Found a '79 to restore as my next project - "Freedom"

[pidjones]

Took a quick ~5 mile ride this afternoon. Feels normal with the new ignition. Temp on TFI body 27 C when I got back to the house. Think I'll ride it to the Time Warp Tea Room this evening.

[pidjones]

Pulled her out of her winter's nap this week, and took her over my favorite 45 mile loop which goes over Norris Dam. She ran great with her experimental ignition. Really a nice riding bike with the lower, narrower bars. Looking forward to hot weather when she will be my main ride. For this evening though, I need to defrost my thumbs.

[Fred Camper]

Great news, just a day makes a huge difference in weather this time of year. Take care and keep 6 foot separation.

[pidjones]

100 miles yesterday evening. Even ~30 miles of interstate. Ran great. Change to 120 slow air jets from 130 seemed to really help. I have some micro drills on order to make some 100s and 110s out of 60s. Once it gets up on the secondary and msins, it is really smooth and happy.

[Liam]

You are having great success stories at the moment. Have you any pictures of her all back together?

[pidjones]

You are having great success stories at the moment. Have you any pictures of her all back together?

Well, I guess I should take some photos of the '79. She's really no show bike. Has a lot of scars and warts. I did repaint the left side cover after fixing all of the broken plastic it had. Only repainted part of it as I didn't want to worry with repaint of pinstripes. The shelter paint appears original. Haven't solved the sawn-off front signal stem issue other than installing dual channel LED markers in place of the deadlight mount reflectors. I'm very pleased with the TFI module performance. The ride yesterday on the '79 and Saturday on the '78 in 80F weather convinced me that the '79 will be my daily in hot weather. Hope the '06 doesn't get jealous, but there just isn't enough wind to make it comfortable. I have also rediscovered bugs on the face shield! The only thing I miss is luggage capacity for rain gear, but the '79 has a luggage rack to bungee it on. Kind of looking forward to the end of the club challenge next month, so I can sell Johnny 5 and have more room! I am working on plans to mod the Hunley more, and that will require space that I don't have right now.

[pidjones]

Ok, took a few snapshots today (before the rain hit). I replaced the voltmeter (really an awful meter used by Honda - just a bimetallic resistive coil) with an LED digital - pretty fast response. The only polishing so far was the intake runners, carb domes, and fork lowers because I had to rebuild them all. Over time, I'll work on pretty but for now she is a real good rider for summer use.

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[Liam]

That's a really nice bike. I really like the black and gold on the 78 model. The lower bars look good too. I have an old beater 78 in the shed and I am getting inspiration from this and jonesz' Trickster.

[pidjones]

The taller, more bent back stock bars really bother my back. With the lower bars, you have a bit of spare cable to deal with, but it isn't a big problem. These bars are also ~30mm narrower, which makes it easier to store on the "other" side of our basement. I left stock bars on the '78 as it will be offered for sale as soon as our club challenge ends. If I was keeping it, lower bars and TFI modules would be mounted.

[pidjones]

So, snapped the pull throttle cable on Friday about as far as I could get from home on the "devil's triangle" (actually a rectangle and has nothing to do with satan). About 40 miles from home and in a no-cell service valley. Lucky to have coasted to a wide shoulder in front of a house where the lady came to the door and asked if I needed to make a call. After checking that there was no way to limp home with it (broke off 1/4" before the grip lug, and me with no tools) I called the wife (the lady has wifi calling) who drove out to get me. Once we got home, I hooked up the trailer, grabbed straps and took the daughter with me back out. It loaded easy by cranking the idle speed up to ~1700 and riding right on.

Today a new Motion Pro pull cable came from 4 into 1 and I lubed it up and put it on. Back in action!

[Paola Zago]

Ok, took a few snapshots today (before the rain hit). I replaced the voltmeter (really an awful meter used by Honda - just a bimetallic resistive coil) with an LED digital - pretty fast response. The only polishing so far was the intake runners, carb domes, and fork lowers because I had to rebuild them all. Over time, I'll work on pretty but for now she is a real good rider for summer use.
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Hi Pidjones, so is that box with buttons attached to the handlebar? a satnav? if it is a navigator, how do you listen to the indications, with the earphone? sorry for the questions, but I'm always attracted to the news
Paola

[pidjones]

Ok, took a few snapshots today (before the rain hit). I replaced the voltmeter (really an awful meter used by Honda - just a bimetallic resistive coil) with an LED digital - pretty fast response. The only polishing so far was the intake runners, carb domes, and fork lowers because I had to rebuild them all. Over time, I'll work on pretty but for now she is a real good rider for summer use.
20200518_120308.jpg20200518_120749.jpg

Hi Pidjones, so is that box with buttons attached to the handlebar? a satnav? if it is a navigator, how do you listen to the indications, with the earphone? sorry for the questions, but I'm always attracted to the news
Paola

Yes, Paola - it is an old Garmin StreetPilot 2720, predecessor to the Zumos, and although limited in memory and speed, it was much more intuitive for motorcycle use. I have it left after "upgrading" to a Zumo 396 (it does have a brighter screen and more memory) on my GL1800.
On my GL1800, the audio was sent through the built-in stereo speakers (the 396 through my helmet Sena Bluetooth or Bluetooth receiver to the stereo). On this bike, I just use it for visual reference, accurate speedometer, and recording my tracks for later review. Beacause I already had it and a mount, I chose to put it on the '79 instead of buying an extra mount and power supply for the Zumo 396. I don't expect to need turn-by-turn audio navigation on the '79 as it will seldom be used more than 200 miles from home.

[pidjones]

Update on the TFI experiment. I've disconnected the TFI system (at least for now). Was really easy to swap the plugs for the coils on the connector bock and plug back in the condensers. She was getting rough at <3000 RPM, backfiring oddly even at idle. With straight points was running great. I think my root problem was that I fried the TFI modules with a failing voltage regulator that was letting volts get up over 17. Last night I installed a new Reg/Rect unit (previously had the original separate units). Today I rode a little over 50 miles and the voltage never went over 14.8 volts (I have a digital voltmeter in place of the old thermal one). She ran better than she has since I bought her. I'll look for some original Ford push-start remote mount TFI modules at the junk yards soon. The wiring and heat sinks are still there so that I could swap back very easily.

[pidjones]

Sad to say, I'm putting her up for sale. Will be getting a Spyder to replace the '06 GL1800 (also for sale) for the wife and I to tour on and the Spyder takes up the space of two bikes.