Topic: Johnie's 76 GL1000 Sulfur Yellow Build

[grcamna2]

Good clean looking project Johnie 

[RAFster122s]

Looks like it will be a fun project and great bike when you are finished.

[BenelliSEI]

Looks fairly complete, including the kickstart lever, that’s often missing.

Another random memory: When/if you pull off the head pipes, look inside. They are double wall and on some bikes I’ve seen, the inner pipe gets overheated (mostly the rear cylinders) and “sags” inside, partially blocking the exhaust. Took me a while to discover on my ‘76. When replaced, felt like 2X the power!

[grcamna2]

Looks fairly complete, including the kickstart lever, that’s often missing.

Another random memory: When/if you pull off the head pipes, look inside. They are double wall and on some bikes I’ve seen, the inner pipe gets overheated (mostly the rear cylinders) and “sags” inside, partially blocking the exhaust. Took me a while to discover on my ‘76. When replaced, felt like 2X the power!

John,that's good to know !
How did you fix them ?

[newday777]

Looks fairly complete, including the kickstart lever, that’s often missing.

Another random memory: When/if you pull off the head pipes, look inside. They are double wall and on some bikes I’ve seen, the inner pipe gets overheated (mostly the rear cylinders) and “sags” inside, partially blocking the exhaust. Took me a while to discover on my ‘76. When replaced, felt like 2X the power!

John,that's good to know !
How did you fix them ?

There isn't a fix for the rusted, deformed inner pipe. Sometimes the inner pipe come loose and rattles around breaking the free flow of the exhaust gasses for smooth operation of the motor.
As John said he did, finding a better set of headers is the only fix.

[BenelliSEI]

I tried making something to drive or press through, but failed. In the end I think I just picked up a used one at a huge bike scrap yard in Peterborough, Ont., or maybe EBay.....

Before that, I just couldn’t get the bike to run smoothly. The fix just made it come alive!

[newday777]

Delkevic still offers a Stainless exhaust system, and just the headers(I'm not sure if the headers are made to fit the original gl muffler??).
4into1 offers the complete system and just the headers.

https://4into1.com/delkevic-4into2-stainless-steel-exhaust-honda-gl1000-gold-wing/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/172558185147

https://delkevic.com/gl10-goldwing-14-muffler-to-fit-gl1000-gl1100-1975-1983-with-2-2-stainless-steel-header-pipes/

[Johnie]

One problem was solved today. The family called to say they found my key. Picked it up and it works good in both the ignition and top cover. I was on cloud 9. Found out the PO had installed electronic ignition. I don't know if that's good or bad. All my 750's had OEM points and I was fine with it. Never an issue. Thoughts???

[RAFster122s]

If it works, then great, one less thing to adjust.
If not, then should be able to pickup the parts easily.
Try it you might like it.

[Johnie]

My list is getting shorter. Found a nice grab rail yesterday, 4 hinge pins & straps for the false tank covers & drivers right foot peg. Seat cleaned up so good. Now looking for the 3 under seat mounts (1 in front and 2 in back). My dealer will do a locator for me which has helped out a lot in the past. Looks like most of the time will be straightening out the wiring issues. Not something I have any experience doing with the exception of the "plug and play" of the 750's. Oh, I can follow the color codes, but the PO cut a lot of wires short. At least I have the HONDA service manual with schematic. I do plan to rebuild the masters & calipers front and back. Nice to keep checking stuff off the list. I do appreciate all the feedback and tips from you guys...very valuable information which helps out a lot.

[MauiK3]

The original exhaust crossed over, I wonder what effect the Delkevic setup has on the engine since it pairs right and left cylinders with no crossover.
I'm sure Honda had a reason for the design.

[Bankerdanny]

The original exhaust crossed over, I wonder what effect the Delkevic setup has on the engine since it pairs right and left cylinders with no crossover.
I'm sure Honda had a reason for the design.

Isn't the crossover part of the muffler rather than the header? That's what I recall from my '77. The muffler was kind of H shaped rather than 2 separate mufflers.

