Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

Tips and Recommendations from Guru Mike Nixon

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Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#1

Post by mikenixon »

Some thoughts on holistic GL1000 tuning, titled, Five must-haves for a good running GL1000. :-)

1-Properly serviced carburetors
Obviously the carburetors must be clean, but did you know this includes the idle jet? Many don't even know where the idle jet is, or how to remove it for cleaning and vetting. The idle jet, at just 0.35mm size and due to the size of the engine and the bike's gearing, affects a good portion of the practical operating range of the carburetor, and consequently is the most critical jet. Its outward dimensions are tiny also, making it easy to overlook. And, I always "size" the idle jet, meaning I measure its orifice. Another thing a properly rebuilt carburetor includes is having the correct air bleed jets in place. This can be a challenge as replacements are hard to find on the aftermarket, the ones in kits (ugh!) are usually incorrect, and the jets' correct placement in the carburetor is somewhat non-intuitive. The larger bleed jet goes in the smaller primary main circuit and the smaller one in the larger secondary main circuit. Another thing folks miss in carb rebuilds is the GL1000 has a very unique float setting procedure. Unlike the GL1000 carburetors' cousin the CB450 twin, the float gauge is NOT inserted into the cutouts (notches) in the carburetor casting (body). Doing so will set the floats considerably richer than stock. Also, GL1000 carbs need their pilot (idle mixture) screws set richer than what is intuitive. Though not the best for fuel economy or even the best idle, slightly rich makes up for two things GL1000 carburetors suffer from. By design, the carbs are actually too large for the engine. A fact. Honda shrunk the carbs every few years until even the twin-carbed six-cylinder had tiny carbs. And, in connection with this, these carbs really should have come with an accelerator pump, such as the 1100 got. Making the pilots slightly richer than your ear or an exhaust gas analyzer would indicate will compensate somewhat for these design shortcomings. Finally, as with a handful of other Keihin carb models, the Wing carbs lack an overflow system. Bad thing, this. This means that when the carbs overflow, which all carbs will at least once in a great while, and badly serviced or maintained ones much oftener, you never get any outward overflow indication as you do with say a Honda 750 inline four. Instead, the overflowing fuel goes into the cylinders, where it not only will eventually make its way into the engine oil, but more to the point of our discussion, grossly enrichens the incoming mixture. Aftermarket float valves should be avoided on this basis alone, if not for other reasons. Their unreliable seal results in richer than normal running.

2-Properly serviced ignition
I started in the powersports business a few years before the first GL1000 was introduced. From the beginning then I got a lot of exposure to the model: learning, experiencing, and developing skills on it. I even had one of my customers custom-make me a special dwell meter. And, over the years I installed virtually every kind of aftermarket ignition system available: Martek, Prestolite, Maxi, Gerex, MSD and many more. But in the end, I always came back to the stock system as my preferred ignition. And I emphasize "stock." Not Diachi crap. Once properly set up, the stock point system is more reliable than an aftermarket system, just as powerful, and very low maintenance if initially set up properly. The points don't need replacing any oftener than 10,000 miles if OEM and dressed and checked every 3,000. Even if the ballast resistor is removed, which I did pretty often in those days. But here is my point: in all the years I wrenched on Wings in Honda dealerships, I don't think I knew more than a handful of techs who were capable of properly adjusting the GL1000 ignition. Whether using the split timing method (which all good techs were using within a year of the bike's introduction), the "bombsight" tool, or any other method, most folks just seem to have a lot of trouble with this procedure. And it matters. A lot. This is this engine's Achilles' heel. You also want good spark plug caps. Every GL1000 I have serviced in the past 20 years has had one or both of two very persistent problems. First, high plug cap resistance. The caps should be resistance measued ("ohmed") and replaced if over 10K ohms. OEM spec is actually 5K and on my own vintage Hondas this is what I look for. But 10K is a realistic replacement point. Either way, check 'em. Second, looseness. The caps must be on their wires tight. Part of a regular maintenance service on these bikes is to gently twist the caps to gauge their tightness, and if needed, to unscrew them and after nipping off 1/16" to 1/8" of plug wire, to screw the caps back on.

