Just another bobber build

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Hamp
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Just another bobber build

#1

Post by Hamp »

*edit* The thread formerly known as "The $1000 bike build" *edit*

Hey all! Here is some backstory to this current build.

About two months ago, I was able to pick up my uncle's 1981 gl1100 for $350. He has taught me a good bit of everything I know about mechanics and welding, so needless to say, this bike was well maintained. Unfortunately about 7 years ago his knee's gave out and he has been unable to ride since, so the bike sat under shelter. I believe he was holding onto this as a reminder of more youthful days but eventually he was able to see the decay of his beauty and he let me buy it. I'm sure it will rub him against the grain when he see's the finished project after decades of maintaining a factory bike, but this way it can stay in the family :-D

This brings me to introduce to you, the $1000 bike build! If you are against mass ordering universal e-bay parts from China, I suggest you leave now :mrgreen:

Here is a photo of the bike on its first day at its new home
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Before I began tearing off everything, I wanted to make sure the motor and electronics were in working order. I started by removing the carbs to clean out the old fuel and build-up, replaced the faulty magneto switch, and slapped in a new battery. **NOTE: The Pinesol carb bath works flawlessly!** With the aid of some starting spray, it cranked right up! However, the #3 carb float repeatedly got stuck resulting in over-night vaporlock. So a carb re-build was in order.

New parts list includes;
-progressive front springs
-fork seals and oil
-sport bike style front master brake cylinder & lever
-matching clutch lever & mount
-hand grips
-universal headlight mount
-all new cables
-air/oil/fuel filters
-front and rear brake pads
-spark plugs
-timing belt
-fuel lines
-4x carb rebuild kit
-2004 Harley Sportster seat
-rear brake master cylinder rebuild kit
-2x brake light pods (will be mounted in battery/fuel tank covers)
-1 3/4" drop rear coil-overs
-low profile license plate bracket
-a bunch of rattle paint cans

This brings my total to $889.56 including the $350 for the bike. UNFORTUNATELY I will already be over budget by a few dollars when I get new tires, which will be necessary to make her road worthy. I am thinking of a custom license plate, something along the lines of "Wang" lolol

Anyways, I have the bike nearly torn down at the moment, including the wiring harness which will need some modification. The exhaust will be mocked up and finished before I remove the motor to paint the frame. I have remounted the FTC to mock up the seat which will require modifying the FTC, passenger seat support bracket, and the two opposing tail pieces on the sub-frame. **This is not a original seating idea. I have found this from someone else's build which can be found here http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=35778.0 **

This is how she sits, currently
Image

I will try to keep everyone updated on the regular but this will be difficult for me due to my EXTREME A.D.D. nature. I cannot emphasize extreme, enough. Also, work on it has been going slower than expected due to it being spring time, which means spring cleaning, lots of lawn care, and trying to squeeze in some seat hours on the Aprilia. Im looking forward to making some progress in the very near future and you all will be the first to know :)

Cheers and safe riding! crossy.gif

P.S. I will be posting a lot of spare parts for sale in the for sale section if anyone is interested. My prices are dirt cheap because I am only trying to make more room in the garage!
Last edited by Hamp on Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:31 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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Hamp
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Re: The $1000 'tame' bobber build!

#2

Post by Hamp »

Also, does anyone know what in the heck this thing is? Image
Here are some inspirations for the build
Image
Image
Image
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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wheeliedog
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#3

Post by wheeliedog »

Hi, welcome and enjoy the project!

That 'thing' is nothing more than the indicator buzzer. When I discovered mine I thought it was an altitude sensor. In my defense I had a non runner and the 'thing' only emits a buzz when travelling over 40km/h, so I never had the opportunity to hear it :mrgreen:

Quite a clever idea from Honda I suppose but I decided to do away with mine as not really necessary.
naked 1980 GL1100 under construction.
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Hamp
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#4

Post by Hamp »

Quick update for you guys; Got the exhaust done today! Had a few hiccups but other than that, it went to be expected. I re-used the factory exhaust, cutting the joint between the headers and muffler. Luckily the bike came with some tail-pipe extensions that had a slight bend in them which helped follow the frame lines pretty well. With a little re-purposing, here is how they sit! If you're wondering, yes they are straight piped.

Image

new vs old

Image

Left over exhaust wrap from a previous project is what was used. I ran out by about 12" on the top header in the photo. Hopefully it wont be too noticable when they are mounted. I will put off redo-ing them for now.

