1981 Goldwing, Eventual EFI project.

[Apocalypsox]

Hey Everybody! Bored mechanical engineering student/ past metal fabricator and turbocharger of everything. I haven't owned a non-turbocharged vehicle in years, and converted all the ones that weren't.

Plans: Naked EFI wing running Speeduino management, eventually turbocharged.

Was turned onto this forum from a reddit post recently involving a naked wing. Loved it. Immediately started my search for one. After looking at four or five bikes, this one showed up.



Not only cheaper than the others I had already looked at, but in much better shape as well. Paid the gentleman $950 to deliver it to me, about half an hours worth of riding. A good sign that he trusted it enough to make the ride, and that the bike made it with no issues. Others I had looked at were 100% going to need full carb rebuilds, plus a bunch of other maintenance. Day it showed up, I started stripping. Didn't have a lot of time, but by the end of the first day she looked like this.



Boxes pulled, some cleaning done, general inspections to see what kind of shape it was in. Overall impressed, very good shape throughout. After a bit more stripping...



As she sits. Need a headlight and front signals, parts are on their way. EFI prototyping is under way, 3d printing test pieces to check fitment against stock intakes. Plan right now is Speeduino ECU controlling 4 snowmobile-based throttle body units. I am friends with some guys deep in the development of the Speeduino project (https://speedyefi.com/ if you'd like to take a look, or https://speeduino.com/wiki/index.php/Speeduino) and they've done goldwing conversions in the past. I haven't done the EFI conversions, but I have a lot of experience making turbochargers fit where they generally shouldn't. That's where my part in the project will come in.

Keep your eyes open as I make progress! It may be a bit slow on a college students budget, but I needed a project and this is it. Thanks!

Wifes bike and mine, just a ninja 250. May EFI that as well.

[Rednaxs60]

Great project to embark on. Will be following with interest, especially with the ECU you intend to use. Good luck. Cheers

[chewy999]

Just left a message on your welcome page then I read this one! Will follow your progress with interest.

[Rat]

Good looking starter project !

Gord

[Apocalypsox]

Appreciate the kind words everybody, quick update.

The previous owner drove it to me on 2 cylinders

Both left hand cylinders are doing nada. Makes a fun noise at idle when it's cold as the whole thing tries to shake itself apart. Ripped the false tank/air cleaner/etc off to check the coils, seems each coil isn't firing one of the 2 cylinders connected to it.

Seems a little strange to me in a wasted spark system that one output of the coil would work and the other wouldn't. Did have one wire that was corroded, but even after cleaning everything up there was no change. Thinking there may be a firing order/wiring issue yet beyond the coilpacks, but it also sounds like a great excuse to throw a Neon coil on it. Suppose I'll check the rest of the caps and wires while I'm at it.

Back to it. Wife is upset, she wanted to ride yesterday but the bike wasn't having it.

[ericheath]

Right coil fires front cylinders, (1-2) left coil fires rear cylinders, (3-4.)


It would be rare to have an ignition issue cause this, but firing order incorrect happens fairly often.

Check that, then ensure you do have spark at all four and in the right order.

Firing order is 1-3 (two right cylinders) then 2-4 (two left cylinders.)

[5speed]

.

Back to it. Wife is upset, she wanted to ride yesterday but the bike wasn't having it.

This is much better then wife upset because you bought another bike.

[gltriker]

Appreciate the kind words everybody, quick update.

The previous owner drove it to me on 2 cylinders

Both left hand cylinders are doing nada. Makes a fun noise at idle when it's cold as the whole thing tries to shake itself apart. Ripped the false tank/air cleaner/etc off to check the coils, seems each coil isn't firing one of the 2 cylinders connected to it.

Seems a little strange to me in a wasted spark system that one output of the coil would work and the other wouldn't. Did have one wire that was corroded, but even after cleaning everything up there was no change. Thinking there may be a firing order/wiring issue yet beyond the coilpacks, but it also sounds like a great excuse to throw a Neon coil on it. Suppose I'll check the rest of the caps and wires while I'm at it.

Back to it. Wife is upset, she wanted to ride yesterday but the bike wasn't having it.

Yes, it is possible for one of the two outputs on the ignition coil to not operate. I've personally seen it three times. To have both ignition coils exhibiting the same fault is unexpected.
I know you are suspicious of faulty ignition performance, but have you confirmed that the left side timing belt is still intact and properly timed?
Perhaps, performing a cylinder compression test on those 2 left side cylinders might be prudent?

[Apocalypsox]

Quick update with some pics.

Found some engine guards cheap on ebay. God knows I'll probably need them.



Pretty glad I bought a clutch cable too. Not great. Replacement fixed the super hard clutch pull, nice and easy now.



Anyways, kept doing some troubleshooting on the cylinder issues. Fixed some wiring issues, verified spark at all 4 cylinders now. Pretty weak and some of the caps were double the spec resistance, so those will be replaced monday. Still runs like crap. Hmm. Some other strange issues too.

I figure there should probably be a nut on that stud. It probably also shouldn't be leaking gas out of the cylinder.



Suppose it's carb issues. Carb problems on a motorcycle, who would have thought. I was told the belts had been done recently, but haven't had my own eyes on them. I'll pull the covers soon and see. Also added some small handlebar mirrors, and there's an LED headlight/headlight bucket on the front now.

Need to figure out what to do with the rats nest of wiring hanging out the front now. Normally I would shorten all of it and hide it, but I'd kind of like to leave it so the fairings can all be slapped back on without any hassle too. May build a beauty cover for it and just leave it tucked away under the headlight.

[JamesPal]

The wiring hanging out the front would be tucked into the headlight on the standard models. The Interstates had a wiring box in place of the headlight. Your bike looks like a standard with the Hondaline bags and fairing. These were common options back in the day. If you are going naked, tuck everything into the headlight. You could put a connector in the harness to pop the headlight off and then plug in the fairing.