The High Speed Easy Chair (how Cousin_Eddie learned to embrace getting old)

Yet another Cousin Eddie adventure unfolds.

A little background....(I think it's worth the read to set the stage)

Every year I use my work vacation to take a month off, usually the whole month of October. Every year I plan to do something enjoyable with my time off. Every year, fate intervenes and beats me out of that chance.

Last October we were buying another house and I was downsizing my shop and moving. Much hassle ensued. No vacation enjoyment was had. This makes like 11 years in a row that I didn't get to do anything fun during my month off. This makes Cousin Eddie grumpy. When Cousin Eddie is grumpy, he is real grumpy. Grizzly bear grumpy...

A couple of weeks ago I was at work and I texted my wife that this year it could all go to hell, this year I am going to have my vacation, even if I just have to get on my motorcycle and ride off for a month. We texted back and forth, her trying to soothe me. Then a couple of hours later it finally hits her and she texts me "what motorcycle?"...

I'm no stranger to motorcycles. I've had and restored a pile of them. But, I have been without one for a couple of years now, hence the "what motorcycle?" text.

When I got home from work the next day she sat me down and said, go get a motorcycle. When your vacation comes, I want you gone. Get on that thing and go away. Get lost. Get right with the world. Clear your head. Ride the grumpiness away.  Answer to no one. Go any place you want to go. Take your phone, keep in touch.

So, that is the plan. Buy a scabby motorcycle, dirt cheap. Work on it until the fall to make it roadworthy. Take my tool bag. Go places. Maybe it will break down. Maybe it won't. Have an adventure. Worst case the bike fails in a spectacular fashion, I'll grab my stuff, abandon the motorcycle, catch an uber to the nearest airport and fly home, tail between my legs. 

Now, to find the right motorcycle. Like mentioned above, I have had more than a few. Usually smaller and quirky. I have had Triumphs, Royal Enfields, old Yamahas. But, at heart I'm a Honda man. I love any and everything Honda. If Honda made a ball point pen, that's all I would write with. Hondas of any genre make me happy.

So, it only took a few days but I found my motorcycle sitting abandoned in a driveway. Old man bought it new, rode it 24k miles and died. His son inherited it and abandoned it in his driveway. I got it for scrap price.

Pics taken as it sat in the guy's driveway. 

It's old. It was dirt cheap. It's a Honda. It was designed to go places far away. Seems like a good fit for what I'm looking for.

Let's get this party started.

Cousin_Eddie said:

When I got home from work the next day she sat me down and said, go get a motorcycle. When your vacation comes, I want you gone. Get on that thing and go away. Get lost. Get right with the world. Clear your head. Ride the grumpiness away.  Answer to no one. Go any place you want to go. Take your phone, keep in touch.

You got a good one there.  

I've been feeling the wanderlust as well.  For roughly 10 years there I'd drive across half the country once or twice a year.  New route pretty much every time.  Last trip was about 5 years ago, Dad and I driving from Port Hueneme to Tallahassee with roughly a 1500 mile detour along the way.

Hope you enjoy your vacation.

Congratulations! A new motorcycle and a month long hall pass to travel are pure win.

With the exception of replacing the seat (assuming the foam has long since perished) parts should be relatively reasonable as well. Interested to see what it needs maintenance wise and where you choose to invest in upgrades.

It should be an interesting build. I talk a big game about adventure and come-what-may attitude, but the truth is, I am obsessive about mechanical condition and I will be doing a full detailed maintenance from front to rear before the trip comes. 

Nothing wrong with that.  Even an old Gold Wing is an excellent touring bike.

Cousin_Eddie said:

It should be an interesting build. I talk a big game about adventure and come-what-may attitude, but the truth is, I am obsessive about mechanical condition and I will be doing a full detailed maintenance from front to rear before the trip comes. 

 

And that's why you're here. Not on the roadkill forum. 

Cousin_Eddie said:

......I'm a Honda man. I love any and everything Honda. If Honda made a ball point pen, that's all I would write with. 

 

I was a Datsun/Nissan man then I bought a new Honda Accord LX Sedan 5-speed manual tranny and put on 155,000 trouble free miles.  (I do have a Chevy truck)

My wife was a Chevrolet woman and she bought a Honda Pilot - drove to California and back and she loves it.  

Sixteen year daughter bought a 2009 Honda Civic with 200,000+ miles on it and she loves it.  

We are all Honda people now and when we need a jet we're hoping to get a Honda. 

That's awful nice looking for a "scabby" bike!! Sounds like a blast.

Cool bike. Old GoldWings are pretty much indestructible if looked after. 1200, I assume?

I'd definitely change the timing belts before trying to start it, at least if they've never been changed. IIRC the motors are interference motors and the belts weren't that long lived.

Also, depending on how long it has been sitting, it'll likely want a carb rebuild. x4, because they have four carbs. Check out Pistol Pete if you'd rather have someone else deal with that headache.

