Ernie's 77 resto project

[Hoosier Daddy]

Great to hear.... It's been said here the more they are ridden the better they get.
They are both beautiful.

[Fred Camper]

I agree, you need to use both or the overlooked one will degrade. But with two beautiful bikes to ride that should not be an issue. I too would you one for two up riding and the other for solo.

[polkadot]

I rode the old girl for the first time this year. Before the ride however I had to get her all cleaned up. I did all the maintenance on her over the winter. Had a great ride, but it reminded me that I have three or four small projects that I want to finish. I decided to take a break from Melloyello and finish one of the projects. In the Fall of 09 after I got the 77 running I had a failure of the RLU. From what I can tell their failure is fairly common. I decided to bypass it with a kit that one of our members sells. (sorry I do not remember whom I bought it from) I put the old unit back on to keep it looking fairly stock. Here is what it looked like.

It worked great, but I did not like the way it looked. So I decided to take it off and modify the RLU to look like it is hooked up. The process was as follows:











No great feat of engineering, but you would be hard pressed to realize the the RLU unit is just a dummy. Just a small item but I like the way it looks.

[polkadot]

I decided to do some work on the 77. I have wanted to replace the front fork caps with stock caps. I finally had them thanks to Tom (Streetwing) so on they go. The old caps were air caps that I plugged.





When I was done I decided that I should fog the garage early for mosquitoes, so I cranked her up!




And away we went on the 2012 maiden voyage. Nice and sunny but still only 40. Warm weather will not be far behind!

[Dog Boy]

An absolutely gorgeous bike, Ern.....love that blue!

AL

[polkadot]

Thanks Al. The project that got me involved in all this. I am still very proud of that restoration since I knew NOTHING at the start! That Blue is all original. I did notice some of the black enamel needs a little touching up. Maybe someday this summer.

[plippo]

Ah so that's your other one!

[Fred Camper]

an old friend for sure. Nice.

[polkadot]

an old friend for sure. Nice.

Truer words have never been spoken, but time and change are inevitable. My plan was to restore the LTD, enjoy it for awhile and then sell it. Well after all the work I put in the LTD, I fell in Love with it and just can't get rid of it. Well something has to give so the 77 will go. I spoke with my cousin (the Po) about the bike and she did not want it back and preferred that it go to someone that will run it as it should be. So the bike will be up for sale soon. In the mean time I had a couple things I wanted to do to it before she is sold. When I restored the bike the wiring was not routed correctly, so I re-routed the wiring harness the other day. I also tightened up the headers. I could not believe how loose they had become. Is that common? The last thing I want to do is get the valve cover emblems painted. I took those off tonight to paint. I then took the bike for a 50 mile joy ride. She runs just great. I will miss her, but someone else will get to enjoy her. For that I will be happy. Here is a picture of the "Full House" for now. My wife is wondering what I am making room for. Nothing! (for now) She will be ready for sale in the next few days. If I haven't sold her before June 10th, I may take her to Gilmore with a for sale sign. I'll keep you posted. ern

[polkadot]

I put the final touches on the bike this morning. Most importantly I painted the valve cover emblems! My 77 was a fairly early model. I thought it was interesting that the valve covers still had the holes for the tabs that were used to secure the emblems on the 75 and 76 models. I wonder if later in 77 those extra holes in the valve covers disappeared? I cleaned her up pretty good and she is now for sale. Someone is going to buy a really great bike!

[Fred Camper]

Somebody is going to buy a really nice 1977. Sure hope they join the club so we can still keep an eye on that very fine machine.

[polkadot]

So the story of my first Goldwing is near the end for me. I sold the bike on Ebay tonight to a guy from Overland Park, KS. He seems very excited about the bike, and for that I am happy. But I have to say, this is Bittersweet. Hopefully he will become a member and we can continue to enjoy the bike. It was an interesting process. Our bikes are admired throughout the world. I spent the most time talking about the bike to a guy in Melbourne Australia. In the end, I think the $2500.00 to have it shipped was just too much. My last 4 bidders were from West Virgina, Brazil, Australia and Kansas. Our bikes are WAY COOL and there are a lot of guys out there that know it! Keep up the great work preserving these great machines. ernie

[brokentoe]

I'm glad to hear you sold it, but, alas, that means my friend in Indy that I sent the information to didn't buy it. He let a good one get away.

[polkadot]

The bike has been paid for and the shipper comes this week. I drained the gas, emptied the carbs, charged the battery and disconnected the cables. She is ready to go. A couple of last pictures:

[Oldewing]

Nice work Ern.

Hope it's a nice home it's going to.