My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

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aaronrecine
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My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#1

Post by aaronrecine »

Hello and salutations everyone!

First I will give a little history on myself and my wrenching experience, then how I decided I wanted to get my own GL1000 and finally pictures of the project. Each paragraph / section I type out will have an underlined header so if you want to can skip past my life story and get to the pictures / progress.

"It kinda works, but you will have to figure it out..."

Christmas morning, its quiet and my parents are asleep, but my brother and I most certainly are not. Looking over the boxes, giving them a nice shake we try to find out what we were getting. Skip forward to after my parents wake up, all the gifts (so i thought) had been unwrapped and my dad tells me he has a surprise.

The moment my dad began telling me to "Go ahead and open the door and look outside" I was already on the porch. Lo and behold a beat up, worn out, dumb and dumber type minibike was in the middle of the front yard. My dad told me he had got it off ebay and put it together, and then he said the words that would seal my fate. "It kinda works, but you will have to figure it out on your own. It's your minibike so its your responsibility to make sure it runs." Sitting there in all its glory with its 3.5hp Briggs and Stratton engine, Centrifugal force clutch and paddle brake... it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Ever since that Christmas I have been wrenching.

At first (as most of us are / were) I was a hobby mechanic, teaching myself how to work on whatever I could get my hands on for cheap. My first motorcycle was a 1981 Honda CM400C my dad had got off craigslist, along with a 1984 Honda VT750C Shadow for $300. I rode my CM all the way south to San Diego, CA with my friends and as far north as Markleeville, CA. This sparked my love for Japanese motorcycles, especially Honda's.

I worked for a year as a junior auto technician after taking 5-7ish automotive classes at my local community college (De Anza Auto Tech). The shop experience I gained was invaluable, but overall it was painfully monotonous. Brakes, oil, air filter, repeat was not the career I was looking for.

I worked for a while as a server / waiter and made great money doing it, but as all customer service veterans know, you can only take so much of people before you start becoming a bitter / unhappy person.

Skip forward to now and I am a year into being a motorcycle technician at a local Honda motorcycle dealership. I owe every bit of my new understanding for patient, quality work to everyone at the shop I work at. Every one of my fellow techs are more than willing to help me with things I don't quite understand and the owner is patient with my learning curve. Truly they have become my family and I would be heartbroken without them.

Every moment my eyelids are open I am thinking about or working on a motorcycle. Work is not work and I am truly grateful to everyone who made this career path possible.

Falling in love the GL1000

So, skip forward to the present. I'm a year into being a motorcycle technician and I get a message from my friend in sf. She lets me know that one of her friends has an old Honda he wants to restore, and not much else. Long story short she gives him my info and we end up meeting up and talking for a bit. He shows me pictures of the bike, a 1977 GL1000 which has been thoroughly hacked up. He got it for an incredible price so financial headroom was abundant.

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The previous mechanic who worked on this GL was dangerously incompetent. They failed to diagnose a failed diode in the regulator rectifier which was causing the bike to charge at 16-18 volts above 3-4k rpm, the fuse box had been eliminated with aluminum, spare wire, electric tape and residential electrical connectors which ended up melting several parts of the wiring harness. The main positive lead to the solenoid had gotten so hot it melted all the insulation off of the wire, so this garbage brained sub human decided to wrap it in copper wire and electrical tape! Needless to say I had my work cut out for me, especially being unfamiliar with these bikes. Luckily the owner had fallen into a spare wiring harness, and I had access to a factory service manual. The first plan of action was to tear it all down as much as we cared to, clean it up, and then install the new wiring harness to get it running.

After a ton of diagnosis and repair of the carbs, lighting and ignition circuits I got this 1977 Honda GL1000 to a ride able condition. I am currently waiting on timing belts to come in the mail, but besides that, it is pretty much complete. Once the belts are installed the owner is most likely going to complete the final cosmetic touches on his own.

Through the labor I invested in this GL1000 I gained a thorough knowledge of its inner workings / design and I fell deeply in love. The reserve lighting unit, removable kick starter, storage box / faux tank, naked simplicity, timing belt driven shaft drive boxer engine and many other quirks and features give this bike such character that I had to have one. My first bike was a Honda and I am sure my last one will be as well, so this makes my GL1000 even more special to me.

"$150 bucks and she's yours"

After deciding that I had to own my own GL1000 I began the hunt. My only criteria while searching was it had to be as original as possible. No stupid ebay / amazon cheap cafe garbage like led lights, clip on bars, chopped frame, half finished bobber project imbecile type work. It had to be as untouched as possible. I'd rather have a rough unmolested palate, than a cleaned up but poorly updated project. If anyone incompetent had been in the carburetors of the potential GL1000 I was to buy there was a very good chance they could be damaged beyond repair (Randakk's Tech Blog article on the float pins was an invaluable resource, as well as everything else he has published. Incredible respect for his relentless dedication to the continued use and enjoyment of these beautiful machines).

