Winter project

[ekap1200]

Tony , hello from n.j. , Did you have to re-ring it ? It looked pretty foul when you first opened her up.

[cushman eagle]

The top end of that engine looks A whole lot better than the original photo .What did you have to do to it?

[Lucasind]

...Hello E-KAP, Were going back a bit here with what I'm about to say...... Because I was told ,the gasket set would be "IN" in a few days ....I waited patiently....... days became weeks ! So my traditional saturday mornings start with a bucket of coffee ,out in the garage , After I did all of this valve/valve seat, cylinder clean-up ....I got "hot balls" to find out what I had with this project.
Sooooo, I put her back together with the old head gaskets, to do a compression check. I had good compression on 3 of the 4 cylinders, and minimal (75 psi) on one ..... Being the optimist that I am ....... of course I attributed that to the re-use of an old gasket ...NOW, I am in possession of the new gaskets. and am at the point that you see in the last picture. I got a refund of my pre-paid $$$, and found the gaskt set on e-bay. This saturday morning's session, will be the end of re-assemby.......... at which time I will know if the rings are stuck into the ring lands on that cylinder , Hoping for the best.... expecting the worst..... as you know, "re-ringing a wing"
( "say that 3 times fast") is no easy task !.......good or bad... I'll let ya know what happens !
more later.............and thanks for caring.......................................tony

[Lucasind]

....Hello cushman eagle . I'm sure you read what I just posted, and am hoping your scooter project of late is going better than mine ........tony

[cushman eagle]

No,Lucasand,my Cushman project has not progressed any ,so far I have lost three ebay bids on blocks ,and am searching for another ,to bid on: :I do have another project going,just before a friend of mine headed to Texas for the winter,he bought a non running 1976 GL1000,and dropped it off for me to get running.It has been run about 500 miles in the last 20 years I did get the engine running with out much trouble .It has been a lot more trouble getting the brakes[total rebuild] and the lights working.

[Lucasind]

....Good luck, with that GL1000 project ! The brakes don't work on this Wing either,just sitting without proper prep is murder on these systems, that's another issue for another day.
I won't worry about it STOPPING, until I get it GOING ..............tony

[Lucasind]

......So over last weekend, I tied up some loose ends with the wing project. now it's time to put fuel to her and keep the fingers crossed, to try and bring her back to LIFE ... I told the guys ,hangin around, that if she starts, she's gonna smoke like a chimney, due to all the cylinder ,and ring soaking I;ve done in the last year, since I bought this HUGE question mark. Cranked it for a minute, and nothin ! So I tried a old trick I developed decades ago. I got out the heat gun and sat on my small stool with wheels, and went around the lift applying heat to the underside of the heads, and cylinders ,for a very long time, then tried the starter again. BAM she fired up .

YEAH, I know ,That's alot of SMOKE ! but that's O.K ,for now, I have some level of SUCCESS after alot of hours of patience, and dedication to resurrect a engine that has'nt been started in who knows how long .


As you can see, I still have the patient on life support, with it running on fuel from my auxilary fuel supply. I ran it for a few minutes at a time,due to not having the radiator on it at this point. A point of interest ,I snapped the next picture, with the engine running at 2000 rpm, thinking that the cam sprocket would have the blur of motion, but I guess NOT ! FREEZE FRAME !



I'm NO photography buff, by no means ! But I did not expect to see NO blurr in the photo of a running engine.

Next I put the radiator back on her , and let her run for a long time, bringing the engine up to temp. Then pulled the drain plug to release the ATF that I put into the crankcase, to do it's cleaning and lubricating.



What a pan full of frothy, condesated, dirty, ATF, came belching out of her. I then filled the crankcase with castrol 20/50 ,that I had already here in the cabinet.....She starts now with the touch of the button ! This bike is not DONE , and ready to ride, by no means........BUT....we all know how to eat a elaphant,
"one bite at a time"......................more later.......................tony

[Lucasind]

....A little update, I ran the fuel tank hanging from the handlebar( I made from a paint gun) empty three times( no more smoke ) ! .....Using diesel fuel and other soaking agents over the last year trying to free her up,also filled the exhaust system with the same,on the cylinders that the ex valves were open.
Sure led to some heavy smoking my neighbor loves me
that's why I bought the last house on a dead end street, I only have one !
(he also has a 82 kaw 1000) and all is good
NOW ,onto the "unified braking system" nothing there works at all either
more later.............................tony

[ekap1200]

It lives, Well no need to set the mousetraps in the shop, looks like you gassed them all.
Seems like it time to get some coolant in her and get some heat up. Good job Tony ,
Doctor Frankenstien has nothing on you, you brought back the dead without any lightening

[cushman eagle]

I have made some progress,but not as dramatic, with my '76 GL1000 project.I traced down the no headlight problem to a failed lighting reserve unit.Due to lack of parts,I bypassed it with a relay.I do not have the fairing back on yet,but I now have power to the plug that feeds it.

[Lucasind]

....Thanks for the replies guys, on my "winter project"...? Seems it has run WAY past any deadline ,that I might have set for this project, as I have found, over and over , with this type of thing,....the more I look ,..the more I find WRONG ..... well... now ,it's on to the brakes, ...as you may, remember,
I was told the ,the day this bike showed up in my driveway, it had been sittin, "a couple of years"....more like 10 ...or ? check this out... plugged up brake lines,... I had to drive out the master cylinder pistons, with a hammer and punch......

