Dutch guy with his 1976 Honda GL1000 in Sulfur Yellow.

[achmedachmed]

Hello, I am Feraz Petrus Nicolaas Ahmed and live in Amsterdam (Crazy name half dutch half Pakistani)

Today I bought my first bike ever, a 1976 Honda GL1000 in Sulfur Yellow.
I used to be a CB750 fan but when this voluptuous beauty came along I changed my mind and left the smaller one :D
It was stored for 6 years and was last started about 6 months ago, the previous owner told me.

I know it is a special historical bike, and dont want to ruin it. A total restauration is not yet my goal, i want to make it running again with a cafe-racer look and keep parts like the venders for later on.

In the summer i plan to strip the bike and make it running again. (I am used to handle al kind of tools, People call us the local Rednecks because we fix all our own stuff )

I will update this tread with a lot of pictures

I really hope you guys will help me advising what to do and what NOT to do. I now really well it is a special bike and dont want do ruin certain parts of it.

First I would like to know: Which products are best to clean this bike? For the different kinds of metal, rubber etcetera. What is the best way to remove rust on the surface like the chrome venders. And i need a new battery but which one is good enough? Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Feraz

[polkadot]

Feraz, Welcome! I have restored a 77 and nearing the end of my 76 thread. (melloyellow to live again). Some of your questions may be answered there. For grease I like "simple green". It will not kill your hands or the environment and does a pretty good job. I think brake cleaner is the best degreaser, but is nasty stuff. As for removing surface rust, I like to get the part off and do reverse electrolysis. All it takes is a battery charger and washing soda. It is very cheap, not caustic and does an unbelievable job. Good Luck and remember we are in this together. ernie

[Placerville]

Welcome from California and to the NGW. For help and advise, there's no better place on the Web. Start by reading Randakk cover to cover (above) and you'll be doing yourself and your '76 Yellow a favor. It looks like your GL is 'all there' and with some spit and polish it should come to life. CraigsList and eBay are your friend. You can find most of what you need there as so many of these bikes are being parted out.

Much of the work I did on my Yellow (below) was done with help and encouragement from NGW members. Everyone shares. You will never be at a loss for guidance and information. Have fun working on your project. It will take some time and effort, but you will be rewarded in the end. Post photos of your progress. We'd all like to see them.

[BigDub]

Chrome is tough to repair from rust damage. The best luck I've had is to wire wheel the rust and maybe fine polish with a rubbing com pound if the damage isn't deep.

If the craters have any significant depth, you might use a weee bit of high heat clear coating over to keep rust from returning. Not perfectly restored by any means but better than specks of visible rust!

WELCOME....and may all your Goldwing minutes be happy ones!

[achmedachmed]

Thanks for the warm welcome

I will update this tread everytime with new pictures especially starting from july when I plan to work on this bike for a lot of hours everyday because it is holiday time.
(funny thing, i pictured a spider who lived in my fake yellow gas tank )

Greetings
Feraz

[achmedachmed]

Hello guys,

Here are some pictures of my Goldwing, still with the spiderwebs and other pieces of nature on it.

I bought it for 400 euro which is in our minds just like 400 dollar

Tell me what you think of it, the rust and mabye there are some parts on it which are not original.











Greetings
Feraz

[achmedachmed]

Some other pictures.. and yes I pushed the bike on foot to my place, according to the controls it was around 4 miles. Pushing a bike of 270 kilograms Took me an hour!!

[sunnbobb]

Welcome, and find bike! An hour a day and you will soon be well on your way to getting it back to original..

[achmedachmed]

Thanks, I will be working on this bike for an average of 4 hours a day during the july holiday .

Are there some kind of tools like the 'wheel axle castle nut' that I might need to order now, so I dont have to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive when I am going like a freight train.

Monday I will clean the bike with a high pressure washer, then I will put some WD40 on all the bolts so they are easier to open after a few days. I want to strip most of the bike and see what is broken, missing or needs to be replaced.

I think the frame needs to be sandblasted to check if it is still strong enough. since the paint is falling off at some places where there is rust.

What would you guys do with all the rusted parts, like spokes, nuts and bolts? wheel wire them, use reverse electrolysis. Then polish it or buy new ones?

Greetingz
Feraz

[Bert]

I use #0000 (Four ought) steel wool and dry rub on chrome for clean up and then rub with Aluminum foil. The foil seems to fill some imperfections. Your bike appears to me to be original with the exception of the fairing with very low milage (Or Kilometers) Great find.

[Sagebrush]

The seat isn't original and WD-40 won't do a thing to loosen a frozen bolt, its not made for that. Find a product made specially for loosening rusted, frozen bolts. A good product here is PB Blaster but I don't know if its available there. Another thought is to make your own using ATF and Acetone. There are a couple of threads on here that describe the proportions.

[winston]

Lucky you! A '76 Yellow with only 12000km!

Bike looks good, only the seat, hand grips and fairing appear not original, and you are missing only the grab bar for the seat, mirrors and rear signals to bring the bike back to original.

(The original headlight bucket and headlight mounts might still be on the bike behind the fairing...yes, I can see just a little of one of the headlight mounts (the left) in your pictures...so you might just need a headlight unless it is still there as well.)

You are going to love this bike. I also changed from CB750 to Goldwings...you'll like the extra size and power... and Amsterdam is a beautiful city to own a bike!

Have fun!

[achmedachmed]

Thanks for all your advise, bought some stealwool today, works great!

12000 km is very low, i cant believe it either, but it might be possible, since most people drive cars here because of the shitty weather and the Goldwing is a tourbike, not an everyday home to work horse.

Quess what I found? The missing rear signals and the mirrors + a dutch AND international maintenance booklet from 1976!!! It was inside the big yellow windscreen thing The guy from whom I bought it didnt even know. I got it for less because of these missing parts.

















The inside of all these signals was 'UNIQUE' missing screws or parts + glue

I would like to know:
What should I use to make some of the rubber pieces on the bike softer, so they wont break?
Should I sand the metal parts like, Yellow radiator sides and upper tankplate to bare metal? or just a smaller layer with the rusted parts?

Greetings,
Feraz

[achmedachmed]

Hello,

I am still busy stripping the bike, taking my time checking even the tiniest screws , no need for a rush. I really enjoy every second of it. Cleaning parts takes the most time. The bike is not that rusty as i first thought it was, most comes of with a steal brush, only the seat and batteryholder are harder to de-rust

I cut most of the rusted parts away from the italian made ''Gullari something'' seat plate to something I liked for a new seat.
and i found some very strange electical parts in my fake tank something like a 2nd horn and a homemade switch I think, hope you guys know more of it and tell me.















Looks like the previous owner broke or cut one of the bolts of for the placement of the cilinderprotector..Could it be replaced from the inside?




Greetingz
Feraz

[achmedachmed]

this is the crazy switch by the way