The 'Humpty Dumpty' refresh, now named 'Grumpy'

[Track T 2411]

I guess I've been sand bagging a bit. I picked up another '81 1100 the first week in February. It just followed me home, I swear!
The thread is titled 'Humpty Dumpty' both because the bike came to me in pieces, and she's been dropped a couple of times. She started out as a Standard, and a Vetter fairing and bags were added at some point. Here's how she sits today, after lots and lots of cleaning!

14633326074231496032759.jpg

(The pipes are off another bike) There's a lot of catching up to do to get to this point, but I need to pull the carbs while the sun is shining, so the beginning will come later, lol!

[Rat]

Them there are looooooong pipes .....

Lookin' good.

Gord

[Track T 2411]

Them there are looooooong pipes .....

Lookin' good.

Gord

Yes, they certainly are! They were on the '81 Interstate, which had a trailer hitch, etc. They are slip on extensions with butt-ugly muffler clamps holding them on. They do look like they were made to fit the stock exhaust, but I've not seen any others like 'em. They won't be staying on this bike, but they keep the neighbors happy. I can't even get the bike in the shed with them installed unless I angle it across the whole floor (8x8 shed).

[Track T 2411]

20160215_110617.jpg

20160215_110537.jpg

20160215_110645.jpg

20160215_111735.jpg

20160215_111808.jpg

Just a few pics of the bike before I really started digging into it. The leaking valve covers, shifter seal, and weep hole, combined with copious amounts of grit had nearly the entire engine coated with black pasty goo. I ended up using a plastic putty knife to scrape off the first couple of layers.

[Track T 2411]

Gee, maybe I should catch up on this thread a bit...

I kind of like to read the back stories on how we all end up with these bikes, so here's mine. I first heard about this bike back before Christmas. The weather had been unseasonably warm, but winter had finally kicked in, and low temps were approaching single digits. A co-worker whom I run into occasionally said he was glad it was finally getting cold, as he could hardly wait to get out and do some ice fishing.
Now, you have to understand that although I'm a born and bred Wisconsinite, I've probably only wet a line three or four times in my life; you'd never find me sitting on a pail out in the middle of a (supposedly safe) frozen lake with the wind howling all around me, watching a couple of fishing lines disappear into holes in the ice. And I told my co-worker that exact thing...
He laughed and asked what I'd rather be doing. "Riding my motorcycle," I replied, of course. "Or wrenching on it."
"Oh, what kind of bike do you have?"
"An old GoldWing... actually, three old GoldWings, an '82 and two '81's. I'm trying to revive them and get them back on the road."
"Really? I've got an '81," he said. "And you work on them yourself?"
"Yeah..."
"You ever replace a starter? The book says I have to take out the engine..."
And so it began...

[Track T 2411]

More of the story...

Turns out my co-worker had removed the starter after having issues, and twisted the side post loose due to extreme corrosion. He got quoted an outrageous amount to rebuild it, and also read the infamous "you have to pull the engine" instructions concerning starter removal/install. He started pulling things apart, then decided he wanted to paint the fairing and plastics, instead. At some point, he lost interest, and the bike sat half disassembled for three or four years.

That day in December, he asked me if I could "take a look at it" and see if I might be able to fix it for him. I didn't want to commit myself, so I told him I'd think about it and let him know after the holidays, and didn't think too much more about it. The last week in January, he asked me again, and we made arrangements for me to stop by and take a look.

I put together a few tools and, just before I left the house, tucked a 'Ben' into my wallet. Needless to say, it did come in handy later!

[Track T 2411]

I've totally neglected this thread, so I'd like to quickly run through the the build, so I at least have a record of it.

temp2.jpg

temp.jpg

Fresh off the trailer. The pics are dated February 6th, 2016.

[Track T 2411]

20160215_110723.jpg

20160215_110747.jpg

20160215_110911.jpg

February 15th. Some shots of the bike's general condition. Looks worse in person, but most everything is there.

[Track T 2411]

20160215_110940.jpg

20160215_111011.jpg

20160215_111136.jpg

Just a few of the kludge fixes...

[Track T 2411]

20160215_121719.jpg

Time to get to work!

20160215_135200.jpg

First thing to check, the water pump. Totally shot.

20160215_111043.jpg

Gas tank? Yuck!

20160215_111258.jpg

Gooped up gaskets. Imagine that!

[Track T 2411]

20160220_133105.jpg

20160221_141444.jpg

20160221_141531.jpg

Saturday and Sunday, Feb 20-21st. I told myself that the engine was NOT coming out of the frame on this build, mainly because I didn't want to get lost in the painting/powder coating process (time and money). As the gas tank was rusty and the fork seals were shot, both the front and back end were destined to be removed, however. The pics make the bike look a LOT cleaner that it was, lol!

[Track T 2411]

It was quite easy to access the front cover once the tire and forks were off...

20160221_145130.jpg

Lots of nice goopy sludge!

20160221_145255.jpg

20160221_145325.jpg

There was only a bit of contamination of the oil by antifreeze, apparent just around the back of the pump and the seal. When I first looked at the bike the radiator was bone dry, so I figured the pump was likely shot. I'm glad the antifreeze didn't leak into the oil, that's for sure...

[Track T 2411]

20160221_152834.jpg

20160221_161152.jpg

20160221_161227.jpg

A few shots of the overall grunge.

[Track T 2411]

20160306_162814.jpg

March 6th. Back together! As the objective of this build was to use the stockpile of parts I had already accumulated, I pulled the water pump (a replacement unit) from another 1100 rather than buying another. Before installing the cover, I spent several hours over a couple of weeks cleaning up the engine. While I never 'removed' the engine, at one point the only things holding the engine and frame together were the circlip on the drive shaft, and the temp sensor wire, lol!

With all the sludge in the front cover, I thought I'd pull the oil pickup screen cover and have a look-see into the bottom of the engine. No pictures, but yuck! While I still had the front cover off, I carefully tilted the engine forward and emptied two cans of brake parts cleaner spraying out the accumulated gunk, washing it out through the front of the engine.

[Track T 2411]

20160307_151050.jpg

20160307_151145.jpg

20160307_151219.jpg

20160309_120234.jpg

So much better! And yes, new timing belts!