'76 Yellow Wing - Winter '24/5 Project is On

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

Back around April, I picked up a pair of '76 Wings, a rough Sulphur Yellow bike and a rougher - and partial - in a couple colors. I was working on a gorgeous, one-owner '79 full dresser at the time and tucked the older girls away for this winter. That '79 is long gone.

This past week, my son and I retrieved the yellow '76 from storage, and we took a few first steps. It's a bit rougher than I remember. Life on the Maine coast, even in a garage, just isn't kind to chrome and steel. It won't be a restoration.

After making sure the motor still spun and re-PBing the cylinders, we added the missing starter solenoid and popped in a battery to get a sense of the electricals and starter. Lights? Check. Starter? Check. Air, fuel, and spark should yield a running GL with just over 8k on the odometer.

Belts are on order and fluids are now drained. I pulled the rear brake assembly and tank. The tank will likely need to be replaced, as it has some super thick, rubberish coating that may already be coming off. Brakes will need a complete overhaul.

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In the coming week(s), I'll bolt on a working spare set of GL1100 carbs to run it through the "start after long layup" procedure to flush out the radiator and case. After that, it'll be the months-long journey, with a goal of a ride come spring.

Last summer I scored a steal on a SoCal horseshoe muffler in excellent condition. I plan to mount it to this bike.

[CYBORG]

Should keep you busy this winter. But worth saving

[leonardhcross]

I look forward to watching the process. I am a couple of weeks ahead of you on my 77. Thankfully, my gas tank is salvageable. My "guestimate" is that you and I will both be out of pocket another $1,800 by next spring. Then the question becomes....is it likely that we will break even after selling? 'Tis a good thing that we do this for fun. Here's an update photo.

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[Fred Camper]

Always worth the effort. Maybe keep some of the patina if that is your stile. Nice to have one that looks like it is 50 years old.

[leonardhcross]

Always worth the effort. Maybe keep some of the patina if that is your stile. Nice to have one that looks like it is 50 years old.

That is definitely my "style". I won't be powder coating or chrome plating. Get her going. Get her stopping. Let the next person shine her up.

[rcmatt007]

those tank racks seemed like a good idea at the time... I recall that the bags often had a clear plastic sleeve to place a paper map.... Remember when we actually had to know how to read a map? How did we get anywhere?

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

And it's been a crazy month. Wow! Time for a few updates.

Patina. Yup. I like the idea of riding a 50-year old bike that shows some age. I don't really like the tank rack, but it's on the bike with holes drilled into the shelter cover. It's staying put. I have one of those tank bags with the clear plastic sleeve for a map that I know how to read - not that I use the paper map that often any more.

Here's where my yellow GL stands right now:

Start after Long Layup. Check.
I waited until my son came back from college for the Christmas break to try to fire her up.

We needed to address points/condenser, and I was having a devil of a time with a lack of spark. But we sorted it by swapping around a couple older units. I was about to change out the coils, but they tested good and the right points/condenser mix got us spark at all 4.

My old (but used-to-be good) GL1100 carb rack turned out to be, well, leaky at the fuel rails (new problem), so our first attempt at starting the bike was aborted due to the fire hazard. We pulled a known good rack from my '82 Surf Bike (in storage for winter), bolted it up, and we were ready to rock 'n roll.

Prepared with earplugs (headers only on the '76), we fired her up with a good mix of oil and transmission fluid for a flush of the old oil and sediment. The radiator was filled with distilled water to flush out the water passages. We learned a few things:

• She ran pretty comfortably without choke within just a few minutes, with good throttle response. I'm pleased.

• Temp gauge seemed not to be working, but she eventually came to life and seemed to read semi-accurately. Good.

• Fan came on, ran, turned off when motor cooled a bit, then came back on as temps rose. Seems good.

• Tach. That guy is lazy, gummed up, something. It works, sorta. It's slow to come up, come down, and sticky. I'll need to address that in time.

• Gears. I ran her through the gears a few times. The clutch worked fine right out of deep storage, and I was able to easily and smoothly find all 5 gears. Neutral is another matter and was tough to settle into.

• Smoke. Nope. One never knows with this sort of thing, but I was a little nervous about a possible head gasket issue. There were no signs of a problem in either the drained oil or coolant. Still.

Next up, brakes.
Here, I have a few photos.

One thing's for certain: These are the original brakes and pads. As things were unmolested, I don't need to worry about missing bits - pad shims or springs, and the like.

Here's the rear caliper - still assembled - fresh off the bike.

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And here's one of the front calipers, also assembled in all its old, oily, grimy glory.

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I'm a little disappointed by the amount of brake fluid that sat on/around the calipers, as it stripped off some of the original paint. Obviously, it could be much, much worse and affects only the cosmetics of the brakes. Patina, anyone? I decided not to try to pretty them up with a repaint.

If there was any doubt that the brakes are out of the mid-70s, proof is in the date stamp on the brake lines. 7/75. Maybe I'll reuse these. (Just kidding, folks.)

