Krazy's GL1100 A Project

Hey guys, I dug through the snow tonight and got my Wing up near the garage, I have no room in the garage right now, but moved it at least out of the middle of the driveway, where it has been since I got home from my journey to get it. When I went to move it it wouldn't roll.... All 3 calipers had stuck to some degree. First tried to loosen the bleeders but couldn't find the right wrench, so I loosened the banjo bolt and that didn't help, so I tapped on each one and got them loose. My neighbor came outside to see what I was doing at 1am in -10 degree temperatures, and he helped me push it to a spot I cleared in front of the garage. My neighbor is a nice guy and almost as strange as I am, he didn't even think it was slightly out of the ordinary that I be outside in the driveway working on something in the middle of the night in the cold.

So, first things to fix... I have those breaks.. Also my ignition switch is bad, and wired to a toggle switch at the moment. Since I know the 83 Aspencade is impossible to find, I plan for now to wire to another switch, and mount that temporarily someplace, just to make it harder to steal. Also when I tried to start it before, the starter button felt sticky, so I guess I should tear that apart and clean it. I didn't try to start it tonight, but did the other day and she started a bit hard. I decided that I am not going to go through the carbs or anything until I get new timing belts on the old girl. Then I can set the valves, and see if she even has any carb problems, she smoothed out a lot as she warmed up, but had a hard time getting that initial start, Idled about 1300-1400 rpm and if I didn't know better I would say she sounded good.

Now for the good part, I found a pic (couldn't take a good one because of snow, and middle of the night here, but got one of when she was sitting at the dealer in Virgina).
There she is.... Unusual color for an 83, maybe someone here recognizes her?

Should I paint her a different color? I'm not sure. What do you guys think? It probably wouldn't get painted until the summer after next though, next summer my GL500i gets some paint.

Looks like a keeper!

You might find that it just needs to have a few tanks of gas run through it to clean itself out and run smoothly, or the carbs may need to be synched. Do you know anything about the maintenance history? If not, while doing everything you mention, you might also consider changing the timing belts, all the fluids and don't forget the three yellow stator wires just in front of the battery. The connector is a good place for a short that can lead to burning out the stator - you may want to consider removing the connector and solder the wires instead.

I like it ... nice bike ... the color is strange ... it looks kind of neat in this creamed yellow look...as for new to you oldwing ... the first thing I would do is get timing belt covers off ... make sure it in time wirch it probably is seeing how it running ... and ck for proper belt tensioning .....you would be amazed how the belts can be so unright on oldwings ....the old belts are probably ok to keep on till you get things sorted ... from here when you see belts are proper .. you can clean and clean the entire bike up ... shop vac and brusches of various kinds really do clean things good every nook and cranny... once there plugs can come out and it can be turned by hand from crank bolt in front of motor ... and clean .... it is always good to get to the new to you bike ... im sure others will add

Welcome. I like the color myself.

I think I like the color too.

+1

I like it too....That color reminds me of my dads 1966 chevy super sport.....what a classic it was...2 door, convertable, yellow with a white top, white interior, floor shifter, bucket seats....all i got was 2 hubcaps from it...that he thought he lost... :smilie_happy: I was trying to get one piece at a time.. :mrgreen:

Today, I moved it into the garage. It can't stay in there long (have to share garage with my brother, and we always have projects going), so I tried to get as much done as I could today. Got the sticky starter button tore apart and cleaned, and got the ignition switch rebuilt, had to make a new base plate, and replace some contact points in it, but it's working.

I didn't put the parts back on yet, and started on my other things in the flaring, got the volt meter working, and got the radio to work, needs new speakers, but works. However when I tried the CB, the speakers just fizzled a bit, and I think I may have blown a fuse for the CB, or something. Radio still worked after, so not too bad.

To my surprise, I found two J&M headsets, and the original owners manual tucked away in the trunk. I didn't see the tool kit any place, so I assume it's gone. As I feared (but kinda knew already), the battery is shot. Had 12.5 volts then as soon as I turned on the ignition, it went to less than 6 volts.

Going to put the battery in off my other bike next time I work on it so I can test things with a known good battery, even if it is a bit smaller. If I felt the need to try and crank the engine over with the smaller battery, I would jumper cable to my truck.

So still left is... Timing belts, Valve gap, sticky brake calipers, and a few other things I can't remember right now...

Good-lookin' bike, and what a great project! I rebuilt my '83 Interstate, but I'd love to find an Aspy so I can learn all the electronics on them. Good luck with yours, and the yellow does look good on it.

So far today, I got the ignition switch and starter switch mounted back up, Tried to start it and it acted like I was flooding it :Awe: . I remembered reading someone's ride report of a trip, and they had a problem where the air filter plugged because of a dust storm, and the symptoms sounded similar. So I pulled the air filter to find... It was completely plugged and no air was going to ever get through it. I pulled the air filter, and it fired right up. arty: Need to get a new one now, but planned on replacing it anyway. While it was running I checked the stator and all is well with it. I also fixed the CB and intercom. Or think I did.... I have no other CB to check to see if I am transmitting or able to receive, but it seems to work. Intercom works and the headsets I found in the saddle bag work great.

