1976 GL1000 Second time around.

[insanemoondoggie]

In the late 90's I bought 1976 GL1000 basket-case off Craigslist for $600 and spent the winter putting the bikr back to riding condition. {see red pic} Rode the bike for a year, then bought a new Vulcan Nomad in 2001 and gave the Wing to a relative who wanted to start riding but sold the bike instead and I pretty much figured the bike was gone for good.
In 2015 I found the bike stripped down in basement with some of the parts still with the bike, the owner gave me the bike for removing from the basement. When he handed me the title, it was still in my name and had never been transferred 15 years later!
So far I have completely rebuilt the front and rear brakes, and front triple bearings and front suspension, carb's rebuilt to Randakk's spec's, Dynatec coils, timing belts, spark plugs, coolant hose's,thermostat, radiator cap,front wheel, new tubes and tires. Whew! and several things I have forgotten. lol
I'm building my own exhaust using 2 of the smallest glass pacs mufflers Walker makes and a 7 ft piecs of 1 3/4 exhaust pipe, time to drag the Mig out. Also bought a set of vintage AMCO saddlebags, complete with rear trunk and sissy-bar and Shadow Royal fairing, all in excellent condition. Right now my goal is to completely assemble {still looking for little stuff} the bike and have everything in working condition, then strip the bike down to do final paint and detailing, fit and finish.
I happy this old Wing showed back up in my life and excited about riding her again.She is Home to stay for good this time.

[DaveO430]

What are the chances of that happening?

[badandy]

It was your destiny.

[Fred Camper]

Another great bike saved from becoming scrap metal (and plastic). These are special bikes.

[insanemoondoggie]

Thx for the replies . I got the mufflers weld up and patched a few small spots on the headers, they should last a little while, but going to need replaced down the road.
I used electrolysis to clean the tank, which done a nice job but needs to be coated, going to do a POR-15 job on it, which is my next project. I needed to do a little better clean up around the rear wheel area any way.
Thought about trying these rear shocks, Proggressive are $260 and these are $85 , anyone have any experience with these shocks? https://www.saber-cycle.com/store/product110.html#110

[SnoBrdr]

Thx for the replies . I got the mufflers weld up and patched a few small spots on the headers, they should last a little while, but going to need replaced down the road.
I used electrolysis to clean the tank, which done a nice job but needs to be coated, going to do a POR-15 job on it, which is my next project. I needed to do a little better clean up around the rear wheel area any way.
Thought about trying these rear shocks, Proggressive are $260 and these are $85 , anyone have any experience with these shocks? https://www.saber-cycle.com/store/product110.html#110

Don't know anything about those but have been warned by many people not to do business with Saber.

[WingAdmin]

Thx for the replies . I got the mufflers weld up and patched a few small spots on the headers, they should last a little while, but going to need replaced down the road.
I used electrolysis to clean the tank, which done a nice job but needs to be coated, going to do a POR-15 job on it, which is my next project. I needed to do a little better clean up around the rear wheel area any way.
Thought about trying these rear shocks, Proggressive are $260 and these are $85 , anyone have any experience with these shocks? https://www.saber-cycle.com/store/product110.html#110

That's Saber Cycle. They have bottom-of-the-barrel crap made cheaply in Chinese factories, and sell it as no-name replacements for your bike, or as their own "Barracuda" brand. You get what you pay for, so start saving up to replace them now, because they won't last long.

Or...just spend some time reading what other people have to say, then make your own choice: /Vendors/Saber-Cycle_880

[insanemoondoggie]

Now that you mention it, I had heard of a iffy parts site a few years ago, could not remember their name. Thanks for the heads up, had a pretty good size order going to them, sounded to good to be true. Looks like she's going to get progressive shocks rear and springs front, whats another $400, right? lol!
Pulled the tank and have it airing out, well do the POR-15 tomorrow, has to set 96 hours before fuel can be added. Going to just paint the exhaust with black header paint. Will post more pick in a few days.

[DWade1990]

What a cool story! I love seeing these old bikes put back to their former glory instead of getting scrapped or cut up into some cafe racer garbage. Good luck with your project and keep the pictures coming!

[Goldwing7777]

Only 2 good things [so far] with my project bike in boxes is that I found :-

It came with a K&N air filter (but the airbox is missing !) ...
also found a pair of perfect Koni rear shocks.

[insanemoondoggie]

Only 2 good things [so far] with my project bike in boxes is that I found :-

It came with a K&N air filter (but the airbox is missing !) ...
also found a pair of perfect Koni rear shocks.

The shocks will save you $270.00, so far that's the cheapest I could find a set of Progressive 412's. As for the airbox and other stuff you need, here's what worked for me. I installed a big grease board in the shop and keep a list of all the parts needed as they pop up, then when I head for a salvage yard, take a picture with my cell phone so the list is always with me. This is an awesome resource, saved me $$$ viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6742

[insanemoondoggie]

Got the tank done, cleaned it up inside and out. Used POR-15, motorcycle tank recondition kit for the first time and it worked nicely. Clean the rust off the outside, gave it a coat of primer and 3 coats of gloss black engine color. Has to set till Friday before any fuel can be added.

