1986 Aspencade Resurrection

[3KidsinAustin]

Never thought I'd be so happy about something as simple as a clutch. Once I got the sparky-sparky parts working again (crossing the eyes, sticking out the tongue, etc), I set it into fourth gear and wired the clutch lever closed. Fired it up and after about 10 seconds of idle, hit the rear brake. Wheel stopped and the engine died, so I restarted and gave it some throttle and then pressed on the brake pedal. This time, when I released the pedal the wheel did not start turning. Talk about mana from Heavan! Turned everything off and walked inside. I'll clean up the mess tomorrow and button everything back up, maybe even give it a test drive. For now, I'm going to cool off and think about a tall high ball.

Fred - I understand your concerns. When I built the platform for over my QuickJacks, I mounted a front wheel chock that keeps it in place. For a belts-and-suspenders approach, I also tied it down. You can't see it in the picture, but supporting the rear end is one of those low profile scissor lifts (~$60 on Amazon and worth EVERY penny). If I tried really hard, I could probably lower my shoulder into it and eventually push it over, but it would take a lot of effort. If you're doing much work on a bike, a platform like this is pretty handy.

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[Fred Camper]

I like it. I typically hang mine from an I-beam in the garage. If we decide to convert the garage to a first floor owner suite then plans will have to change. But big win on that clutch. Glad it was not overly stubborn.

[3KidsinAustin]

Big progress with the bike today. Everything up and running with the carbs sync'd. Didn't get it out for a test drive because the PO-made elbow to the coolant overflow reservoir cracked under the strain and was leaking coolant. I stuffed the hose straight into the reservoir for the testing purposes, but didn't want to ride with it like that. Sitting after dinner tonight, I came up with the great idea of designing and 3D printing the elbow I needed. (Even though I built the printer with my daughter and we've been using it for some fun projects, it still is not a tool that jumps right to the front of the mind).

Here is the finished part, turned out as good as I'd hoped. After a test fit, I had to slice about 13mm off one of the legs so it would sit closer to the top of the tank. Other than that, fit is good. I have only been printing in ABS so it should not have any negative reactions to the coolant or temperature. The pink has been our go-to color for wife and daughter things and gives the bike that extra "sparkle!"

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[CYBORG]

sweet!

[Fred Camper]

Nice solution, time to ride.

[3KidsinAustin]

Inaugural test ride was conducted this afternoon. Seemed really pokey through most of the ride, then I realized I had been riding around with the choke on. No speedo reading at the dash, which explains the low odometer reading. Shifting good and the lights work, so need to handle a couple of leaks and then hopefully button everything up.

Pink elbow performed flawlessly. Rode around with the tank cover off so I could inspect for any leaks, small fires, etc. So far, so good.

[3KidsinAustin]

Asked my neighbor/friend to swing over yesterday afternoon and help with removing a stuck screw out of the MC brake cover on the 84 Interstate. Even with JIS screwdrivers, this one stayed put until the threads stripped. I drilled off the head and removed the cover, and was lucky enough to have a thread or two that would catch a #8 nut. Tony filled it with a weld bead and the screw backed right out. I've heard of this trick for years and have watched it on YT, but never had first had experience. We followed up the five minutes of work with a couple hours of driveway drinking, so a good tradeoff. Always tell myself I need to learn how to weld! (Note the dried up brake fluid - the 84 is getting all new hoses and rebuild kits for everything)

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Today, I dug into why I wasn't getting any reading on the speedometer. Sounds like this is a common enough occurrence, but a NOS replacement on eBay is around $450. Yikes! Fortunately, someone did a great writeup on the common repair for this sensor using a special hall effect sensor. https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28993 for more information. Very handy!

I removed the sensor and dug out the potting material to get a better look at it. Need to source a couple of the sensors to solder in, will be putting an order in tomorrow or Monday, depending on how the breeze blows.

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[Fred Camper]

Good idea to repair and not replace. The master looks very dry.

[3KidsinAustin]

Good idea to repair and not replace. The master looks very dry.

The 84 has sat since 1997. I bought it from the original owner, so everything is still OEM on the bike, except for his crazy stator work around (installed an extra car battery in the saddle bag).

[3KidsinAustin]

Today I tackled the repair of the speed sensor. Anyone reading this that is having a similar issue, there is a great thread on goldwingdocs detailing the solution: https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28993

I sourced a three pack of the SS451A Hall Effect sensors off a seller on eBay. Multiples were good as I broke a lead on the first one when - despite my best efforts - I managed to solder the sensor in backwards.

