1980 1100I

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plskthompson1
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1980 1100I

#1

Post by plskthompson1 »

I thought I started a thread on this already, but I can't find it if I did, so here we go. I bought my 1100I a year ago this past August, and she was horrible. The only reason I dropped the amount of money on her that I did was because I had driven so far to pick her up. This was a sight unseen purchase basically, and the PO said "I think it looks GREAT." Yeah right. :evil:

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I was appalled when I got there. I had never seen such a hack job done on any bike. She had a cat eye tail light that you could barely see. Instead of the hard bags, he had attached a set of leather bags under the seat. And by attached, I mean he screwed them to the fender.

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Where the original trunk should have been, he had "rigged" a 1200 trunk in for the turn signals. Instead of an extra break light, he done away with the original turn signals. Go figure.

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She had the very stylish and custom duct tape seat. That was horrible in August, your pants always got sticky from the glue on hot days.

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The biggest thing that bothered me about her, was the flame paint job. Don't get me wrong, done the right way, flames can look good on anything, but these looked like trash. On top of that there was a red vinyl cobra sticker on top of the faux tank.

Over the past year, I feel like I have done quite a bit, but not a lot either to restore the girl to her glory. I have since replaced the leather bags with the original hard bags, replaced the original trunk, added a brighter tail light, added in some LED turn signals, as well as found a pair of originals to put in place after the paint gets laid on. I have the trunk and side panels in primer as well as one of the lower fairings, and bag lids.

I just today started removing parts to get ready for paint and major work. I know, before you guys start flaming me for not doing it, I should have changed the timing belts, but I didn't and that is on the list to do before next spring. Here a few pics of some more recent work, including what has been done so far today. Just FYI, I recovered the seat my self.:shock:

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My plan is to do a two step paint job, like on the faired 1200's, using O'Reilly shelf tan and burnt orange that was mixed to match a Dupont Hot Hues color sample. The story on the tan is, I went in to O'Reilly's knowing for sure that I wanted to use the burnt orange, but I wasn't sure what secondary color I wanted. The guy behind the counter had been adjusting some shelves that day when I asked him if he could go ahead and mix the orange while I searched through the books of paint chips. He said sure and laid a piece of the shelving over the color sample that I had chose. I closed the paint chip book and asked if he could match the color on that piece and he said he would try. He brought out this little eye gadget and went over to one of the clean shelves took what looked like three pics and went to the back room. When he came back, he had a quart of each color in his hand. I was amazed, and I personally think it's going to look great.

I'll keep you posted on how she turns out.
Last edited by plskthompson1 on Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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Roady
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#2

Post by Roady »

You've done a beautiful job so far. Good plan on the belts.

That upholstery work is top notch, wish mine was that nice.

There is no other resto thread for you so I'm glad you finally started one. :lol:
plskthompson1
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#3

Post by plskthompson1 »

Thanks for the compliments Roady. I don't know about top notch, but I'm happy with it.

I got a little more done as far as tear down this afternoon. It's just too darn cold to work outside for very long at a time.


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Now to get to work on the water pump change and some major clean up.

Does any one happen to have a trunk box from an 1100I that they'd be willing to part with? I just noticed today that the bottom of mine is cracked. :cry:
Last edited by plskthompson1 on Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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FirstYearDeek
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#4

Post by FirstYearDeek »

I'm with you on the flames... the primer looks better! :lol:

-Deek
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Neil
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#5

Post by Neil »

You are doing good stuff with the wing ... nicely done on that seat tumb2
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#6

Post by plskthompson1 »

:idea: I have been tossing around a name for the old girl, and I think I have found one that fits. What do you think of "Phoenix" ? I'm not talking about the city in Arizona, I'm referring to the mythical bird that rose from ashes after dying and being burnt.

It's just a thought. :8)
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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Neil
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#7

Post by Neil »

I like the name for the old girl ... fits :8)
plskthompson1
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#8

Post by plskthompson1 »

I just added an HD exhaust to the old girl today. Here's the setup I used. A little odd, but it worked out for me.

Parts list:
Headers
Metal for a hanger
Connectors
Crush Gaskets
Flex tube
Clamps
HD mufflers of your choice

I started with a set of headers from a GL1000 that I picked up on the cheap. I painted them with BBQ high temp paint.
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From there I put on an 1 5/8" ID connector with a 1 3/4"OD to fit the 1 3/4" ID flex pipe that I bought. This part might need some gentle persuasion to get it to fit just right. Now, for future reference or for someone wanting to do this to their bike, I would recommend getting the 1 5/8" ID flex pipe if you are able to find it as it will cut down on the number of connections you have to make. :oops:
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From there I used a 1 7/8" ID reducer to mate the 1 3/4" ID mufflers with the 1 3/4" ID flex tube. If you were to use the 1 5/8" ID flex pipe, you could possibly get away with out a connector here depending on how thick the wall of you tubing is.
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To hang the muffler, I bought a 1" wide steal bar and made a couple of brackets and bolted them to the saddle bag stay and used the existing mount point on the HD Dyna mufflers to bolt it to.
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I still have finish cutting the bar to length for the muffler mounts, but you get the idea behind the whole set up. It is nothing fancy, but I like the way it looks so far. I don't have any of the plastics on the bike right now as I am getting them ready for paint, but I'm sure this mod is going to make a big difference in the end.
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I'll try to get a video for a sound demo ASAP.
Last edited by plskthompson1 on Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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#9

Post by Sagebrush »

Crude but effective :-D. BTW those are 1100 headers which is a good thing, the 1100 headers are more stoutly built than the 1000 headers.
Dean Spalding
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plskthompson1
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#10

Post by plskthompson1 »

Very interesting. I didn't realize that the 1100's ever had a seperable exhaust. As far as crude, yes, but I plan on taking her to an exhaust shop to have the mid pipe replaced and welded at some point.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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plskthompson1
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#11

Post by plskthompson1 »

Oops, double post. :oops:
Last edited by plskthompson1 on Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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#12

Post by sunnbobb »

Thanks for the pictures, she's looking good.
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plskthompson1
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#13

Post by plskthompson1 »

Here's a video with the sound of the new pipes. It's not great as I had to use my phone to shoot it, but you get the idea anyway. It wasn't exactly the sound I was going for, but it works. :twisted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0z4EyM6-gI

Last edited by plskthompson1 on Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
Johnny T.

1980 GL1100 Interstate "Phoenix"
(Follow this link for some background on her name Phoenix's rebuild)

People ask us why we ride a motorcycle. For those who have experienced the joy, no explanation is necessary; for those who have not, no explanation is possible.
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#14

Post by winston »

Holy Dinah...is that what Dyna mufflers sound like on a GL1100??

That's downright dangerous sounding! (in a good way)

Yee-ha!
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#15

Post by cowboybob998 »

plskthompson1 wrote:Here's a video with the sound of the new pipes. It's not great as I had to use my phone to shoot it, but you get the idea anyway. It wasn't exactly the sound I was going for, but it works. :twisted:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X0z4EyM6-gI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>
If you take the baffels out of them they are a little more impresive, if you like loud like i do
'81 GL1100
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