I was thinking timing belt, spark plugs, tires and go.  Carbs would make sense if some sea foam didn't clean them up.  Yeah, what year?  I remember back in the early 80's riding between Death Valley and L.A. behind one of those Aspencades.  It looked like a Christmas tree with the tail lights. My dad had a '80 GL11, stripped, no fairing, etc.  I rode it.  It was a nice bike and quite fast. He used to ride it from Glendale to Compton and park it in his classroom (Compton High School.)

I'm down for following "cousin_eddie rehabs a [insert whatever]" thread because I know I'll learn something.   

Ask when the timing belt was changed last.  If you don't know, just do it; PITA job but breaking is very ugly.

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. I'll try to keep up with the questions as we go.

It is a 1982 GL1100. So far I haven't seen any evidence of any prior repair work beyond tires and things like that. The front cover bolts have never been touched. Carbs have never been off.

As far as the talk about what it needs to get it going, don't underestimate my obsessive personality.

New timing belts have already arrived from Rockauto. All seals. All fluids, All pumps. If any component has any rubber parts in it, I consider it due for rebuild or replacement on the spot. Nothing with rubber is to be trusted at such an advanced age. I'm currently waiting on an initial order from Babbitts Honda to begin phase one of the heavy maintenance. This will take a while. I'm a little fussy about details. 

This will be more indepth than most folks would go.

Step one. Get another motorcycle lift. I'm too old to work on the floor.

Probably lots of little things to check and do on a bike that's sat that long.  Are you planning on keeping all of the bags and chrome and such?  Fairing as well? 

Water pump is a very good idea.  I remember dad's water pump leaking on him.  I told him "I've had a lot of problems with my Harley (1979 FLH POS,) but I've never had a water pump go out."  He sold it with the water pump leak for more than he bought it new. 

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

 Are you planning on keeping all of the bags and chrome and such?  Fairing as well? 

Having luggage and a fairing is the whole point of owning a Gold Wing.  In any case, he said

Cousin_Eddie said:

even if I just have to get on my motorcycle and ride off for a month.

In which case they're pretty essential.

Hard wire the stator connector!

Today I went through the front of the engine.

This included replacing....

-Timing belts

-Water pump

-All seals and o rings

-Oil change

-Coolant flush

-New radiator hoses

-Valve adjustment

Lots and lots of little nagging o rings and seals had to be rounded up for this phase of the job. All OEM Honda except the timing belts which are Gates from Rockauto.

I'll let the pictures do the talking from here on.

I didn't know Rock auto sold bike parts!

Wow, nice progress already.

Run_Away said:

I didn't know Rock auto sold bike parts!

They actually don't per se. But the forums have figured out the part number for a Gates belt that fits these bikes. So I just ordered them from Rock because the belt apparently fits some car too.

Today I dismounted the ancient Dunlop rear tire and begun the task of freshening up the rolling stock.

The bike will get new tires and valve stems front and rear, all balanced by Dynabeads, and all new wheel bearings and seals. At the same time I'll freshen up the stuff around the wheels like the fork seals, brakes, and rear final drive unit. Much to do...

Now I clean wheels and wait on parts to be delivered.

Coming along.  My friend has a MC tire changing machine.  He got pissed off at the dealership charging so much to change a tire, so he bought a machine.  Anyway, I have found it just as easy to do it by hand on the floor on some cardboard and a board with tire tools. And I don't have to drive 45 minutes to get there.

That water pump doesn't look like that bad of a job.  And I have that same HF bike lift table.

I've always been stubborn and mistrusting of professionals so doing my own tire work is normal for me. On this bike I just used C clamps to break the bead and Motion Pro levers to remove the tire. This is my first bike with tubeless tires so that's a bit of a treat as far as ease and simplicity.

I work 48 hour shifts (fire department) which always causes me to have nervous energy since I'd rather be home doing something on my projects. So, I try to take a subproject to work with me to fettle with between calls. This shift I took the wheels to work and used the big sink in the bay to scrub 38 years of brake dust and grime off of them. My wife texted me that the tires were dropped at the house by Fedex yesterday. The new wheel bearings are due Thursday. So it looks like when I get off work tomorrow morning I'll have some fun putting new tires and bearings in place. I do need to order Dynabeads to balance the tires and some special Moly paste for the rear drive splines. That Moly paste is getting hard to find nowadays. I think I've found some that I like at Amazon.

Dr. Hess said:

That water pump doesn't look like that bad of a job.  And I have that same HF bike lift table.

I read a lot of forum posts on the water pump job before I ever lifted the first tool. Honestly, the average Goldwing forum board member is a bit intimidated by the job and makes more of it that it deserves. I worked causally and had it completely torn apart in 45 minutes. The main thing is diligence to the O rings. There are 8 o rings and 1 seal involved to doing this job. Plus a big gasket. There's a bunch of guys who have missed an o ring and had to completely redo the job. Good lighting, a comfortable shop stool, and attention to detail is all it takes. No challenge for the type of guys on this forum board.