1978 GL1000 Low Buck Project

[Goboy]

Old girl before with big stereo.jpg

End of April bought a 2 owner 67k running with vetter and krauser? bags and cassette stereo with 8 cd changer in trunk.
My aim is to get it on the road by July (Oh thats today) well as soon as I am happy with my warm over, I am not doing any major rebuild unless I have to until winter. It is low buck because I don't have my printing machine working yet (read broke). I have put sea foam/premium fuel in, set the valves and points, installed new plug caps, no I have not changed the belts as they are only 11 years old (LOL - not to worry thats coming as I had to wait until I could buy belts). I repaired and cleaned alot of wiring and connectors. The stator wires were quite badly burnt, probably from stress of running the stereo, it had a new stator at 54k. The bike is now lighter by a good 10-15lb. without a stereo(speaker magnets are quite heavy). The bike is running better, not smoking, or missing on no 3 cyl. Some photos below show my progress.

Start wiring repairs.jpg

Battery holder before.jpg

Burnt wires.jpg

Burnt stator wires.jpg

[Goboy]

More Pictures

[attachment=1]Before soldering.jpg [attachment=1]Randakk condenser ground.jpg

Old positive cable.jpg

[Goboy]

More Photos

No 4 totally corroded.jpg

Battery box painted.jpg

Wiring done.jpg

[Goboy]

I pulled the back wheel to clean the brake caliper and drill the rotor. I centered the series of holes between the rivets as to not weaken that area. There are nine rivets so I made a series of 3 sets of 3 holes, each consecutive holes is shifted up toward the hub by 5mm. The first 2 holes went fine, but the third hole walked as I was drilling so it is off the mark a little. The rest of the holes I punched with a small point and then pre-drilled a little with a small bit. If you are going to do this I would use some good cutting oil and drill slowly, ease off the press frequently, use lots of oil to reduce heat, take your time and have extra bits. I used 15/64 but 1/4" is basically the same. I used 4 Hss bits and 1 coated gold color one. Cobalt bits would be good.

Rear tire removed.jpg

Rear rotor drilling layout.jpg

[TNTbefree]

Lookin good. I have my own low buck project going on with a 78. I need to start a build thread on it. I'm keeping an eye on this one. You going to keep a running total so we can see how low you get her done?

[Goboy]

Thanks TNT, I have all the receipts, belts and caps were the big items, but a lot small items like wire and connectors, nuts/washers, paint cans, oils and cleaners. The bike is in reasonable shape but will need valve seals, forks seals and carbs done(have some fuel drips) over the winter. I am going to flush the coolant and change the belts, go over the front brakes and master cylinder as I have new pads from previous owner, I will drill the rotors also.

[desertrefugee]

Nice work. My '78 was a really clean example...except for the battery box. They lead a hard life. Nice work all around.

The '78s' clean up nicely. Yours is in good hands.

[Goboy]

Thanks, I've seen some boxes way worse than mine and I found my vent tube was sealed off, the muffler was also etched by acid, I think, that's how it looks to me. Is yours original black paint, I like your crash bars too.
Last nite I cleaned the rear hub and checked the bearings, made a tool to remove the bearing retainer. Its a couple pieces of scrap 1/2" plywood, one is 3 1/2" square and the other should be 12" for a handle, glued and screwed together, drilled two 3/16" hole from the bottom 42mm apart (more accurate if drilled from the bottom) and from the top screwed in a couple allen screws used for furniture the you have assemble. I then removed them and filed off the threads just at the very end, put a little on those ends to prevent scratches. Used a 1/8" bit to drill out the two peened holes, they were about an 1/8" deep. I didn't drill quite that deep, just cleaned out the hole a little. This is the first time I've done this so use your discretion. When I did get the retainer out I measured the depth of the holes to 1/8" and noted that first thread under the hole was also distorted down. I used an exacto knife cut the little bump out.

bottom of tool.jpg

Use penetrating oil, hold the tool firmly down and tap in CCW direction, careful as those nubs are not very deep into the retainer. Work the tool CCW and then little CW back and forth to loosen it.

Tap CCW to remove.jpg

retainer coming out.jpg

Cleaned out the old grease cleaned the threads, checked the action of the bearings.

[desertrefugee]

I had my panels painted by a friend in his shop. Decent job. Crash bars? I ain't got no stinkin' crash bars. (I did, but hated them and they're in the bone pile now).

[Goboy]

I' d like to take mine off permanently but I'm not sure about the risk and I've got the Vetter fairing too. My crash are mounted all over the engine and take away from the clean look. Although bike was down at some time so they saved the head I'm sure. The right bar is ground down pretty good. I have both bars off to work and clean. When I tried to put the left bar back on the top engine mount bolts would not line up, had to loosen those ears that are also bolted to allow some movement to get the bolt in.

[Goboy]

I figured I should change the rear bearings while the wheel is off, cheap insurance. well not so cheap, Napa had SKF brand I paid $54 for the 6304 (made in Italy) and $21 for the 6204(made in Bulgaria). I tried the technique described by "WingAdmin on GoldwingDocs site" that uses a 3/4"x6" bolt with a slot cut through the middle on the threads.

[Goboy]

This is work I did last summer, so I hope my memory is good.
Installing the new bearings. Used a 1 15/16" socket to drive the bearings in. The 6204 bearing first, the dust seal side out, then the spacer, then the 6304 seal side out. Only drive the bearing in until it just touches the spacer, if you drive it too hard against the spacer you can actually push both bearings out of alignment inside each bearing. There is good info in the tech section.

Old rear bearings and spacer.jpg

1 15-16 inch socket.jpg

Bearing install.jpg

[Goboy]

Stuck bearing retainer.jpg

This is where I ran into trouble. Installing the bearing retainer. I read about using blue locktite instead of peening the retainer threads, less damage to the parts the better, good theory. I put four drops of locktite spaced around the retainer and started installing. It got harder and harder to thread in, at halfway in I quit and tried to take it back out, broke my wood made retainer tool. I made a metal tool out of plate steel, 1/4" holes with short drill driver bits pounded in. It took several hours and a can of WD40 to remove it. The whole top half of the threads on the hub were seized up with aluminium. I think a have to take it in to a machinist to chase the threads on the hub.

[Goboy]

New tensioner pulleys. Used T42015's from NAPA with HD cap screw. I beveled the hole slightly and with a socket and a vice I pressed the cap screw into the back plate. The nurling around the screw head helps lock it in place. Only press it in flush to the front of the plate, I over pressed it so I used a fender washer as a spacer. This is as far you should space the pulley away from the back plate as its getting close to the edge of the belt.

Idler pulley build parts 01.jpg

Idler pulley mount plate rear 01.jpg

[Goboy]

Now grind the back of the cap screw flush to the back plate so the mounting bracket can slide back and forth freely. This is important for installing the belts and setting the tension. You have to have enough of the hex hole in the cap screw left that you can use a hex key to tighten the bolt.

Idler pulley mount plate back view 02.jpg

Idler pulley mount plate with bolt 03.jpg

Idler pulley build top view 01.jpg