After a lifetime of doing this type of work,I know, you don't find this type of solidified brake fluid , that has turned into a sorta chalky, cottage cheese, in only
a "couple of years" . So as I have continued on this nightmare... I went thru my cabinets of stuff, and found rebuild kits that I've had for a quarter century, sittin around, waitin to be used.AWESOME !! did'nt have to spend more $$.
WELL....today,,, I actually got to ..RIDE...the wing !!....IT GOES...AND IT STOPS.
oh yeah,... Gene Kap, I got a big kick out of the FRANKENSTIEN comment
and how did you know I have some mice in my garage,, ....more later..........................tony

[Lucasind]

......O.K.......let's start out with that symbol ......for those of you following this long running thread...... more progress was made after I got done mowing the lawn last night after work(for the first time of 2014) .
the next step....like it or not !..is DEALING with the rusty,crusty fuel tank.
After going thru the carbs, and only running her thru my auxillary home-made fuel supply,and spending no money......so far I feel lucky to have success with the fuel system .so far.! so let's open up a new "can of worms" .
All of you out there ,who have had the pleasure of removing the fuel tank from a touring bike, know that this is no ...1...2...3.. all done , kinda job !
The entire A$$ end of a wing, gotsta GO !



I was able to look the job over and remove much of what needed to go , all in one chunk !



The stock air suspension had been leaking , and making a mess ,all over the back of the bike,for who knows how long... so it gots to go !
I snooped around in my cabinets , and came up with this used set of progressive rear shocks.



After removing more things from the bike than I care to list,(or I assume that you all care to read) out comes the TANK ! I removed the cap ,and sending unit port, to have a good look in side ....looking worse than expected !
To the internet I go. I have done the tank seal kits in the past, they come with a three step procedure, of acid , rinse, and seal. ....some with great results and others not so good! may be more cost effective to get a good tank off e-bay than spend 50 clams to TRY and fix this tank.

I then messed around with parts that I have in my cabinets of M/C stuff to make a acceptable arrangement for the progressives on the rear a nd things are looking good in that area.





So to wrap this up for now ....I know when I get done with ALL of this work, I will be the proud owner of a bike that is worth NOTHING ...(or little)
... But ,that's not why we motorheads do what we do....you all know the rest !
...more later..........................tony

[cushman eagle]

Lucasind,I have been enjoying reading of the progress of your GL1000 project .I am close enough on my GL1000 project that I might,if everything goes according to plans,be able to ride it this Saturday

[Lucasind]

...Good luck with that test ride this Saturday ! What did you find when you got into the brakes that were'nt working ? The best a guy can do , is find the problem , and fix it himself for little or NO money ! .....tony

[cushman eagle]

The ride Saturday did not happen, Since I could push the bike into the garage with only the front calipers removed,I thought I could get by only rebuilding the front calipers and both master cylinders.As soon as I got the rear master installed and bled,I could no longer turn the rear wheel. Now I will have to remove and rebuild the rear calipers.What I found was enough crusty,build up, of old brake fluid to prevent the caliper pistons from retracting.Both masters had a crusty buildup that got between the master bores and the cups to keep them from sealing.Non of the bores were corroded to require honing

[Lucasind]

Hello my fellow Voyagers, a post to keep you all up to date on the red "wing" project.... Over the past couple of weeks, the fuel tank was cleaned out from being rusted. The kit was a 3 part process, the instructions said to take each step slowly ....so thats what I did . step one was the acid soak, I figured it could'nt
hurt to thro a handful of lugnuts into the tank to help the process when turning the tank repeatedly.



In the photo the acid is already in. After that ,the bottle labeled "blast" is step 2
Then the small pint can is the sealant step 3.After all said and done, the inside of the tank came clean.....but..... once again I have my reservations about the sealant.The tank 's outside was primed and painted after repairing a pinhole or two with J B WELD. The tank was installed back into the frame ,and the long process of re-assembly was aided by sippin on a few beers .
I ran a pre-filter before the main fuel filter and can already see that it is doing it's job ! After reassembly I took her out for rides around the backstreets of my neighborhood ( no mainstreet riding.) The fuel gauge did'nt work but after riding her around a bit, things just started working......I guess she's waking up from her ten year nap :lol:So all in all, it was a busy weekend, You can see the connie suspended with no wheels on her as Brian decided he wanted his wheels to be gloss black instead of silver ....That took a chunk of my time !



I decided to leave OFF a bunch of stuff from the red "wing".... and she's lookin
a bit different these days. It feels good after all this time, to be able to throw a leg over her , touch the start button, and go for a ride Here's a look at where it's at this far.



That's it for this chapter, more later......as always ,any thoughts or comments
(good or bad) are appreciated ! .................................tony

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

"any thoughts or comments (good or bad) are appreciated ! .................................tony"
Ok but remember you asked for it! At this point in time, with the "lost parts" you've decided to leave off it I think it looks GREAT!
Seriously it looks like one of the first Wings, before they got bagged. I'll bet its fun and feels more sporty than when it was new.

[ekap1200]

. Your shop looks great. lots of room and bikes all around

And the Honda looks good too.....

[SgtSlag]

Kind of reminds me of Easter... The Honda has come back from the dead. Very impressive, and fun to read. Glad to see it come back to life -- I love older bikes, and Wings are one of my favorites. Cheers!

[debron]

Tony, What bike will we see in Asheville??