Transmission Swap 83 to an 80

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PTATSOC

PTATSOC

Active member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
43
Reaction score
9
Location
North Dallas Metroplex
My Bike Models
Burgundy 1980,1,2,3 Goldwing and a Black 1981 Goldwing
I 'm having tranny issues with 1980 Goldwing, it locks up going into second, slips out of 5th and when decelerating in 1st get a spin down noise like a bolt being spun tight. and there is shinny metal and brass in the oil filter when I do an oil change. So I'm going to have to pull and rebuild the tranny. I understand from reading that the gear ratios are a little different lower 1st and higher 5th. The question is can the gear set from an 83 be swapped into an 80. If so what extra concerns are there.
Thanks
for any and all help in advance
 
Welcome to the forums.

I put 83 gears into an 81, 80 I believe would be the same.

The only problem I ran into was one shifter fork would rub a gear, ground the fork a bit to fix that.

You'll need both gear sets as well as the final reduction gear. Output shaft from the 80 should work.
 
welcome to classic....big job ...sorry about the trans...with the different secondary reduction changed like an 83 ...first gear is not lower at the wheel ...83 gearing is tall through all gears ...if you could stay with the 80 secondary reduction it would come out like you said ...1st lower 5th taller...im not sure you cad do that never tried ....would make some interesting gearing....
 
joedrum":mpox1wk0 said:
welcome to classic....big job ...sorry about the trans...with the different secondary reduction changed like an 83 ...first gear is not lower at the wheel ...83 gearing is tall through all gears ...if you could stay with the 80 secondary reduction it would come out like you said ...1st lower 5th taller...im not sure you cad do that never tried ....would make some interesting gearing....
Click to expand...

No they won't mix. I Tried it.
 
Thanks for all the info. I have an 81 that suffered sudden stop syndrome when it was dropped, broke a cam gear and it only had 20k miles on it.
It sound like the best thing to do is either find an engine close to home or just swap the 81 transmission into the 80. The engine rebuild does not worry me, have been a mech for years just never pulled a wing apart and there is lots of good info and help on the forums. Just finishing a restoration and updates on a 1970 Trident so have a basic understanding of what I'm in for.
Again thanks for all the info.
 
I did miss understand, so if I can lay hands on an 83 Transmission the gear set will swap straight in, what about the shift mechanisms, forks and drum and all that stuff. Does it all have to be from the 83.
and Again Thanks to all of you for the help
 
PTATSOC":3auipvk8 said:
I did miss understand, so if I can lay hands on an 83 Transmission the gear set will swap straight in, what about the shift mechanisms, forks and drum and all that stuff. Does it all have to be from the 83.
and Again Thanks to all of you for the help
Click to expand...
Just the gears need to be swapped, everything else will work but like I said one fork needs to be ground a touch.
 
I'm working on the same swap, 83 gears to an 81 case. I'm stumped how to get these darn screws out. I've scrapped a couple cases and have never got these screws to budge. I have a HF impact screw driver, but the screws just bust the bits or strip out. I tried some heat tonight to see if that helps and gingerly smacked'em a couple times, but still stuck tight. Any tricks I'm missing?
:help:

Bearing%2520Cap.png
 
Not certain but pretty sure you need a #3 phillips bit. Be sure you turn the impact driver fully counter clock wise and hold tight when you hit it.
 
I KNOW THOSE SCREWS.
They are a BITCH!

Honda must have used something like red loctite.
I went thru the same, snapping bits and stripping the screw heads.
How I finally got them loose was using a screw driver like a chisel on the screw head edge and beating it.
 
Yeesh....what screws are we talkin aboot here, and what the heck are they holding on to? If yer gunna wind up destroying the screw anyway, why not just drill the head off? :builder:
 
AApple":tulgqbha said:
If yer gunna wind up destroying the screw anyway, why not just drill the head off? :builder:
Click to expand...

It's the bearing Cap Screws shown in the picture from the manual.
Plan B is drilling the head off with the hope there's enough screw left to grab with vise grips, then plan C is drilling them out, Plan D is scrapping the case and continue looking for an 83 engine. Plan B might skipped and move directly to C.

I'm gonna try more heating/cooling tonight and see if they'll break loose... :sensored: screws!

Jim
 
I am currently rebuilding an 80 engine, and swapping in the gearsets from an 82.
In my case, Gears 1 and 2 were the same, and gears 3-5 are taller in the 82 tranny. I believe the 83 is similar to the 82 with the added change of a lower ratio on the 1st gear (according to the Honda manual), making your comment "lower 1st and higher 5th" seem correct.

The two gearsets plopped right in, including all bearings and shafts. There were changes in the shift fork shaft and the gear change drums between the two years, however.

In the 80,the shift fork shaft was captivated by a pin thru the case and into a hole into the shaft. The 82 was captivated by a plate on one end, and a shallower bore on the opposite end, deeper in the case.

The gear change drum has a diffent end on it.

However, if you keep the shift fork shafts and the gearshift drums with their corresponding cases, all is ok. I slid the 82 gearshift forks off their shaft, and moved them over to the 80 shaft with no problems. Did not have to grind or modify the forks at all, in my case.

The drum stopper and the neutral stopper arm are different, so keep them with the case they came from, as well.

The final reduction gear appears to be the same for both years.

The bearing cap screws came out fine on the '80', but were a b*tch on the 82!!
I think the screw is put on so tightly, that the underside of the head is locked into the aluminum of the bearing cap. After breaking about 4 bits with an impact hammer punch and eventually stripping out the screw, I had to die-grind off the head. Once the head was mostly ground away, the threaded stem could be turned out by hand. Geez! :shock:

These are some items that transferred over without problem:

Both gear sets/shafts/bearings (almost entire tranny)
Forks (minus the shaft)
Gearshift spindle
Gearshift arm
gear select stopper
Final reduction gear (looks exactly the same between the two, but untried as of yet)

_____
Greg - Motoman
 
Thanks to you all...thought the info I was gathering was pertinant. This will double my number of postings :smilie_happy:
 
good info the only thing to add here is the reduction unit is the same on 82-81-80 the reduction unit on 83 is taller and yes firt gear is lower in the trans but its about same after it gose throuh the reduction unit making the 83 taller than all the 1100s even tho the gearing is the same in trans except for first :mrgreen: thats neat you did this big job ...what was the purpose :mrgreen:
 
Hi Joedrum,

Your information is great and makes perfect sense.
My goal on the project is engine rebuild. The perk of the rebuild was to look into replacing the transmission high-end ratios, and hopefully lower the engine rpm out on the open road. I have always wanted to lower the rpm at highway speeds, and now is the chance to look into it. The 82 tranny should do that (knock on wood). Hopefully it will lower the noise level and the mpg a bit in doing so, as well. :mrgreen: The original intent was to use the 82 case, but the previous owner had the heads off for a long time, causing there to be too much corrosion to hone out, while keeping the cylinder walls in spec. :Doh2: Rebore is not an option, since Honda doesn't supply oversize pistons anymore. Did not look into using the 1200 pistons, but wondered if they would suffice as oversize.. Hence the rebuild of the '80' engine that was on the bike.

Hmmm.. Looking at your info, I wonder if I could change out the final reduction gear 'set' of the 82 by using one from an 83? :yahoo: I think I will look into that too. THANKS! Let me know your thoughts.

Motoman
 

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