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With removal done, I got busy with the disassembly and cleaning. I got lucky in that the front master cylinder cleaned up well and is still in good, fully functional shape. Instead of a rebuild kit for it, I'll put the $ toward the brake lines.

It won't surprise anyone to learn that 2 of the bleeders were sons-of-guns to break loose. PB Blaster, soak, heat, patience, and repeat got me where I needed to be over the course of a few days.

To remove the pistons, I typically use an old front master cylinder and hydraulic pressure to move the piston out. With the front calipers, the pistons bump into the back side before they get past the seals. I had to separate the calipers to free the pistons. It wasn't hard, once I got the bolts holding the two caliper bits free - for that, I needed my vice and a breaker bar on the allen wrench.

Don't try that with the rear caliper. The two pistons need to meet in the middle if removal is going to go smoothly. And it can be tricky to get both pistons moving in tandem with caliper that hasn't moved in years (decades?). Using a c-clamp, I held one piston in place while I used hydraulics to get the other one moving. Once both pistons met in the middle, I separated the caliper, which makes a brake fluid mess but gets it done. I then carefully removed each piston with channel locks clamped way out at the end of the piston. My goal was to save the pistons if they could be reused, and I need to avoid needless damage.

And the Rear Master
The rear master cylinder is always a bit of a hassle on these projects. The circlip holding the piston can be so corroded/rotted that the pliers can't get a purchase. And even with a good circlip, it's tricky to negotiate things and can what seems like 100 tries to free the circlip.

On this bike, I got the circlip out in about 25 attempts. Easy. And then there's the piston. It was recessed and the spring was not moving it out. Not that surprising. What to do?

Leonard Cross (NGW Club member) has a nice Youtube video showing how he made a grease fitting and used grease to force out the piston. It's a nice approach that may be necessary in the most extreme circumstances.

I took a slightly different approach: I attached one of the banjo bolts and all the old brake washers to the master cylinder outlet so I could pump fluid INTO the rear master using the same old front master cylinder I use to get pistons out of brake calipers.

One important thing to watch is thread depth into the rear master, as there's a tiny little brass fitting inside the outlet. Damage that fitting, and the hard brake line won't go back into the master. It's not the end of the world if that happens, but you'll need to source a custom length rear brake line.

Once bolted down, I worked the lever. A dozen or so later, the piston moved and I had a fully disassembled rear master.

Then it was on to cleaning. I'm really, really happy with the way the set cleaned up.

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All 4 pistons are reusable, with rust/corrosion restricted to the section that protrudes from the caliper body and meets the pads.

Next step on the brakes: Order up two front caliper rebuild kits, a rear caliper kit, and a rear master kit.

I'm going with the standard line for the rear and will reuse the hard line back there. I'm still trying to decide whether to go braided stainless or traditional rubber up front.

I keep meaning to check the tires to see if they are original equipment. I think they might be, or at least the front might be.

I know the bike will go.I know I can make the bike stop.

I'm now pretty confident that I'm on track for a Spring ride on this bike.

[Fred Camper]

Good progress, nice to have limited broken brake parts.

[rcmatt007]

you could always put the brake hoses up on fleabay.....

[leonardhcross]

Thanks for the reference. Your solution for freeing up the rear master cylinder sounds very practical. I would appreciate some photos or even a short video showing the set-up. I am assuming that "all of the old brake washers" were used to prevent the banjo bolt threads from damaging the brass fitting inside the master cylinder. It does my heart good to see a bike and a workshop that look as rough as mine.

[rcmatt007]

I did find that one of the rear masters I had I was unable to remove the hose as it ws so corroded.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

OK.

This is fascinating: Put 50 year old brake lines up on eBay. (Guess there's a market for anything - old underwear waistbands, anyone?) When I was restoring a gorgeous, long-neglected '79 last winter and replaced the lines, I held onto the original lines, thinking the eventual buyer might want them for some reason (date rings on ends?). The buyer wasn't that knowledgeable about GLs, and I hadn't remembered to pull together a box of the truly original bits I had replaced. (I had them in a nice, neat plastic bag until recently, when I tossed them.)

Leonard: Unfortunately, I was covered in grease and brake fluid for much of the work and took no photos at the time. And, yes, I'm not one with a clean or neat shop.

The set up was pretty simple:

• Spare front master cylinder to create the pressure;

• brake line right off one of the front calipers - right out of mid-75;

• attach one end of brake line to the spare front master and the other end to the outlet for the rear master

• My biggest worry was that I'd screw the banjo bolt in too far and damage that little brass fitting in the '70s rear masters;

• to prevent that possibility, I used all those old crush washers - instead of chopping the banjo bolt they way you cut your bolt to not damage the internals of the rear master. I also hand-screwed the banjo before adding the washers to make sure I added enough of them to avoid problems once I put a 14mm wrench to the bolt;

• Building pressure was a little tricky, with the air in the rear master. In time, I was able to get enough to move the piston out. What with the piston already compressed in the rear master, there wasn't much room for air to hide.

I did have some concerns about the pressure pushing fluid through the two tiny holes in the rear master or squirting things out in other ways. None of that happened.

[leonardhcross]

Great details. Almost as good as a video. Thanks.