81 Interstate to 83 spec wineberry naked with stock parts

[Jimtt]

Posting a Pic of my ST1100 which was in a sorry state when I purchased it; I love this bike!

[Neil]

Good looking ride.

[Jimtt]

I finished the vinegar treatment of the gas tank (soaked for 50 hours) and then rinsed it out four times with a garden hose after which I dried it (see below). After drying I used a shop vac over the fill spout and compressed air through the level sender opening which got rid of the lose grit. The tank looks good so it is inside until I can prep it for paint so it will not suffer any condensation. Also I received the headlight parts last night which I purchased on Ebay and am very happy with the condition of the parts. I had been looking for the head light brackets forever and just could not find them, it appears they are quite rare. Every day I would do a search on Ebay under 'GL1100' but never had any luck until I searched under 'Honda head light bracket'. The parts I found were a complete GL1100 headlight set with the wire bracket in the head light shell; the seller did not even know what bike they were from so I was very lucky and only paid $25 for the whole bunch.

[Neil]

Good eBay find. They were a lot easier to find in the 90's when I converted my interstate to a naked.

[Jimtt]

Not much progress the last two weekends as we had new windows installed and I have been doing the trim work, that and my friend Dean had his ST1300 over to see if I could fix a problem the dealer told him would cost $1,400 to repair. The issue was (it is fixed now) the instruments and running lights were out because of a fuse that kept blowing.... "we see this all the time and the gauges have to be replaced" said the dealer. Dean pressed them but they claimed there was no use doing diagnostic work because they were certain the gauges were bad". So Dean called and... bring the bike over says me. So I did some looking and thinking and knew there was a short somewhere; what the Honda dealer said was not making sense to me (I will not name them here but if you live in Northern Illinois and want to know where not to take you bike send me a private message), So after studying the wiring diagram I became rather sure the short was in a black and brown wire which it turns out runs next to the steering stem, tightly next to the stem. What had happened is the wire chaffed and was shorting out to the aluminum frame when the bars were turned to the right. So dean is riding again with gauges - at the cost of 5 cents worth of electrical tape (my labor was free as I need helpers from time to time and can call them in when need presses, not quite a slave but it is always dirty or heavy work). Now I just need to get back to the Wing which I hope to do this weekend. Here are some pics of the ST repair:

[Rat]

Nice find ..... dealers are scary ......

Gord

[Jimtt]

Wanted to get something finished as everything needs rebuilding (brakes, suspension, frame painting, engine work and on and on) so I worked on the wheels this weekend. I will start taking the heads apart next but need to get organized for that.
I tried a long time ago of paying to have tires mounted and balanced so I bought a Harbor Fright tire changing rig that has paid for itself twenty times over. If you are interested in how I use it read on.
The first thing that must be done is to secure the fixture; you can bolt it into concrete but if you are like me that takes too much room so I built a platform on 4x4s in the following pattern then decked it with ¾ inch plywood.

Then you just use four large lag bolts to fasten the fixture to the base and when you are done unbolt it and store against a wall or where ever.
After you change a tire you may think the cost of having the job done is worth the price as tire changing can be a pain. It takes some muscle to dismount and mount a tire but you do get better with practice. I first clean the wheel and 1983 GL cast wheels are not easy to clean; hours of work were needed to get the wheel really clean. I cut off the old valve stem with a utility knife and then break the bead with the fixture (see picture). Rags are used to cover the adjustable hooks that hold the wheel to the fixture. I also use plastic rim protectors from No Mar so the tire irons don’t scratch the wheels. To lubricate the tire use No Mar tire mounting paste; it does not harm your wheel like soapy water can and does not hurt your tire like Armor All (I think it causes small cracks when used on rubber over time). Getting the tire off is straight forward but you need the opposite side bead from your tire irons to be held down in the center wheel depression (same with mounting), otherwise your are trying to stretch a steel band that has little ‘give’. Once the tire is off the inner rim MUST be inspected for mauling, rough spots etc., use a jewelers file you remove burrs or rough spots then Scotch Bright all the old residue off the rim (or you may have a slow air leak, ask me how I know). You now put in the new valve stem and the only way that has worked for me is to lube it with the No Mar Paste and pull it through with pliers (schrader valve removed) and it takes a lot of force! Mount the new tire with the direction of rotation correct (there is an arrow embossed on the side wall indicating rotation direction) and line up the yellow dot with the valve stem. Then inflate the tire to seat the bead (you need an air compressor; if you don’t own one you need to get one because you will never understand how you survived without one).
Next I knock out the seals and old bearings with an expander and tapered driver rod. Clean the bearing surfaces and MAKE sure you reinstall the bearing spacer. Drive in your new bearings (use a socket that rests on the outer race (never drive the inner race or you will ruin the bearing). If you don’t have a socket big enough go buy one. Now balance the tire, I use a Harbor Fright balancing stand and it works, I will post how that is not when I do it.