3-Spec cylinder compression
This may seem like a no-brainer but there is nonethess some confusion about this on user forums. First, I never let a carburetor customer tell me his bike's compression is "good." There is no such setting on a compression gauge. Without numbers, the statement is meaningless. Similarly, I am not impressed when a customer tries to exonerate his low compression by saying "at least they're close together!" In contrast to what many forums seem to promote, having the cylinders close to equal takes a distant back seat to having proper numbers. Second, just that, the numbers are important, very important. If you can't get 150 psi out of your engine, be prepared then to never be completely satisfied with how your carburetors work (or seem to) and really how the engine performs. Don't bother checking compression hot, don't mess around with oil and any other tricks. Just hold the throttle wide open and with a well-charged battery see what you can get. If you get less than 150 it can mean many things and the next stage is to perform a cylinder leakdown test to more closely pinpoint the cause. But even before doing that, I tell my customers to simply loosen the valve clearances slightly, from the stock 0.004" to 0.006". Then retest compression. In most cases you will get a gain and if that is all you ever do about your initially low compression, that's okay. Most of us aren't prepared to overhaul the engine. Or even do a professional valve job. So run with it. It works. And the carbs will work better. Guaranteed.

4-A clean fuel tank
The problem with the Wing fuel tank is it is not easy to remove, which means it will likely not see the service it needs. Get after any rust in your tank. Some folks report good results from in situ reverse electrolysis. Others use one of the modern non-acid solutions. Either way, don't depend on your fuel filter to be your carbs' only defense against rust.

5-Good electrical connections
It should not be a surprise to anyone that 40+ year old motorcycles can have frighteningly bad electrical connections. From one end of the bike to the other, dozens of poor connections add up til you have lost a couple volts or even more! One place you may not have thought about however is the keyswitch. The factory switch does go bad eventually and the aftermarket ones are typically much worse. Do a quick check of your keyswitch by putting a multimeter set for low DC Volts across the red and black contacts. Turn the key ON and note the reading. You want less than 0.2 volts as a reading. The value displayed is the drop, the loss, across the switch. Another common dirty connection is at the engine stop ("kill") switch. Same test. Voltmeter across the black and black/white wires. Key ON, kill switch ON, take a reading. Again, you can allow up to 0.2 volts. More means the switch or its connectors are corroded or dirty. The contacts themselves may be grungy (the kill switch is exposed to atmosphere full tine) or its wire connectors may be dirty. Everyone has heard of folks installing Bosch type relays between their keyswitch and ignition coil. I don't favor that, viewing it as a bandaid fix for otherwise dirty connectors, but to each his own. I have never had to do that to get good electrical continuity.

video of GL1000 in my shop

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/goldwi ... tch_v2.mov
Last edited by mikenixon on Tue Nov 13, 2018 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#2

Post by desertrefugee »

Solid gold.

Thanks, Mike.
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#3

Post by mikenixon »

Thanks desertrefugee!
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#4

Post by 5speed »

adding this to my "to do" list.
tks Mike.
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#5

Post by Rednaxs60 »

Mike - great information for all older GWs and other makes of bikes. Have an '85 LTD FI model and most of what you mention is relevant to this bike as well. Will be reading it again and incorporating a lot in my refurbishment.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Cheers

Ernest
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#6

Post by Oldewing »

Good stuff Mike

Nice to see all the steps in one place.
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#7

Post by mikenixon »

Very good, y'all. :)
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#8

Post by gltriker »

As I would always expect of you, Mike, you always present some thought provoking insight every time you post these jewels. :oldies
This time, I was reminded of my first start-up of my trike's engine back in 2012. I'd never heard one of these engines run before, but knew something wasn't right about the way it was "running". Eventually, I noted that the #1 cylinder wasn't creating any heat on the exhaust pipe while idling. I also noted that the new paint on the exhaust tubes for cylinder numbers 2,3 and 4 was burned, and the #1 cylinder header exhaust tube's paint was still glossy in comparison to the other 3 tubes.
Then, I turned the engine idle speed screw in to allow the engine to run at 4,000 rpm for a few minutes. Still, the #1 cylinder exhaust header tube remained glossy. :-?

After thinking about what the problem might be, I found the number #1 carburetor's #35 Slow Fuel Jet was completely plugged. Subsequently, I posted a comment in my build thread that apparently even though the engine had been running at a sustained 4,000 rpm, the total lack of fuel and its heat energy from that plugged #35 Slow Fuel Jet must be quite significant!

One thing I gradually realized is how much the #35 Slow Fuel Jet actually contributes to the total fuel volume being delivered into the throat of the carburetor, starting from the lowest engine idling speed and continuing all the way to the maximum engine speed. The excellent Keihin CV carburetor theory of operation illustrations in the Honda GL1000 Factory Service Manual confirmed my suspicions.

Anyway..... thank you, very much, for the excellent information you provide so generously to me and other folks!
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

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Post by gltriker »

I wished to post the photo of the right side exhaust header in my previous post to support what I was attempting to convey , but missed the edit. Here 'tis.
DSCN0604.JPG
DSCN0604.JPG (66.15 KiB) Viewed 1768 times
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

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Post by mikenixon »

gltriker wrote:I wished to post the photo of the right side exhaust header in my previous post to support what I was attempting to convey , but missed the edit. Here 'tis.
DSCN0604.JPG
Ah yes. I see it now. :)
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#11

Post by Rednaxs60 »

To complement Mike's explanation on properly serviced carburetors and ignition, I have noticed some interesting aspects of the four cylinder wing (FCW). I submit that this applies to FI models as well.