She sounds great running to me, but I have little experience with these bikes, so it might not sound as good as I think it does.

Playing with the fuel petcock while it was flooding showed me another problem, the fuel doesn't seem to shut off, and the petcock itself leaks if set to reserve. Maybe I can find another someplace around here. Not sure if I should worry about it too much, but would be nice if it worked.

Still a long list of things to do, but seeing as I have no money, I'm working on all the things that I can do free or really cheaply right now.

Next time when I go out there, I'm going to try and go through the brakes and free up those sticky calipers. Now it feels like nap time. :lazy:

Congratulations! You are making good progress there.

You could search and see if you can find a petcock repair kit... I have seen then here and there.. and articles about repairing...

Yes good progress!

Carbs and stator problems aside, all the other things are relatively minor and 'cheap' fixes.

New petcock seal is available from Randakk, price incldes shipping, I cant remember if it includes the 2 D rings but if not you might want to replace them too. You will need to drill out the rivots to install the seal(easy) then get a couple little self tapping screws. YES, you do need to fix a leaking petcock.
Congrats on the bike, it is a nice looking ride.

Well I got a bit impatient after getting my brakes functioning, after much effort and the replacement for the front master cylinder, I took her out for a spin today. Was about 10°F out with the sun shining nicely. I pulled her out of the garage, and slid sideways on the snow into the side of the house. I didn't break anything, but the paint chipped on my front fender a bit. After rolling out of my snow covered driveway, I made it onto clear roads.
I fumbled with the heel-toe shifter a bit, and I'm not sure if I am going to look for some foot pegs when I get some money or not. A few blocks down I made it out of town and into 55mph roads. I opened her up a bit, and found that it has all kinds of power. Pulls really nice and smooth. Even the bad roads around here were not bad, though I think I should lower the air in the rear a bit.

I made it about 25 miles then my ignition switch died (Damn I thought I had that fixed.) I got my trusty jumper wire and jumped the ignition, and turned back for home. On the way back, I was going down a nice two lane road keeping with the car in front of me when I looked at the speedo... Wow I'm doing 70. Smooth as silk, and just a perfect running engine. I slowed down and continued home.

The ride went uneventful the rest of the way, until I turned onto my street.... Old girl spits and sputters then stalls.... Damn... So close to home, push the bike a block to get to my driveway, and check some things and realize that I was out of gas... Could be a lot worse, but it was an informative, and chilly ride. Aside from the ignition switch, the bike preformed better than expected. I really need some heated grips, or heated glove liners for this weather. The bike was awesome, but now I'm thinking that I may not be able to permanently repair the ignition switch, and may have to make some other replacement. It will probably be an implement switch for now, as I can get one for free, and "feels" more secure than just a toggle switch for now. Not going to cut into the wiring, I'll make a plug that plugs into the stock harness. Overall happy, but still things to work on.

Guy rides his bike out of his garage onto the snow and slides into his house. Then goes for a ride. Cool!! Say, how'd you get the name Krazy??? LOL..jk glad you got it running.

sounds like a determine krazy to me ... great job ...

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=109955#p109955:3hrr4o9i said:

ekvh » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:30 pm[/url]":3hrr4o9i]
Guy rides his bike out of his garage onto the snow and slides into his house. Then goes for a ride. Cool!! Say, how'd you get the name Krazy??? LOL..jk glad you got it running.

Click to expand...

Sometimes a guy just has to ride! :mrgreen:

We are supposed to get another 6-18 inches tomorrow night... I might just have to knock the cobwebs off the 1200 when I get home from work tonight! :smilie_happy:

BTW those ignition switches can be taken apart and the contacts cleaned up and regreased with dielectric grease. Be extra careful though tiny little pieces are easy to lose.

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=109951#p109951:3724vsbh said:

Krazy48446 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:03 pm[/url]":3724vsbh]
The ride went uneventful the rest of the way, until I turned onto my street.... Old girl spits and sputters then stalls.... Damn... So close to home, push the bike a block to get to my driveway, and check some things and realize that I was out of gas... Could be a lot worse, but it was an informative, and chilly ride. Aside from the ignition switch, the bike preformed better than expected. I really need some heated grips, or heated glove liners for this weather. The bike was awesome, but now I'm thinking that I may not be able to permanently repair the ignition switch, and may have to make some other replacement. It will probably be an implement switch for now, as I can get one for free, and "feels" more secure than just a toggle switch for now. Not going to cut into the wiring, I'll make a plug that plugs into the stock harness. Overall happy, but still things to work on.

Click to expand...

Joel did a great thread about repairing one here. https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6592&hilit=ignition+switch+repair