Image
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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BikeMaine
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#5

Post by BikeMaine »

I like your ideas and I like your pipes.

I made straight open pipes for mine but found that it wouldn't idle worth a darn or accelerate well without some back pressure. I was going to buy some baffles from J.C. Whitney until I saw how easily one could make some.
The baffles not only make it run well, but it has a nice sound as well.

I made them with 4 exhaust reducers, 2 pieces of pipe and 4 large flat washers. I have about $15 in the pair.
baffles.png
baffles.png (528.85 KiB) Viewed 812 times
Kevin
1982 GL1100A
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Hamp
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#6

Post by Hamp »

What a great day to work on the bike! I was supposed to be at work today but overslept. Thank goodness my employer's tardy policy is identical to its absence policy, so I didn't feel too guilty about missing the rest of the day! ;)

I've been procrastinating removing the engine from the frame because I've read about how big of a pain it is for "first timers" to remove the driveshaft from the engine. :roll: Now that the exhaust is finished and today, the seat has been mated to the frame; all that remains is to remove the engine to prep the frame for paint (aside from rebuilding a few tid-bits like calipers and the forks).

For being one of my first major customizations, it went very smooth! I started by cutting off the lip on the bottom section of the FTC. This resulted in dropping the front of the seat an extra 1.25". It would be nice to fab some contraption that will allow me to use the seats natural front lip to secure the seat and drop it another 1". However, that does not seem possible due to the design of the FTC and frame work.

Image

Then, I chopped off the passenger seat support to drop the rear of the seat another 2"

Image

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Image

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The two tail sections of subframe did not match the lines of the seat, so more modification was to be had. I used my propane torch to heat the tail pieces 1.5" away from the suspension mounts, attached a vice grip and my floor jack handle to the end of the vice, and pulled with all my might. This only resulted in warping the very tips of the tail pieces :-? After more heat was applied, I pulled out The Convincer (my 5lb maul) and with just a few strikes I was able to center both tails :lol:

Image

**NOTE** The tail pieces look off-center, but that is only due to the bike being on its side stand, and a faulty camera-man. I assure you, they are completely symmetrical!
Image

I needed a mounting place for the rear of the Sportster seat, so that meant it was time for some good ole re-purposing :idea:

Image

After precisely eye-balling the measurements lolol , it was time to chop it up

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Relief swept over me when I stuck the cross-member onto the tail piece and the fit was PERFECT!! I am very thankful for cutting away from the tape and leaving a little extra room.

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Gave the seat a test fit to assure proper placement

Image

But whats that?? Maybe a clearance problem??

Image

My aftermarket coilovers have 1.85" of travel and the clearance measured 2"!! Thank goodness yet again! Just for some peace of mind, I notched out a section that gave me 2.15" of clearance and welded her in place.

Image

Please do not judge my metal working skills. I am a beginner :8)

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I must say, it fits pretty darn well

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Here is a before and after pic of this build's progress.

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Hope you enjoyed reading and I'll try to get more work done on it this weekend! I am considering relocating the factory tach and speedo into the FTC. There is enough clearance in the storage compartment and enough surface area to safely house both the gauges. Drop your opinions/suggestions in the thread below and like always,

Cheers and Safe Riding!
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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Hamp
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#7

Post by Hamp »

BikeMaine wrote:I like your ideas and I like your pipes.

I made straight open pipes for mine but found that it wouldn't idle worth a darn or accelerate well without some back pressure. I was going to buy some baffles from J.C. Whitney until I saw how easily one could make some.
The baffles not only make it run well, but it has a nice sound as well.

I made them with 4 exhaust reducers, 2 pieces of pipe and 4 large flat washers. I have about $15 in the pair.
The law around here is pretty lenient about loud vehicles, so if there are no performance issues, I will be keeping the pipes open! However, if there are running issues, I will definitely be using your design :-D
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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Hanslehoff
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#8

Post by Hanslehoff »

Nice work! That seat follows the frame lines like it was made for it. Good idea heating up and bending the frame 'horns', I'm not sure I ever would have thought of trying that.
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#9

Post by BikeMaine »

Hamp wrote:
BikeMaine wrote:I like your ideas and I like your pipes.

