I'm new here and a bit nervous about posting, but I hope it's OK that I share the story (and maybe some pictures) of my ongoing restoration.
First, the background story: In 2022, I had been looking for a GL1000 for almost a year, when a friend told me there was one for sale in a closed group on a social media site. I joined the group, contacted the seller asking if he could hold on to the bike for one more week to give me time to travel to him, and to my surprise he replied that I was the first person to actually say I was interested in buying the bike. He was sick of people calling to tell him it was too expensive, or people looking for someone to just chat with.
The day arrived and my husband and I went to see the bike. It looked just like in the seller's pictures - well preserved. Of course, it had some issues. Not really surprising, as it's been sitting in a garage since 1987 along with a cardboard box containing various parts. The seller didn't have any info from the previous owner, who was the son of the first owner (the first owner had passed some years ago). The seller had intended to get the bike running again, but after two years he realized he didn't have time to fix it, and here we were. I was in love. My husband and I rented a trailer and with some effort, the seller, my husband and I pushed the bike up the ramp. When we got back home I had to call a friend to help unloading the bike and get it into my garage.
Time went by, and I wanted to get started, but I was also hesitant to do so, because I'm not a mechanic and I've never really done anything like this. I bought a battery, installed it and noticed the left hand turn signals didn't flash, they were always lit when turning them on. That's how I left it for two more years. Then, finally, this summer I ordered new cambelts and tensioners and the project took off.
As I mentioned above, I didn't really get much info from the seller. Here are the known issues when I bought the bike:
- Sitting since 1987
- Wrong handlebar
- Throttle stuck
- Wheels difficult to turn/Malfunctioning brakes
- Cracks in seat cover
- No battery
- Dusty
Speaking of the air filter, the compartment that goes on top of the air filter housing was missing from the bike, but when I started rummaging through the cardboard box I found it. I also found the pouch with almost all of the original tools, and a filthy ziplock bag containing the Owner's manual (thank goodness it wasn't filthy on the inside!). There were nuts, bolts, things like that. Three ignition coils with cut wires. One new OEM front brake piston in its box. A pair of rear shocks. A rusty handlebar. A pair of used grips. Bits and pieces left for me to try to figure out where they should go.
As I said, I'm not a mechanic and replacing the cambelts was intimidating. While working up courage to get it done, I tried to figure out how to get the throttle unstuck. I applied lubricant as best I could to the wires and to the moving parts outside the carburetors (sorry, I don't know what they're called
), and slowly the throttle gave way. Well, that's one thing I could cross off the list 
A few days later, encouraged by the success with the throttle, I finally got the left cambelt and tensioner in place. Happy with the result, I went on to do the right side as well. Nope. Couldn't get the pulley to stay in the correct position. While pondering this road bump, I started looking at the front brake master cylinder. It was a mess. Stuck. I removed the lever (and noticed that the rubber thingy that the lever rests on was worn out), and then I removed the whole master cylinder. Might as well, as I was going to replace the handlebar. Not knowing how to remove the stuck parts from the master cylinder, I let it sit on the workbench while I went on to have a look at the malfunctioning high beam. It wasn't just the high beam that was malfunctioning, the bulb was ruined. No wonder the light was so dim when it only came from the pilot bulb. Oh, and the horn didn't work either. I got a new bulb and put it in and I will replace the horn later.
I turned my attention back to the right side cambelt and finally managed to get everything lined up. Oh the joy!
At some point during all of this, I realized the brake light didn't come on from the brake pedal. Upon closer investigation, I found out that the switch was broken. Easy enough to replace, but now I noticed another problem. The pilot bulb and tail light had stopped working. I studied the wiring diagram, traced wires on the bike, saw nothing wrong. Then it occured to me there are fuses. Yep, one fuse was blown. Ok, well, good thing the spare fuses were still there in the fuse box.
With that out of the way I decided to see if the starter engine works. The result was inconclusive, as the starter relay did nothing. I wriggled it out but at this point I needed a break, so my husband went on to try to persuade the relay to function again. Somehow, he did. Before putting the relay back, I peeled off the insulation from the relay's battery lead and replaced it, as it was badly cracked, and then I tested again if the starter engine works. This time, it started spinning like it should. What a wonderful sound it was! I tried it again, just to get in on film. Then I put the relay back.
Next issue: Both ignition coils had been dismounted from their brackets and left laying inside the dummy tank frame. This was quite the challenge for me. First I had to locate the brackets. Luckily, they were in that cardboard box. Then I had to figure out how to put everyting together. This was the truly tricky part, as I didn't see how they looked before being dismounted. I checked drawings on parts sites, googled pictures, got an idea of how it should be and proceeded to digging out screws, nuts, washers and cable clips from the cardboard box. I think I got the left coil correctly installed on my fifth attempt. It's surprising how many ways it can be done wrong
And, well, that's the current status of this project. I might have forgotten to mention some details, but the overall description is there.
