'76 Yellow Wing - Winter '24/5 Project is On

[Fred Camper]

The grab rail alone is the worth of the purchase price. Have fun working on her, as it will not result in retirement savings but may actual delay retirement for a year.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

It's been slow going, mostly owing to work, my wife getting sick for a week, and then me following her down that path. And we've been in the path of a recent, regular snowfall weather pattern. I think we have another 8" coming overnight, after about 12" in the last week - and maybe another dump later in the week.

I will admit to being less-than-all-in on sourcing the needed components.

Not that carbs are keeping this project from wrapping up, but I do continue to check Randakk's weekly for the carb rebuild kit. Still out of stock.

Today, I decided to tackle the caliper and rear master rebuilds. I've had the kits for a couple/few weeks. I didn't take a lot of photos, but I have a few to share.

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As the parts were already clean, I pulled the box into the den, set up a workspace in front of the TV, and got busy while watching a blast from the past: Live and Die in LA.

I don't think I've seen that film since it came out in the mid-80s. Lots of those actors went somewhere in their careers. Interesting, but a digression.

As the whole set was ice cold from being in the shed, any potential difficulties getting pistons to slip past the rubber seals were minimized do to metal shrinkage. I've often had to freeze caliper pistons to ease them past the seals, so I decided to begin by seating all pistons.

Then I went back and handled the other bits and reassembly. It's kind of nice to have an 8000 mile, 50-year old bike that's mostly been hiding in the corner of a garage. All the original brake parts are there. If something goes missing, it's on me.

Now I definitely need brake lines.

In other news, I scored a gorgeous (hardly) used pair of Progressive rear shocks for a GL1000. Including shipping, $50. No pitting, no rust on chrome, rubbers not deformed or cracked. I wasn't thinking I'd upgrade the original rear shocks, and then something like that showed up. I know they're stiff, as I have a pair on my '79. I can only guess that someone mounted them and hardly rode the GL after that. Eventually the bike found its way to a breaker who lists on that old internet auction site. Sad, actually.

[JAMi_750]

Nice build! I too am waiting for the carb kits to restock.

[JAMi_750]

FYI, carb kits are back in stock.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

FYI, carb kits are back in stock.

I just noticed the kits this evening.

I bought two of the rebuild kits because I'll surely tackle another early Wing before long - probably the spare '76 I have in storage. I'll be a little out of sorts if I don't have something in the works, and the Sulphur Yellow bike will almost surely be registered by mid-May.

The replacement tank I bought the other week arrived. I'm beyond happy with its condition, as a couple interior shots reveal.

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I have yet to do anything to clean it. Plus, I can use the chain that keeps the gas cap from getting separated from the bike!

I will need to repaint the exterior, as it looks like a brake fluid leak stripped a fair bit of the paint.

eBay has a lot of poor-condition used parts for sale, but there are still good finds at reasonable prices for patient folks. This tank is one of them. In terms of time and frustration, this tank saves me from the effort to extract a tank liner (kreem?) and figure out next steps for treatment. And I don't need to play the serious rust removal game and risk pinholes with another tank I have.

I have yet to order brake lines.

With some frame painting, parts painting, and tank painting needed, I'll clearly be waiting for warmer weather before I can finish assembly.

[rcmatt007]

good looking tank

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

I'm starting to feel like I'm tipping toward the downward slope of this GL project, which is NOT to say that I'm almost done.

OK. That has to be a joke. This morning I was thinking through how many more shop hours I'll need to get the bike on the road and figured somewhere in the neighborhood of 40. Still, most parts are either on hand or on order. I have the electrical sorted, the bike will run and shift, and the parts for stopping are ready to go. I can see what needs to happen.

With the tank sourced, I took some time on Saturday to get in it with some carb cleaner and a brass brush to cut through and remove a good portion of the light varnish on the bottom 1/4. After going back/forth about derusting the surface rust with Evaporust, I decided to let things be and coated the interior with fogging oil.

The tank won't go in until AFTER I route the rear brake line and probably after I bolt up the carbs and sync them. Before that happens, I'll need to clean up more of the frame and do some touch up painting. And before that... and before that... It'll be a while.

I started getting ready to do the timing belts, which led me to drain the front forks, which led me to pull them, begin disassembly, and order up some new seals. I'm glad I didn't try to "wing it" by draining the forks and refilling them, which I was half thinking I might do.

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This is my first really early Wing build - my "oldest" so far had been a '78. I was pleased to discover how easily the seal retaining clip came out. I was expecting the circlip deal, possibly corroded-beyond-belief clips, etc. Instead, it's a wire spring clip. With the forks off the bike, I'll also have an easier time cleaning them up. I can't polish like some folks on NGW, but I'll get them nice enough for my purposes.

