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Looks like your having fun, keep on rolling!

Bugdaddy66, absolutely!

RCMatt07, the exhaust sounds brand new, but 1) it's a little *too* quiet, 2) I kinda just like reverse megaphones, and 3) I'm thinking of either painting the headers with a high-temp ceramic paint, or applying header wrap. It's kind of silly, I know, but it fits the intended mission for the bike (that's my story, and I'm sticking with it, anyway, lol). But exhaust is probably one of my lower priorities right now.

mwallette wrote:Bugdaddy66, absolutely!

, the exhaust sounds brand new, but 1) it's a little *too* quiet,

Back in 1978 Honda actually made the 78 exhaust louder than the 75-77 because the complaint was the earlier one was too quiet. To bad you are in Alaska, as a good shape OEM exhaust would be on my "todo" list

After installing my low bars, I modified the clutch cable as described elsewhere on the forum, which worked great...until last week, when the ball end snapped off at the clutch handle. Fortunately, I was on an on-ramp to the highway, rather than sitting in rush hour traffic like I had been a couple of hours earlier So now, I'm ordering a new, shorter clutch cable from Motion Pro, but I can't figure out how to get the old one out.

I've searched the forum (and Google) for illustrations of the clutch cover at the rear of the engine. Allegedly, there's a cover held in place with two 10mm bolts but I haven't quite figured out the voodoo to get back there yet!

<shrug> I need to make sure the gears in the drive line are properly greased anyway, so I suppose I'll just pull the rear wheel to get access to the rear engine cover. It's a good excuse to take care of some of the other stuff I've put off until now.

Hopefully, I can find a couple of hours to dig into the bike soon. The V-Strom's a good bike, but I miss my 'Wing!

very small hands help to reach those bolts

This is a get on the ground type of thing. You basically reach up with the proper socket between the rear tire and the center stand pivot. I don't remember if I had the bike on the center stand or side stand. I do know I had the stock mufflers and crossover tube off the bike at the time so it was easier I'm sure.

Sugs wrote:This is a get on the ground type of thing. You basically reach up with the proper socket between the rear tire and the center stand pivot.

Thanks! I found an engine removal how-to by Whiskerfish...:
http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=136657#p136657

...and the very last photo in that post shows the cover and two bolts, which gave me the visual I need to understand what I'll need to do. Motion Pro is building a new cable for me, but they are moving their mfg. facility, so it will be a couple of weeks Once the new cable is here, I'll remove the rear wheel, and finish pulling my old cable.

For now, I decided to take advantage of the downtime to dig into the turn signal wiring. First, a little clean-up. The P.O.(plural, maybe?) had installed three extra wires to the tail light area, but had subsequently cut them off and wrapped the ends with electrical tape. I pulled the wires and found an "Adapta-Lite model ND-7," whatever that is (apparently, a trailer light adapter?):


He had also replaced the tail light wires, but hadn't bothered to replace the rubber grommet that protects the wires as they pass through the fender. Is this bad, lol:


I picked up some new grommets from the local big-box hardware store, and ran some new wires to the tail lights:


Finally, since the bike is off-line for a few weeks, I decided to tackle the new rear turn signals. The OEM signals work just fine, but they don't match the replacement signals on the front of the bike, so I'll be installing these, instead:


The idea is to install the black metal bracket over the license plate frame, but since the frame is wider than the bracket, I'll have to cut it down a bit first.

Wow...has it really been two years since I last posted in this thread?
As you can see, I've been enjoying the "completed" bike: https://youtu.be/09Sa0nZw1ZM

Unfortunately, late last summer, the bike started overheating while 2-up in stop-and-go traffic (mostly stop, tbh), and therefore, over the winter, I tore the bike down for some repairs:
* replace the thermostat and fan switch to solve the cooling system problem;
* replace the points ignition and coils with Dyna parts;
* rebuild the air cut-off valve to see if that solves a problem with slight backfires on deceleration;
* replace the bearings in a spare front wheel I have, then replace the current front wheel with the rebuilt spare (I found that the one currently installed had been pretty heavily gouged by tire irons when I replaced the tires last spring); and
* replace the steering head bearings.

