My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

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DET17
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My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#1

Post by DET17 »

I owned a GL1800 for about 10 years....since the wife had decided she was done riding with me (now prefers topless cars), there was no reason to keep the black beauty. An amazing highway machine, I regrettably sent it down the road.

Not a month after I sold it, I had a dream....... a voice said to me "the Olde Wing"..... I said "What?". The same voice again said..... "the OLDE WING".

When I awoke, I recalled the story.

Several years prior, we attended a weekend party with the wife's co-workers at Lake Hartwell SC. One of the parties in attendance was a couple from Illinois. After a full day of alcohol, we got to discussing motorbikes. This fellow was a Harley rider then, but mentioned his first bike was a 1976 Honda Goldwing. He went on to say that he had sold it to his brother, and that it only had 8K miles on it. "Amazing" I thought, how could a vintage bike like that only have 8K miles? Sounded like a good story, but this guy seemed very sincere.

So I told the wife to text his wife to find out if there was any truth to this story. About a month later, we met the couple in Cincinnati to pick up the vintage machine:

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Sure enough, it showed 81XX miles on the clock, but man did it look rough! I thought, "what have I gotten myself into here?"

Stay tuned to find out........
Last edited by DET17 on Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#2

Post by Fred Camper »

Certainly worth the trip, hope you find that not many parts are missing. That is a lot of time to keep all the parts attached.
Proud member of the NGW Cartel (Rochester MI)
1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'

You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just fixing the machine. R.Pirsig
DET17
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#3

Post by DET17 »

I received many loose parts not shown above; the situation was not as dire as these "as found" pics would indicate!

So as Paul Harvey used to say, here is "the REST of the story"....

The original owner of this 76 LTD rides it a couple years (say late 70's), and then he and his wife divorce. The vengeful Ex gets the bike, and puts it into storage until '98 (20 years in exile). The machine is finally sold to owner #2 who gets it running again (I've got all his receipts for service) which showed it only had 20XX miles on it when rescued! This guy puts about 4K miles on the Wing, then sells it to the Illinois owner #3. He proceeds to put a couple K on it before "upgrading" to a Harley and selling the bike to his brother in Indiana. The latter puts it into his barn, takes the carbs off in an attempt to get the local HONDA dealer to rebuild them.... which unfortunately ends in that set of LTD carbs vanishing. Dust settles on the bike.

15 years later, I have the "Olde Wing" dream........ and that pretty much covers the history (up to my purchase) as I know it.

Here she sits in my basement workshop in NW GA:

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One cool thing, I have some special factory paperwork that apparently was unique to the 76 LTD. I'll take some pics and include them in this thread.

She's on the road to functionality..... much more to come. Thanks in advance to the sages on this forum, who have been a great help thus far and I expect them to continue to support my efforts of bringing this vintage machine back into reliable service.
Last edited by DET17 on Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#4

Post by Fred Camper »

Do change those belts, they age quickly and if they break then you are sadly looking for a new engine. Did it cocome with the carbs, they are unique to 1976. Randakk's carb kit and video are great as is Mike Nixon's excellent book. Both are very handy.

The anodized gold on the rims is better than my 993 LTD, so hope they are as good in person as in the pictures.
Proud member of the NGW Cartel (Rochester MI)
1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'

You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just fixing the machine. R.Pirsig
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ritalz
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#5

Post by ritalz »

His previous post says;
' The latter puts it into his barn, takes the carbs off in an attempt to get the local HONDA dealer to rebuild them.... which unfortunately ends in that set of LTD carbs vanishing.'
I assumed the carbs are not with the bike. Finding a correct set may be difficult but there are other choices that will work with that engine.
Al

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1984 Goldwing New Bagger Project
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DET17
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#6

Post by DET17 »

ritalz wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:29 pm I assumed the carbs are not with the bike. Finding a correct set may be difficult but there are other choices that will work with that engine.
While the LTD specific carbs did not arrive with the bike, they are with it now:

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Special thanks to Ken Gray who hooked me up with these..... part of the late Pistol Pete collection I am told.
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#7

Post by ritalz »

Gonna need some serious cleaning and the runners look to be pitted pretty bad. Hopefully that set is fully salvageable. At least you have a good starting place.
Al

2003 Goldwing Daily Rider
1975 Goldwing 'Max'
1984 Goldwing New Bagger Project
1976 Goldwing 'Grocery Getter' Sold
1985 Goldwing Interstate 'NCC-1985' sold
1981 Silverwing Sold
1982 Goldeing Project Sold
1981 Goldwing Parted Out
1983 Goldwing Project Sold
1973 CB500F Long Gone
1966 CL77 First Street Bike
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#8

Post by pidjones »

If these were from Pete's stash, they were kept in good, dry storage for the time that he had them. Ken and Moose are great folks. I bought a '75 that Pete had as a prospective project, but never got to. It is next after I finish this #*%$(@! Triumph.
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DET17
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#9

Post by DET17 »

When dragging home a barn find non-runner, what is the obvious thing to do? Tear it apart of course, to find out just how much hidden damage exists (or alternately, how lucky you got).

