Down the Rabbit Hole....

[Cushing5896]

New here. I've been using this site for reference for repairs and tech tips for about a month now. You guys are great at what you do and the experience and knowledge that you have to offer is intense. So today, I'm praying to the GoldWing gods for advice and opinions. I recently purchased a pair of bikes that I, like many others I'm sure, thought was a good deal. I'm an industrial mechanic with what seems to be a large ego. My small wallet and quick thinking may have dug me into a hole. For $500 I sourced an 83 GL1100 and an 82. Both interstates (full bags and fairings). The 83 was mostly put together while the 82 was an IKEA kit, boxes included. The idea that i had when looking at them was to build one naked wing that I can get several fun years out of. My thought process was to leave the 82 untouched as I only wanted the 83 but couldnt pass up a parts bike etc. The PO told me the 83 ran but smoked and he believed the head gasket was bad. I looked it over a little too quick and loaded everything up. After getting things home I found enough chocolate milk in the engine to make any toddler smile and cylinder #4 swimming in straight coolant. I went straight to the water pump and replaced the original water pump and all gaskets and o rings included before tackling the head gasket issue. I have the left side cylinder head (which has 40yrs of carbon build up on it) on the bench now to clean and replace the head gasket. Cylinder 2 has a "steam cleaned" ring around the outside and cylinder 4 has a lot of gunk and build up on it even though it was filled to the top with coolant. As I sit here with my scotchbrite pads and brake cleaner trying to clean this head it occurred to me that the cylinder may have been hyrolocked and blown the rings. As its very much too late to do a compression test on the cylinder, how do my odds look that everything I'm dumping into the bike is worth it, as I've read pistons rings are expensive to replace and not worth doing. Any help insight and opinions are welcome as I'm starting to lose hope the more i think about it. Yes i will be replacing the timing belts, they are sitting next to my head gaskets. And Yes i will be uploading pictures in response to this post, they are on my phone and not my laptop.

[Cushing5896]

Day 1

Just keep swimming

Yummy

Started to strip

Extra parts and extra junk. Everywhere.

Finally got the cover off

Requires exhaust work...

Nightmare fuel

Nightmare fuel part 2

Yeah 40 years will do that....

[WingAdmin]

Is that...your engine oil???

[Cushing5896]

Yes sir. Water pump was stiff and hard to spin by hand when I pulled it.

[ct1500]

You are already committed at this point for just some parts. Broken ring or busted land not too likely. Any sort of time running with one of those would show as a good scratch in the cylinder wall. Is there still cross hatch left in the walls? You got to do the job right which includes the other head with new valve seals, valve removal checking guides, seats and faces, camshaft/valve train inspection. New oil orifice tube seals with Honda head gaskets.

[Cushing5896]

I still have nice hatching in the cylinder walls to my surprise. Honda OEM head gaskets for both sides are here, for some reason my valve seal were shipped seperate? They should arrive within the month. Both sides are a given just based on the carbon build up in the left side, ordered for both sides beforehand just in case. Valve train itself shows a little surface rust on some of the intake springs, not sure how that happens. I've been using Partsfish for parts and they are fairly great about shipping. Is there anything I'm missing other than grueling labor to clean those heads and valves by hand?

[Lucky07]

You're already most of the way to fixing that issue. Sounds like a bad head gasket which was leaking a little between the water jacket and #2 and a lot into #4. That washed ring means water went through the cylinder when it was still running which was likely the cause of the smoking.

Keep scrubbing and use lots of brake cleaner, carbon buildup actually comes off fairly easy. I wouldn't worry about getting it spotless everywhere, it's gonna get dirty again anyways, just get it clean and smooth where it really counts. Anything rubber o-ring, gasket, seal that you touch replace it with new. That'll save a lot of grief in the long run.

I really don't know what to tell you in regards to whether or not you should keep plugging away at this. If you plan on keeping the bike I would fix it up, if you seriously doubt whether or not you will keep it than maybe find something in better shape to invest your time into. You have a donor bike though which is a good start on the road to keeping that '83 alive.

I bought a '83 Aspencade 2 years ago for 950 CAD. I'm into it for about 1200$ or so, maybe 1500$ in repairs many of which were fixing leaks. Kinda lost track of the money I put into it to be honest (all I know is if the Warden knew how much I sank into that thing I might be sleeping on the couch for a few days lol), point being I love this bike and not likely to get rid of it so I may as well spend the money to fix/renew whatever I can. Head bearing is next on the list, then braided brake lines, then adding some driving lights, then a sound system upgrade, maybe LED headlight after that, new seat cover, gotta change the front transmission cover eventually due to a screwed up oil drain bolt from the PO. The list goes on and on, I did the big stuff to get her safe for the road, the rest I do as budget allows. I know I'll never get my money back out of this thing but that doesn't really matter because I'm in it to ride it.

[Cushing5896]

Update:
I'm still plugging along. My valve seals finally arrived so I can stop staring holes through my mail box. I took the head into work to run it through some solvent and to clean my valves up. I have some odd wear marks on the intake valve stems that I'll post pics of. I took off what gasket material I could at work. Itll be brake cleaner and scotch brite all weekend to get the rest. It looks like it's on there pretty good. I could use an opinion or ten, some people use an additive for putting on head gaskets and some dont. I like to use permatex copper spray a gasket for any part that utilizes gasket. I've never done heads on a boxer, some people say put them on clean and plain and some swear by a coating. You're the goldwing gods and I'd love to know what has worked for you guys. Lucky- in terms of the warden, she hasn't checked the books yet so I'm in the clear!

[Cushing5896]

Intake 2 with funny ring

Intake 4 with funny ring

Odd striations

Before and after

Spa day

[Cushing5896]

Mildly concerned by this pitting outside of cylinder 4 on the head

(my cylinder full of coolant at the start of this adventure).

[DenverWinger]

Looks to me between the pitted area and what remains visible of another circular mark about a quarter-inch outside of the compression dome is where the crush-ring of the head gasket sits.

You can confirm this by lining up the head gasket on the head, if the pitting is still visible thru the cylinder hole in the head gasket and not covered by the gasket crush ring I wouldn't worry about the pitting.

Otherwise you could get the head resurfaced at your local automotive machine shop, probably only need to take off a few thousandths.

[Cushing5896]

Update: Took my head to get resurfaced at the local drag specialty shop, they removed 5 thousandths. While I waited I removed the other head to inspect for similar pitting (planned to replace gaskets anyway) and found rather deep scratches that suggest I am not the first person to replace that gasket. Will post pics in my next post. Luckily the shop was able to take it down 5 thousandths and no more. Both heads are ready to be assembled and installed. Would love an opinion on if i should copper coat the new gaskets or put them on dry. I don't think that the 5 thousandths will interfere with the motor but an opinion on that would also be appreciated. I can't wait to have her running.

[Cushing5896]

Right head on the left and left head on the right after being resurfaced.

Screw driver marks around the cylinder wall?

[Lucky07]

No copper coat if your surfaces are good. Put them on dry.

Some may say the contrary but 99% of gaskets are designed to go on dry. Copper coat, adding a slight film of gasket maker etc. should only be reserved for situations where you are mating two less than perfect faces. That or if your re-using the head gasket, although this is usually reserved for track machines when you pull the head just for a look-see or where reliability isn't really an issue.

The proper technique and torque sequence will do you much better than any sealant will in obtaining a proper seal. When I poofed my 83 last year I put them on dry. New head was off another bike, not resurfaced. I just made sure everything was clean and torqued everything very carefully. Runs like a champ and hasn't had a hiccup since.