[BenelliSEI]

The original exhaust crossed over, I wonder what effect the Delkevic setup has on the engine since it pairs right and left cylinders with no crossover.
I'm sure Honda had a reason for the design.

Isn't the crossover part of the muffler rather than the header? That's what I recall from my '77. The muffler was kind of H shaped rather than 2 separate mufflers.

Correct. It’s a pretty large (and heavy) “U” shape.

[Johnie]

Been spending a lot of time at my dealer and sourcing parts from the "dealer locator". That is a big help. Also finding stuff on eBay. Geez these hard to find parts are costly. $99 for the 2 rear blinker studs just to mount those blinkers. Drained oil which was super clean as was the filter. Dragged a powerful magnet through the oil and filter not a spec. Wonder if PO changed the oil at the end of the riding season and then bike sat for 20 years? Had the blinkers in my stash and got the front ones in place as well as the headlight and ring which were also missing. I am planning on finding some shocks more close to the OEM so those will be coming off.  I like the look of having the grab rail back.

[grcamna2]

Been spending a lot of time at my dealer and sourcing parts from the "dealer locator". That is a big help. Also finding stuff on eBay. Geez these hard to find parts are costly. $99 for the 2 rear blinker studs just to mount those blinkers. Drained oil which was super clean as was the filter. Dragged a powerful magnet through it and all was clean. Wonder if PO changed the oil at the end of the riding season and then bike sat for 20 years? Had the blinkers in my stash and got the front ones in place as well as the headlight and ring which were also missing.

I like the Honda dealer 'parts locator' Johnie;a good parts counter person is worth their weight in gold 

[Johnie]

Agreed...it also helps to drop off some cheese and venison sausage. Helps a lot when I come in with part numbers too.

[BenelliSEI]

That grab rail looks great. A PO had drilled holes in mine (to mount a rack?) and I recall it took a while to find one. I think the signal mounting stalks I used came from a 77/78 550K?

[Johnie]

Yes, the rail turned out nice. Check out the radiator cap and the Japanese writing.

[grcamna2]

Johnie,did you find the grab rail on Ebay ?

[MauiK3]

Coming along nicely!

[Johnie]

Yes, the rail was on eBay. The guy had 4 of them.

[Stev-o]

Agreed...it also helps to drop off some cheese and venison sausage. Helps a lot when I come in with part numbers too.

Good way to smooze him, Johnie!  Part numbers are a must.   

Last time I went to the dealer for parts the young parts guy was worthless since I did not have the numbers. Never went back, too far anyways, over 20 miles away is the closest Honda dealer.

[RAFster122s]

I downloaded the diagrams and then screenshots of the parts lists a few years back to have a file folder for my CB550 on my computer. I created order lists into an Excel file for things I needed and South Sounds price to creat shopping lists and then began my searches on Alternative sources to see if the parts were out there cheaper...taking into account shipping costs vs just a dealer order.

A few things were ordered from local dealer so I can keep them knowing my face when I drop in for parts or other things. Chain Cleaner by Honda is good value if you use chain cleaner instead 9f WD40. For instance...

Nice thing about South Sound is they are a Suzuki dealer too, so they are my go to for Vstrom parts too...

Having those files ported to my phone allows me to have the info I need if I drop by the dealer and want to see if they can do a parts search.

[ekpent]

   My local dealer has used the nationwide parts search for me a few times.  When I was looking for parts for a Suzuki GT750 I needed some of the exhaust cone tips and gaskets that were used on the early bikes through 1973.  They found me a dealer in Appleton Wisconsin (home of the Claw) who had some still in stock and the price was cheaper then E-bay at the time.  The name of the place was Ecklund Motorsports. They were SUPER friendly and I took all they had. NOS extras are a good thing !  Went back to them for something else again but can't remember for what.  The dealers have to pay an extra fee to be part of that network.

[Johnie]

Eric...Ecklund is my main dealer. Located only a few miles from home. They have seen me there a lot in the last 20 years. They changed their name about a year ago to Hexco Motor Sports. They also sold me the lighted HONDA SERVICE sign a while back. They are good people there.