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My son being a seasoned motorbiker, upon seeing the original pics with no carbs installed pronounced death upon the LTD. If it had sat outdoors for 15 years, then the engine would likely be a hopeless case. However as it languished inside a barn I was betting there was life left within. After cleaning the machine from stem to stern, off came the heads to ascertain the condition of the cylinder bores.

First the LH side:
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Inspection of that pair of cylinder bores found this quite minimal surface rust:
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Nothing that would "catch a nail".... it cleaned up easily with some fine wet sand paper & oil. I was beginning to feel lucky.

However then came the RH side:
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The aft cylinder was the worst of them.... ironically the exhaust valve was open (not the intake side my son suspected) which resulted in this staining of the cylinder bore. When I cleaned and lightly sanded the bore with 600 & 800 wet sand paper, there were no pits or grooves that would catch a nail. An old school engine machinist once told me that so long as you couldn't detect damage using the classic finger nail method, you would be OK. I've also read where rust will stain the bore, but not necessarily cause pitting. I'm hoping the old machinist is right! I don't really want to split the case on this beast, and will go with what I've got for now.

With heads off, a proper reconditioning was in order. I've always wanted a nice slab of flat granite for my mechanical hobbies, so the reconstruction of the Olde Wing was the excuse to buy it. By wetting a full sheet of wet-or-dry paper thus sticking it to the granite slab, I was able to recreate a nice finish on the gasket surface:

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The flattening & cleanup process went quite well, and in short order the heads were ready to receive new gaskets.
Last edited by DET17 on Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DET17
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#10

Post by DET17 »

With the gasket mounting surface of the heads ready for business, it was time to address the remainder of the head work.

There are still quite a bit of NOS components for these machines on eBay. I first scored the GL1000 factory shop manual, which has been invaluable in this process. Next, a set of replacement head gaskets:

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Whilst the heads were off, I set about to lap the valves and install new seals. I've always paid machine shops for valve work, but figured the hand lapping would be good enough for an 8100 mile engine:

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Following the advise of NGW sages, the head bolt female threads were cleaned:

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Head bolts were Moly greased as per the shop manual & sages. I reused the original head bolts, cleaned them thoroughly and then applied the torque using a beam type wrench (another eBay score):

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With heads properly torqued upon their new gaskets, the camshafts were reinstalled. I used HONDABOND where specified to keep the oil where it needs to be.... as well as CRC assembly lube (good enough for Smokey Yunick, good enough for me). Of course, new NOS HONDA seals were used in the 3 positions:

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With heads buttoned up and valve covers reinstalled, I move onward to the top of the engine
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#11

Post by Fred Camper »

Good progress, keep up the good work. Lots of details included above which will help many of us.
Proud member of the NGW Cartel (Rochester MI)
1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'

You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just fixing the machine. R.Pirsig
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gltriker
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#12

Post by gltriker »

Are you knowledgeable of this cylinder head bolt torque specification revision?

viewtopic.php?t=43637
Cliff (74yrs ;) )

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DET17
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#13

Post by DET17 »

gltriker wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:10 am Are you knowledgeable of this cylinder head bolt torque specification revision?

viewtopic.php?t=43637
Yes sir; found that HONDA bulletin in the sage archives. All my head bolts pulled cleanly up to the 45 lb.ft. in 3 stages.

First time I've seen Moly grease spec'd to torque these HG bolts (historically I've used 30 wt. oil but always on iron blocks). This is my first aluminum block/head job however.

Another detail on the head work. The locating dowels/sleeves of course would not budge from the block nor heads. I read of this trick to remove them on another HONDA forum somewhere and thought it worth sharing. Using the EZ out brings those sleeves out clean as a whistle. HONDA NATION up in Michigan loves me, as my first order of all this misc. rang up over $400!

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I didn't mention it specifically, but the center dowel oiling feeder on each bank received new oil seals before the HGs were installed.
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#14

Post by Rednaxs60 »

Great project and restoration. I have a second engine for my '85 Limited Edition that I stripped for transport. Lapped the valves in the heads, but used my drill to spin the valves. Finger tight on the cylinder side and slow rpm with the drill. Easier than using the old suction cup tool.

Will be following.
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Re: My 8100 mile 76 LTD, the Olde Wing

#15

Post by Oldewing »

Oldewing, I must admit, I like it.......
82 GL1100 Interstate-Oldewing October 23 BOTM
06 GL1800 Road bike, as in Rode alot...
Sometimes I wrestle with my inner demons.........
Other times we just hug.......

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