Finishing my 1978
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:02 am
I hadn’t really considered a project thread for my 78 GL because I’ve been so slow at making progress on it and I didn’t think I could add anything to all of the great projects already documented. On the other hand I’ve learned so much from those other projects and the technical help that I’ve received in response to the questions that I’ve posted that I feel a little guilty about not contributing more to the forum so I’m going to give it a go.
Two or three years ago I bought a 1978 partial basket case from a Craigslist ad. It was a failed project from a guy in Denver who just wanted it out of his garage. In one of the boxes was a license plate from 2009 so that was probably the last time it ran, other than that I don’t know any of the history of the bike.
This is the only before picture that I have.
Thanks to the Corona virus I’m not working and I have lots of time available. My plan for the bike is to do a budget build and when (if) I can get it running I will make decisions about modifications, customization, color, etc. My vision is a sort of a hot rod, semi cafe with straight pipes or loud mufflers, lower bars, and a semi blacked out appearance. I’m not a big fan of the appearance of the gauges on the shelter so I’d like to also make some changes there. As I made progress I made decisions on what to address and what to postpone. For example, I replaced the steering head bearings but not the front wheel bearings because they can be easily replaced later.
This is where I’m at today - after finishing the disassembly the frame and motor have been painted, forks are rebuilt, gas tank cleaned and painted, wheels cleaned, brake discs resurfaced, cylinder heads cleaned and reassembled with new seals and gaskets, timing belts replaced, and valve clearances set. Each cylinder head had two broken head bolts with no apparent cause, I’m kind of holding my breath about that. I’m now cleaning, repairing, and reinstalling the wiring harness. Some PO had cut out the stator plug and spliced in extra wire so there were six crimped butt connectors to replace with soldered connections as well as a bunch of those piggyback connectors up front that apparently fed into a fairing. The old dog bone fuse was still in place so I replaced that with a 30 amp mini fuse holder.
And finally, how it sits today.
So I have a little bit of wiring harness work to finish and today I started to work on the radiator. I’ll do my best to update my progress.
Two or three years ago I bought a 1978 partial basket case from a Craigslist ad. It was a failed project from a guy in Denver who just wanted it out of his garage. In one of the boxes was a license plate from 2009 so that was probably the last time it ran, other than that I don’t know any of the history of the bike.
This is the only before picture that I have.
Thanks to the Corona virus I’m not working and I have lots of time available. My plan for the bike is to do a budget build and when (if) I can get it running I will make decisions about modifications, customization, color, etc. My vision is a sort of a hot rod, semi cafe with straight pipes or loud mufflers, lower bars, and a semi blacked out appearance. I’m not a big fan of the appearance of the gauges on the shelter so I’d like to also make some changes there. As I made progress I made decisions on what to address and what to postpone. For example, I replaced the steering head bearings but not the front wheel bearings because they can be easily replaced later.
This is where I’m at today - after finishing the disassembly the frame and motor have been painted, forks are rebuilt, gas tank cleaned and painted, wheels cleaned, brake discs resurfaced, cylinder heads cleaned and reassembled with new seals and gaskets, timing belts replaced, and valve clearances set. Each cylinder head had two broken head bolts with no apparent cause, I’m kind of holding my breath about that. I’m now cleaning, repairing, and reinstalling the wiring harness. Some PO had cut out the stator plug and spliced in extra wire so there were six crimped butt connectors to replace with soldered connections as well as a bunch of those piggyback connectors up front that apparently fed into a fairing. The old dog bone fuse was still in place so I replaced that with a 30 amp mini fuse holder.
And finally, how it sits today.
So I have a little bit of wiring harness work to finish and today I started to work on the radiator. I’ll do my best to update my progress.