Finishing my 1978

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pjgoeman
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Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#46

Post by pjgoeman »

I did not use any brake fluid for the original assembly, only a thin smear of the pink grease that BrakeCrafters includes in their kit. When I took it back apart and reassembled I didn’t clean the parts so everything was coated with brake fluid from the first go round. That could easily have been the difference.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
pjgoeman
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Re: Finishing my 1978

#47

Post by pjgoeman »

I installed the new rear brake pads and then re-bled the front brakes after reinstalling the front master cylinder that worked great while off the bike. Guess what - the master cylinder is slow to return - ? I’m going to leave it for now and see what happens.

The shifter and tachometer drive seals came in earlier than expected so I got those installed and today I rode the bike another 12 or 13 miles. It’s a fun ride, no mufflers and it really scoots when you let the revs climb, although I’m not exceeding about 6k until I get more miles on it. The shifter seal is good but oil was still leaking at the fuel pump. I stopped to wipe it clean and do a better inspection and found the oil was leaking from between the two parts of the fuel pump housing.

After letting it cool I disassembled the fuel pump and found that half the gasket was missing on one side of that plastic insulator piece that’s between the two housing parts. Why In the world would someone apparently take the fuel pump apart and then reassemble it with half the gasket missing? I cleaned everything up, made two new gaskets, and tomorrow I’ll do another test run.

I need to take more pictures of some of this stuff to make my postings more interesting.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
pjgoeman
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Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#48

Post by pjgoeman »

I did take my test run and the oil leak at the fuel pump is fixed. I’m still getting some slight oil seepage from the valve cover gaskets that I’ll just keep an eye on for now.

I haven’t tried to sync the carbs yet, I wanted to put a few more miles on it first to hopefully make sure the rings and whatever other moving parts are loosened up and back to normal after sitting for ten plus years. I let it idle in the driveway to see if the fan would turn on - nope, the bike started to get hot. I’m working on the fan switch repair process from Shop Talk.

I pulled the plugs that now have about 30 miles on them to take a look - picture attached. I can’t really come to any conclusions. #1 looks a little lean, but until I sync the carbs there’s nothing to do. I’ve got some other things going on so progress will be slow.
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Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
pjgoeman
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Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:01 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#49

Post by pjgoeman »

I haven’t posted on this thread in two months but I haven’t stopped working on the bike, mostly trying to fix some of the problems that were exposed once the motor was running and I was able to get in a few test miles.

I fixed the issue with the front brake lever being slow to return by disassembling the master cylinder and polishing the cylinder bore with tin foil, a trick I learned on the forum.

When doing my test rides there was a small oil leak from the clutch actuator rod so I replaced the seal. It’s tight quarters to get at it but it’s doable. It helped to take the rear wheel off.

I’ve had a problem with slight oil leaks from both valve covers. I took them off to double check the fit of the gasket into the groove and tried to just sort of reposition them while tightening but no luck. I broke down and bought a genuine Honda gasket but it looked identical to the ones that came in the gasket kit from Randakk and it leaked just like the Randakk gasket. Any tricks or fixes would be appreciated.

My cooling fan wouldn’t turn on when the engine got hot but I solved that with a new switch off eBay. Don’t buy the $15 switches, they won’t fit. You have to buy the $60 K&L made in Japan switch.

Most of my time was spent trying to chase down a misfire in the #1 cylinder. I had a thread in the technical section asking questions and documenting what I was doing trying to fix it but it was driving me crazy. I finally got the bike running smoothly and now I can finally get back to the finishing touches.

Attached is a picture of the front fender I’m going to use. It’s from a CB900C and I like the more cut down look compared to the huge fender that came stock on a 78.
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I’m also in the middle of painting the shelter covers and installing a new seat. More posts to come.
Last edited by pjgoeman on Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
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pidjones
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Re: Finishing my 1978

#50

Post by pidjones »

Are you sure the valve cove bolt grommets aren't your leak source? That fender should work fine! I used a similar fender on a CB750F that I put '78 GL1000 forks on. I used rubber grommets from a Harbor Freight kit to cushion the mounts.
"Love 'em all.... let God sort 'em out!"
Ex 2006 GL1800 - the Black Pearl SOLD! to make room for:
2021 Can-Am Spyder RT Limited Dark Chalk Metallic
1975 Red GL1000 project - ex Pistol Pete project
1972 Triumph T150V Trident rescue - finished and FOR SALE!
1976 Yamaha RD400c
1978 GL1000 with '75 engine - the Hunley
Ex 1978 GL1000
Ex 1979 GL1000
Ex '79 CB750F rat bike
Ex '86 SEi
Ex '77 GL1000
Ex '76 RD400
Ex '72 Penton 125 set up for flat track
Ex '73 RD250
Ex '68 TR6C - chopped
pjgoeman
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Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#51

