1986 Aspencade Resurrection

[3KidsinAustin]

The fuel tank continues to brew in its own juices. I pulled the anodes this morning and sanded them clean with the angle grinder. Definitely losing material on them during the process, so the chemistry is working. Taking longer than I want, but I'm staying busy with other projects.

Worked on testing ignition today and ended up with getting spark. Started by pulling a spark plug and checking for spark with it grounded to the case. No luck. It took some looking around, but after unbolting the coil assembly, I quickly discovered the problem. Coils were not connected... Not sure why, but I can say with confidence that it would cause difficulty in getting spark. When hooking them back up, a few of the spade connectors felt loose, so I gave each a quick squeeze with the pliers.

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I worked my way next to the fuel pump, as it is also controlled by the ignition control module. First tested everything prior to the relay and it works fine. Pump activates while cranking over, so all good there. Just need my dummy tank to hook into the system and see if the old gal will pop over. Before I do that, I'll probably drain the coolant and check the timing on the engine. Belts were replaced by PO, but want to confirm that as well. Plus, ignition timing so much easier to check with gas tank out of the way.

De-bubbification continues. I have most of the mystery relay wires identified and removed from the system. Still some strange things running through the alternator wiring that I want to check on before yanking it entirely. Also removed the handheld CB radio that had been wired into the original harness. I guess that bypassed the need for an intercom hookup, but certainly looked a mess.

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[Fred Camper]

Making great progress for this time of the year. Just a bit more each day and it will be ready to ride.

[3KidsinAustin]

Tank is finally finished. After percolating for several days, and lots of angle grinding on anodes to get to fresh metal, and three batches of solution, the electrolysis has done its job. I couldn't be happier with the final result.

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Once all rinsed out and blasted with a heat gun to totally dry the inside of the tank, I sprayed the inside with Sta-Bil Fogging Oil. The tank is now sitting up on a shelf, I'll keep it off until I get the bike all tuned and ready for reassembly. Just so much easier to access everything with it out of the way.

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Two cases in point, rebuilding the rear master cylinder and sanding and repainting the area below the battery. It clearly had a leak or boil-over situation as there was some surface rust and bubbling paint on the frame. All cleaned up and painted with rust converter.

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[NotSoLilCrippseys]

3Kids.

I wish I had seen your thread before now. You're rolling right through the work.

I'm a fan of electrolysis myself, even though I've also ended up with a couple holy/holey tanks (Wing and other) through the process. It is magical.

That center stand is just plain weird. You're going to sell the bike to fund the other build. If it were me, I'd source a replacement just to have a buyer not discover some strange stand thingie. I guess you actually have a spare in the corner of the garage?

[Fred Camper]

Smart move on the tank to quickly dry it and spray with fog.

[3KidsinAustin]

Thanks guys! The electrolysis is a cool process - actual science doing all the hard work. What's not to like?!

Lots of little things since my last update, all making small steps towards completion. First, drained and filled the oil in the rear diff. Sanded and painted the damage to the frame and battery box from a leaking battery.

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Next was messing with the throttle to get it to snap back properly. Was feeling stuck, so I disassembled the throttle housing on the grip and messed with the cables. One had a broken sheath and was kinked around the throttle plate, so I ordered a replacement pair for $20 from eBay.

Here is a link to what I bought: https://www.ebay.com/itm/382548146266

The good news is that it works fine and has the proper connectors. The downside is that it is a couple of inches too long, even though the listing states applicable to all model year Goldwings. Will require some creative routing to hide the extra length.

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After replacing the cable, I still had issues with the throttle snapping back. Turns out the aftermarket grips would drag if pushed all the way onto the handlebar. So, I backed it off about 1cm and it snaps back and forth properly. Quick to type, but that was most of yesterday troubleshooting!

Today was all about the timing belts and cooling system. I had wanted to avoid draining the coolant for absolutely no good reason. Put a big drain pan under the drain plug so I could reuse, unscrewed the drain plug, and .... about a cup of fluid came out. Good thing I checked! Out came the radiator, which was a bit more fun than my 85 thanks to the alternator conversion. Got to the timing belts, and while they have been replaced, I have no idea as to the age, so new ones are on order.

