1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

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Old Fogey
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#46

Post by Old Fogey »

While you are doing the heads, check this out:

http://www.wingovations.com/engine-gearbox/4590957791
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#47

Post by toolbox »

Audiowize wrote:Wow, this is sort of a dead ringer for a bike my neighbor just got. His father-in-law gave him a GL1100 to fix up and sell (1982 Interstate IIRC), and we've gone through it pretty nicely. I've been trying to talk him into making it a naked bike, and hopefully this thread can provide some motivation.
Hey, that's a great bike :mrgreen: . And you can't beat the price :). There really isn't that much to just taking the Interstate and dressing it down if it's already a runner...hardest part is probably putting together the parts for the lighting. He might be more inspired by this thread in a couple of months...she's pretty naked right now, but not necessarily in a good way lol. At the rate I'm going now, I figure I should be able to have her running in a couple of weeks, driving in maybe a month and a half (I'm on a pretty tight budget, and the tires are going to eat into it), and basically done before we get too far into summer. Stay tuned ;) .
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#48

Post by toolbox »

Old Fogey wrote:While you are doing the heads, check this out:

http://www.wingovations.com/engine-gearbox/4590957791
Great link, thanks! Lots of great info there...I'll be doing some reading tonight :).
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#49

Post by toolbox »

Had a little more time to play with the bike last night...three down, one to go!

Image

Last carb is the one with the accelerator pump. After doing two of them, it only took a couple of minutes to get the third one apart, but again the cleaning process takes as much time as it takes. I'll finish the last one tonight, and have a nice shiny carb rack ready to back on the bike :). Valve stem seals are supposed to be here today, and if they are I might be able to reassemble the head (or at least get the valves back in it. The backing plate thing needs a gasket, and I don't think I ordered one...I'll probably just order it and wait for it. For some reason my instrument cluster hasn't arrived yet...it was supposed to be here the 8th. I sent the seller a message yesterday,but haven't heard anything...hopefully today. I'll probably try and tackle the fuel tank while I'm waiting for parts...maybe I can have it ready for fuel by the time I have the engine ready to run. More progress :).
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#50

Post by Audiowize »

Your carbs sure look better than my neighbor's! His were so nasty that we ended up just lightly pressure washing them before taking them apart.

If you have a clean piece of fuel hose, I like to blow into the fuel inlet and listen for the tell tale hissing of leaking carbs with the rack flipped over.
Last edited by Audiowize on Thu Mar 10, 2016 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#51

Post by robin1731 »

[quote="toolbox"]snip............ The backing plate thing needs a gasket, and I don't think I ordered one...I'll probably just order it and wait for it. [quote]

You'll have to make one. Or get lucky and find one on ebay. They are no longer available from Honda.
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#52

Post by Gowing »

go toolbox, the suspense is killing me, will it run? I bet it does.
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#53

Post by toolbox »

Audiowize wrote:Your carbs sure look better than my neighbor's! His were so nasty that we ended up just lightly pressure washing them before taking them apart.

If you have a clean piece of fuel hose, I like to blow into the fuel inlet and listen for the tell tale hissing of leaking carbs with the rack flipped over.
Yea, they were kind of dirty, but they weren't terrible...I've definitely seen worse. Here's before:

Image

And here they are last night, all dressed up and ready to go the big dance :)

Image

Image

Rack is now complete and ready to go back on the bike...I tried flipping them over like you said--no leaks anim-cheers1 . I was thinking about taking an electric fuel pump and filling them before I mounted them back on the bike to check for leaks, but I think I'll just put them back on. Everything went together just fine, and I'm pretty confident they'll be ok.
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#54

Post by toolbox »

robin1731 wrote:
toolbox wrote:snip............ The backing plate thing needs a gasket, and I don't think I ordered one...I'll probably just order it and wait for it.

You'll have to make one. Or get lucky and find one on ebay. They are no longer available from Honda.
The one that I need is #16 on the timing cover schematic...the place I get parts from still lists it for $4, but it has a note that it usually ships in 5-7 days so it's not a part they normally stock. Maybe what they have access to is old stock. I could probably just make my own...the camshaft seal is what actually keeps the oil in the head, so it's not super critical. Edit--just checked ebay, and found one for $13 :). I wouldn't qualify for free shipping from my regular place, so the price is about the same, but without the wait...thanks for making me look there :).
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#55

Post by toolbox »

So, after I finished the carb rack, I decided to try and get the valves back in the head... Here she is with the new valve stem seals, ready to have them go back where they belong:

Image

It was like 10:00 at night, and the only tool I had was that crappy valve spring compressor I rented. My own impatience won this one, and I decided to see if I could make it work. And I it did...in the same sense that yes, you can build enormous pyramids out of stone blocks even when the only tools you have are soft copper chisels and hammers made from other rocks. It works. But, that doesn't mean those are the best tools for the job...but, when it's all you've got I guess you go with it.