I was testing my'85 LTD for the low fuel light and was running for a while with the last fuel bar on the digital dash. I noticed that the bike started to run hotter and started to miss as I drove it. It started to bog down when I started out in first, so I decided to fuel up and the bike took just over 21 litres in a 22 litre tank. Proved to me the low level fuel light wasn't working and that starving the engine of fuel makes it run hotter. This would be the same as leaning out the carburetors.

The other observation I have noticed is that a poorly operating ignition system, or a degraded one results in the bike running hotter as well. I just replaced the coils and wires with new aftermarket, offshore units and find that the bike operates cooler when riding solo or two up through the ups and downs of BC's somewhat mountainous countryside even here on Vancouver Island. I attribute this to the new coils and wires and realize that even though the OEM coils fitted were within spec and the wires were not arcing and sparking, but age had taken its toll.

I have two other items I am looking to replace in the ignition system, the PBR/PBL units and the spark unit assemblies. Read a thread about the LTD/SE-i ignition circuits and these items may be within spec and operating, but do degrade over time.

Thought I'd put forward my observations.

Cheers
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#12

Post by mikenixon »

Rednaxs60 wrote:To complement Mike's explanation on properly serviced carburetors and ignition, I have noticed some interesting aspects of the four cylinder wing (FCW). I submit that this applies to FI models as well.

I was testing my'85 LTD for the low fuel light and was running for a while with the last fuel bar on the digital dash. I noticed that the bike started to run hotter and started to miss as I drove it. It started to bog down when I started out in first, so I decided to fuel up and the bike took just over 21 litres in a 22 litre tank. Proved to me the low level fuel light wasn't working and that starving the engine of fuel makes it run hotter. This would be the same as leaning out the carburetors.

The other observation I have noticed is that a poorly operating ignition system, or a degraded one results in the bike running hotter as well. I just replaced the coils and wires with new aftermarket, offshore units and find that the bike operates cooler when riding solo or two up through the ups and downs of BC's somewhat mountainous countryside even here on Vancouver Island. I attribute this to the new coils and wires and realize that even though the OEM coils fitted were within spec and the wires were not arcing and sparking, but age had taken its toll.

I have two other items I am looking to replace in the ignition system, the PBR/PBL units and the spark unit assemblies. Read a thread about the LTD/SE-i ignition circuits and these items may be within spec and operating, but do degrade over time.

Thought I'd put forward my observations.

Cheers
Good stuff! Interesting to contemplate and even observe the relationship between ignition and temp. I have assembled some thoughts describing the give and take between ignition and fuel on my website, in an article called The 60/40 Rule.

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/text/t ... _rule.html

It would be instructive no doubt to extrapolate out to temps and see where the links lie.
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

#13

Post by gltriker »

Hello Mike!

When readjusting the valve clearance gap to .006", for cylinder compression testing purposes on my '75 GL1000, is it correct to assume that the valve clearance gap would be readjusted back to the .004" setting before resuming normal operation of the engine, first?
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

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Post by gltriker »

gltriker wrote:Hello Mike!

When readjusting the valve clearance gap to .006", for cylinder compression testing purposes on my '75 GL1000, is it correct to assume that the valve clearance gap would be readjusted back to the .004" setting before resuming normal operation of the engine, first?
I re-read the text and believe the answer is, no. Leave the valves clearance set at .006".

your quote: " So run with it. It works. And the carbs will work better. Guaranteed. "
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Re: Five must-haves for a good-running GL1000

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Post by gltriker »

gltriker wrote:
gltriker wrote:Hello Mike!

When readjusting the valve clearance gap to .006", for cylinder compression testing purposes on my '75 GL1000, is it correct to assume that the valve clearance gap would be readjusted back to the .004" setting before resuming normal operation of the engine, first?
I re-read the text and believe the answer is, no. Leave the valves clearance set at .006".

your quote: " So run with it. It works. And the carbs will work better. Guaranteed. "
I fear you are going to tell me to knock it off, but I had posed this question in another topic several hours before my first inquiry to you. I feel I need to know even more than my first question/

It read as this:

"When the valve clearance gap is increased to .006" for cylinder compression testing purposes, could that adjusted clearance be left unchanged at .006" when resuming normal long -term operation of the engine, without the fear that it would cause any undue wear/issues in the entire valve train, too? Such as valve seat/valve face pounding, valve stem tip and adjuster screw contact surfaces' erosion ?"
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