With the cooling system off the bike, I took advantage to test the thermostat and fan switch. Scheduled it for while the wife was away!

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I use an Arduino connected to a temperature sensor to read the temp of the water. Way more accurate than needed, but I don't know where she hides the meat thermometer. The thermostat opened and closed per the manual. Fan switch was tougher because it works above boiling temps. I added salt to the mix but couldn't get it high enough and wasn't about to cook coolant in one of her pots. So.... I plopped it in the oven. Ran it up to 225 and tested (spec is 216) and the contacts had closed, so that gives me enough confidence that it likely works as it should. Will find out when running and burping coolant.

The fan switch wires took a casualty while removing the plug. That plug might be the bane of my existence - it really knows how to put up a fight! At least it broke in an area giving me plenty of room to solder back to the original harness. All taped back up - no harm, no foul.

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Once timing belts are replaced (and new spark plugs too), I'll get to see if the bike runs at all. No idea what is waiting for me with the carbs, keeping my fingers crossed that they are working - if not, will be digging into those. Also need to get into the brakes, rebuilding at least the rear master cylinder and rear caliper.

[3KidsinAustin]

Today ended up being all about the brakes. I already had the rear caliper disassembled, so removed and took apart the front calipers for a deep clean. Everything went smoothly until the left front caliper. One of the pistons adamantly refused to exit its bore. There's always one!

My normal process is to blast each caliper with 120psi of compressed air into a 1/2" sheet of scrap plywood. Then, I switch to a 1/4" sheet that allows one of the pistons to completely exit its bore. Then, I stick my thumb over the air hole inside the vacant bore and the second one usually follows.

Today, I was getting zero movement out of the one piston. So, I hit it with some penetrate and set it into the press to push it 1mm or so back into its bore, and break lose any surface tension. The press did its job and it pushed in without any resistance (against the 12 ton press, of course).

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Took it back to the air station, and nothing happened. No movement at all, not even back to its original location before the press. Thinking I might have to resort to grease, I went back to the press and pushed it further into the bore. Then, I decided to blast it with some heat, just to see if I could get lucky. Believe it or not, a couple minutes with the heat gun on high then blasting it again with air got the piston to slowly exit its bore. Took two sessions of heat, but it finally came out! Small victories...

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With the three calipers fully disassembled, I set all the parts in the cleaner to buzz around for an hour at 55 degrees C. Leaving them to stew in their juices overnight, just because I'm feeling done for the day.

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I wanted to bleed the rear master cylinder this afternoon since I had drained it of fluid. Action is good, so I'm curious if all the seals are good and it has already been rebuilt by a prior owner. However, I found that my bench bleeding kit of 10 years or so only has a single metric fitting that works in the MC. So... get to order another set of fitting from Amazon. Probably be getting this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D52H1XC1?psc=1

Heading to Houston tomorrow to help my uncle get his 58 Lincoln ready for the upcoming regional meet, so probably no wrenching tomorrow. Although, I might have time to reassemble the calipers.

[Fred Camper]

Good progress. Interesting that the heat gun worked to loosen the piston. Will add that to the memory bank.

[3KidsinAustin]

Good progress. Interesting that the heat gun worked to loosen the piston. Will add that to the memory bank.

I'm really glad the heat did the trick, otherwise things were going to be getting really messy with the grease method. Would have been a lot of work to get the grease out of there.

Past few days have been spent getting the brakes all back functioning. After giving the calipers and hardware a day at the spa, everything went together fairly easily. All the brake pistons had some crud around the top, so I set about polishing them off. I started with 0000 steel wool to get the worst of the baked on gunk off, then polished up with wetsanding, using 600 grit, then 1000, then 2000 to finish. They all came out mighty nice and smooth. I set a hand towel down on the workbench, laid the paper on the towel, then just swished the piston onto the paper, rotating it gradually. Results below:

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Once the three calipers were assembled, I set about bleeding the system. I had a rear master cylinder rebuild kit on hand but decided to see if everything worked before opening it up. When testing the bike during purchase, there was zero pressure at the rear brake, so I stocked up on rebuild parts just in case. I had gone so far as remove the rear MC from the bike, so had to bench bleed it (on the bike using the pedal to pump), then reinstall all the lines and get it back in place. Once the two calipers were reinstalled I followed the service manual directions to begin with the rear caliper. The rear wheel isn't on the bike, so a 1/2" scrap of plywood served as a temporary pad. Same scrap I use to get the pistons out, so definitely getting my money's worth from it!

