GL1100 project

TommyRocker

Been Around the Block
Hi all, decided to post this up in case anyone here was interested. It's a 1982 Honda GL1100. The 1100 was the last GoldWing available as a naked standard. I had a lust/love affair thing for the GL1000, but they are harder to find around me, plus I settled on the '82 1100 as the best year for the naked GL's. This is because it has more modern/reliable/maintenance free electronic ignition, better, vented disc brakes all around, and a better highway gear ratio than the earlier GL's, but is the last year before Honda moved to the annoying linked braking system and the apparently problematic and annoying anti-dive forks that were introduced on all GL's for 1983. I'm sure some people love the features of the later GL's, but I wasn't interested. I also have heard people who consider points ignition to be some kind of badge of honor. No thanks, I'd rather be riding than setting up points. While I think it would be cool to have the kick start option of the older GL1000, I have read that it was a useless feature anyways, as it was apparently impossible to start the GL this way, anyways. I don't know, but I figure I won't miss the kick start.

Anyways, I picked it up for around $1,200-$1,300 from an old retired fire fighter. It ran great, was in pretty good shape, and the guy had apparently ridden the hell out of it until he got too old and unbalanced to ride, then it sat. Here it is the day I picked it up, complete with an ugly old WindJammer fairing:
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After I got it home and rode it a few times I realized the forks needed to be rebuilt. They were leaking and by extension had soaked the brake pads in fork oil. Went ahead and rebuilt the forks, replaced the pads, and took the fairing off:
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I rode it all summer like this:
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Towards the end of summer I was heading home one night and a drunk chick who was out celebrating a friend's 21st clipped me just a little bit when she missed a red light. Nothing too serious, and luckily it was wet and slick so the ass end just slid rather than gripping and throwing me down. She ended up tweaking the exhaust, broke the tail light and signal assembly, and twisted the fender pretty good, but that's it:
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She left her address and insurance card, then she and her friends took off. When the cops got there they took down my statement and said they were going to go find her and take her statement. When I got the police report a couple days later it was listed as a "no fault" accident and her insurance wasn't interested in taking care of it. At this point I figured that was a good enough excuse to cut into it and turn it into something more fun. I figured it's a 30 year old bike anyways, the insurance company probably would have just tried to total it and give me $500 anyways, and the damage really wasn't all that bad. So I did the only logical thing. I found a place to park it and tore it apart:
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Once it was stripped to the bare frame I started acquiring parts. Money is tight so it's been slow going. Here is the rough exhaust setup. The headers are from the Jardine 4-2 that was on it when I bought it. The mufflers are cheapy EMGO shorties:
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I got some superbike bars for Christmas:
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And I snagged a Sportster seat from my mom. It was sitting in my parents' shed becasue she put a solo seat on hers:
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First I had to modify the faux-tank so the seat would mate to it:
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Then I had to modify the frame to allow the seat to fit and bolt on and also provide support:
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I no longer have access to a welder and I can't afford to drop $500 plus on a cheaper MIG welder, I posted up a help me thread on the customfighters forum and was pointed to a local guy who runs a small customs shop. Nathan runs Green Machine Customs in Wauconda, IL, which turned out to be only about 5 minutes from where I've been working on the bike. I took it to his shop, then we spent a few hours figuring out how to go about it, he got it done, and we BS'ed over a couple beers{after hours, of course). Real cool guy, and if you're in the area and need some work done, I recommend checking with him.
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Finally got it cut and welded, got the seat and faux tank mated and bolted on, and this is pretty much as it sits now:
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I'm hoping to get it powder coated this weekend, but we'll see how that goes. Joe out in Woodstock is supposed to do that part for me. I believe he's actually on this forum as JRK. I've been trying to get it out to him for months but stuff kept getting in the way. It worked out well because I decided to do some cutting, but I really do need to get that done.
I also ordered a top end kit, I have timing belts, and am looking into putting in a new water pump and getting all of that out of the way so once I get it back together I can just ride with no worries. I'm also gonna have a bitch of a time with the carbs I think. I've only done minimal carb tuning/jetting, and certainly never mastered it, so that should be fun. Hopefully it'll run ok with the exhaust I'm running. The plan is for a cafe-style bike. It's a bit too big to be a true cafe racer but I think it'll be fun. I also took a quick video of the last run before I stripped it, in case you are interested in how these boxers sound running straight headers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ45JFD3cfg&feature=plcp&context=C462c88eVDvjVQa1PpcFPsc0xppMB1ow2YYjc32_-lfNWZ2Wi_erI%3D
 
Like these bikes and have sooo much potential.....looking forward to seeing how it turns out...
 
I've had a hard time keeping this going, but it's moving along a little better now. I got most of the powder coating done. I dug into the engine and should have that all buttoned up this week. I started getting the frame ready to hold the engine again, and that means it's looking more like a bike again. I ordered new shocks so I can mount the ass end and get the frame back on its own two wheels to make engine installation easier. As it sits now...
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Got my shocks yesterday so I mounted the rear wheel. I ordered the shocks Thursday, so they sprung them to my requirements, put all the right bushings in, and got them to me by Monday. I'm impressed. So next on the list is to get the engine back together and mounted back in the frame.
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That's a cool project. I've always fancied those GL1100's. I may have to pick one up in the near future. Keep the progress coming!
 