[SnoBrdr]

Got the tank done, cleaned it up inside and out. Used POR-15, motorcycle tank recondition kit for the first time and it worked nicely. Clean the rust off the outside, gave it a coat of primer and 3 coats of gloss black engine color. Has to set till Friday before any fuel can be added.

POR is great stuff and very easy to use,

[insanemoondoggie]

Got the tank done, cleaned it up inside and out. Used POR-15, motorcycle tank recondition kit for the first time and it worked nicely. Clean the rust off the outside, gave it a coat of primer and 3 coats of gloss black engine color. Has to set till Friday before any fuel can be added.

POR is great stuff and very easy to use,

I had used Cream once before with poor results, but the POR worked really well and your right , it was an easy application, hardest parts was pulling the tank.

[insanemoondoggie]

Fuel tank is done and reinstalled, painted the battery box and installed new progressive shocks rear {tx wingadmin for talking me out of the cheapo's} Dynatech module showed up,so may fire it off this weekend.

[GramKate]

I am so glad that you found this bike again. It's definitely meant to be your motorcycle and am glad to read that you are definitely keeping it this time. Good for you.

[badandy]

NIce custom exhaust. Where did you get those shorty glass pack mufflers and how do they sound? Post a video when you get it running.

[insanemoondoggie]

I am so glad that you found this bike again. It's definitely meant to be your motorcycle and am glad to read that you are definitely keeping it this time. Good for you.

Ty GramKate, she is home to stay.
Finished the paint work yesterday, stripped the parts , primed with acrylic lacquer sanding primer surfacer and rattle can Rustoleum black lacquer. {poorboy paint job} After the parts set a week or so I'll polish them out and stripe it.

[insanemoondoggie]

Having problems with the Carbs. rebuilt with Randakks kit and instructional video. High idle, with idle screw turn all the way out , 1-3 carbs sync, 2-4 sync but seems weird., when syncing 1-3 to 2-4 the rpms rise to 4000 rpm.
Before I fired it up I checked
1. Compression when 150 psi all cyliders with in 3 lbs. of each other.
2. Installed new Dynateck coils and ignition system, recheck timing belts and set static timing, has good hot spark.
Here's a short video of what I'm dealing with. When I try to sync to to carb banks it runs 4000 +_ rpm's. Has me scratching my head. I rebuilt them 20 years ago and they were no problem at all. lol.


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[insanemoondoggie]

NIce custom exhaust. Where did you get those shorty glass pack mufflers and how do they sound? Post a video when you get it running.

Those are the smallest glass pac mufflers Walker makes. Just now working on getting the bike fired up, so far I'm happy with it. I have it so I can install a baffle if needed, but will put a few miles on it and see how itrworks out. I'm going for the Porsche 911 sound, but not to loud lol

[truckerpee01]

this is an awesome story can imagine the adrenaline when you found her again it's nice to see old bikes on the road I get a lot of data boys for my 1983 GL 1100 interstate I take great pride in it take great care of it good story.

[insanemoondoggie]

Took a break from the GL1000 and took a trip on the GL1500 out to Mesa Verde. 2409 miles, with about 1400 of it in the rain on a brand new set of E4's. Ran several of the high mountain passes in the rain pulling a trailer and s far liked the way they perform.

[insanemoondoggie]

Okay, back to the GL1000, I pulled the carbs and went back over them with a fine tooth comb, re-polished the slides and set everything up to specs again. Didn't find anything that concerned me.
When I went to install them, noticed the oil was higher in the inspection window, so I drained the oil, about a pint of water came out and of course the the creamy foam. Pulled the tranny cover and water pump, pump was stiff and the oil-rings look like they needed replaced, the one behind the pump looked like it had let go. Ordered new pump and pump seal kit, also order replacement bolts for cover.
Thought about doing the head gaskets while I'm at it, but will put the water pump on it and do a leak down test first. You guys think I should go ahead and changed the head gaskets?

[DWade1990]

I don't see a reason you should have to replace them. Head gaskets and water pump o-rings are two different things. Why open up that can of worms if the head gaskets may still be good?

[DenverWinger]

Once you get the water pump buttoned back up I'd just do a leakdown test to check the head gaskets. I made a tester by smashing out all the porcelain out of a sparkplug, welding a short pipe to the metal sparkplug shell, then an air hose fitting to the pipe. Screw the tester into spark plug hole, get that cylinder on TDC on compression stroke and then put 40-50 Lbs Air pressure into the cylinder. Watching a full radiator with the cap off, if there's a leak, air pressure will start pushing coolant out the radiator.