79 GL1000 Project "NudieWing"- Lifes more fun naked

[Maritime]

Ok, since my father in law is using my 450 to learn to ride, I have His GL1000 to ride until he is comfortable enough to swap back.  The budget for this build is 0 or less.  I got it home last year and immediately took the vetter off.  He liked it but it was loose and after inspection needed glass work so had to come off.  I hope it never goes back on.

The good:

It runs pretty good
I like the colour
Has loads of power.
Has new tires


The bad:
King and queen seat doesn;t work for my height it was designed for someone about 5' 2"
Back rack has to go
Front brakes drag
Rear shocks are mushy
bars are too bloody high

So with pretty much 0 $$$ I am going to do what I can.

I got lower bars for 27.00
I got some leather for 30.00
15 dollars for thread and the proper needles.  
father in law bought some shocks from a neighbor who had a wing and never got around to putting them on.

Pics of what it looked liked first day home, then what it looks like as of now.

[Maritime]

OK so the plan tomorrow is to ditch the rack and bag brackets off the back end, mount the new shocks and if it is warm enough give the brakes a service. Then swap out the bars for the lower ones. Then I am going to work on the seat cover.  I tore the old seat apart, well it was falling apart anyway, it has a fiberglass pan, weighs next to nothing, that was  a nice surprise   I shaved the seat down and have 3 pieces of black horse hide I got from the tandy store. I have re finished many pieces of furniture so I hope to do a nice job on the leather for the seat.  I need to find a pop rivet gun to borrow. I can't spend anymore money on this from today on, until my wife finds a job.  She was nice enough to let me get the leather and the sewing stuff.  She thinks if i do a good job her dad will pay me for the materials.

Pics to follow once I get the work done tomorrow.  If I can get the shed open.  It has been frozen in 3' of snow but it was 5 above today and supposed to be the same tomorrow. I should be able to get the ice moved.

Fucking winter better end soon!  This is also the bike I will likely ride to Troy's in July so I better do a good job.  If the budget allows I am planing on a major weight reduction on this thing.  The fenders and other parts are solid steel and heavy as shit. I want to replace them with smaller fiberglass pieces.  Also would like to upgrade to electronic ignition.

Cheers,

[Rocan]

off to a good start...

ive been having wet dreams of owning a gl1000 or gl1100 for the past month or so. i want to have the ultimately powerful cafe...

a gl1100 with dual turbos would be ultimately sick. could always supercharge, but i want the satisfaction of hearing two turbos spool up at 4000 rpm to redline =D

[Hoosier Daddy]

Nekid 'Wings RULE!
I'm in the middle of an '81 1100 build myself. If you got an electric carving knife, the kind you use on a turkey or ham,  they do an awesome job on seat foam, and yes lots of weight savings potential by stripping off the extra iron.
Lurk around or join us at www.ngwclub.com for other ideas, their "ShopTalk" and forums sections are a wealth of knowledge!

[VonYinzer]

off to a good start...

ive been having wet dreams of owning a gl1000 or gl1100 for the past month or so. i want to have the ultimately powerful cafe...

a gl1100 with dual turbos would be ultimately sick. could always supercharge, but i want the satisfaction of hearing two turbos spool up at 4000 rpm to redline =D

And than go BOOM!

[Maritime]

Thanks guys, just made the wife B-fast in bed and I am heading out to the shed.  Hoosier, saw your build it looks sick. I may end up inheriting this bike and if i do it will get a treatment very similar to yours.  Frame up re-do into Cafe.  been lurking for a while on the naked wing site Just never had anything to post there yet.  I have used the carving knife trick and it does a beautiful job on foam, just wrecked my last one on a sofa re-do and never got another, so I had t use a bread knife to do this one.  I have polyester to smooth it out before the leather.   Hey Von, if you look into these motors you'll see they run at about 50% potential, the first generation are tuned so mild that twin turbos is not that radical.  the blocks could easily take it.  That would be crazy.  Liquid cooled, twin turbo, I don;t think I could ride it though.  I would end up wrapped around a tree.

