Actually, I blame Adamc for this debacle. His post on the Honda GL1000 he picked up kept nagging at me until I had no choice but to find a old Goldwing that needed rescuing.
I freely admit to being a bottom feeder, and as such, there was no way I could find a nice 'wing. Nope I had to find a orphan that needed to be saved and consequently needs a ton of work. The one I eventually found did run on starting fluid sprayed into the intake, but that was about all it would do. The wiring was sorta intact and the main thing it had going for it was that it was cheap and had a title. And at 30645 miles it should have a lot of life left in the old girl
I have never worked on one of these and I didn't have a manual for it so I expected this to be an adventure and so far I haven't been disappointed. It's only been nine days since I picked this thing up, but I feel I have made a fair amount of progress so far. Especially since we have been having a heat wave and I can only stand to be in my shop from about five in the morning until 10-11AM before it turns into a slow-bake oven.
I wish I would have taken a few pics of it right after I bought it, but I didn't think of that until I got it home and partially disassembled. This was shortly after I removed the shelter housing, carbs and radiator.
The PO had removed most of this stuff already and managed to lose most of the hardware. Both the left and right side covers were missing. Right side covers are everywhere and easy to find. Left side covers OTOH, are nearly impossible to locate, let alone finding one that color matches the rest of the bike.
All the exterior aluminum bits were corroded the usual dull grey as they are wont to get when neglected and this puppy was last registered in 2012, so it has had a lot of neglect.
Carbs were a mess, no surprises here as I was expecting them to be gunked up and I wasn't disappointed. I cleaned them and put my pedestal buffer to work polishing the intake manifolds and slide covers.
As bad as the carbs were, I knew that the fuel tank was going to be terrible inside and again I wasn't surprised. I had to remove the tank, which entails removing the rear wheel and inner & outer fenders. It took two days of cleaning to get it de-rusted (muriatic acid) and de-gunked (acetone, mineral spirits,) but I finally got it good enough to where I am pretty sure that I won't have any issues. These are a pain to get out and a pain to reinstall, but an oddly satisfying job once it's back together.
I removed the various covers and gave them a polish on the buffer.
This:
To this: I also restored the emblems with a bit of a polish and some black paint.
On the '79 models, Honda switched over to rectangular turn signals, which I don't particularly care for. I had a set of the round style from a '79 CB650 and modified the rear tail light to fit them. It did take a bit of welding, but I think the result was worth it.
While I was at it, I painted the rear drive housing.
Rear shocks are probably worn out, but I cleaned them up and polished them on the buffer.
Since a previous owner had thoughtfully hacked off the turn signal mounts on the headlight ears, I sourced a set from a '78 and earlier and found a chrome headlight bucket to replace the cracked plastic original. The instrument cover is off of the CB650 I robbed the rear turn signals from and While I had the front forks off, I polished the lower legs and installed new seals. I need to find a new set of reflectors for the side of the headlight. I am unabashedly OCD about little details like that.
It's starting to look pretty snazzy with the polished aluminum.
The seat that came on it was this butt-ugly thing that I hated on first sight. I have experienced these in the past when working on other brands of Japanese bike and IMO they are terribly uncomfortable. They force the rider into a nearly immoveable position.
I was able to find this near NOS OEM seat for it. Much, much better than that POS that was on it.
I am still waiting on some parts for it before I can take it out for a spin. I have new radiator hoses on the way as well as a new gas gauge sending unit gasket. I still need to buy a battery and tires for it and I am sure that there is still a myriad of stuff I'll need like new handlebars. Good news is that I have managed to locate a left side cover that paint matches the shelter halves. Don't laugh that is what Honda calls the covers that look like a normal motorcycle gas tank. I
When done, I hope to have it look like this '78:
I freely admit to being a bottom feeder, and as such, there was no way I could find a nice 'wing. Nope I had to find a orphan that needed to be saved and consequently needs a ton of work. The one I eventually found did run on starting fluid sprayed into the intake, but that was about all it would do. The wiring was sorta intact and the main thing it had going for it was that it was cheap and had a title. And at 30645 miles it should have a lot of life left in the old girl
I have never worked on one of these and I didn't have a manual for it so I expected this to be an adventure and so far I haven't been disappointed. It's only been nine days since I picked this thing up, but I feel I have made a fair amount of progress so far. Especially since we have been having a heat wave and I can only stand to be in my shop from about five in the morning until 10-11AM before it turns into a slow-bake oven.
I wish I would have taken a few pics of it right after I bought it, but I didn't think of that until I got it home and partially disassembled. This was shortly after I removed the shelter housing, carbs and radiator.
The PO had removed most of this stuff already and managed to lose most of the hardware. Both the left and right side covers were missing. Right side covers are everywhere and easy to find. Left side covers OTOH, are nearly impossible to locate, let alone finding one that color matches the rest of the bike.
All the exterior aluminum bits were corroded the usual dull grey as they are wont to get when neglected and this puppy was last registered in 2012, so it has had a lot of neglect.
Carbs were a mess, no surprises here as I was expecting them to be gunked up and I wasn't disappointed. I cleaned them and put my pedestal buffer to work polishing the intake manifolds and slide covers.
As bad as the carbs were, I knew that the fuel tank was going to be terrible inside and again I wasn't surprised. I had to remove the tank, which entails removing the rear wheel and inner & outer fenders. It took two days of cleaning to get it de-rusted (muriatic acid) and de-gunked (acetone, mineral spirits,) but I finally got it good enough to where I am pretty sure that I won't have any issues. These are a pain to get out and a pain to reinstall, but an oddly satisfying job once it's back together.
I removed the various covers and gave them a polish on the buffer.
This:
To this: I also restored the emblems with a bit of a polish and some black paint.
On the '79 models, Honda switched over to rectangular turn signals, which I don't particularly care for. I had a set of the round style from a '79 CB650 and modified the rear tail light to fit them. It did take a bit of welding, but I think the result was worth it.
While I was at it, I painted the rear drive housing.
Rear shocks are probably worn out, but I cleaned them up and polished them on the buffer.
Since a previous owner had thoughtfully hacked off the turn signal mounts on the headlight ears, I sourced a set from a '78 and earlier and found a chrome headlight bucket to replace the cracked plastic original. The instrument cover is off of the CB650 I robbed the rear turn signals from and While I had the front forks off, I polished the lower legs and installed new seals. I need to find a new set of reflectors for the side of the headlight. I am unabashedly OCD about little details like that.
It's starting to look pretty snazzy with the polished aluminum.
The seat that came on it was this butt-ugly thing that I hated on first sight. I have experienced these in the past when working on other brands of Japanese bike and IMO they are terribly uncomfortable. They force the rider into a nearly immoveable position.
I was able to find this near NOS OEM seat for it. Much, much better than that POS that was on it.
I am still waiting on some parts for it before I can take it out for a spin. I have new radiator hoses on the way as well as a new gas gauge sending unit gasket. I still need to buy a battery and tires for it and I am sure that there is still a myriad of stuff I'll need like new handlebars. Good news is that I have managed to locate a left side cover that paint matches the shelter halves. Don't laugh that is what Honda calls the covers that look like a normal motorcycle gas tank. I
When done, I hope to have it look like this '78:
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