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MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:05 pm
by transitman
Had a lot of help from you good people already, thanks, so time to get the project up on show. Bought a non-running 78 GoldWing from this old chap in Dudley, (UK)
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apparently not been running for some years and has had 11 owners, mostly I presume unable to get to grips with the snags. Only has 22,000 miles on the clock and looking at the discs may be true. Has had added lights and stuff which IMHO contribute to the 'electrical problems' it was advertised with. It's in a sorry state. Afraid to say I parted with £700 for it, purely on the basis that the throttle slides moved freely and the engine turned easily enough in second gear.
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Had to send long suffering wife off to Machine Mart to buy the crane to get it out of the Transit, and son in law Mark helped it out.
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finally got it home, to Tarvin, village near Chester, the wet end of the UK.
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had it here for some 4 weeks but have to play at being Grandad or risk the wrath of wife, so time limited on it.
Plan is to check it runs, take engine out and clean up it and frame, build a rear frame to take a Ford Capri axle, and join the bits together, using the drive from the swingarm and the swingarm as the front rear suspension pivot. the seat and upper rear frame to be supported on the original shocks.

Any comments on this plan would be greatly appreciated, I am new to GoldWings (only just learnt how to spell it) and haven't done much bike work for 30 years.

Electrics are a sorry mess. Been building bikes and cars and stuff for over half a century (sorry, I am old, and sadly, not getting younger) and not seen anything quite so grim.
Using an old car battery, turned on the ignition and the starter engaged, the solenoid shorting on the frame. Smoke rising from 2 or 3 places assisted decision to disconnect battery and have a closer look.
Took out the carb drains and a foul smelling green stuff ran out. Wonder what happened to the petrol. The drillings in the drain plugs are stuffed hard with grey silt so if it ever runs the first job will be to overhaul the carbs. Looked in tank, big mistake, foul and rusty!
The new crane makes a great bike stand. Removed radiator, nothing looking nice at all!
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Back wheel and drive unit came out easily enough. Removed the tank, will probably have to cut the side out, clean it up and replate it, unless anybody has a better idea. Tried to post another picture but found that 5 is enough, so will continue later.

I need all the help I can get from you people, so don't be shy!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:28 am
by sgwilly
You are going to know Goldwings VERY well by the time you finish this project. Maybe more than your grandkids!

Hopefully you won't have to get into the engine internals - that's not an economically viable proposition in most cases. Electrical and fuel systems are tackled all the time here so you should find good resources.

There are a few trike-knowledgeable members around and they should be around shortly. I'd suggest you also get onto some Trike forums as well to get good info on that aspect.

Looking forward to it!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 3:34 pm
by gltriker
I'm one of those guys building a GL1000 "trike", too.

I'm sure a Ford Capri on your side of the "pond" is altogether different than the Capri that was built over here in the mid70s-early 80s.

My build thread may be of some interest to you. Read everything you can about making the bike run well. Replace those timing belts, straight off! The engine you save, will be yours.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:12 pm
by transitman
Thanks Steve. and gltriker - will read yours
I need plenty support!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:14 pm
by transitman
sorry Cliff, missed your moniker when I read your post!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:30 pm
by transitman
day 2 of posting this saga.
trying to get a spark to see if the engine will run before I pull it apart.
plug lead fell off in my hand
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and this is my temporary repair
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not pretty is it.
Don't know at this stage how to replace a lead that is not accessible at the coil end.
As the pipes are off and it's Sunday evening can't attempt to run it now, so will have another go in the morning. At least retirement gives the time, if not the money!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:54 pm
by robin1731
They do make repair splices for those cables. You could also go with GL1100 coils which have removable wires. Although most of us go with aftermarket coils and wires.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:45 pm
by gltriker
The ignition wire splice that I think robin spoke of (NGK?) would serve that purpose IF the wires aren't punky, like mine were, to even within an inch ( =25.4mm) of the GL1000 coil. http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDetail ... =TU38-1024

As robin had also suggested, The GL1100 coil with replaceable ignition wires is a much better option. ( I can't remember the specific details, but get a set of GL1100 coils that incorporate the ballast resistor into their stock assembly configuration from Honda. ) I believe the first year GL1100s had no ignition ballast resistor. There was a thread somewhere in the past detailing an NGW Club member's trials with both GL1100 coil installation configurations, and they had best finished performance with the later production ones.

IMHO, The Dyna 3 ohm coils are the best option.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:56 pm
by transitman
thank you both kindly for your advice, much valued.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:05 pm
by sgwilly
I wouldn't bother with the stock 1100 coils. Yes, they do have detachable spark wires but they're still the same crappy stock coils. Dyna's are nice but even the used ones are pretty expensive. I recently replaced my stock coils with a coil pack from a Dodge Neon. Nice hot spark, clean install and cheap as beans. Lot's of write ups out there on the Steve Saunder's site. Here's how I did mine for about $35...

Neon coil pack installation

It's been in the bike for about 2 months now - 1,500 miles and running great.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:43 pm
by transitman
I was beginning to wonder what the difference was between a GoldWing coil and a cheap auto coil, nice to know it can work - one of my son in laws dad is an auto electrician, come the day, I shall lean on him. Thank you kindly for your post, I shall follow your link now...

Barry

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:55 pm
by transitman
nice one Steve, thanks again, couldn't be clearer. I'm no auto electrician either, and duplicate your toolkit. No cnc either, and just sold my 1935 Myford to help finance the Wing. Shall get a bigger Boxford (copy of your Ward) another day.

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:41 am
by BearWing
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Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:13 am
by transitman
Hiya Bearwing, I live in Tarvin, a village near to Chester, just south of Liverpool, about 80 miles from Birmingham. and yes, sir, I drive a Transit, bought it new 10 years ago, only done 110,000 miles so nearly run in, and it has an American Braun tail-lift to get my powerchair and scooters in. An incredibly useful and reliable old van which I hope to run until it outlasts me!

Re: MAKING A TRIKE

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:32 pm
by transitman
post no 3 of trike build, finding problems. Couldn't get fuel into carbs but pump working perfectly. decided to remove carbs.
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don't know what I'm laughing at - just got a lapful of trouble
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the float chambers are full of crud, the floats don't move, one of the float pins is seized so cant remove it. decided to leave it in a bucket of diesel for a few days, see if that will shift it. Any better ideas out there, please?