[Irishman1]

You’ve got your work cut out for you!! But it’s worth it

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

You’ve got your work cut out for you!! But it’s worth it

That's a gorgeous Sulphur 76, for sure. Mine won't approach that level of beauty, but I'm ok with it. OK. Mine will look close to that pretty from far enough away.

Quick updates, no photos this round owing to a dead phone.

• I replaced the belts this afternoon. Checked thrice, with hand rotation of the engine.

• Fork seals are in, lowers are cleaned up and lightly polished. (Also this afternoon) The forks themselves are not entirely together yet.

• I pulled the headers to clean wire wheel them a bit to derust and prep for some header paint when it warms. I found holes in both headers, which I'll attempt to weld up. Mostly, it's pinholes, and they're all out near the muffler attachment area. (Also this afternoon.)

My Randakk's carb kit arrived in the mail while I was out of town. I'll get to that part of the project maybe next week, maybe not.

I still need to order up some brake lines, but I'm closing in on needing to source only a set of tires to have the bigger ticket items all in hand.

[Irishman1]

My yellow (or my wife, ruthe’s yellow) is actually a 75. The original owner bought it new in 75 as a red, then in 76 when the yellow came out, bought the sulfur yellow parts. Gave them to me along with the original spoke wheels when I bought it from him in 2012

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

Things are moving forward.

I cleaned up the cam belt covers as much as I cared to clean them. They were awful - both inside and out. And I reinstalled them.

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I adjusted the valves, cleaned up the valve covers (to my satisfaction), and reinstalled the covers.

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(OK. I'm still cleaning up the right cover, but it'll get there soon.)

After welding up the holes in the headers, I painted them with flat black VHT header paint.

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It'll be a few weeks at least before I can cure the paint by running the bike up to temperature again.

My front tire arrived this week, a Tourmaster. The rear is in transit somewhere and should arrive soon. No big rush, really.

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And this morning I split the plenum to start getting serious about the carb rebuild. The carbs are the '76-correct 758A models.

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For a bike with only 8k on it, I was surprised to see that the plenum screws had indications that someone was in there before. Also, not all the locking tabs holding the carb screws to the plenum were bent over. (But then, someone also lined the tank with Kreme or its close cousin at some point in the possibly distant past.)

After I get the rack cleaned, reassembled, and bolted on, I'll really be staring at the home stretch. Once the bike will run again, I know I'll have the motivation to bolt on the 100 remaining odds and ends: brakes, fuel tank, signals, etc., etc.

I don't have photos, but I also reinstalled the forks, and cleaned up and repainted the parts of the frame that needed some work.

[Fred Camper]

great progress, spring is near so time is of the essence.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

This project won't be done by May 1. Alas. Maybe by May 15 or so.

I'm still moving forward, though. The carb rack is now reassembled and nearly mounted.

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After putting the rack back together, I used isopropyl (91) alcohol to test for leaks. The bowl screws for #2 and #4 were not quite snug enough, so I had a little leakage at the bowl gaskets as I tilted the rack to simulate some lean angles that would likely scrape hard parts. After tightening the screws, I dried all the bits - no leaks. The floats shut off the alcohol flow and held for the 30 minutes that I let it all sit there.

I never ordered brake lines, so I took care of that today. I went with braided stainless all around.

I wanted to bolt up the headers, fire up the bike, and move on to a carb sync, but I seem to have misplaced the set of copper gaskets that I was sure I had on hand. (Another order.)

I will need to repair one of the top tabs on the left side cover.

[leonardhcross]

Great update and photos! I have been away for two weeks and this is just the inspiration that I need. My carb rebuild is complete and the rack is sitting on my work bench. I did discover why the PO had put two float bowl gaskets on carb #3. One of the mounting bolts was very lightly stripped. That is to say, it had some grip. Before going out of town two weeks ago, I put some blue Locktite on the screw and gently snugged it. Today, I was thinking that I would bench test the carbs for leaks, I was planning to use gas. Why did you use isopropyl alcohol?

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

Great update and photos! I have been away for two weeks and this is just the inspiration that I need. My carb rebuild is complete and the rack is sitting on my work bench. I did discover why the PO had put two float bowl gaskets on carb #3. One of the mounting bolts was very lightly stripped. That is to say, it had some grip. Before going out of town two weeks ago, I put some blue Locktite on the screw and gently snugged it. Today, I was thinking that I would bench test the carbs for leaks, I was planning to use gas. Why did you use isopropyl alcohol?

Isopropyl is a lot less flammable than gas, doesn't have the smell in the shop, etc. Anything that doesn't drain out of the float bowls will mix with fuel and burn off - if it doesn't evaporate before I fire up the bike again. I've used gas before without blowing myself up, and gas IS cheaper per ounce than the isopropyl. Use the 91. Usually, both are available at CVS or the like - right next to each other on the shelf.