ought to be in there right.

 

[pidjones]

The problem develops from conductive carbon or metal debris getting in the switch, which is immersed in oil. Eventually it shorts the contacts enough to give an always-on neutral light. Or, the contacts develop oxide layers enough to not reliably give good contact. Rebuilding was so easy, I'll do it every time I pull the engine from now on.

 

[joedrum]

Great read chilli love the thread

 

[chilidawg]

pidjones » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:56 am[/url]":4wodvpp2]
Rebuilding was so easy, I'll do it every time I pull the engine from now on.

I did not pull it, just gave it a good spraying down with contact cleaner, I guess for the same reason I didn't mess with the clutch, who ever heard of a GL1100 neutral light, (or clutch) messing up at 50,000 miles?

I know that attitude is likely to come back and bite me in the ass at some point. But you all know how this stuff can nickel and dime you to death, if you let it!

If I'd have pulled it and been even little bit unsure, I would most likely have bought me a new one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-NUETRAL- ... 0290.m3507 :swoon:

 

[dan filipi]

chilidawg » Today, 4:12 pm[/url]":bdw3v6ng]

pidjones » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:56 am[/url]":bdw3v6ng]
Rebuilding was so easy, I'll do it every time I pull the engine from now on.

I did not pull it, just gave it a good spraying down with contact cleaner, I guess for the same reason I didn't mess with the clutch, who ever heard of a GL1100 neutral light, (or clutch) messing up at 50,000 miles?

I know that attitude is likely to come back and bite me in the ass at some point. But you all know how this stuff can nickel and dime you to death, if you let it!

If I'd have pulled it and been even little bit unsure, I would most likely have bought me a new one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-NUETRAL- ... 0290.m3507 :swoon:

The neutral switch problem that makes the neutral light stay on, is usually the side mounted neutral switch. In all my years, don't think I've ever heard of the front mounted switch (like yours) having the same problem.

 

[chilidawg]

With the front and back of the motor now essentially done, now I've turned to cams and belts.

I'm putting a low mileage set of 1975, R1 cams in it, and if it comes up with any HP increase then good, but I'm not holding my breath, the same job didn't do anything for the older motor. The main reason is to enable the Power Arc (C5) ignition to run off the back of the left head.

This job comes with it's own issues, both of which I think I might have solved, first one is finding new camshaft oil seals, last time I did this I was forced to use generic 27x43x9 seals of unknown origin due to the Honda seals being unavailable anywhere, that did not always work out well, oil in the belt case is one of the reasons this job is happening. This time there seems to be a whole plethora of sellers on eBay selling New Old Stock, they're not cheap! $13.00 a piece, but I got all 3 that I need.

The other is that the right hand Revision 1 camshaft comes with a shorter fuel pump drive eccentric offset, so you can't use the thick insulator that is usual on the '82 motor, (well you could but the driven part of the pump would be running on the very edge of the offset) instead you use what is basically just a gasket and normal on the early GL1000's. I scored that too from one of those NOS sellers on eBay.

 

[joedrum]

Yes my cams are 75/also and i just used a thinner gasket ....but now I have the fuel pump part off and it plated with a cover and a electric 1200 pump is what I’m using

 

[chilidawg]

Joe, I've heard a lot about this mod' and it's exactly the kind of thing I'm planning for this bike. Namely, anything that would make it more unstoppable, short of removing the brakes!

Any photos or other information on how it's done would be greatly appreciated. :yes:

 

[joedrum]

Hmmm well chilli my bike has a 1200 motor in it ..with 1100 heads and 75 cams on it ...the fuel pump is from the 1200 motor and mounts to the 1200 short block ...I’ll take a pic of it and post it here in a bit ...

 

[chilidawg]

From where I sit, it looks like the installation of an electric fuel pump is the easy part.

It's what you do with the old mechanical pump and keeping a well lubed tachometer drive that doesn't leak, that could be problematic!

I mean, the GL1100 fuel pump is a thing of beauty, it gives the whole engine character, it's something that cannot be mistaken for anything else!

Maybe I could just blank off the ports.