Jan. 21 - Spent the afternoon working on the bike.  I have an extra false tank and spent a few hours yesterday sanding it to get ready for some paint. Today I fabricated a paint area in the garage and went to work on it. I selected a satin red color for the new paint.  I know that using spray cans is not going to give a great result but with a little care it can be better than the 25 year old faded through paint that is on there now.  The tank came out ok. I did about 4 coats total with light wet sanding in between and then 2 coats of clear on top. Started one side panel as well. I could get better results if I really took a lot of time but I will let that wait until I can afford to have it professionally done. this is just to satisfy my vanity of having it look a little better and not like a total piece of junk.

In addition to the paint the switches for the radio came in today so I took the plunge and open up the radio and tried my hand with soldiering iron and removed the 8 old switches and put in the new ones. after the first one it was pretty easy and when I got it all buttoned back up, viola she changes channels now albeit only from the radio unit and not from the handlebar control but one step at a time. Now I realize that the antenna may have an issue as I can only tune 2 channels in and could not get the channel I was listening to on the portable radio in garage, but at least it is a start and I am very happy with how things have been going. So anyone that has a Clarion Type II on an early 80's wing and your radio won't tune go to www.digikey.com and look for part #EG4566CT-ND and these should fit perfect. I paid .26 each plus shipping and I bought 10. I plan to replace the buttons on CB as well.

Jan 17 - Today was a rainy day and I did not get a lot done.  I did get the cup on the front brake master cylinder and got the brakes bled out (I think). In the process of this I snapped the nipple end off a bleeder screw. Fortunately I believe it is for the caliper controlled by the rear cylinder so until I get around to fixing it I will have to wait on bleeding out the rear lines. Bottons for the radio tuner have been order so hopfuly we will get them soon.  That's all for now here.

                                                Keep the rubber side down!!!!!!

January 16, 2010

Let's go over what has happened so far to the best of my memory. I may miss a few details but you will get the general idea.

Jan. 3 - The PO (previous owner) drove the bike back to my house since I could not ride 2 bikes home. After he left I spent some time looking it over a little more and then after picking up a few detail items at Autozone I began to give her a bath. After a basic cleaning I tried to start her and she appeared "dead". I was not worried as she had been pretty wet and had been sitting a long time so I put a charger on her and let her sit. After a few hours she still was not starting so I gave her a jump start with the car and then took her for the first short ride. Was it ever Smoooooth.

Jan. 4-8 - During the week I spent time going over things and getting to know her a little better. I was still having an issue starting her and she seemed to always have what acted like a dead battery. I kept putting the trickle charger on and she would start when she wanted and other times just a click. It was beginning to get irritating but I knew she was going to need some TLC. I worked on the radio and took it apart and cleaned all the connections and internal parts with electrical parts cleaner. the radio will now work but will not change stations. Some web searches reveal that this is a known result of one or more internal buttons being stuck. I will get parts for this later but in the meantime the cassette player works and the speakers work but the sound is terrible. They sound like 25 year old speakers. I also did what is known on the web as the 3 yellow wire repair. What this involves is removing a connector that melts and goes bad buy connecting the 3 yellow wires together permanently. This can effect the charging of the battery. And as expected when I checked my connector the inside was black and melted.

Jan. 9 - I spent the day in the garage and spent a good 4 hours or more working with her. Once again giving her a good cleaning. Scrubbing the dirty seats and getting some of the light surface rust off some of the chrome parts. During the cleaning I added brake fluid and noticed the front master cylinder cup looks to be cracked. I order a replacement online and hope it will be in soon. The remainder of the day was cleaning up the messy garage to make room for both motorcycles in my half.

Jan. 11 - 14 - This week was a mixture of tracking the starting issue, cleaning and now a new problem surfaced. The Turn signals, brake light and horn stopped working. Back to the web for help and it seems the 3 components all share a common relay. I have to remove the seat, lower fairings and false tank to get to the relay. I do that and check fitting and the components begin to work. I put things back together and check condition and all is working. Next road trip to a nearby town where I had met someone at a shop who has a starter rebuild kit and a spare starter to fit her. I can get them both for $20 so I decide it can not hurt so I head to get it. A few blocks from the shop I lost turns signals, brake lights and horn again. I stop and try getting my hand inside to rattle a connection to no avail. No irritated I head home without going to get the starter and kit. As I pull in and reach for garage opener she stalls, I press starter and she starts right back up and I pull in garage and turn off key. Realizing I did not pull in far enough I turn key and press starter to move forward, dead. WTH it just started fine like 15 seconds ago now she is dead. Something is just not right. I stick her on charge and go inside. The next day I take my other bike and go for the starter. My bad luck the guy forgot to put the starter in his truck so I have to go back yet again. In talking to him he suggested, as did a good friend before him, that the ignition switch is bad and that is my issue.

