Earthwing's 1976 GL1000

[Earthwing]

And so it begins...meet "Goldilocks" as she was dubbed shortly after picking her up:


She is a 1976 GL1000 in Yellow (as you can see) which I picked up up off the local exchange here in British Columbia, Canada for $1000.00.

Here is my friend Steven and I checking her out before purchase (me in the Free hat behind the bike):


When we arrived the bike wouldn't turn over, the owner suspected it was the starter motor but it turned out to be a faulty starter solenoid. After replacing that, we drained the year old fuel out of the bike and added new gas. We managed to get the bike to run but it would only run on full choke with lots of throttle and would die after a few minutes.

We then proceeded to load her into the trailed and bring her home:


After reading many of the posts on here I created "the list" of what I thought she needed in order to run:

- Change timing belts
- Carb rebuild using Randakk's kit
- Check/set valves
- New air filter
- Check/set ignition timing
- Oil Change
- Rad flush
- New fork seals
- De-rust the fuel tank

It is my hope that after doing those tasks the bike with run, we will see.

Some more detailed photos of the bike with all of the panels removed:














I have the following new parts either in hand or on order:
- Timing belts
- Air filter
- Oil filter
- Oil filter bolt

Some of you may have seen my other post sharing the issues I had ordering Randakk's Carb rebuild kit from Dime City Cycles but I have since received a refund and reordered the kit, not sure when it will arrive but I will have the timing belts this week so I'll do that and the valves for now as well as the rad and oil change. Hopefully the carb kit will be here by then!

I'd love to hear any info/input anyone has based on the images or info I've shared.

I will post again when I have progress to report!

Steve

[pidjones]

One photo shows red/orange sealant at a joint above the brake pedal. Make sure none of that has entered the system. You may find that a full brake job is in order (for some reason stopping sometimes is important). At a minimum a full flush. Electrics have been modified. Hopefully just to remove the RLU. There is a three-wire connector on the yellow leads coming out of the alternator - inspect it carefully. Don't be surprised if it has been cut off and the wires spliced directly. Love the seat.

[Lucien Harpress]

Nice! Always liked the yellow ones myself. First impressions?

The good: It looks dirty, but not overly rusty. Relatively complete as well.

The interesting: Carbs are from a GL1100 and the exhaust looks like it's from a later '78/'79 GL1000. Neither are dealbreakers, and can be made to work just fine, but purists will point it out.

The potentially icky: The red RTV sealant on the back engine case is concerning. One, because that means the cover has been pulled for some reason (stator work, possibly), and two because now there might be bits of rubber floating around the engine where they aren't supposed to.

It's odd, because that's an engine-out job. Both to pull that cover in the first place, and possibly to clean that up later on. I'm also seeing non-stock bolt heads on the cover behind the fuel pump (back right corner of the engine). Someone's definitely been through that engine.

In any case, it looks like a great start. I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Good luck!

[robin1731]

As mentioned, those are 1100 carbs. So make sure you order the correct rebuild kits. Looks like it may have a Dyna ignition too. Overall a good foundation to start with.

[Earthwing]

I'm also seeing non-stock bolt heads on the cover behind the fuel pump (back right corner of the engine). Someone's definitely been through that engine.

Thank you for all of the detailed info, are you meaning these bolts here:

[Lucien Harpress]

Yup. Probably not a big deal, as there really isn't much behind that cover, but just something I noticed.

[dontwantapickle]

The headlight bucket and front turn signals look like they are from an 1100.
(maybe aftermarket like the mirrors).

[5speed]

when you are doing the timing belts take a look at the water pump..if it has a brown bakelite impeller it's original. I'd check it for any later movement.
Also give the belt tensioner pully's a spin to see what kind of condition the bearings are in. They are rebuildable if they need to be replaced.

[Earthwing]

The headlight bucket and front turn signals look like they are from an 1100.
(maybe aftermarket like the mirrors).

Ok great thank you, I'm becoming less attached to keeping this bike "original" since it seems so much of it is not, so that's inspiring, opens up all sorts of option for winter projects (paint especially)

when you are doing the timing belts take a look at the water pump..if it has a brown bakelite impeller it's original. I'd check it for any later movement.
Also give the belt tensioner pully's a spin to see what kind of condition the bearings are in. They are rebuildable if they need to be replaced.

Thank you, I did the timing belts today (along with the valves) but forgot to look at the water pump. I have the rad off still so I'll take a look at that tomorrow since I have the day off. The pulleys spin freely and don't seem to make any noise, I'm assuming that is a good thing?

