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Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:43 am
by Rednaxs60
Nice work. Lots of crud collects in the top of the water pump cover. I use Goof Off to remove gasket material and such. The lower rad bolts should be studs welded to the frame. Looks like this is a PO fix.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:49 am
by robin1731
Rednaxs60 wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:43 am Nice work. Lots of crud collects in the top of the water pump cover. I use Goof Off to remove gasket material and such. The lower rad bolts should be studs welded to the frame. Looks like this is a PO fix.
Top mounts use studs. Lower mounts are bolts. https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/19 ... 2#sch24664

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:27 pm
by Rednaxs60
robin1731 wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:49 am
Rednaxs60 wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:43 am Nice work. Lots of crud collects in the top of the water pump cover. I use Goof Off to remove gasket material and such. The lower rad bolts should be studs welded to the frame. Looks like this is a PO fix.
Top mounts use studs. Lower mounts are bolts. https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/19 ... 2#sch24664
1100 different from the 1200. Okay.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:17 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Thanks for the quick input. More evidence that sharing in this community is super helpful!

We'll try to back out the broken bolt. PB, Heat, Repeat + Time.

If we completely screw up, we're no worse off than we are now.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:28 am
by AZNGW Rider
It's great that you and your son have such a great father-son project going on. My son and I discussed a couple projects but he couldn't seem to maintain interest in any of them long enough to commit to one of them. Time passes quickly and the next thing you know he has a family of his own and too busy to spend much time with Dad.

Kinda reminds me of that song, Cats in the Cradle.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 8:09 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
I'm feeling pretty lucky right now, though I surely see how a father-son project can quickly get lost in the shuffle of a young man's life. We're mostly putting in 2-3 hours every week - or three - into the bike, what with his girlfriend, activities, school, and just being almost 18. I had to wrench on my car regularly at 17-18, but that's really because I was stuck at home if it wasn't running - and it was a '65 VW that required near-constant attention to keep reasonably reliable. I wouldn't have chosen to do that for fun on weekends.

Last weekend, I worked solo to remove the old gasket from the transmission cover, pull the old water pump, and clean the housing and such. I don't think it had ever been opened, as the pump fins were that bakelite material and there was no real glue/goop/gasket slop to deal with. It was a PITA to really clean the mating surfaces.

I decided to leave it sitting right there under the bike and wait until maybe this weekend for him to find a few hours to reassemble, reattach the radiator, re-fill with fluids, and (hopefully!) fire her up again. But maybe that takes another week of waiting. The fact that it's 5 degrees outside does little to motivate a trip to the workshop, even with a torpedo heater. But we're not riding it anywhere for a couple months, so what's the hurry?

On the radiator bolt, it turned out not to be that big a deal. PB and vice grips made quick work of the whole thing. I was fearing monsters under the bed that just weren't there. Not sure why the PO wouldn't have tried grabbing it with pliers when the head broke off at some point in the not-too-distant past. But maybe it was dark, he was tired, and the whole thing was frustrating that day.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:36 am
by Rednaxs60
A great thread and every moment with your son is priceless. Time to convince the girlfriend that it would be very cool to be riding on the GW. Son will be in there to get it back on the road like a dirty shirt. At 18 the choices are several. Dad, work on bike, school, girlfriend - hmmmmm - and the winner is?

Wrenching when we were young was commonplace. Had a discussion with my father when I was 18. It was one of those time to leave home while you know everything moments. Dad didn't work on any of my vehicles or help me with my vehicles for the next ten years, taught me a good lesson - those old farts knew stuff and he did, or I reminded him of himself when he was younger. He passed in 2013 and I still miss his sage advice.

Good luck.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:10 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Episode VIII - Replacing the Water Pump and Buttoning up the Transmission Cover

My son and I managed to arrange a couple hours together on Saturday afternoon to take on the water pump installation and housing reassembly. It's been a couple weeks since we worked on the bike, so I was happy to see that we could move forward. (It helped that his girlfriend was on a Saturday road trip with her dad to visit a college.)

