1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009! "C O M P L E T E D"

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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Jonesz
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#16

Post by Jonesz »

She is looking like someone cares. Keep up the good work.
Jonesz

1983 GL1100 Aspencade named "Freki" currently undergoing change to a standard. Sold
1999 Valkyrie CT 1500 goes by the moniker "Valerie"
1978 Gl1000 "Loki" new project going to be a Cafe Convertible
1979 Suzuki GS850. Sold
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JamesPal
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#17

Post by JamesPal »

Looking great! Love to see another old wing being saved. I started restoring my '81 back in '09 but stopped about a year later and it sat. Then I did the '72 450 and then a '85 interstate. This year I'm back on the 1100. Funny how I'm looking back on some of the decisions I made then. You learn so much from doing this. When I did the 1200 my wife asked me to keep a ledger of the costs. I counted everything, purchase price, rent the trailer to bring it home, tax to xfer the title. When it was back on the road I had over $3400 in it. It was worth it and I will do it again.
"If everything is under control you are not going fast enough" - Mairo Andretti

'85 GL1200I
'81 GL1100 STD
'72 CB450
OldRider2
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#18

Post by OldRider2 »

10-4 on keeping a record of the costs. I've kept most of it written in an Excel sheet, fortunately my wife hasn't seen it that I know of! I've tried to pay for it selling a few thing on Craigs List or eBay. As you all know the $$$ can add up fast if you have to buy new from Honda or even aftermarket items. It would be nice to be Jay Leno!
2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
OldRider2
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#19

Post by OldRider2 »

It became clear after putting the bike back together and starting it that the muffler was in bad shape, so I decided to try to use some Triumph T-100 mufflers. I used my 77 GL headers but after that I read that the 78 or 79 I think had a slightly different angle on their outlet that may have made it easier. I struggled with how to mount them, first trying some chrome adapters I found but that didn’t work out. I discovered that a 2” OD PVC pipe would fit over the header end and the T100 muffler would fit into it so I decided to try heating the PVC so it was flexible, and before it cooled manipulated the left muffler into an approximate position. I don’t have any way to bend a piece of tailpipe or a light welder so I figured this would give a muffler shop a swag at an approximate length and angle to bend a pipe, then weld it to the headers. One muffler shop wasn’t too busy and wanted to help me out and easily bent up a sample piece of pipe but when their boss came back from lunch he said it was going to be about $300 to do the job! I then found another place that did it for $60, more in line with what I was looking to pay.

The next problem was coming up with a bracket to mount the mufflers and it took several temporary mounts, fitting, cutting, drilling, etc. to come up with a design. I’m not fabricator so there was a lot of hand cutting and fitting to come up with my final mount. I wanted the T100s to look as close as possible to the original angle on the side and spacing from the rear. The first brackets I made weren’t stiff enough and finally went to about 1/8” steel plate I cut roughly with a sabre saw and then finished it off with a file and grinder.
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6 Muffler IMG_2667.jpg
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2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
OldRider2
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#20

Post by OldRider2 »

Muffler fab continued.
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7 Muffler IMG_2668.jpg
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Muffler IMG_6201.jpg
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2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
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Track T 2411
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#21

Post by Track T 2411 »

That's a nice piece of work!
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

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"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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flyin900
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#22

Post by flyin900 »

Clearly you have some fabrication skills and a good idea of where your going with the project so action1 " You have learned well young Jedi"
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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rcmatt007
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#23

Post by rcmatt007 »

I have had a few rear tires that looked like that
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
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78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#24

Post by OldRider2 »

Good roll-around tire for the yard. :-D I think that is the same wheel and tire I got from Sunnbobb after I started this project. I think the air in it is still Washington State air! lolol
2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
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Jonesz
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#25

Post by Jonesz »

Those pipes look great on your bike (side and rear view) Nice work.
Jonesz

1983 GL1100 Aspencade named "Freki" currently undergoing change to a standard. Sold
1999 Valkyrie CT 1500 goes by the moniker "Valerie"
1978 Gl1000 "Loki" new project going to be a Cafe Convertible
1979 Suzuki GS850. Sold
OldRider2
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#26

Post by OldRider2 »

Thanks, they're not perfect but once things are bent and welded, you live with that, they are fairly close to where I wanted them.
2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#27

Post by OldRider2 »

I thought initially the rear fenders on the early wings were all the same but on closer examination I found a replacement I bought on eBay was for a 78 or 79 so that meant it had different taillight bracket holes than a 1977. The chrome was in good shape so I hunted down a tail light bracket that fit the replacement fender. I got the rear fender on and cleaned up and polish/painted the taillight assembly. Sometime after mounting my fender and taillight, I went down to see Toehead in Mass and he gave me a much better looking taillight. So I removed the old one and used his. Putting a part on and then having to remove it later seemed to be typical for me because some things I just wanted to get it put back on and didn’t always think of the integration of that part in the big picture.