Cheers,

Maritime

[AGB-1]

Thanks guys, just made the wife B-fast in bed and I am heading out to the shed.  Hoosier, saw your build it looks sick. I may end up inheriting this bike and if i do it will get a treatment very similar to yours.  Frame up re-do into Cafe.  been lurking for a while on the naked wing site Just never had anything to post there yet.  I have used the carving knife trick and it does a beautiful job on foam, just wrecked my last one on a sofa re-do and never got another, so I had t use a bread knife to do this one.  I have polyester to smooth it out before the leather.   Hey Von, if you look into these motors you'll see they run at about 50% potential, the first generation are tuned so mild that twin turbos is not that radical.  the blocks could easily take it.  That would be crazy.  Liquid cooled, twin turbo, I don;t think I could ride it though.  I would end up wrapped around a tree.

Cheers,

Maritime

Take a look at the Naked Goldwings Forum. Lots of good ideas and info. AGB-1

[Rocan]

And than go BOOM!

as maritime said... the gl1100 is one hell of a strong motor. a supercharged motor was already built.


i know i could turbo it... plus a turbo on each side would look sick. all i need is a bike and the time.


my favorite thing about these gls though has to be the cam belt. especially when the cover for them is taken off. god that looks sexy. reminds me of vintage f1 motors.

[VonYinzer]

Supercharging and turbocharghing have very different effects... Not saying its not possible, just tricky...

[Maritime]

Well, my plans got a little sidetracked.  I posted my last post, then my wife finished breakfast and said "Where are you going?"  I said out to the shed, She said you have to build the shelf in the basement first....... So I did the honey do list... then got out the seat pan and sewing machine,  Sewed a cover, had to go to the grocery store, ended up right beside Canadian tire, had 20 left form groceries just enough for a riveter.  Anyway seat is much sleeker now,  I think it looks good for a first attempt and tight budget. 50.00 total if you include the riveter.  but i get to keep that for other projects.  The pics on the bike are right after a coat of mink oil was rubbed on the leather.  So it looks wet.  Guy at the leather store told me to put a couple coats of it to protect it.

Would have liked to get the shocks and bars done but I still can't ride for at least 2 weeks so I hope to get done in the next couple days.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Nice job on that seat considering it started like as a sofa!
and I don't count tools in the cost of a bike build exactly for the reason you commented on, I can use them on other projects, even honey-do lists.

Take a look at the Naked Goldwings Forum. Lots of good ideas and info. AGB-1

Thats the place I suggested, www.nakedgoldwings.com lost their rights to that addy, it is now www.ngwclub.com, same place, same info.

[Maritime]

thanks Hoosier.  I wish I could have had some more polyester bat to smooth under the leather just a bit more and my thread kept breaking on the thicker spots so some of my seams aren't perfect but much improved over the giant ass cup seat it was.

[Rocan]

Supercharging and turbocharghing have very different effects... Not saying its not possible, just tricky...

wouldnt be fun if it wasnt tricky 

seeing as how its not a high rpm motor, smaller turbos would need to be used. you could probably run close to 15psi though... long as the compression is low enough on the pistons. would loose some bottom end, but what you gain would make up for it 


seat looks great by the way! tools dont count in my book... seeing as how youll have them for a long enough time that theyll get used more then once, they are a necessity

[boingk]

Hear you on the tools, part of the reason I bought a Dremel 400 series full kit to use on my shitty little Kawasaki 100 - I know it'll be of use for other things.

[rant]

Anywho, good to see a few Goldwing builds around, but God knows why you'd want to turbocharge an engine with these sort of characteristics. A supercharger would be much more practical and suit the low-down torque characteristics of these engines. People moan on about parasitic drag and whatnot, but one thing I hate is turbo lag and the complicated exhausts. Plus, turbos destroy the natural scavenging the exhaust provides and buggers economy. A well set up supercharger should improve economy, provided you keep your right hand in line.

[/rant]

Cheers - boingk

[Maritime]

Hey Boingk, I know what you mean. These things don't get the best fuel economy to begin with.  I have a huge problem using my right hand a lot and get the shittiest mileage   But I have a huge grin factor.  It would be cool to cafe completely one of these and remove as much weight as possible, then crank up the performance wether it was turbos/suopercharger etc.  But as one fo the guys said on the NGWCLUB. " why do tjhese bikes use fuel like it's free after 75MPH?" and they do.  But for me this bike is going to be a little more sporty but still a long distance 2-up bike.

Cheers,

Maritime