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I had quickly reinstalled the engine after the fasteners and paint were dealt with, but when reattaching the clutch cable I had issues turning the wheel (I later found out that was just normal clutch drag). So I then decided to install a new clutch. It wasn't necessary at the end of the day, but I'm really glad I did. I ordered a new Barnett set and went to town. I got most of the job done in the frame by removing the rear wheel but I couldn't get the old gasket off, so I removed the engine AGAIN. I then buttoned everything up, installed the engine again and when I got the newly coated exhaust I was ready to start reassembling things.

Things moved pretty quickly from here. I got the carbs back from Mark Boody and the crash bars back from the chrome shop so I started putting everything back together. When I started replacing cables I saw that I was probably pretty close to being stranded somewhere on the side of the road
The radiator install was a giant pain. The replacement hoses I bought were super tight and took incredible strength to get into position, even with vaseline. My arms hurt for days afterward. It was a struggle to get the top clamp at the upper hose into position as well.

The bike was back together, but there were a few loose ends to tie up. The gauge cushions were extremely cracked and ugly so I replaced them with GL1100 units. I also wasn't getting any power to the starter so I replaced the killswitch and found yet another fastener issue.
Once that was fixed I started her up and she ran great! At least until the coolant leak started..

Turns out that stock clamp at the upper hose was deformed, so I replaced it with a different style clamp and it worked great. I added a tank decal, and the rest is history.

Looking forward to enjoying her now and reaping the benefits of all my hard work. We're at generation 3 now for this bike, here's to the next one!
Thanks for reading and for helping me along on this project. This is a great forum, especially for newbies like me.

-Kyle

Kjmarti2, you did an incredible job, and you declare yourself a neophyte ?? you were very good and you did a wonderful job! On this site you do crazy jobs on the GL, you are not professional mechanics, but simple and true fans! I am always speechless, I would like to thank you all one by one, for all that you publish and I absorb like a sponge, but that I will never be able to do! I take advantage of this post to send an applause and a hug to all of you!
Paola

It is a 1976, but could those be either 76 LTD or 1977 handlebar? It was a popular mod back in the day. Great documentation of the restore.

Thanks Paola, I appreciate the kind words! As I'm finding on my LTD work, every project is different and so I feel like a newbie all over again

Fred, yep they are '77 handlebars. My Dad had those installed by Pete as he wanted a bit more upright riding position. I had intended to replace them with a '76 set, but decided to keep them for now because they are pretty comfy.

Great read, and nice work!

Love the write up. Glad to see her restore. Love the yellow!!

It's been a while since I've posted a status on my GL1000 projects. When I last posted about the Phoenix I assumed that I was done with the really hard work and could enjoy it for a few years with just basic maintenance.

After a bit of a honeymoon period enjoying the Phoenix I had to pull it offline a few months ago for a few reasons. #1, the mpg I was getting was way too low - about 22 mpg. I actually was left stranded on the highway because of it sometime back in the late spring, luckily I was close enough to a gas station that I could wheel it there myself. After a good bit of detective work I found out that cylinder 4 only had 65# of compression and the other 3 cylinders had in the 115# range. I think the actual magnitudes of those numbers are a little suspect because the starter isn't in the best shape but the difference was enough that I knew something was wrong. But it wasn't a blown head gasket or anything so I kept riding it with the intention of doing something about it in the winter. Then I blew a head gasket..

I finally got around to pulling the heads a few days ago. Here's a few pics of the left head.


The tops of the pistons look pretty clean to me to be almost 45 years old. I haven't inspected the cylinder walls yet but I'm not expecting any issues. The left-most intake valves are from cylinder #4 which is the one that had low compression. It turns out the exhaust valve was bent.

The right head gasket was blown. A few pics below.


The right head was super easy to remove and a ton of coolant spilled out when I pulled it. You can see that the #3 valves have a good bit of coolant on them, and the top of cylinder 3 has lots of carbon buildup. I'm not sure if that is just due to the coolant leak or if I had a bad valve seal that leaked oil, or if it was running really rich. Could be all 3 I suppose.

I've got all the valves removed and will be sending both of these heads off to be rebuilt. In the meantime I will be cleaning up the pistons and the block, and then turning my attention to the water pump which needs replacing.

Geez Louise!
number 1 cylinder wall appears extremely eroded from the corrosive effects of water .

gltriker wrote: ↑Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:35 pm Geez Louise!
number 1 cylinder wall appears extremely eroded from the corrosive effects of water .

I had to go out and look. I didn't look in there when I pulled the head and I couldn't see it well on my phone, but blown up on my computer it looks like there's a lot going on in there. I think it's just a reflection of the cylinder head on the wall. I just snapped another pic and looked in there and it looks pretty good. Whew!