76 GL1000

[ferndo]

Bought this bike from a friend of a friend's uncle for $600. Motor wouldn't start but it turned with the kick starter. From inspection of the harness there was evidence of shoddy electrical work done by the previous owner, you know those cheap crimp on connectors, lots of electrical tape. A few fuses were blown and then bypassed by a wire. Really poor work. Text book example of what not to do or you shouldn't be working on a motorcycle (cause your life really depends on it).

Anyways motor looked intact with little evidence of tinkering (at least I hope). Missing left rear shock, turn signals, mirrors, and front fender. Hand controls where stuck and weathered.

I felt like I paid a little too much for it after reading some other restos on this forum, but being my first project bike this is all new to me. And in Southern California prices on older cars and motorcycles are high.

I want to get this bike to be a reliable touring machine that it once was. Keeping it stock if possible, but inclined to update some things like the ignition, electrical, brakes.

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Bike is home, at least it has a complete set of plastics. And I expect to see some monsters as I start the disassembly.

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My plan is first to get the engine running so then I can diagnose the cylinders through leak down and compression test, then rebuild and tune up the carbs. I don't plan on working on the top and bottom end unless it really needs it. Been reading Randakk's blog so going from his suggestions.

First thing is remove the fuel tank as there is rust. Remove the wiring harness and ignition system. Then begin a complete resto of those systems.

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Definitely will replace this with a blade fuse block. And lets just say there was no 30A main fuse. Like I said shoddy electrical work.

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Here's the wiring harness completely striped of most of the electrical tape. My plan is to replace bad connectors, do a visual inspection and continuity test on all wires. Also replacing all the bullet connectors for either deutsch or weatherpack.

Looking at these old fashion connector I believe that somewhere in America I will be kicking myself for not changing them. Anyone here think that way?

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And finally I got this far and notice all these splices, I am assuming these are factory? Now there was plenty of electrical tape around these spices that make an awful bulge, not only that there was much corrosion build up.

Getting this deep into the harness I am going to redo the splice with solder and heat shrink insulation.

To finish the harness I am going to add split loom to protect it from abrasion. Seal it once all bugs are out of the system.

Well now waiting on parts. Ordered Dyna 3 ohm (green) ignition coils, new plugs, wire, etc, I am replacing the contact point and condenser (not going for the Dyna S electronic ignition per suggestion from friend who have overheating issues on their CB750). As well as a new starter solenoid with 30A main fuse.

[wog]

Congrats!
Glad to see another one being saved.

As for the harness, the original from Mother Honda was mostly wrapped with electrical tape.
Only some sections had a plastic sleeve.

[Kriss]

Welcome to the club,

[Placerville]

Don't worry about one or two hundred dollars. You got what you wanted and that's what matters. By the way, nice start on the bike. I approve of 'ground up' restorations.

Here's a great vendor of correct style connectors. Many here have used them with good results. A tip: After attaching your 'crimp-on' style connectors to the wires, always follow up by soldering those connection points. This is very important as any crimped connections will soon corrode and be the source of many problems. Soldering connectors is especially important in areas of high current draw such as the stator to rectifier connector or, the infamous, "3 yellow wires." After the male and female connectors are snapped together, follow up with some Di-electric grease to seal the 'wire end' openings. Your electrical system will thank you.

[OO7EDDY]

Nice project. The splices you found are factory splices. I recently completely un taped a 76 harness to scavenge some 3-way connections and see what was inside. I was surprised to find those splices too.

[BruteSquad]

I'll be following this. I think I'll be not too far behind you in the process.

[taylorsel]

you have the same color 76 as my latest project. I have rebuilt two 78s and one 79 and was suprised that the 76 had so many bulky bundles of bullet connectors. Good idea to combine them in simpler connectors. Honda aparently did in 1978

[ferndo]

Thanks guys for the encouragement and advice.

Today I started with my initial step toward cleaning the fuel tank. I've ordered the Por-15 fuel tank resto kit on friend's advice. Pour out the fuel and did a visual inspection of the tank. As you can see pretty rusty.

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I have read Randakk's advice on placing a wire inside the pickup lines to prevent the sealer from entering. But what about the mesh? Also read about blowing air through the lines.

Or should I just take it to the radiator shop as some folks suggest?

[gscloner]

I've got the same situation in the bottom of my tank, maybe not qute so bad. Interested in this POR15 kit and how it works. For any rusty steel parts, I've used muriatic acid for dissolving rust but I always follow with a thorough scrub and a soak in soda-water to neutralize all the acid before I paint. Anyone ever try this method with a gas tank?