We had harvested what we think is a working "original" water pump from our donor '83 GL1100, and I thought we'd swap that in to replace the one with play in the shaft. After spending time learning how involved the gasket/o-ring operation would be, I figured $135 for new OEM with steel impeller blades would be good insurance against needing a do-over in a few thousand miles. We picked up what turned out to be a great KP gasket kit.
Only part not shown here is the oil filter.
Only part not shown here is the oil filter.
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As we had not yet reassembled our somewhat polished timing belt covers, we bolted them up before we tackled the transmission cover. Easy peasy.
Not a pro polish, but those covers look worlds better than they did. Bling bling.
Not a pro polish, but those covers look worlds better than they did. Bling bling.
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After that, we methodically matched new rubber o-rings as we pulled the old ones. My son benefited from the fact that I had already removed all remnants of the old paper gaskets from the mating surfaces - and cleaned both the interior and exterior of the water pump and transmission covers. In other words, I handled some of the grunt work. Our gasket set proved to be spot on, which forced us to hunt down the old gaskets we might otherwise have missed.
For those following this story, notice the lower left bolt hole in the frame. Sheared bolt safely removed and ready for a newbie.
For those following this story, notice the lower left bolt hole in the frame. Sheared bolt safely removed and ready for a newbie.
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It didn't take that long to get the transmission cover buttoned up. One of the key challenges involved snaking the gear selector wires around the frame and keeping them from getting sandwiched as we mounted up the transmission cover. Not a big deal, but there were a few "watch it" moments - especially while also making sure our paper gasket stayed properly seated.
No paint or polish, but the tranny cover looks pretty good in bare aluminum.
No paint or polish, but the tranny cover looks pretty good in bare aluminum.
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Next came the new oil filter, radiator, and water pump cover installation No biggie. Our donor bike came with chromed wind scoops (which had some surface rust we cleaned with a mix of salt water, aluminum foil, and elbow grease. The whole radiator unit is in better shape than our original, so we used it on the reinstall. Not bad.
More gifts from the donor GL1100: Radiator with chrome scoops to pull in the air.
More gifts from the donor GL1100: Radiator with chrome scoops to pull in the air.
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Thankfully, we tested the gear selector BEFORE pouring fluids. We couldn't get the neutral light to show with the bike in neutral. WTF? We had been pretty careful in disassembly and cleaning. But no dice. We shifted through the gears (bike not running, of course, as there were no fluids). No lightie. No joy - for about 5 minutes.

Then my son noticed that we never reconnected the wires to the clutch when we swapped handlebars about a month ago. He connected them, and we got the Neutral light again! But not when the bike was in neutral.

Off with the transmission cover for some adjusting. This time, with the wiring connected, we were able to match the gear indicator to the gears. We buttoned her up again, tested once more, making sure our purple OD light came on in 5th, and turned next to fluids.

Coolant and fresh oil first. Radiator cap off to burp the system. Get ready to let 'er rip.

Key on. Petcock switched to on. Switch to on. Push button. Crank and crank and crank and crank. ???? Again. Nothing more than cranking. We repeated maybe 6 times. Nothing.

This is odd, as the bike has reliably started RIGHT UP since maybe our second week with the project. Sure, it took some days to get the bike started, but once we sorted that out we were on easy street with firing. I'm wondering: What might we have done wrong? My son is confused.

Then I notice it: We hadn't pulled the choke. FINE - no C. Too many cooks in the kitchen, with both of us involved in getting the bike ready to start. I point to the choke, make a joke about FINE-C, and we try again. Immediately, the bike roars to life again. We laugh and feel great.

We bring it up to temperature, affix the radiator cap, add coolant to the overflow tank, watch the fan kick on, rev it up as high as about 5500 or so a few times, watch the temps come back down after the fan engages. Checking for leaks around the transmission cover, at the radiator hose connections, etc., we find none. We feel good.

We're probably safely over the hump on this project. We have brakes to install, paint to choose and apply, and some reassembly. But we're now done with teardown and rebuild - unless something unforeseen goes wrong, which is always a possibility. As Adam Savage of Mythbusters says, "Failure is always an option."

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:01 am
by Earl43P
Enjoying reading about your progression.
Making memories and a great bike to ride afterward, double win!

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:14 am
by Rednaxs60
Great progress. Once this is on the road, you're going to be a Goldwing widow, son will be riding a lot.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:46 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Episode IX - Brakes (calipers, masters)

It's been nearly a month with no update. I'm not entirely sure why, but a two-man project does require that two men actually be available together. I'm tinkering here and there; my son tinkers here and there. Brakes have been on the back burner for months. The parts were stripped, cleaned, painted, and partially rebuilt since perhaps mid-January.
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But there's no real point in having a bike that can stop IF it can't actually go, and that pesky water pump and timing belt swap had to happen first.

Finally, this Friday late afternoon and Saturday afternoon it was time to make some progress on the stopping parts of the ride.

Friday Mid-Afternoon
Two tasks on tap: Get the bikes out of the shed so we can ride; get brakes on the naked project.

We just had to get our bikes out, as it has been in the 40s this week. (Of course, the high tomorrow will be around 25.) After jockeying the Wing out of the middle of the shed and moving lots of odds and ends out of the way, we were ready to back my son's bike out to the door to see if we can bring her to life in '21. After a few rounds of cranking, she roared to life. Once semi-warm, we shut her down and eased her down the ramp, across the yard, and to the driveway. Next was my bike. Same routine. Same result.

Rear master. This baby is a one-year master cylinder, with the first year of linked brakes on the GoldWing. My son stripped the cylinder and cleaned it. I painted it with our red caliper paint - because I had it. Awesome. Until I botched the install and inadvertently cross-threaded the master bolting on the brake line. Those things are practically unobtanium, and I somehow didn't pay enough attention to notice I was forcing a bit too hard. (Steel into aluminum.) F---.

Not having a tap and die set, I cursed some more before contemplating a trip to the hardware store. Then I remembered that we have a donor '83 Interstate tucked in the corner. I wedged myself between the wall and the bike. 20 minutes (and several bloody knuckles) later, I emerge with another rear master. (I'll save thread repair on our pretty red rear master for another day - and another '83 GoldWing project.)