I digress, back to the fender area. I also picked up a used grab bar locally for $60 and thought it was a good deal until I found aftermarket ones on line about the same price. :( Mounting the grab bar and identifying the right directionals for the bar was interesting. The bolts I had for the directionals had a hole down through the middle for the wires to go through but the bolts were a little too short to mount the lights. Looking back I think the mounts were wrong maybe even the lights and they probably came off the old fairing that came with the bike. The short bolts I discovered were not metric bolts but 7/16” x 13 SAE bolts. I then went to a local farm store, found 7/16 x 2 ½” Grade 5 bolts and proceeded to drill holes down through the centers. So the directional light mounting on the grab bar isn’t original but only one of you experts would probably know that. It took some wire identification and rewiring here but it was easy enough. Remember the bike had no working lights when I got it and the harness was in poor shape so I spent a lot of time identifying wires and talking to myself to make sure I wired it up correctly. Fortunately the few wires in the rear were much easier to repair/replace than the front of the bike. During the earlier years of this project I got a decent wiring harness and original real wheel from Sunnbobb. That wiring harness was in pretty good shape except for some cut wires in the headlight section so that helped hooking thinks up.

I decided to leave the rear wheel off for awhile longer at this point because I had to rebuild all of the brakes, install a new clutch cable, and adjust the clutch. Put on a Motion Pro Clutch Cable......make sure you lube them before putting them on, they aren't lubed from the factory very well. I finally got oil down through it after a few days!
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Read Directional IMG_3886.JPG
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Read Directional IMG_3885.JPG
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Mounting of slightly longer mounts.JPG
Mounting of slightly longer mounts.JPG (104.48 KiB) Viewed 302 times
2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
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Graham Cracker
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#28

Post by Graham Cracker »

Patience is a virtue.....looking good!!
Mark

1975 GL 1000 Candy Antares Red
1976 GL 1000 Sulfur Yellow
1977 GL 1000 Pearl White
1978 GL 1000 Candy Limited Maroon
OldRider2
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#29

Post by OldRider2 »

The brakes were all toast on the bike so I cleaned and rebuilt the front calipers, rear caliper, and both master cylinders. I also replaced all of the original rubber brake lines with new aftermarket ones and front pads, new front reservoir. No real surprises with the brakes other than having to replace one front caliper that had a bleeder snapped off.

Another thing I tackled which wasn’t on my list of favorite things was to get into the fork to see why they were so stiff and ratchety. I put it off long enough and finally tackled it to replace the stem bearings. It wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be but best thing about it was my bike had tapered roller bearing and it wasn’t necessary to replace the bearings. You all have probably experienced the old, calcified grease that you find in these bikes and that is all that was causing a problem. I took the triple tree area apart and cleaned it all up, getting all of the old grease out and then repacked them. I didn’t see any damage to the bearings. Now the handlebars move freely, not dragging, or ratcheting.

At some point during the rebuild process I realized the old coils had a real high resistance when I checked them. I opted for two electronic 3 Ohm coils and kept the original point set up. Someday it might be nice to have fully electronic coils and points but for now these worked out fine. The coils looked identical to the Dynatek Dyna Coils except they were red color and the center steel post was rotated 90 degrees to the Dynas center post. It took a bit of fabricating a mount but mounted them in place of the old Honda coils. I also replaced the plug wires with new copper core wires from Tractor Supply.
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STEM P1010051a.JPG
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Coil IMG_6207.JPG
Coil IMG_6207.JPG (92.95 KiB) Viewed 257 times
2001 GL1800 Illusion Red
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desertrefugee
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Restoration that started in 2009!

#30

Post by desertrefugee »

Really nice work. And immense patience. I sometimes take shortcuts down the home stretch and have to retrace steps after the fact. I don't think you're doing that.

Looking forward to seeing it done!
- Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to ride in the rain.
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