Here it is:
Image

It's designed for removing valve springs without pulling the head...and honestly, it's really kind of a piece of garbage. The hooks down at the bottom don't have anything to keep them from sliding off the spring--in fact, because of the way it was made, the edges are beveled so that once it starts to slip, it just lets go. You basically have to take one hand and squeeze the bottom jaws together really hard so they don't slip off and launch a bunch of parts/pinch your fingers/make bad things happen, while chanting a mix of four letter words and prayers that it doesn't let go while using your other hand to crank it down and try to get the keepers into position. I had it pop off a bunch of times, which was aggravating, but yes...I did eventually get all four sets of springs back on.

Image

Image

Next time I'll just try and find the right tool to begin with. On the bright side, once I return it I get my money back making it free...well, except for the damage it did to my left hand I guess lol.

So, onward and upward...just need to replace the missing exhaust stud and swap the cam and rocker set over. I guess I could put the head back on sans the pulley and backing plate, and just add them after I get the gasket. Might get more accurate torque on the head without that plate in the way anyway. Carbs can go back on pretty much any time after the head is installed I think.
I also got a pretty start on restoring that valve cover...I'll probably have an "after" picture by the end of the weekend.

Up next: Final assembly and install of head, and carb rack. Clean out the fuel pump, rebuild petcock, and restore fuel tank...
Also starting to think about pulling the rear wheel so I can rebuild the rear brake system, inspect the bearings, and lube everything back there. Of course, while I've got the rear wheel off, it would only make sense to replace the tire so I'll have to budget for that.
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#56

Post by toolbox »

Gowing wrote:go toolbox, the suspense is killing me, will it run? I bet it does.
Me too!!! :P I'd really like to hear it run, even if it's not completely ready to go...kind of a bummer that you have to remove the radiator to put the timing covers back on, because that means that if I even just want to test run it, I have to put the cooling system back together for the test, and then take it all apart again when I get the timing covers for it :x . I don't know...maybe I'll hook it up, fill it with plain water and run it like that enough to make sure it's going to work. Wouldn't hurt to flush out the cooling system anyway I suppose.
She'll probably smoke like a smelter when she's first fired up as it burns off a lot of stuff (I know there's still ATF in the left bank of cylinders and in the exhaust from when I was trying to free up the motor). Kind of the big unknown question to me right now is what happens with the #1 cylinder...the pitting in that one may mean that it always blows a little smoke...or not. Only one way to find out :).
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#57

Post by Earl43P »

I rode mine, smoking, for quite a while. Some of my 82 tribulations are linked below. Great bikes, you're gonna love riding it.

http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40192
http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45242

After not wrenching much, having two solid riding bikes, I look forward to reading more of your progress.

Enjoy the Sport of Wrenching, riding will come!

I'll be bringing my 82 south in a couple weeks, to wrench on.
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"Fishtailed, flipped and flung me, but wearing it well". Sold!
82 GL1100 retired DD, needs work.... Sold 3/3/17
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#58

Post by robin1731 »

Word of advice. Fill the carbs with gas and check for leaks before installing them. Don't use the electric pump unless it is a very low pressure one. 2.5lbs is ok. No more. I use a test tank that id held a few feet above the rack. This equals about 2.5lbs of pressure. Much easier to find and fix any leaks before you install them.
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#59

Post by toolbox »

Earl43P wrote:I rode mine, smoking, for quite a while. Some of my 82 tribulations are linked below. Great bikes, you're gonna love riding it.

http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40192
http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45242

After not wrenching much, having two solid riding bikes, I look forward to reading more of your progress.

Enjoy the Sport of Wrenching, riding will come!

I'll be bringing my 82 south in a couple weeks, to wrench on.
Thanks for posting those, I really enjoyed reading them :). Since you have a lot of experience with head gaskets, what method did you find works best for removing the old ones? Honestly, I thought cleaning up the mating surfaces was probably the worst part of the whole job...really made me miss the old cast iron ones you could just wire wheel with reckless abandon lol.
And I'm definitely enjoying the wrenching...for me, that's half the fun :). Still, I'm definitely looking forward to the part where the machine moves around without me pushing it...as much as I enjoy sitting on it making "vroom vroom" sounds, I'd really like to take it out for a ride :mrgreen: .
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toolbox
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Re: 1982 GL1100 Corpse resurrection...er restoration...

#60

Post by toolbox »

robin1731 wrote:Word of advice. Fill the carbs with gas and check for leaks before installing them. Don't use the electric pump unless it is a very low pressure one. 2.5lbs is ok. No more. I use a test tank that id held a few feet above the rack. This equals about 2.5lbs of pressure. Much easier to find and fix any leaks before you install them.
Yea, you're right...better now than later. The electric pump I have is for carburetors, not FI so it's low pressure (though I don't remember exactly how many PSI). I still have to find it though... I might just make a test tank like you're talking about and do it that way...
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