My "outside the Barn" find GL1100.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Most of you have seen this kind of thing before and are probably thinking "Here we go again" but this is MINE! For the Readers Digest story of how I got into this mess.... I got a new mower, guy at works wants my old mower, has a cycle to swap... He says "it's an '83 Gold Wing". Never being really keen on Dressers I wondered what was under all that fiberglass and did some searching on the web... That's how I found you all! Arranged the swap and he trailered it over. Come to find out it was a '81 GL1100 standard. He had stored it outside and the #1 intake valve was open and that cyl was full of water... engine is stuck
So here we have the start of a Loooong saga to get this back on the road. I am not under a time limit and the price was right so lets see if I can "Make a silk purse out of this sows ear".
Posting this will not only document the build, and help with problems I may have... but I am sure you folks will help me stay motivated!
So far I have been trying to get the engine to turn over by filling and draining the cyl's with penetrating oil. I have the crash bars and exhaust removed and next comes the cooling system.... then the timing belts... then the heads and I can see just how bad it is.

Day 1 when it arrived at it's new home


Where we are today
Right side


Left side


Wiring mess, Counted 7 Scotch-Locs spliced in for old aftermarket fairing!

[Neil]

WOW, good find and a lot of TLC later you will have a nice machine.
Dontcha just hate how some PO's treat machines

Good luck with that and keep us posted.

[Rat]

Fun times ahead.

We'll be watching.

Gord

[Roady]

You fell into a pretty nice pile of __it there.

It seems that if the PO didn't neglect it, I can't afford it. So, willing to put in the time and effort will net some dang fine results.

Good luck. I'll pull up a lawn chair, grab a brew and watch the progress from over here.

[kitbutterfield]

Wow, that wiring actually might look worse than what my PO did!
That's amazing!
I wish you much learning, luck & enjoyment.

[rogue1000]

Heck, it's already a bobber, so you don't have to do that! Enjoy

[Graham Cracker]

Good Job! You're gonna have some fun there. Lot's of knowledge and inspiration on this site. Welcome.

[Cookie]

I think the same guy may have wired a couple of mine. Take your time with that engine, WF has had good results freeing up frozen ones.
Looks like a good base even if you do have to change the engine later.

[bladredhead]

good luck with the resurrection... if i were you i'd be looking for a replacement harness, but i hate wiring thus prefer to throw money at the problem so i can do the mechanical stuff

[Hoosier Daddy]

Thanks for the support and a BIG thanks to Octane for his write up "Head Job"! So here is todays progress... "Strike while the iron is hot". Thankfull I am off work this week and it was raining today. Plus this part doesn't take any cash!

So far so good, this side looked clean... started to get optomistic


Then the bad news. Here is the left side showing #1 that was full of water.


And the left sides head... glad I decided to tear it down.

[Cookie]

I'd be tempted to turn it on it's side and pour acid in to clean it up, followed by ATF for a few days soaking.

[Whiskerfish]

If that was mine I would start shoping for a replacement engine. You will probably be able to get it cleaned up enough to run but it will wear prematurely and eventually she will start burning oil like crazy. Might be next week or next month or next year. Just putting that engine back together is going to cost you close to a hundred for gaskets and such.

[Neil]

HOOOOOLLLLLY S#%T That's going to take some cleaning

Me thinks a replacement engine would be more cost effective

[robin1731]

I agree with WF. There is almost always an engine on ebay. Or someone on here near by may have one for sale. That cylinder looks pretty bad. I wouldn't take the chance on it.

[Cookie]

I'd want to see it cleaned up before I decided. If it has big pits that would be easier to replace.