Found a few wings here and there, but many were asking too high of a price for my budget. I always try to find the misspelled / poorly drafted craigslist ads where the bike has little interest as this opens the door to a lot of haggle room. As I kept searching I eventually found a very worn 1977 GL1000, but it looked like it hadn't been messed with. It was located about an hour away from my place, somewhere between Santa Cruz, CA and Watsonville, CA. No key, no title.

The seller was asking $400, but once I took a look at it, it was clear that it was going to need a ton of work to get going. The wiring had been fiddled with, kick starter slot had cracked, pipes had soup cans around the mating surfaces and TONS AND TONS OF RUST. After a little haggling, saying "I'll pass" and then more haggling I was able to get my 1977 GL1000 for $150.

Progress so far with pictures and videos

After getting my GL home I coated it in Honda Brite, let it soak, then power washed it of all grease, grime, dirt, garbage so working on it wouldn't be absolutely miserable. Once it dried I began tearing into the rats nest, diagnosing and resolving most of the following issues...

1. Starter solenoid had failed ( Replaced )
2. Cylinder 1/2 ignition coil had failed ( Replaced )
3. The points had no continuity and the cylinder 1/2 points lead was frayed and shorting out ( Cleaned / Repaired / Gapped )
4. No key for ignition switch ( Replaced with Emgo )
5. Starter brushes had worn completely away ( Rebuilt the starter with DB Electrical Kit <- Do not recommend. All the bushings / bearings we're incorrect and caused the starter to bind. Only used the brushes and plate. Will eventually replace with a new, high quality unit once complete )
6. The hand controls had little to no leads coming out of them ( Hot wired what was needed to get the bike to "ignition on / run" position. Either going to replace or repair, unsure as of now )
7. The original carburetors had rusted beyond use due to water getting into a missing carb top button ( Replaced with 1976 carbs purchased on craigslist. Set the float level, idle mixture screw, repaired the vacuum hoses and silicone'd a bottle cap to cover a missing carb top button )
8. Intake valves had minimally rusted ( Soaked the intake and exhaust valves in pb blaster and marvel mystery oil over the span of a week by turning the engine over until each valve closed, then alternated to the other valves. Removed the stubborn rust / debris by gently cleaning with an old toothbrush soaked in marvel )
9. Found the old timing belts, pulleys / tensioners to be in poor / rusted condition ( cleaned as best I could and replaced belts with Gates T274s for the time being. Will be replacing rollers later on )
10. Ignition timing was off ( Set statically then a little more dynamically but didn't invest much time as a Dyna-S will be installed down the road and the current points are garbage )
11. Many connectors had been altered / destroyed ( Cut / Crimped / Soldered / Shrink tube'd everything as back to stock as possible )
12. None of the brakes function ( Free'd the rear caliper so the bike would roll and did nothing else. Everything needs to be replaced or rebuilt. New pistons / master cylinder / seals etc )
13. Spark plugs and their respective drain passages had rusted ( Alternated PB / Marvel over the span of a week then removed the plugs, cleaned the passages and installed known good spare plugs )
14. Spark plug boots / leads were damaged ( snipped the ends of all the plug wires, cleaned the boot contacts, measured resistance, then reinstalled )

There we're a few other little things I could list, but I believe you all get the idea that it was no easy task getting this old wing to run. Below you will find all the pictures and videos I have taken so far...

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YOUTUBE LINKS BELOW
https://youtu.be/VGuVsbjS_iE ( First Run walk around)
https://youtu.be/RSuFEEjwmT4 ( Kick Start + idle walk around )
(MODERATOR!!! I have tried countless combinations to get these videos to show. Please help.)

All used / new parts and supplies accounted for I have only spent a grand total of $290 which gives me plenty of room for a plethora of parts from Randakk's. I intend on getting this to as close to showroom quality as possible IF and ONLY IF I give the engine a clean bill of health.

The next steps are to adjust the valves, perform a compression / leak down test then write down the labor and parts required to complete the project.

I am beyond excited to already have the bike running and cannot wait to share my continued progress with my fellow wing-nuts on this forum.

If you want the most up to date and current status of my GL1000 please follow me on instagram at Instagram.com/aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#2

Post by Rat »

Welcome to the 'Wingdom.

Lots of tricks in ShopTalk.

Gord
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aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#3

Post by aaronrecine »

RAT wrote:Welcome to the 'Wingdom.

Lots of tricks in ShopTalk.

Gord
Thank you Gord :)

Can't wait to get the standard oil filter conversion kit, full carburetor rebuild kit + video, float pin removal tool and countless other goodies from Randakk's as well.

-Aaron
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desertrefugee
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#4

Post by desertrefugee »

My float pin removal tool is a small nail with the tip flattened. And a very small hammer for tapping. I've never had a problem. Cheap too.

