The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

A forum for stories, pics and updates of your resto's. Be it a barn find, Grampas hand me down or a bike being brought back to it's former glory.If you are restoring it, show us your stuff!

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x01660
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#46

Post by x01660 »

desertrefugee wrote:Lesters were the answer for the early 'Wing guys with spoked wheels who wanted cast rims. They weren't so commonly found after the introduction of the Comstars (on the rear of that one). They're probably superior to the Comstar in at least one way - they're one-piece. After that, I guess it's more a matter of personal choice.

Oh, and by the way...it's good to see you back!
Thanks, buddy!

I'm so sick of my car.... can't wait to get back on two wheels.

Thinking of maybe taking a week off work and doing a cross country tour.

Maybe I'll wanna meet up with some NGW members on the way, and get some sick pics of Athena with other members bikes.... :8)
-x01660

"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#47

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Goldwing Donor Home.jpg
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dancr
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"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#48

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Compression on the new motor was 100 psi on each cylinder. I'm assuming that's good? ;)
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Also, I'll post this later, but that Lester is for sale.
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I'll be on the road soon. :)
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crying1
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"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#49

Post by robin1731 »

Did you check compression with those red rags removed? Either way as long as the compression was within about 10% in all cylinders that will get you going. Then it should go up some as you ride it. Valve adjustment can make a difference too.

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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#50

Post by robin1731 »

Just noticed in the pic. Are those new timing belts? They don't look like it but pics can be deceiving. If not make sure you do put belts on it before starting it.

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1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#51

Post by x01660 »

robin1731 wrote:Just noticed in the pic. Are those new timing belts? They don't look like it but pics can be deceiving. If not make sure you do put belts on it before starting it.

.
Yes. All of the Pistons were at 100 without the rags

Also adjusted the valves and replaced the timing belts with OEM belts.
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"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#52

Post by x01660 »

She lives! Athena is up and running! I'm getting some hesitation between 4k and 6k, and a bunch of old gas, but I'm back in business, baby! I'll post pics tomorrow when its light out. :)
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"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#53

Post by desertrefugee »

dancr
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#54

Post by Sugs »

Congrats!
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#55

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So I took her for a ride in the mountains last night, and just rode to work. Here are some initial observations:

Compression on the motor is fantastic; my old engine never pulled that hard up top, and it revs to 9k freely.

Carb sync is all out of whack; if I don't really give it gas from a stop, it will stall. If I close the throttle while coasting to a stop, it will stall. And between 3k and 6k, its SUPER sluggish. Doesn't wanna accelerate. Then you hit 6k and it takes off all the way to redline.

New shocks seem to be much better than the last ones. I had Progressive air shocks, now I have regular adjustable ones that are SUPER stiff. Great for my gravity-laden 4th point of contact.... :mrgreen:

I now truly understand why people love the GL's for touring; going back to Athena from the 83 GS1100 I've been riding, the difference in how smooth the bike is is astonishing. And that's with the crappy carb sync. I can barely feel engine vibrations in the handlebars, the ride itself is smooth because of the shaft drive, and the gearbox in the GL has got to have set some standard in how smooth a gearbox should operate. Its a thing of beauty. action1

I also will have to adjust how far I lean, because I've already scraped some bits going into a turn too hot.


Overall, I think its gonna be a lot of fun. The new engine only had 18k miles on it, so unless I wreck her or trash the engine again, I'm gonna have her for a long time.

I want to thank you all for the information, advice, support and camaraderie. Really helped keep me on point when I was ready to give up. :)

So yeah, pics will come later today. She's a total rat bike, and missing parts, but that's why she's a "project", right?

anim-cheers1

P.S. I just read this... I REALLY take the anthropomorphization all the way, eh? But I think we all do.... :lol:
-x01660

"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#56

Post by robin1731 »

Carb sync may not be the issue at the 3k to 6k range. Do the sync though and see how it runs.

.
1976 Goldwing Super Sport
1985 Honda Elite
1976 KZ900 Dragbike
1992 ZX7 Dragbike (KZ900 style motor w/NOS)
and a rotation of various purchases
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#57

Post by x01660 »

robin1731 wrote:Carb sync may not be the issue at the 3k to 6k range. Do the sync though and see how it runs.

.

What could be the issue if it isn't the carbs? The engine is fresh with new plugs and belts. Compression at 125 on each cylinder (cold).

I've got hanging idle, sluggish take off and midrange, and it will stall if I coast to a stop.

I really hope the issue isn't in the engine...
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"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#58

Post by Sagebrush »

Sounds like all carbs to me but not necessarily all the fault of a bad synch. The sluggishness at start and wanting to stall might just be the idle adjustment is off. The mid range sluggishness might be something else altogether though. I would adjust the idle, synch the carbs and add some carb or injector cleaner to a couple tanks of gas then reassess the situation.
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#59

Post by x01660 »

Sagebrush wrote:Sounds like all carbs to me but not necessarily all the fault of a bad synch. The sluggishness at start and wanting to stall might just be the idle adjustment is off. The mid range sluggishness might be something else altogether though. I would adjust the idle, synch the carbs and add some carb or injector cleaner to a couple tanks of gas then reassess the situation.

I think it could be the gas; I had gas sitting in there for 9 months with no treatment. I put gas in it ysterday, but only 2 gallons. I'm thinking a few tanks might clear it up.

My mechanic bench synced the carbs, then we both adjusted the carbs with a manometer, then adjusted the idle air screws. Gonna go back again to sync the carbs again.
-x01660

"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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Re: The Adventures of Athena of Left Coast

#60

Post by x01660 »

Here's a video of the issue I'm having:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdeVaj8OL-U
Last edited by x01660 on Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-x01660

"The best motorcycle is the one well ridden" anim-cheers1

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
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