After pulling my hair out trying to figure out what went wrong, I soldered in the second sensor with the pull-up resistor and gave it a bench test. Was thrilled when the voltage dropped to 0 on the signal wire when a magnet approached. Success! Did a quick reassembly of the entire unit and plugged it into the harness on the bike. Using a small screwdriver, I spun the internal gear and saw MPH on the dash creep up to 3mph. Alright!

Will seal it up with some silicone to protect against the elements and install it tomorrow for a spin.

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[3KidsinAustin]

The good times keep coming with this bike as it fights me to get it back on the road. This time I am having to take care of things I thought were already resolved. I found an oil leak yesterday coming from the left head (the one I removed to work on the valves). To confirm the location, I cleaned up the area REALLY well and then warmed the bike up and watched for the tell-tale drip to appear. I'd hoped it was just valve cover grommets getting old and not sealing the valve cover enough, but alas the drip is coming from the head gasket itself. I'm in the process of pulling the valve cover off just to make sure the bolts were all properly torqued down before I end up having to pull the entire head again. Wouldn't be so bad if it didn't require draining the coolant and removing the radiator to get the pulley and timing belt covers off. Ugh.

More disappointing was finding yesterday that the rear tire had leaked down. I aired it up and found that it again was leaking around the bead, something I thought had been resolved in post #92. Now the wheel is off and it will go to a local tire shop to get worked on. I tried wrestling with that tire to get it off the bead and had zero luck the first time I messed with it - still a new enough tire and flexible enough that I was just a big heap of struggle. Hopefully the local pros can fix it.

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The other issue with the back of the bike that I'm now addressing is one of the shocks is leaking. I'd rebuilt flushed their fluid back in post #57 but didn't touch the oil seals as they were dry at the time. I'm guessing the actual movement and time on the road of the bike again caused both the seal to fail and the tire to start leaking. So now most of the rear is back off the bike.

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Other thing I found during the first test ride is the starter fails when the bike warms up. It will start the bike no problem when cold, but get the bike warmed up and the thing turns the engine over so slowly that it can't get going. I rebuilt the starter on my 85 so will disassemble this one and get a good look at the innards. A few times it would spin loose when I would hit the Start button, so I'm wondering if teeth are broken off in the housing. Before I can get the starter out, I need to go pick up some nuts so I can get the exhaust stud off. The threads on that stud aren't looking to hot, so we'll see how that journey goes.

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Rear Shocks (#57)
Rear Tire (#92)

[ritalz]

Timing cover hack is to replace the two inner bolts with some short bolts. Only have to remove the outer bolts for some jobs.

[3KidsinAustin]

Timing cover hack is to replace the two inner bolts with some short bolts. Only have to remove the outer bolts for some jobs.

With the Poor Boy mod, one of the timing cover bolts is blocked by the pulley. Didn't get to the oil leak today, but pulled and cleaned the starter and got the rear tire separated from the rim. Starter was easy, but service announcement for anyone doing this... If you go through installation and the starter just spins wildly without turning the engine over, good chance that you might have forgotten to install this dowel back on the ring gear. Oops. I got lucky that it fell on the floor right in a spot that I saw as soon as I looked around for it. Dodged a bullet there!

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The starter would turn the bike over fine when cold, but then lug down and stall when trying to start the bike after running. I had to do the same process on my earlier 85, so this was more of the same. Commutator contacts were grimy and covered with residue when I opened it up. Cleaned everything out and put all new grease on the reducer gears.

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I went to three different places today to see if any shop had the equipment to unmount the tire, clean and reinstall. No luck, so after the success on the starter, I decided to stay in the garage a bit longer and try and tackle the tire. I had failed in getting it off the bead earlier, but attached it with a big C-clamp, then some tire spoons and - most critically - a long pry bar that started pushing the tire down into the center of the wheel. After that was accomplished, was just a matter of working the spoons around and getting it off the rim. Lots of gunk around the rim, I'm hopeful that a good cleaning and sanding will get it smooth enough to get a firm seal.

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[Fred Camper]

Many a starter is replaced by novices who do not want to take them apart. In my experience it is always grime and the cleaned up starter almost always outlives the replacement starter. Nice that you got the tire off, it is always a pita.

[CYBORG]

Sometimes just need brushes as well. And they are cheap