So here is where I am at with my list:

- Change timing belts DONE
- Carb rebuild using Randakk's kit GOING TO HOLD OFF FOR NOW (SEE BELOW)
- Check/set valves DONE
- New air filter IN HAND
- Check/set ignition timing SEE BELOW
- Oil Change NEW FILTER INSTALLED
- Rad flush RAD IS EMPTY NOW
- New fork seals
- De-rust the fuel tank

CARBS: I removed the carbs this week and tore them down as much as I think I need to in order to give them a good cleaning. I've decided not to order the rebuild kit until opening up the carbs and seeing what I was dealing with and from what I can see everything is in pretty good shape (I am certain someone will correct me if I am mistaken).

Here are some pics after removal:













One thing I noticed as I was removing the carbs was the area where the intake manifolds attach to the motor. In the following images you can see the difference in the appearance of the metal from the right side of the motor to the left side:

RIGHT SIDE:



LEFT SIDE:



I'd appreciate any input anyone has on this?

I set to work dismantling the carbs:





Here's a closer pic of the float bowls:



Moving on:









So the next step will be to clean everything. I currently have all of the jets soaking in Varsol and will be doing the same with the the "carcass" as well as cleaning the bowls, cover plates, etc.

While doing the timing belts today I drained and removed the radiator. I noticed there was quite a difference the colour of the fluid in the rad vs the over flow.

RAD:



OVERFLOW TANK:



Also, there was a good amount of grainy material in the fluid in the overflow as well as on the rad cap:







And the coolant felt quite "oily".

Here are some shots of the belts and related hardware before changing them:





The swap went fine, I opted to back off the tappet adjusters rather than zip tie a wrench to the right side pulley since I was going to do the valves anyway.

Here is the inside of the valve covers:



The valves as they were would not allow the recommended feeler gauge to pass so I ended up adjusting all of them based on the specs in the Clymer manual.

While I was in there I also noticed something with the coils, this doesn't seem like a factory setup to me:



Can anyone comment?

IGNITION SYSTEM:

I also took the opportunity to pull the points cover based on robin1731's comment about the potential of there being a Dyna Ignition and low and behold:



So that's where I am at!

Any and all input based on what I have written or the photos I have shared is always appreciated.

Thanks for following along,

Steve

[Lucien Harpress]

In no particular order, and not covering everything:

-Not stock coils. Probably changed when the Dyna ignition was put in. The fancy brackets are custom too.

-The grainy coolant could be a couple things. Maybe it hasn't been flushed in a while. Maybe it blew a head gasket at some point. That might explain the different wear on the intake ports, maybe a head got replaced. The hardware on the coolant tube elbows isn't factory either, so there's a good bet the heads have been off at least once.

-I see some fuel staining on the carbs, but they seem relatively clean. You might've got lucky.

Overall impression? While not stock, you may have gotten one that was ridden quite a bit instead. Sure there's a bunch of mods that aren't factory, but if this actually got on the road fairly regularly, you may be better off than with one that sat for years.

Honestly? Purist though I am, I say do the minimum to get it road worthy (belts, fluids, etc.), then just fire the sucker up. It may run better than you'd expect.

[pidjones]

Please throw the Clymer manual away and get a Honda manual. If you search carefully, they can be downloaded in pdf form, or ebay always has both digital and paper versions to offer.

[Earthwing]

Please throw the Clymer manual away and get a Honda manual. If you search carefully, they can be downloaded in pdf form, or ebay always has both digital and paper versions to offer.

Oh? Ok, man I just bought a brand new one

It is that bad? Thanks for the tip. I’ll get looking for a PDF of the service manual.

[Whiskerfish]

There are several known discrepancies in the clymers. When I first started with GL's I did use one but mostly as a supplement to the Honda Shop Manual because it had better pictures.

[gltriker]

Please throw the Clymer manual away and get a Honda manual. If you search carefully, they can be downloaded in pdf form, or ebay always has both digital and paper versions to offer.

Oh? Ok, man I just bought a brand new one

It is that bad? Thanks for the tip. I’ll get looking for a PDF of the service manual.

http://www.goldwingworld.com/pages/GL10 ... manual.pdf

[Earthwing]

Please throw the Clymer manual away and get a Honda manual. If you search carefully, they can be downloaded in pdf form, or ebay always has both digital and paper versions to offer.

Oh? Ok, man I just bought a brand new one

It is that bad? Thanks for the tip. I’ll get looking for a PDF of the service manual.

http://www.goldwingworld.com/pages/GL10 ... manual.pdf

Thank you!