If you are worried about the carbs, Check Randakks cycle, he has complete kits with a DVD how to rebuild. I think I will bite the bullet soon and order it fro my 1000 and spend a winter freshening up my carbs, I haven't had to yet and I put 10-15,000 miles a season on my GL. Timing belts are a good idea, glad you are doing those, while you have everything out you may want to look into a GL1200 hydralic clutch swap as it makes the heavy clutch on these bikes so much nicer if you ride in traffic at all. I am looking into that for my 1000. just waiting to find a wrecked 1200 to score the parts. There is a complete how to on the NGWclub.com. Nice work so far. Going to be a looker when you get her finished fro sure.

Cheers,

Maritime.
 
Yeah, I was looking at his rebuild kits, I might go that route once I get it back on the road. It ran pretty well when I started tearing everything apart. I was also loking into the dual Weber 40 IDF manifolds he sells, but Webers are EXPENSIVE as hell. Maybe next year I'll start scouring the local swap meets and if I can come up with the webers for a decent price I'll snag the manifolds. He claims ~15% power gains and 7 pounds lighter. When you can do a mod that looks that good AND improves performance, it's a beautiful thing. The only issue would be wet weather riding, as I'm a rain or shine kind of guy.

As for the hydraulic clutch, I'll look into that, I didn't realize it was an option. I never had issues with the clutch pull, but I'm considering going to a more modern USD front end and if it is from a bike with a hydraulic clutch I might make the change.

For now, I have to get the heads finished and back on the bike, so hopefully I can get the engine back in the frame this weekend.

thanks
 
The clutch pull only gets bad for me on long trips with some stop and go traffic. The hydraulic apparently can swap right in with few mods and mkes the action really light compared to the cable actuator. It's been a whils since I read the swap info but I keep it in my mind if I get lucky and find a 1200 for cheap enough to get the parts. My clutch hand was killing me after the 3500 miles I did in 4 days to Mid -Ohio and back.
 
Oh yeah an I noticed your 1100 has 1000 LTD valve covers. I like them better than the Stock 1100 covers. Nice
 
I like where you're going with it. I wouldn't mind building up one myself, it's a muscly looking platform once stripped down.
 
I got some more work done. I got the engine back together and in the frame, as well as the front end mounted. Here she sits.
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I'm going to spend next weekend putting parts back together and making decisions on where to go from here.
 
Maritime said:
Oh yeah an I noticed your 1100 has 1000 LTD valve covers. I like them better than the Stock 1100 covers. Nice

Actually turns out they're Drag Specialties but they look like LTD covers.



I got it running last night. As I get it put back together it looks less and less clean. I'm going to be spending some time giving serious thought into what I can remove, what I can change out, and what I can hide. It's just starting to look too crowded and fat, which is kind of the natural state for a GoldWing anyways, so I have my work cut out for me.
 
Holy shit! How did I miss a GoldWing build... let alone a GL1100!
Maritime: you shoulda PM'ed me ;)

Good stuff so far TommyRocker, glad you posted on my CB750 thread. That lead me to see what you were building. I love my '81 with an '83 engine. Been thinking about re-doing it into something more sedate that the Wifey and I can ride two up for long distances but I just can't bring myself to do it. So much fun getting looks from the Full Dresser / Teddy Bear crowd when they realize it's a 'Wing.

It's just starting to look too crowded and fat, which is kind of the natural state for a GoldWing anyways, so I have my work cut out for me

Hey, Full Figured Gals need lovin too. ;D
 
Ha sorry Hoosier, I figured you'd seen it. Had to not have these girls look kind of wide, you did a good job on the rear end for sure.
 
Haha, thanks. I think ultimately I kinda want it to look like a big ass engine with wheels and a seat attached to it. I like the wide H4 and all, I just don't want it to be to bloated. Too much wiring, too many brackets, too much attached and hanging off that looks sloppy. So I definitely have some work ahead of me. I love the old Wings though. I didn't end up with one by chance, I actually was shopping specifically for a naked 1100. I will say that while it was apart, I had forgotten just how big it actually is.
 
Oh, and I got her to fire up this week. Needs some serious tuning, but it's a good sign. I'll try to get a video. The exhaust is a little wide, but it'll do for now. It's growing on me.
 
Nice, these things will actually run on 1 cylinder and get you home in the worst shape. but when tuned and runnign right they feel like a turbine engine and just haul ass, well at least the 1000 after 4500 rpm does to redline.
 
I've had it down to one bank firing and made it home. Turned out to be arcing plug wires due to clogged drainage holes. I'm fairly certain I need to clean the carbs after sitting so long (I didn't store them the best, either) but I'm debating whether I should go all out and rebuild them with Randakk's kit, or hold off and start collecting to go with the dual Webers (The Webers are my ultimate goal but PRICEY!)

I've got the battery on the charger now so tonight I can try to get it running smooth. I also need to order new cables, so measurements come tonight.
 
I have had the arcing plugs too. Need to address that over winter on my girl, also had timing slip because of crappy phillips screws stripping and not holding, already fixed that with allen drive button head ss screws.
 
Once I cleared out the little drain holes in the plug wells I haven't had any problems, and I ride in some pretty heavy rain. I assume the older bikes have the same drain holes. I guess the road grime clogs them eventually, then you have all kinds trouble with arcing. I also need new boots though, I notice mine were cracking when I put them back on the bike.
 
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