[Placerville]

Because your tank will be out of the bike, I encourage you to take it to a radiator shop and have them clean it. When done, it will be completely free of rust. I'm also recommending this because your tank appears to be badly rusted. Because of this, you may find that after cleaning you have some 'pin-hole' leaks (that were previously filled with rust and goo). As a result, you'll not only want your tank completely stripped of interior rust but, exterior paint as well so that it may be completely inspected for damage. Be sure to emphasize with the shop the need to clean out the main and reserve tubes during the process. If you're not going to coat the interior after cleaning, make sure the shop covers the interior with oil when it's finished so as to avoid flash rust. If you find that you have pin hole leaks, I'd suggest that you toss the tank and pick up one that's sound from one of our sponsors.

If you choose to clean it yourself, I recommend Evapo-Rust. I used to recommend Muriatic acid and have used it on several occasions with success. However, I recently cleaned my tank (in frame) with Evapo-Rust and I was very impressed with the entire process. In short: No fumes, no odor, water based, no danger to skin, eyes etc., re-usable, and can be dumped down the drain when no longer effective (from repeated uses). And the best point; it can be left in your tank for as long as you want. I left it in mine for 24 hours. It came out perfectly clean. There's no danger to leaving it in too long as it has no effect on metal. A truly amazing product.

To clean your tank with ER will cost you just under $100. O'Reilly's will order in a 5 gallon container for your overnight for about $90. However, you'll find that 5 gallons will not fill the tank to the brim so, you'll need to purchase two extra 1 qt. containers. With that amount, the tank can be filled all the way to the top of the filler neck and you'll have some left over. Compare the price of this with what a radiator shop will charge you. Either method you choose will work equally as well so, price is the issue. Keep in mind that with ER you'll have a good supply of rust cleaning solution for the future. A tip: To plug the tanks sending unit hole use a 1 7/8" - 2" expandable rubber plug available at any hardware store or O'Reillys. They work perfectly. Clean your sending unit separately by submerging it in ER. Open the little winding box and make sure it's clean inside. Inspect the winding for broken wires.

Regarding the need to coat your tanks interior after cleaning; the need to do that is split about 50/50. Some like coating the tank and not having to worry about rust again. Some say it's not necessary and that keeping the tank full when the bike's not on the road will keep the tank from developing rust. (This is my preference.) If you choose to do a coating, make sure (whoever does it) blows air through the tubes to clear the screens of coating or you'll be in trouble. There's also a third alternative to restoring your tank, and that is, nickle plating. Any shop that does chrome plating can nickle plate your tank. Once done, your tank will be free of rust forever (and you won't have to worry about the coating deteriorating or clogging your screen). Of course, you'll need to paint or powder coat the exterior as well. Probably the priciest alternative but, one that will provide superior results in the end.

[ferndo]

Thanks for the tips Placerville. I actually was looking at using Evaporust as a friend had suggested. But the more I read about it reminded me of using citric acid. I had used it before when I was restoring old espresso machine with my brother in Seattle as it is food safe and eats rust and calcium. And the result were excellent considering the little work needed to get the chunks of calcium out of old boilers.

So I went ahead and ordered a 5lb bag from amazon for around $18. I filled up an 18gal plastic container with hot water and stirred about 2 cups citric acid. I think that amount to a concentration of of 0.6%. Some suggest 10% concentration which works faster (might etch your steel if left too long) and you end up having to dump the whole bag and I don't have the space to store 18 gallons of acid.

Anyway with my .6% concentration requires more time so what I did was every ~8 hours I would take the tank out and rinse it with a pressure washer, inspect it to see the progress and back in the acid bath till all the rust is gone.
Took about two days. And below are the results. I was super please as I think I only spent $3 on the supplies I used.

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By the way I did prewash the tank with a strong solution of simple green. Got to make sure all the oil are off the tank otherwise it can block the acid from working out the rust.

I finished the tank off by adding some baking soda with water to neutralize it, then 10 minutes of rinsing, then a half hour with the blow dryer. Pour a few ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil, swished it around to get nice coating before the flash rust could set it.

Scrubbed the outside with steel wool, dried, primed and then painted flat black.

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Tank is done, now working on the wiring harness.

[Placerville]

Citric acid. Amazing results and unbelievably inexpensive. I am impressed!

[BruteSquad]

Well, gee. Thanks for yet another method of cleaning out the tank That actually looks really good, especially considered how bad it looked. Decisions, decisions.

[John83]

Wow, that worked really well. Environment friendly too!

[BruteSquad]

Hey, how's your tank holding up? Any rust you can see?