Thankfully, the donor's master piston moved freely, sprung back, etc. Over at the bench, I quickly disassembled it. (Ooh. Gunky.) I grabbed my last can of brake cleaner and got busy cleaning. I then disassembled our freshly rebuilt master and swapped over the guts. -to be continued.

Calipers. Meanwhile, my son was busy finishing assembly of the calipers and got the rear mounted up by the time I had a replacement master in hand.

By then it was about 5:45, and I wanted to make sure we got in at least a short ride before dinner. The GoldWing brakes could wait.

Saturday Afternoon
Having learned some "rear master mounting" lessons the hard way on Friday, I did NOT bolt the master to the frame until AFTER I had the brake line nice and tight.

I really think my issue was the angle of the dangle, with the hard brake line not quite lining up with the threaded hole in the master. Having the master bolted to the frame offered no wiggle room and I stripped a couple threads before I even really noticed.

Anyway, second time's the charm. I jockeyed the master in behind the frame, up under the brake pedal, and into position. I hooked up the reservoir and carefully primed the master. Then, ever so carefully, I hand-threaded the brake line a few turns before grabbing the 10mm and working it gently. Once in reasonably snug, I bolted the master onto the frame before fully tightening the brake line down. I then cleaned the brake fluid from the priming action with some simple green and water, topped off the reservoir, and called it: rear and right brake are ready to be bled.

Calipers. My son busied himself with final assembly of the front calipers, as well as mounting. It's been months since we pulled the brakes off the bike, so he had to scramble here and there to locate a missing bolt or three. In the end, though, he got them on. Red calipers might be an acquired taste, but I think they look pretty nice.
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We didn't get the brakes bled this weekend, but we're ready to go when we get some more time together.

We DID mount up a CB750 bar I picked up on eBay the other week. It's a much better fit than the sport bike bars we mounted about a month ago. Those sport bars really call for shorter throttle cables, a shorter clutch cable, shorter brake lines, and more. They didn't hit the false tank, but that was about their only virtue - aside from being free because we already had them. The CB750 bars will allow a little more upright posture, and they really don't require changes to cables and lines.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:44 pm
by NotSoLilCrippseys
Episode X (Sort of)
Daylight - and spring - is here. The bike is, oh, so close to being ridable.

I know. No photos means it didn't really happen. I'm short on photos this week. From here on out, I think the bike will merit outdoor photos. We're that close.

Brakes. 75% sorted, though it's clear we're still working some air through the system. I need another bottle of fluid before we dig in some more. Patience on that linked rear/right front thing. We have pedal and the wheels stop, but things are spongy. Same thing at the handle.

Cockpit. We mounted up some CB750 bars or 750 style bars (late '70s? Not sure, actually.) After work/school, I sorted out alignment on brake/clutch levers, controls, drilled necessary holes to lock in the controls, and slipped on new gorgeous OEM Honda grips. No photo of the current cockpit, but here's one from our brief affair with the sport bars.
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We ended up sourcing an aftermarket master because the original has that "angled" reservoir for the cruiser/tourer bars. It looks off kilter AND we feared leaking fluid if the reservoir is always tilted down with a non-cruiser/tourer bar. The half-full reservoir approach can work, but it can also cause problems. Besides, the white plastic reservoir with grease and seemingly crumbly plastic just looks like a possible issue.

The next photo shows a mock up semi-assembled view, with side panel and false tank in primer. I just temporarily popped on the GL1100 emblem to see what it might look like. We really can't get far enough away from the bike to get a reasonable photo while it's in the shed.
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This evening my son started in on wiring up the stock GL1100 Standard taillight assembly. I sorted out some issues with the bars.

My son turns 18 in less than a week. I'd really like for him to get to ride it next week - if we can get the brakes dialed in. Everything else is looking good to go.

To that end, I decided to mount up the front and rear fenders, panels, and false tank from our donor bike to move things along until we get things painted. I quickly wiped off the panels and swapped our tank lock for single key use. It looks pretty good, actually. But without the photos, how can we know?

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 5:11 am
by Paola Zago
good! really good and close-knit, in a beautiful father / son relationship.
I have several friends who ride motorcycles, but most of their children are absolutely not interested in motorcycles, they think about video games, pc and social media. they don't even think about girls !!
Paola (Italy)

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:07 am
by Whiskerfish
I guess it was 2 years ago Laim came over and we refreshed the 1200 he bought unseen. We had serious issues with the brakes. Ended up buying a small hand operated vacuum bleeder at the auto parts store. Was about 30 dollars as I recall. He left it here when he left. I thought I would never use it and it would just end up taking space but wow was I wrong. I have since used it on 4 different vehicles (3 bikes 1 truck). It makes bleeding brakes so easy. I am a firm believer in flushing brake systems every couple years and this tool makes it simple to do by yourself.

Re: NGW Project in Maine - 1983 Interstate

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:13 am
by toomanybikes
I like the seat and thinking about something similar for mine. Did you just cut down the original foam or totally replace it?