Post by pjgoeman »

The valve cover bolt grommets are all new. When the bike sits on the center stand for 24 hours after riding I can see an oil trail on both sides from that half round section that fits up against the cam shaft holder assembly. Both sides leak at the back end of the covers, no leaks at the front half round on either side. They’re not big leaks, about one drip accumulates at the bottom of the cover.

Thinking about it, I think I’ll swap the covers side to side to see if the leaks stay at the rear of the valve covers or if the leaks then move to the front of both covers.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
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Jonesz
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Re: Finishing my 1978

#52

Post by Jonesz »

I like the new fender a lot. I recently bought a CB900C fender off Ebay. Thanks for posting the pic of yours. I am thinking that it will give my bike a little more pizzazz once I custom paint the extra set of "tins" that came with my 78. As I have stated before I will be keeping my oem seat, fender and tins to keep my bike returnable to stock configuration. 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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pidjones
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Re: Finishing my 1978

#53

Post by pidjones »

pjgoeman wrote:The valve cover bolt grommets are all new. When the bike sits on the center stand for 24 hours after riding I can see an oil trail on both sides from that half round section that fits up against the cam shaft holder assembly. Both sides leak at the back end of the covers, no leaks at the front half round on either side. They’re not big leaks, about one drip accumulates at the bottom of the cover.

Thinking about it, I think I’ll swap the covers side to side to see if the leaks stay at the rear of the valve covers or if the leaks then move to the front of both covers.
I first clean the groove out real well then put a thin layer of Indian Head gasket shellac on the rib that sets inside the cover and stick it on, letting it set up. Then bolt the cover on. I have one cover out of six that accumulates a trail on it. Although I have several new gaskets that I bought in a group of parts from a going-out-of-business, I have yet to need one.
"Love 'em all.... let God sort 'em out!"
Ex 2006 GL1800 - the Black Pearl SOLD! to make room for:
2021 Can-Am Spyder RT Limited Dark Chalk Metallic
1975 Red GL1000 project - ex Pistol Pete project
1972 Triumph T150V Trident rescue - finished and FOR SALE!
1976 Yamaha RD400c
1978 GL1000 with '75 engine - the Hunley
Ex 1978 GL1000
Ex 1979 GL1000
Ex '79 CB750F rat bike
Ex '86 SEi
Ex '77 GL1000
Ex '76 RD400
Ex '72 Penton 125 set up for flat track
Ex '73 RD250
Ex '68 TR6C - chopped
pjgoeman
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Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:01 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#54

Post by pjgoeman »

Thanks for the tip on the gasket shellac. I ordered some from Amazon.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
pjgoeman
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Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:01 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#55

Post by pjgoeman »

I had to temporarily go back to work and it’s been really hot so my progress really slowed down the past four weeks or so. I did find the time to finish the shelter covers, installed the seat, found a tail light that I like, and tried the gasket shellac on the valve covers (still leaking). I’m happy with how my project turned out, now I just need to get it registered so I can put some miles on it.
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Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
pjgoeman
Cast Iron Member
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Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:01 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Finishing my 1978

#56

Post by pjgoeman »

I replaced the neutral switch with a new, genuine Honda switch found on eBay for about $52.

Changing out the switch isn’t too difficult - drain the oil, drop the exhaust, remove the small plate that exposes the oil strainer, loosen up the motor mounts and remove that long bolt that goes between the two sides of the frame right by the neutral switch. I used a large screwdriver between the frame and the boss on the motor where I removed that long bolt and it spread the frame enough to swap out the switch. When you put it back together be sure to use shorter hex head bolts on the strainer cover if you haven’t already made this change.
Peter

1978 GL1000
1973 Honda CL175 Scrambler
2018 BMW 1200GSA
Gowing
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Re: Finishing my 1978

#57

Post by Gowing »

Bike of the month, yeah!
Dave

1975 GL 1000
1980 XS650
1981 ct110
1972 F7 KAW 175
2000 moby blaze 40cc
Chihuahua (Ellie)
Chihuahua #2(Blaze)
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