Goin' Naked

[dontwantapickle]

Here's a thread about a 79 wing that I picked up last weekend.

It's a very nice bike with 36K that has sat but been taken care of. It starts easily and idles, but the throttle cables are sticky and the front brakes drag a bit.

It has a Vetter Windjammer fairing, Calafia saddlebags, Big ugly front fender, crash bars, aux. lights and exhaust tips..
I'm taking all of that stuff off and going back stock.

This stuff is installed very professionally so it should be fairly straight forward to remove.

black 79.jpg

black 79 2.jpg

black 79 3.jpg

[dontwantapickle]

The reason for going nude is that this bike is in very nice shape.
due in fact to the that the fairing and bags did a great job of protecting the bike over the years.

Also because the saddle bags are just so damn ugly!
Not as bad as those triangle Vetter bags, but close.

Looking down inside the fairing,
the bike still has the headlight ears and bucket. Also the front turn signal mounts haven't been chopped off.
The wiring also doesn't appear to be mangled.
It should be pretty easy (famous last words).

black 79 4.jpg

[pidjones]

It's wonderful that they didn't chop the mounts off.

[Fred Camper]

Nice also that they left the bucket inside. Wiring will take some careful work. The bike looks almost like brand new.

[Jonesz]

Great start and looks like a very clean bike

[dontwantapickle]

I got the fairing off - No surprises.
I did have to take one of the radiator ears loose to remove the fairing mounting bracket.
Not bad, just a step in the process that I wasn't expecting.

Check out this headlight bucket wiring cover.

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Scotchlocks... I haven't made it that far yet.

black 79 7.jpg

[dontwantapickle]

The worse corrosion on the entire bike is on that Honda cover plate.
It was somewhat covered by the fairing and obviously never saw the sun.
It won't polish out, I'll have to find another one.

[Fred Camper]

If that is the worst of the corrosion, then yes your bike is like new. That plate should not be hard to find a replacement for.

[dontwantapickle]

Fred,
this bike is definitely not like new, but it's in very nice condition compared to the bikes that usually end up on my lift.

While replacing the sticky throttle cables, It's apparent that the airbox had never been removed.
Pretty neat for a 44 year old bike.
It's actually a really nice change to not have to deal with the normal damage done by previous owners.
stripped screws, cobbled up wiring, etc.

[dontwantapickle]

The weather has been warm here, so we've been getting in some end of the season recreating.
We have been riding alot, went camping, etc.

But I have also been able to get a bit more done on this bike.
Front end is done, headlight, turn signals, scrubbing and polishing.

Here's how it's looking right now:

black 79 10.jpg

I think I'm gonna take it for a ride tomorrow.

[Rat]

Spectacular !!

Gord

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

That was quick! Looks great.

I see that you also managed to discover the original front fender hiding under the large one in the first photo of the thread.

The headlight ears with signal mounting tabs were a score. I was just poking around online trying to source those babies for a '79. The one-year transition thing is a killer; nothin' doin'.

Looks like some sort of different headlight bucket and earlier, rounded rear signals.

[dontwantapickle]

Good eye !
When digging thru my parts hoard, I couldn't find the stock headlight ring (I know it's around here someplace ) ,
So I used a complete chrome headlight that I had. I actually think that it looks pretty good compared to the black plastic one.

Out of the 4 79 turn signals that I had stashed, one was cracked, so I used the best 2 on the front and put a set of 78 round turn signals on the rear.
They will be swapped out for the square ones really soon.

The chrome front fender is a leftover from a previous project.

All I have left to do to this bike (besides tuning, tweaking and engine maintenance) is to bolt the passenger pegs back on.
The plan is to do that tomorrow morning and then I get to take it for a ride.

[ritalz]

Lookin good. I like the chrome fender much better.

[Fred Camper]

It does look good, but agree that the front and rear signals should match. Great progress.