Welcome, by the way. Probably one of the better intros I've seen - except the notable lack of geographic locale...
- Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to ride in the rain.
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aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#5

Post by aaronrecine »

desertrefugee wrote:My float pin removal tool is a small nail with the tip flattened. And a very small hammer for tapping. I've never had a problem. Cheap too.

Welcome, by the way. Probably one of the better intros I've seen - except the notable lack of geographic locale...
Thanks for the heads up! Locale and avatar updated :)
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TNTbefree
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#6

Post by TNTbefree »

Welcome to the club. What's the word on the title? Here in FL, I wouldn't buy one without a title unless it was for parts. Doubt I could ever get one or a plate for it, if I did.
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chewy999
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#7

Post by chewy999 »

Welcome to the club from the UK. Great intro and looks like you have made a great start. Keep posting on here with pics, and ask away if you need to, but sounds like you work in a good place!

anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1
Previous Rides,
1980 CB250N Good to learn on
1981 CX500 good mid range tourer, went to Austria on it!
1983 GL1100C Pride and joy, sold when I bought my 1st house, big mistake
1985 GL650 Silverwing another mistake, horrible bike
1986 CBX550 Good commuter
1989 Suzuki GS750 (1976) cheap and cheerful until a dog ran out in front of me on Xmas Eve, 1991
Current bikes
2010 CB1300 back on a bike after 19 years, two divorces, children grown up etc
1980 GL1100 NOW ON THE ROAD, still use CB1300.
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lcallison
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#8

Post by lcallison »

Nice start! Good luck with it and welcome to NGW.
Larry
84 GL1200A
79 GL1000
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desertrefugee
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#9

Post by desertrefugee »

lol. Had to laugh about photo #3 down in your sequence. Although probably not, it looks like the machine drew first blood. I know I've shed blood for a few...
- Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to ride in the rain.
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ericheath
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#10

Post by ericheath »

Great post. We picture sluts are very happy.
Whatever I suggest here should be given ample time for a moderator to delicately correct. I apologize in advance.
77 WING, 1200 engine with 77 heads, cams, gl1100 foot pegs, Magna V65 front end, 764A carbs, [-gone Suzuki M109 monoshock--, replaced with gl1100 shocks] gl 1200 swing arm, gl1500 final drive, wheel and rear brakes Valkyrie seat, Meanstreak tank, Sportster pipes, Power Arc ignition off crank.
77 Wing. black
83 Wing, in pieces
"Continuing education is important even if the subject matter is fairly useless (as in this case)."---Greg Foresi
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#11

Post by Track T 2411 »

Welcome from Wisconsin. It's always nice to have some back story. Enjoy the ride!
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

"He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail" - Abraham Maslow

"If you can't take the time to do it right the first time, how are you ever going to find the time to do it over?" -Unknown

Current Rides:
'Grumpy' - '81 Standard, now fully dressed.
'Layla' - '81 Standard w/dealer installed fairing and Hondaline bags.
'Scarlett' '76 'Survivor' nekkid as a j-bird!

Under Construction:
The 'Jalopy' '78-'79 Mash-up
'Quikie' '81 gl1100I back on the lift, project with the step-son!

In The Shed:
'81 gl1100I barn find aka "Josie, the farmer's daughter." (almost comatose build)
'77 gl1000, roller parts bike.
'82 gl1100I, 'Old Crusty' titled roller parts bike (free!)
'82 gl1100I, My first 'Wing, and an expensive lesson!
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5speed
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#12

Post by 5speed »

welcome to the site. great intro.
1982 1100 standard. (sold)
1986 Yamaha FJ1200
2000 Yamaha Roadstar
1976 GoldWing. running but not on the road
1978 Goldwing. future cafe project.
2019 Can-Am ryker (boss's new ride)

2002 Shadow American Classic(sold)
1983 Shadow 500. (sold)
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aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#13

Post by aaronrecine »

TNTbefree wrote:Welcome to the club. What's the word on the title? Here in FL, I wouldn't buy one without a title unless it was for parts. Doubt I could ever get one or a plate for it, if I did.
No title, but I have had great success getting around the california dmv. My friends and I have plated dirt bikes, im friends with a local police officer through the shop I work at who will gladly give an inspection and Vermont plates are an option as well. For something new i'm going to give CARS (California Auto Registration Service) a shot tomorrow as well.
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aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#14

Post by aaronrecine »

chewy999 wrote:Welcome to the club from the UK. Great intro and looks like you have made a great start. Keep posting on here with pics, and ask away if you need to, but sounds like you work in a good place!

anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1
Thank you for the kind works :) I love the shop i'm at. My fellow techs have oooodles more experience than myself and are always willing to help when i'm out of my league.
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aaronrecine
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Re: My very first 1977 Honda GL1000 =D

#15

Post by aaronrecine »

lcallison wrote:Nice start! Good luck with it and welcome to NGW.
Thank you :)
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