'86 SE-i That Followed Me Home

[julimike54]

Thank Y'all for the complement...I've had it from the crate and tried to take care of it as best I can. The best complement I received was from a mechanic that I had rebuild the carbs. He asked if it was ok to share pics with his friends, stating it's the cleanest wing he's every seen. He did a great job on the carbs after a Honda shop (no longer in business) butchered the job.

[pidjones]

Honda shops do that.

[3KidsinAustin]

Worked today on disassembling the clutch slave and master cylinders and the front brake master cylinder. Turned into a larger ordeal than I'd planned. Like the rear master cylinder, both sides of the clutch system required grease to pump the pistons out of the bores. The brake MC was a close call, but I was able to get that out after a healthy blast of compressed air.

All parts are in the ultrasonic cleaner buzzing away in hot soapy water for awhile. Here is a few of the pictures. The mess that came out with the slave cylinder piston is hard to put into words.

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At least these should be easier to get the grease totally cleaned out as there is an open end on each side of the cylinder bore.

[Rednaxs60]

The clutch slave cylinders do not get a lot of maintenance, and the clutch fluid is not changed as regularly as one would expect. Very nasty bit of work you are having to clean up.

[3KidsinAustin]

The clutch slave cylinders do not get a lot of maintenance, and the clutch fluid is not changed as regularly as one would expect. Very nasty bit of work you are having to clean up.

You aren't kidding!

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[Paola Zago]

In this beautiful story, there are two incredible things. The first is how can you abandon a motorcycle like this, out in the open, without any protection for years? And the second is your depth of knowledge about this complex motorcycle. Bravo! I have every respect for you. In Italy, there are only two GL 1200 LTDs, but I know one has been sitting idle for years due to some problem that the Honda dealers couldn't resolve. And you do it in your home garage, incredible.
Paola (Italy)

[Rednaxs60]

Paola: Buy the one that is confusing the techs and we'll help you get it back on the road

[3KidsinAustin]

In this beautiful story, there are two incredible things. The first is how can you abandon a motorcycle like this, out in the open, without any protection for years? And the second is your depth of knowledge about this complex motorcycle. Bravo! I have every respect for you. In Italy, there are only two GL 1200 LTDs, but I know one has been sitting idle for years due to some problem that the Honda dealers couldn't resolve. And you do it in your home garage, incredible.
Paola (Italy)

Thanks for the kind words - it really made my day when I read your message. I agree with Rednaxs60, if you are looking for a fun hobby, grab the one that needs work. Armed with the factory manuals and online resources, these are fairly easy bikes to tackle with pretty much basic hand tools. It just takes time and patience. Probably why the dealership cannot fix it - they are short of both, plus have the need of making a profit.

This is the third GL1200 I've gotten running again in 12 months, and I have a fourth one sitting to the side of the garage, patiently waiting its turn.

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[3KidsinAustin]

Kept plugging away on the hydraulic system today, polishing the master and slave cylinder bores and getting things ready for reassembly. Also disassembled the three brake calipers, which ended up being a bit more of an ordeal than I'd expected. Keeping true to its course, the front right brake caliper had a piston that refused to move using air pressure. I'd even given it a slight squeeze back into the bore with my press to make sure any surface tension was broken. Similar to three of the earlier cylinders, I had to hook up the grease gun and get the piston out that way. Getting good use out of my $2.50 zerk fitting!

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Then I had to resort to the press to get two of the three sleeves out of the calipers. I'd been pushing down on it with a tool (and getting nowhere) until I got smart and set up some sockets that could utilize the press. For anyone following this procedure (including myself at a later date!), a 9mm socket on the top and a 16mm socket to catch worked great.

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Another big accomplishment this morning was getting to go on a road trip with my daughter after her swim lesson to pick up a 12v winch about an hour away. The decision was her's to go and we had a great time. Well worth the gas money and the $50 brand-new-in-box tool that will be used to haul the next bikes onto the trailer. Pushing and a come-along is too much work!

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[ritalz]

I've often thought about getting a winch for my trailer. It's a tilt trailer and sometimes a chore to get a non running bike up the hill. $50 is a great find.

[julimike54]

I presume you know to lube that 'sleeve' on the outside...
I use a silicone grease and apply a thin film, hasn't failed me yet, along with the inside of the rubbers and outside of the bolt shank.

[3KidsinAustin]

I presume you know to lube that 'sleeve' on the outside...
I use a silicone grease and apply a thin film, hasn't failed me yet, along with the inside of the rubbers and outside of the bolt shank.

