Un-bobbing a '78

[desertrefugee]

I recently acquired a very well-preserved '78 GL1000 that the PO (24 yr old) had begun bobbing. He had a few issues with it (in over his head) and put it up for sale on craigslist. I ended up getting a "VERY" good deal on the bike. I detailed it in my Intro here - which turned into a bit of a technical discussion:

http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=51770

I got the bike before he could really ruin it, but not before some unpleasant "stuff" happened. The ironic thing is that in his ad, he literally stated, " Everything is done well, nothing tacky."

Tackiness turns out to be a pretty subjective assessment.

Below is a shot of the bike as I purchased it. Rode it home. Check out the "seat", drag bar and turn-down tips on open headers. Oh, and he welded the tips on! Dang it. (Got new headers). He'd blacked out (painted) a number of fork items (triple trees, drag bar, master cylinder). I didn't notice until later that there was overspray in a number of undesirable spots. It'll clean up.

I've got the carbs off waiting for kits, but meantime am cleaning up wiring and putting some stock bits back on. For now, rear fender and lights, but I'm looking for a nice seat/tail combo.

Running into a few interesting things: Wood screws, wiring rat's nests, paint over chrome, stripped this and that. I had an extra set of VMax handlebars that might work. I have them on for now.

At least the machine is clean, I'm into it cheap and I'm having fun.

[brokentoe]

That looks like a nice bike to work with.... beyond the goofy stuff.

[hmratbam]

A Corbin Gunfighter seat would look good on there. Also the Darkwing seat.

[El_Taco]

I cringe every time I hear the words "I wanna bob it" because most people hatchet them up and walk away.

That looks like a good start.

[robbie202]

lucky he didn't cut those seat rails off the back of the frame there.

[wog]

snip... At least the machine is clean, I'm into it cheap and I'm having fun.

Good for you!
Another one saved.
Will enjoy watching your build.

[desertrefugee]

Ok guys. No pictures of the wing build today because all the goodies are on order and due in soon. I know my title states that I'm "un-bobbing" my '78. Partly true. I un-bobbed the abomination the young man before me perpetrated on this poor bike. I came along just in time. Trust me on that one.

After seriously considering putting it back to near stock appearance, I decided to "cafe it", but do it a little cleaner than the poor soul who came before.

To wit: On order are a couple of goodies.

Goody #1: Darkwing seat/tail/tail light
Goody #2: 11.5 inch Embo shocks
Goody #3: Odyssey PC680
Goody #4: (Technically not on order, but I'm watching craigslist like a hawk - for Sportster mufflers)

I finally got the other three carb rebuild kits (recall the vendor who only sent one). Hope to get them done this weekend.

I will provide a photo or two as I go along, but I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants on this build. I'm not treading any new ground, but I do like the look of the '78 with the stuff I'm gonna screw on.

Oh, and here was my ultimate cruiser. I had a new one in '85. This one was awfully nice, but got wrinkled up pretty bad a couple of years ago. (I was OK). 1985 Kawasaki ZL900 Eliminator:

[Lucien Harpress]

Speaking of Sportster pipes.... I actually have a set I pulled off my '77 lying in the barn somewhere. They'll need some welding (cut 'em off the headers), but I just need 'em gone. Shoot me a PM if you're interested in pictures and the like.

[hmratbam]

Big D. The guys on Craigslist will think their mufflers are worth something. Go check out the dumpster at the Harley shop! More than maybe $30 for the pair is exorbitant.
Ron

[desertrefugee]

Well, I didn't get very far into these carburetors before finding an obvious issue. My question is, "What sort of symptom would this cause?"

Looky at the pic below. Pulled the bowls and the first thing I see is a missing puck on Carb #1! Sheesh. That's not even the one that was running bad. Also, these carbs didn't look too dirty, but very preliminary observation is that some of the small jets will be occluded. Secondary main on #3 was pretty blocked. Haven't gotten very far since the missing puck pretty much shuts me down as far as completing today.

If anyone has a puck (I didn't go with the Randakk kits), I'd pay good money...

Dang it. Can't believe they were re-assembled with one missing.

[desertrefugee]

Never mind. I'm an idiot. Let's just say mine were not "stuck", but all rather freely sit in the cavities. Found the little bugger.

Carry on. Nothing to see here...quite yet.

[El_Taco]

Big D. The guys on Craigslist will think their mufflers are worth something. Go check out the dumpster at the Harley shop! More than maybe $30 for the pair is exorbitant.
Ron

I second this. Dumpster pipes are once fired and free. I wouldn't pay more than $20 for a set, myself.

[Roady]

If your carb kits have any brass in them, throw it away and reuse the originals jets/etc.

[desertrefugee]

Well, I am usually pretty quick to get one back from the brink, but this ole '78 is being stubborn. Carbs are back together, on and now it's idling. (Didn't before). But, it still runs like absolute dog doo. Won't fire well or evenly. I'd quickly checked ignition and compression before opening up the carbs - which actually didn't look that bad.

So, I went back to ignition. All four are firing, but now that I'm looking closer, I turn out the lights and see all four show a weakish, red spark. I measure the primary voltage going to the coils and I get less than 6 volts to both sets! I'm sure wishing I'd see a lot closer to 12...

Somebody before me (don't know if just before or years) has installed a Dyna S electronic module. The ballast resistor is still there. Should it be? Anywhere else I should look for a voltage drop that big?

I'm cooling off with a fermented beverage, but will have to eventually face the music. I was hoping someone could save me some grief and say, "Oh yeah, you gotta blah, blah, blah..."

A guy can always hope. Anyways, I'm pretty sure my issues now lie in the ignition arena. If it's been like that for a while, it's no wonder the PO put less than 1000 miles on it.

EDIT: Seems my 6V is pretty normal after the resistor. Does the voltage get dropped even more somewhere by the Dyna? If this 6V is what the primary windings are seeing, I got other issues. I will see if I can measure direct to the coil...

[hmratbam]

Somewhere around 6 v to the coil primary should be about right. I don't remember reading anything about a carb synch?