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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 7:40 pm
by OldRider2
The seat was another chore. I found a 1977 seat with the little bump that was on the ‘77s and pulled the old cover off and cleaned up and repainted the bottom of the seat. Next trying to find an exact cover replacement took awhile. The first one I bought had to be sent back because it definitely wouldn’t fit, I think because of the added bump in the 77 seat. I finally got one that was close and I had an upholsterer put it on because I could see it would be difficult at best. Tight but it doesn’t look bad.

The gas and temperature gauges didn’t work and as typical with these older bikes and replaced 7v Regulator. I got one from Murray's Carbs at a very good price, 1/2 what the other option was, $20 +$3 shipping. It is professionally packed into a plastic case with epoxy or something similar sealing it all up. Good price, fast shipping, and better yet I didn't have to do a bunch of soldering and re-manufacturing the old one. I just had to change the terminal ends and it plugged right into the electrical system of the bike. I had a couple of questions after I got the regulator and Murray was quite responsive in answering me.

I also cleaned up the Tach and Speedometer, stripped and sanded the painted areas and then repainted. I had a devil of a time getting a good coat without it the paint running, blistering, or having fish eyes. I think I painted and stripped it 4-5 times anyway before I got something that was acceptable. A royal pain at the time.

The horn was pathetic so I replaced it with Ford horn, nice and loud. I did add a relay to take of the current draw of the horn and it seems to work fine. I also added a 30 Amp automatic Circuit Breaker to replace the dogbone fuse.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 7:42 pm
by OldRider2
More pics.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 7:43 pm
by Track T 2411
Coming along nicely!

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:14 am
by OldRider2
One of the next major projects was to strip the paint on all the plastic and metal pieces and to settle on a new color. Most of the old items to paint were black, most of them collected from other bikes. I have done a lot of touch up and rust repair work over the years but no stripping with wet sandpaper to the detail that the painter wanted it all stripped to. I think even after I gave him the parts he still did some touch up sanding for things that didn’t catch my eye or feel. I finally settled on the Blue-Green color for the bike but finding the exact color took awhile, finally I settled on a shade from a VW that in the paint chip seemed as close as I could come. I also bought a decal set and new Honda letters for the side of the shelter halves. Here are a few pics….I can’t find other ones I thought I took!

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:58 am
by Track T 2411
Looks very nice!

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:43 am
by desertrefugee
Outstanding!

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:14 am
by 5speed
looking fantastic.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:09 pm
by sparkyrasmus
Purty! Lookin' forward to seeing it all together! Keep up the work!

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 9:35 pm
by Jonesz
Your bike is going to look great with that colour. Very nice indeed.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:03 am
by chewy999
Looking great, how much more have you got to do?

anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1 anim-cheers1

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 7:55 am
by OldRider2
Chewy, Its done, at least all I'm going to do to it for now. I need to take some pictures of it and finish my restoration notes.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:38 am
by rcmatt007
do you know the code for the VW colour?

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:44 am
by OldRider2
RC, I'm not sure of the original color at this point. I went through several years of car paint chips and had the help of my Artist daughter picking out colors that came close to a picture of the traditional Candy Blue-Green GL1000. I provided 2-3 pictures I found of a Candy Blue Green bike and when the painter picked the paint up at NAPA he told the guy the mixed paint wasn't the correct shade, it was to blue I believe. Evidently the LD5N code actually was used for two different shades of Blue Metallic and the NAPA guy used the one with less green in it. The NAPA paint man then added some additional I believe green pigment, how much I'm not sure. It isn't perfect I'm sure to the original but came as close as we could get.

The NAPA Paint label shows a code of: LD5N
2007-2011 Volkswagen
Caribbean Blue Metallic

There are a couple of other numbers on the paint label but they are partially covered over with dripping paint.

I'm not sure how many coats of paint went on but the decals were then put over the last coat of paint and a clear coat was put over decals and final covering for the parts.

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:39 am
by rcmatt007
sounds like a custom mix at this point

Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 12:48 pm
by OldRider2
I received all the parts back from being painted then continued to put various pieces back on the bike. When I put the clamshell top cover on It took a lot of trial and error to get the cover to fit, lined up, and the lock to latch correctly. It’s amazing how all these little things take time to do. I’m sure it wouldn’t be for you guys but never having all matching parts together or experiencing how it operated is a bit of a disadvantage.

So I got it all back together and started it up only to find the water pump dripping a little. I ended up with a new OEM pump, installed it with Robin1731’s stainless steel bolt kit and had no further problems. The bike seemed to start ok but I didn’t like the power and speed and ended up installing new points, condenser, and set the timing and it ran much better.

I still have a neutral light problem but from what I can troubleshoot to it needs a new switch. I replaced the original with a used one but it must be bad. That will have to wait for another time or the next owner!

All in all I am fairly happy with the final bike. The last inspection sticker on it before I bought it was June 2002 so I’m assuming that was the last year or so the bike was on the road. It handles well and rides well although moving it around, the 600 or so pounds feels kind of heavy.

So here are some pics guys of the finished product, enjoy!