GL1000 Shelter and GL1100 Shelter Compatibility

[Engi(NEAR)]

I'm working through a rebuild of my 1982 GL1100 and I'm just itching to get a GL1000 shelter and use that instead (the flat profile works really well for my plans). But I'm unsure if they'd fit since the GL1100 doesn't have a superstructure like the GL1000. Does anyone have experience with this swap? Is there a possibility that just the top shelter door is interchangeable? The top clearly won't fit but idk about the entire shelter:

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[Sagebrush]

Two completely different beasts. Anythings possible but it would take some serious fabrication skills to do it. Welding, metal forming, etc.

[Engi(NEAR)]

Yeah, my current thought is to get just the top panel off eBay and butt-weld the gauge portion onto my '82 top door, and bondo the transition bits. My plan is to remove all gauges on the bike except for this guy https://flockmfg.com/products/gauge-beta But the shape of the GL1000 shelter just works so well for the paint scheme I'm going for.

[Engi(NEAR)]

Based on this thread: https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41450 I might just be in luck... It seems the gl1000 frame and gl1100 frame are quite similar except for the swingarm and a motor mount.
Gl1000:

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Gl1100:

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[Sagebrush]

Dimensions are different in length not sure how much but it would be noticeable I think.

[Engi(NEAR)]

That's a good note! From the following pictures, it looks like the Gl1000 shelter is slightly longer but the Gl1100 seat also has a bit of a gap between the shelter. Maybe a Gl1000 seat pan could help me out here, forgot how they mount to the bike.

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Edit: Looks like you can mount a '78 seat on an '81 with some modifications to the rear brackets.

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[pidjones]

While at it, let me suggest swapping to GL1000 valve covers IMHO, better looking.

[CYBORG]

While at it, let me suggest swapping to GL1000 valve covers IMHO, better looking.

Ya, got to agree with that

[Engi(NEAR)]

Hey hey, I gotta stick to a budget somehow! Plus it's still an 1100 at heart right? Hehe

[Sagebrush]

1100 valve covers are perfectly fine particularly if they are polished.

[Engi(NEAR)]

Well, I’ve ordered a black ‘77 shelter!! It should be here on Wednesday! In the meantime, I need some suggestions on painting it. First off, what material are the different panels? I want to make sure I get the right primer and am ready to modify/paint them immediately after arrival. I’m planning on doing a NASA white/blue paint scheme and I think it’s gonna be beautiful. Here's my inspiration from the NASA graphics standards manual:

Nasa Car.png

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[Lucien Harpress]

Side panels (big and small) are ABS plastic. Shelter lid and small trim piece down by the seat is metal.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

When your GL1000 shelter arrives, you'll know how far you are in terms of length.

If you have the GL1000 shelter frame and it's a somewhat close fit over the bike frame, the fabrication to mount it to the bike might be relatively easy - a little grinding, a bit of welding here and there, movement of some mount points. (It might not be.) You could test a whole lot with just that shelter frame loosely fitted.

I'd focus attention at the airbox before getting too far down the road. GL1100 is plastic and a little different from the metal GL1000 airbox. As it has to come in/out through the shelter top, an 1100 box could be an issue through the 1000 frame - or vice versa. You might fit the 1000 airbox in.

The electrics would need to be moved a bit, but that's probably easy if you've gotten to the point of mounting the shelter frame to the bike and sorted the airbox.

Seat attachment is different. The gap you note in that photo is probably there because the rider has moved the seat back - it's likely the 3-position deal to accommodate different riders (It's a GoldWing, after all, so you get the super luxe.).

The GL1100 has a tongue/groove slider built into the shelter mount/frame, which enables the seat to adjust fore/aft - at least on some of the models. The tongue is somewhat meaty and plastic. The GL1000 seat tongue slides under a bracket and is a much lower profile job in metal. Angles, length, etc. are a bit different. A seat solution would ultimately be easy relative to the the shelter bit.

Of course, you could just slide that GL1100 motor into a GL1000, saving yourself all that fabrication hassle and leaving you with enough to build another bike - a GL1100 with a GL1000 motor. (Just kidding.)

[dontwantapickle]

I'd just put whatever shelter on that the frame was designed for.

[redglbx]

^^ this !

But this is a hobby so whatever makes you smile ! I’ve seen some pretty incredible & innovative things done.