Jan. 15 - Following advice in an online forum I made a modification to the main fuse. there is a dog bone 30 amp fuse that is known to cause trouble. This can be removed and by-passed with a 30 amp inline plug fuse which is more reliable, easier to change and replacements are more durable to carry in a tool kit onboard. After making this modification I again disassembled the false tank and cleaned all electric connections I could find including the relay for turns, brake lights, and horn. These again work and I put everything back together. Tested again, all lights work so I head to Autozone to pick up some 10 and 15 amp glass fuses. I wanted to replace all fuses in the main block as they just look old and replacement is cheap, easy and good for piece of mind. About 3 blocks from home, turns, brake lights and horn stop again, ARGH! Must be something else more complex I am missing but what? Back from Autozone and my used tank I ordered is here. I removed the lock I needed and installed it on my wing and then put in the new fuses. After putting in the fuse I started her and tested things. Guess what? All lights work again. Test drives about 10 miles and all lights worked. Hopefully I had a weak fuse that was failing under vibration of the road. I worked a little on repairing a crack to the right saddlebag cover and the trunk corner and cleaned some more grease off the underside. Also applied some paint to the horrible looking center and side stands.

Jan 16 - Today was time for the longest test ride I have taken her on. I went out to see if she would start and she fired right up. has not let me down since right after the stall mid week. As she warmed up and I readied myself I saw an oil spot on the floor under her belly. It is about the size of a dime. I clean it up but I am going to have to watch this and see if she is leaking or if that was from my cleaning and something dripped after putting her away. Just before leaving the mail came and my Master cylinder cup arrived. I decided since a week of rain is coming I would ride today and work during the week, so off I went. I took a common route that goes about 60 miles in a loop and takes some great twisties, scenic views and a few miles of freeway so I can stretch her legs. She handles like a dream and runs very well. Idle is a little high and low end is a bit rough. I think syncing carbs and replacing timing belts will likely fix both issues. Before returning home I filled her tank up and took her the mile and a half home nice and easy so she could wind down to go back in the stable. It was a good ride and she performed like a champ. As I hung my jacket up I saw a drip of oil on the floor. This is disappointing as I was hoping not to have to open the engine case up. I am going to have to really scrub the belly good so I can see where the drip is coming from and get it repaired.

Upcoming "to-do items" over the next few days will be scrubbing her belly to track oil drip, changing master cylinder cup and bleeding brakes, working on saddlebag cover and possibly begin to lightly sand body and put a rattle can finish on her as she is really in need of something the paint is so bad I am sure she would be embarrassed to be seen like this in public, trackin down why left side of brake light is not working.

1983 Goldwing GL1100 Aspencade - Refurb

On Sunday January 3 2010 I purchased a 1983 Honda Goldwing GL1100 Aspencade. The Aspencade was the Fully loaded version of the Goldwings and include all the bells and whistles available that year.

I bought this bike from the 3rd owner but only second operator. How is that? Well the bike was originally purchased and driven by someone in the SF Bay area. He sold or traded, I am not sure which, to a dealer based out of Portland Oregon. This dealer did not operate the vehicle as his transportation but had it just for resale and sold it to the person who I ultimately bought the bike from.

My Goldwing has seen better days for sure but she appears to be a solid machine and although she has over 175,000 miles she still runs very well. She had been sitting for 2 years before I brought her home and she needed a good bath and some TLC.

I will be outlining the process and steps of her resurrection over the coming days, weeks and months. She needs a lot but over time she will become an awesome machine. My original goal was to buy her, clean her up and fine tune a few things and sell her off, however I have already become quite attached to her so I know that parting with her may be harder than I thought. We will have to see what happens over time and how things play out.

I have started some work on her over the past 2 weeks and tomorrow I will outling what has already happened. Right now I will start off with a preliminary list of things that I want to do to her as part of her resurrection.

*Clean and polish

*Clean surface rust spots from chrome and seal chrome with a good polish

*Repair crack to top of right saddlebag cover

*Repair chip to the trunk cover

*Fix the left half of tail light not lighting

*Fix intermitent starting issue

*Fix intermitent turn/brake light/horn not working

*Sync carbs

*Replace timing belts

*Fix fan that runs all the time

*Change fluids

*Repaint all painted areas

*Pinstripe or airbrush graphics on painted areas

*Recover seat and backrest

*Replace high wattage bulbs with LED or low wattage options

*New grips

*Repair radio

*Replace speakers

*Wire Satellite radio in

*Bleed brakes

*Replace front brake master cylinder cup

*Replace valve covers and timing cover with chrome covers

*Add floor boards and heel/toe shifter

*Chrome caliper covers

*Chrome rotor covers

*Tighten mirrors

This is what I know off the top of my head now and I am sure as things develop the blueprint for her resurrection will change and evolve.