[Jimtt]

Rest of the Pics

[Jimtt]

Am just getting started on the cylinder heads and should have a handle on what needs doing by next weekend. Between working on other bikes, riding other bikes and working other jobs I am not getting as much time on the GL1100 as I would like. I did put together the rear fender, brake light and turn signals which required starting with five turn signals to wind up with two good ones and a pile of rejected parts. What I found interesting is that four of the signals (sourced sets from two different suppliers) had the exact same faulty wiring . That is the male connector ends of each turn signal lead had bare wire wrapped around them, not soldered, then tapped over with electrical tape. I should have taken a picture of these poorly executed wire extensions, very weird; is that hard to connect wires properly? I also cleaned up the swing arm and repainted the rear brake stay bar along with a dozen other brackets. When I first took the swing are off I was 100% certain I would repaint it but once I started cleaning, it began to look better and better. I am glad I did not just put in the blast cabinet as it cleaned up real nice and just required a few touch ups with gloss black paint (but what a lot of road grime, tar, dirt and shmegma)

[Jimtt]

I forgot to mention a tip that I use for masking inside bores and threaded holes before painting. I thought of this because I used this method on the rear brake stay bar in the picture above (the side with the inner collar). Use a soft barrel type foam ear plug (I always use these when riding so I have lots of them around). Just roll up the ear plug and insert it into the hole (assuming the opening is not larger that the expanded ear plug diameter), it will expand to fill, then you can spray without getting any paint in the orifice.

[Jimtt]

This weekend I dissembled the cylinder heads and began working on the valves I have one intake that needs to be replaced; it has surface damage where the stem meets the valve guide, I am unsure what caused this but the valve also has a very slight bind when inserting. One possibility is that the valve barely kissed a piston; anyway I bought an NOS EOM intake valve to replace it. I use a cordless drill and rubber hose (see pic) to lap the valves ruining at slow speed and popping the valve open in a rhythm I get into. I then use the Honda kerosene leak test as described in the Honda Common Service Manual to test the seal. The one valve that I could not get a good seal on is the one being replaced. The valve seat widths are not easy to measure as the seat appears wider than it actually is after lapping. I use a dry and wipe maker to coat the valve seat and then insert the valve and rotate it which wipes away the color from the seat. I also do the reverse with the valve coated with marker then rotate the valve in the seat to see where the sealing point is on the valve (you want it in the middle with the correct width). Then it is easier to measure the seat width but I have to use strong magnification to get an accurate reading. Thanks to Robin for answering my PM questions about GL heads.
I still have a lot of cleaning to do, the cartage roll was used to clean and smooth out the ports. I hope to finish cleaning measuring and reassembling the heads by the weekend so I can re install them.

[mcgovern61]

A tip for when you go to install the head light and turn signal brackets on the front forks.

You may already knows this; remove the top of the triple tree and slide the fork brackets on, then install the sealing ring at the top and re-install the triple tree which will then compress the rubber sealing ring.

I throw it out there because I made the mistake of thinking you could lower the forks out of the tree and slide the brackets in and raise the forks back up. It will not work like that without damaging that rubber sealing ring!

[Jimtt]

Thanks MCG...I appreciate the tip. JIM

[Jimtt]

I forgot to mention the technique used to clean and flatten the deck surface; I use a wood plain (obviously with the blade removed) and then start with 220 grit paper then drop down to 400 and finally 600 grit sand paper. There is a method for doing this but basically you want to cover the entire head with each pass and avoid concentrating on one area. you can also alternate directions and do a circular pattern as long as you hit the entire surface. Then use a flat surface and feeler gauge to check for flatness per the Honda service manual.

[ericheath]

Just saw a post using a large flat file pushing it straight across without any side-to-side motion. Your way should have larger flatter surface. I might try this. I have a couple larger planes. My Dad is 82 and will slap me if he here's about it. Did you have the numbers backwards, fine to rough or rough to fine?