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The rear brake system bled out great and is working find with no leaks, so I did the same for the front MC. This time, all I had to do was suck out the old fluid and flush the new stuff through.

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As long as I had all the stuff out, I took the opportunity to bleed the clutch system. Made my job lots harder by sucking fluid out of the clutch MC, then getting the bright idea of pulling the lever to see if the switch was engaging. Heard a big sucking sound and realized I now had the great opportunity of bleeding the MC to get the air out that I just introduced! Brain had clearly taken a brief pre-Spring Break vacation. With fresh fluid, have great action in the clutch lever and slave.

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[3KidsinAustin]

With most of these bikes, the timing belt history is unknown. This one had the belts changed at some point, but I felt the $20 for new belts was well spent, so I went about changing them. I'm glad I did, because the first thing I uncovered was the spring for the right tensioner had been routed through the bolt hole instead of the proper location.

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Aside from that, the belts went on fine and timing is properly set.

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I thought the last step of bolting up the covers would be the easiest part, but we all know what they say about assumptions! The right side went on without difficulty, but I could not get the left side cover to bolt on. No matter how much I fiddled with it, the outside bolt felt like it was just plunging into dead air. Took the cover off and found this:

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A 6mm x 1.0mm helicoil set is arriving today to hopefully fix it. I haven't done a helicoil repair before, but it does not look too difficult. It appears to me that the hole was drilled out previously, as there is a total absence of any thread material. I'm hoping they did not use too big of a drill bit, or I'll have to come up with Plan B.

Separately, I made another project for myself further down the road. The bright blue vinyl wrap was just too much for me, so I peeled it off yesterday using low heat on my heat gun. As I feared, the wrap took several sections of the pinstripe decal with it. The top of the fender was also severely sun damaged (my guess). It still looks better than with the bright blue, but I'll probably pull the fender and try and remove the entire decal and then just polish it up. I'm open to any tips and suggestions!

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[robin1731]

The correct size drill bit for a m6 helicoil is 1/4". See if a 1/4" bit will fall into that hole or if it is (hopefully) bigger than the hole. And make sure you break the tang off of the coil after you insert it into the newly threaded hole newly. Some will say to put loctite on the coil. I've installed hundreds of them with nothing on them and they do fine.

[3KidsinAustin]

The correct size drill bit for a m6 helicoil is 1/4". See if a 1/4" bit will fall into that hole or if it is (hopefully) bigger than the hole. And make sure you break the tang off of the coil after you insert it into the newly threaded hole newly. Some will say to put loctite on the coil. I've installed hundreds of them with nothing on them and they do fine.

Thanks for the tip! A 1/4" bit fits in there snugly, but my next size up (17/64) does not. The helicoip kit I purchased on Amazon comes with a bit, so I'll see if that fits in the hole and hope there is enough material for the tap to do its thing.

[Fred Camper]

Nice progress, for that front fender, it may not polish up well. If it lacks shine, you now get to pick your own color of vinyl.

[3KidsinAustin]

Package arrived earlier than expected, so I was able to try my luck with the helicoil. Really not wanting to remove the head, I did my best to do the work in situ. Fortunately, the hole had already been drilled out to a working diameter, as I was unable to get a drill into it straight on without banging into the frame down tube. I shot some WD-40 into the hole to act as some cutting lubricant and slowly twisted the provided tap into the hole. That went well, so blew out the shavings with some compressed air and twisted in the helicoil and breaking off the tab per the instructions. Test fit the bolt and was very gratifying to feel it twist in like a regular hole.

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Timing cover now reinstalled, and I have 24 more fitting to use!

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[Fred Camper]

So glad that went so well. You will have her on the road soon.