I made straight open pipes for mine but found that it wouldn't idle worth a darn or accelerate well without some back pressure. I was going to buy some baffles from J.C. Whitney until I saw how easily one could make some.
The baffles not only make it run well, but it has a nice sound as well.

I made them with 4 exhaust reducers, 2 pieces of pipe and 4 large flat washers. I have about $15 in the pair.
The law around here is pretty lenient about loud vehicles, so if there are no performance issues, I will be keeping the pipes open! However, if there are running issues, I will definitely be using your design :-D
Around here, a motorcycle can be as loud as you want, but if my truck was half as loud as your normal Harley, I'd get a ticket before I left the driveway. (Might have something to do with my county's Sheriff rides a loud Harley.....) :shock:
Kevin
1982 GL1100A
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#10

Post by OleDirtyDoc »

Nice job on the rear section of the frame
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#11

Post by TNTbefree »

Love what you did. With the seat that far up the false tank, the fuel door still pop open?
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#12

Post by Hamp »

This time around, I have more pictures than I do updates... It's looking like Sunday is becoming the dedicated day towards hobbies action1 Let me just say, pulling this motor was loads easier than what was expected.... As anticipated, the most difficult part was dislocating the u-joint from the out-put shaft. For the life of me, I could not find the snap ring that would allow me to pull back the driveshaft. After about 30 minutes of cleaning up grease and trying to find the snap ring holes, I had the epiphany that the u-joint splines were indeed female and the snap ring was inside of the u-joint!! duh :lol: Im kind of new at this! After the out-put shaft was disconnected, it was as simple as wiggling the motor to the left.

Image

Now, I was aware that there was a leak in the crossover coolant channel on the passenger side. For $12.50 on ebay I was able to find a gasket kit from Canada. This part is pretty self explanatory but what caught my attention was some very dark, hard buildup in the coolant ports in the head.. Now keep in mind there is no build up in the crossover channels themselves, only the heads and most likely the block too, though I cannot say for sure. Can someone tell me if this is normal or something I should be worried about?

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Glamour shot ;)

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As an extra eye-catcher, I want to run a completely naked timing setup. This also includes the shroud behind the timing gear. Before I get criticized for this being unsafe/unreliable, I say to you.... uhhh oh well, it looks cool!

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The timing gears will be color matched with the false tank cover

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Just as an FYI, it is very easy to make your own timing gear holder! Just two screws, a piece of wood, and some electrical tape to prevent scratching/scaring the timing gear.

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Pretty sure there is at least 15 lbs of road grime and grease on the bottom and side sections of the engine. This picture does not do visualize how much grime there actually is. Time to get cleaning and prepping for paint!

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*note* The engine is on an old block of wood and is not resting on the top coolant elbow. ***
After about an hour of spraying degreaser and scrubbing with the wire brush, there was actually metal under all that goo!

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Unfortunately, the rain caught me and I had to call it quits for this week, because my garage is scattered full of Goldwing parts. Of course this would happen when today was a 0 % chance of rain. I did not work on it yesterday with an 80% chance, and IT DID NOT RAIN!!!! Why must this happen?? Oh well, no sense in crying over spilled milk...
Like always,
Cheers and safe riding! crossy.gif
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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Hamp
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#13

Post by Hamp »

Hanslehoff wrote:Nice work! That seat follows the frame lines like it was made for it. Good idea heating up and bending the frame 'horns', I'm not sure I ever would have thought of trying that.
I absolutely love the color you went with on the engine block! Your entire build is stunning and I will be very pleased if mine comes out with at least half the craftsmanship and attention to detail :orange
TNTbefree wrote:Love what you did. With the seat that far up the false tank, the fuel door still pop open?
Thanks buddy
The fuel door still has more than enough room to fully open. The camera angle does make the seat look closer to the FTC than it actually is
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"Riding is life" -me

1981 Honda Goldwing bobber "Wang"
& a few other toys
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#14

Post by duke182 »

Very cool project.
Looking forward to seeing more.
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Re: The $1000 bike build!

#15

Post by Hanslehoff »

Hamp wrote: I absolutely love the color you went with on the engine block! Your entire build is stunning and I will be very pleased if mine comes out with at least half the craftsmanship and attention to detail :orange
Thank for the props, but yours is coming along very well already. Getting all the years of road grime cleaned off and painting the block was oddly one of the most rewarding parts for me. SO much work, but seeing it looking all fresh and new really energizes you to keep moving forward action1
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