You know it! I bought a lifetime supply with the first bike. I've found previous owners clearly not aware of the proper grease to use as using a petroleum based grease ends up melting away the rubbers. I haven't done the insides of the rubbers in the past, but that sounds like a great practice to begin.

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[julimike54]

That's probably even better than plain silicone grease, since it has Teflon also. I've been hooked on several Super Lube products. I use one that is like an oil for the pivot points that are recommended to be lubricated and has a very small hypo needle tip. A drop is all it takes...

[3KidsinAustin]

Quick post that the tires are mounted. I'm letting them sit for a few days to confirm they are holding air. Keeping my fingers crossed as I really had to battle that on the blue bike.

I left the wheels alone for a week to allow the paint to cure, then installed new valve stems and mounted the tires. This time, I am trying balance beads - 2 oz per wheel per some calculations I found online.

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The method I have had success with is using some super long zip ties to close the rim of the tire together so you only have to slide the rim over once. Used special tire lube this time as it is supposed to be easier and help the tire seal better than soapy water, plus should not damage the aluminum rim. This was around $17 on Amazon for what I hope is a lifetime supply.

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Getting the rim of the tire over the edge of the wheel is a lot easier than getting it off. On the first wheel, all I had to do was undo the zip ties and inflate. On the second, I managed to flip the wheel up so quickly and where the beads were positioned that every single one of them fell out of the tire and hit the floor. I couldn't believe it as the tire was zipped together, but there was enough of a gap and they must have been sitting in the perfect place to fall out when I turned it up right too fast. The next hour or so was spent putting the beads in by hand - about three at a time - thru the valve stem. Not fun!

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[3KidsinAustin]

Yesterday was a long day. A close friend and I drove to Killeen, TX to pick up an 86 frame with a clean title as I'm concerned the title for my 86 SEi might never appear. I'd worked out a deal with the seller of the frame - he was parting Goldwings for many years and now getting out of the hobby. He sent me pictures of two 86 SEi frames that were titled, plus a few others from 85 and 87 that had titles. It is about 90 minutes away, so we'd worked out a price for the frame and some assorted items that I wanted to also include. The two parts bikes were in various stages of tear down, but had the wiring harnesses and fuel injection systems still installed. After hooking up another friend's trailer, we headed north early in the morning to beat the heat.

Suffice to say, it did not go as planned. The two bikes were in the condition I expected for sitting out in the elements for many, many years, so no surprises there. I had initially planned to get the one that was a roller as it would be easier to load, but the other bike without wheels had a frame that would have required a bit less elbow grease to clean up and look good. Plus, with my new winch that I was dying to try out, we should be able to drag it onto the tilt trailer. Seller went into the house to get the title and came back empty handed. Disappointed because I had done an above-average job of threading the gap with the trailer in reverse, I opted for the other bike. It was going to be harder to get because it was in the middle row. While my friend and I worked to get this bike moving, Seller went back to the house to get the title. He returned and surprised us with the fact that he didn't have the title for THAT bike either, but came with all the titles he had. That was ok, because the transmission was frozen on the bike with wheels and there was absolutely no way we were going to be able to move it with all the other bikes around.

We then went through EVERY GL1200 he had in the yard - another half dozen or so - and tried to match titles to frames. He and I were both excited when we found ONE - an 85 Aspencade, I think, until we both saw that the frame had been cut at the right rear shock mount - titled frame that was no good.

I was left wondering what in the world I was going to do, but the Seller offered up an 86 SEi frame he had in his shop that he had planned to restore and was probably never going to get to it. Price was a bit higher than the parts bikes, but the frame had been professionally powder coated to match the accent colors of the SEi and progressive air shocks in the rear and progressive springs on the front. Was really a nice gesture as it was the only option we had available other than leaving with no frame at all. I also picked up some gray saddlebags for the 84 (one has a couple of big holes for battery cables that were routed into it), a supposedly working SEi dash, windshield, injection setup with gas tank (no wiring harness), and an extra GL1100 and GL1200 faux tank shelter for some future modding options.

We hit the road back to Austin and got back a little over five hours after we'd left. Unloaded everything, mowed grass, and was totally wiped out so stayed inside. Started work today on taking parts off the original frame, cleaning them and getting things organized to mount onto the new frame. Will be a multi day affair, for sure.

Here is the new frame:

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And some of the other goodies:

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