Also, in the last two years, the purpose of this bike has changed -- it's going to become my "sport-touring" bike for the time being -- so repaint the shelter covers and side trim panels, then reinstall the "Honda" and "GL1000" badges.

mwallette wrote:Wow...has it really been two years since I last posted in this thread?
As you can see, I've been enjoying the "completed" bike: https://youtu.be/09Sa0nZw1ZM

Unfortunately, late last summer, the bike started overheating while 2-up in stop-and-go traffic (mostly stop, tbh), and therefore, over the winter, I tore the bike down for some repairs:
* replace the thermostat and fan switch to solve the cooling system problem;
* replace the points ignition and coils with Dyna parts;
* rebuild the air cut-off valve to see if that solves a problem with slight backfires on deceleration;
* replace the bearings in a spare front wheel I have, then replace the current front wheel with the rebuilt spare (I found that the one currently installed had been pretty heavily gouged by tire irons when I replaced the tires last spring); and
* replace the steering head bearings.

Also, in the last two years, the purpose of this bike has changed -- it's going to become my "sport-touring" bike for the time being -- so repaint the shelter covers and side trim panels, then reinstall the "Honda" and "GL1000" badges.

Just started reading this thread and it is so refreshing to hear someone say, "Fix it before putting a bunch of cosmetic goodies on it." Too many times I have fallen victim to the shiny and ended up with a very pretty, non-functional turd.

Hope all the repairs are going well!

Thanks, and yes, they are. I'm opening up the steering at the moment, but had it together enough to start the engine the other day, and it seems that the cooling system work was a success: after idling for several minutes, the radiator fan kicked on, which wasn't happening last fall.

As for fixing it before adding bling...I learned that the hard way during my XS750 build. I can be taught...usually, lol.

That's some tunnel .... did you have a similar line up going home ?

Gord

There was a line when I left, but not quite as bad. Unfortunately, they send bikes through last (worried about getting motorcycle tires stuck in the train tracks, maybe?).

During the ride in the video last year, I noticed that the steering felt a little notchy at low speeds -- not terribly bad, but noticeable. Since I don't know the bike's history, or even the total mileage, I decided to replace the steering head bearings as a precaution.

[Many, many expletives deleted], what a PITA, lol. Anyone who talks about "gently" tapping the head races out with a drift is either 1) built like Schwartzenegger, 2) very, very lucky, 3) lieing, or 4) all of the above! I used some scrap 1 1/2 inch tubing to build a tool to drive out the top race, but couldn't get a purchase on the lower race. Ditto for using a long handled screwdriver or a tire iron. I then cut a piece of angle iron and folded a small flap of steel outwards to make a little shelf to grip the lip of the lower race, but still couldn't enough purchase to get the race to budge. I finally found success by using the claw on a claw hammer to pry it loose I'm not saying that's a good idea, and can think of at least two good reasons NOT to do that, but what can I say? It worked.

Getting the lower bearing inner race off the steering stem was a chore, too. "I used a welding torch to run a bead...and it fell off." Yeah, not for me, but I've got a cheap MIG welder that I almost (but not quite) know how to use. "I used a thin, abrasive cutting wheel on a [Dremel]...then finished it with a cold chisel." I tried the Dremel, but was afraid of cutting into the stem. I eventually used a woodworking (!) chisel as a wedge between the race and the lower seal to make enough space to get a prybar between the race and the lower yoke. Then, working slowly and carefully on each side of race, I was able to work it up the stem until it was free.

I'm not looking forward to pressing the new races in place tonight...

Ugh. And this is on my "to-do" list...

I took a couple of pieces of right angle brackets. cut and ground one end of each to fit into the size of the race. used a wedge and bolts to pry them open inside the stem tight against the inside of the race. then drove them from the other side.... sounds complicated but was rather simple... sorry cannot access photobucket at work to show pictures