Topic: Johnie's 76 GL1000 Sulfur Yellow Build

[Johnie]

You got that right Bill. Almost walked away when I saw all the cut wires, but turned out not so bad. Most of those wires were from a fairing he took off in a hurry state...like the missing blinkers and grab bar.

[grcamna2]

You got that right Bill. Almost walked away when I saw all the cut wires, but turned out not so bad. Most of those wires were from a fairing he took off in a hurry state...like the missing blinkers and grab bar.

Yeah,when folks do stuff in a 'stressed out hurry' it messes everything up..

[Lucien Harpress]

Man, that puppy is CLEAN.  You did good with that one!

I haven't picked through all 14 pages, so it may have come up before, but if you haven't put any thought into it, think about getting your exhaust ceramic coated.  These early Wings are notorious for burning through paint, especially on the headers.  I did the Hi-Temp header spray paint thing for the first couple years I owned mine, and it was essentially a yearly maintenance issue.  I finally got them ceramic coated last year, and after a full season they still look pristine.

Regardless, she looks great. 

[BenelliSEI]

Johnie….. That is looking simply Fabulous! Nice work.

[Johnie]

Appreciate the comments and advice guys. All are welcome.

[BenelliSEI]

I did exhaust with a black BBQ paint (large spray can)that I bought at a local hardware store. Three seasons and it’s held up well. Stank like hell and looked glossy the first heat cycle, but flattened out and lasted well.

[Johnie]

Man, that puppy is CLEAN.  You did good with that one!

I haven't picked through all 14 pages, so it may have come up before, but if you haven't put any thought into it, think about getting your exhaust ceramic coated.  These early Wings are notorious for burning through paint, especially on the headers.  I did the Hi-Temp header spray paint thing for the first couple years I owned mine, and it was essentially a yearly maintenance issue.  I finally got them ceramic coated last year, and after a full season they still look pristine.

Regardless, she looks great. 

Dang...already used the high heat paint on the OE exhaust. No holes and in excellent shape with only 15,500 miles on it. I'll maybe get that done when it's time to paint them again.

[seanbarney41]

I have found the high temp spray cans hold up decent until you get caught in the rain...then it turns gray and fails quickly

[MauiK3]

I seem to remember repainting my GW a lot back in the day.

[MauiK3]

The exhaust.

[Johnie]

I have found the high temp spray cans hold up decent until you get caught in the rain...then it turns gray and fails quickly

I try not to run in the rain as most of us...hopefully it holds up.

[Bankerdanny]

I used a standard high temp black when I did the exhaust on my '77 years ago. It held up fine, including in the rain.

[RAFster122s]

I have found the high temp spray cans hold up decent until you get caught in the rain...then it turns gray and fails quickly

yep

[RAFster122s]

Depends on the quality of the BBQ paint or the brand in many cases. Sometimes going cheap leads to bad results. Also depends on how hot the exhausts temps that paint is going to see. That's been my experience. If you can get it hot enough, POR high temp exhaust manifold paint on a sandblasted headers works fantastic. If you don't blast cast iron manifolds on a car before coating sometimes the POR exhaust manifold paint doesn't cure right was my experience . But that was with cast iron manifolds on a vehicle. If I did it today I would use a strong degreaser in a power washer , not brake cleaner, it will kill you when welding and I don't wanna find out if phosgene gas is created when using it on headers that will get exhaust manifold hot temps.
Time to get going, too many phone calls interruptions on this message and it ate my early afternoon.

[Lucien Harpress]

With any luck your paint will hold up just fine, and if it's already done I wouldn't strip it off just to ceramic coat it.  If you ever get to a point where it needs some touch-up, though, at that point I can't recommend a ceramic coat job enough.

There is something pretty special about them Yellow 'wings, for sure.

[Johnie]

Lucien those pics tell the story. Really clean man!

[Johnie]

Carbs cleaned up really well. Picked up some new needle valves. The rest of the brass looks really nice.

[BenelliSEI]

Johnie…. checked my wiring info for the right side bar switch.

1. Kill switch is fed power by a Black/ Brown that comes from a powered “resistor”. When switched ON, power goes back to both coils via a Black/White wire.

2. The start button looks like a Black power feed to one side. When pressed, it sends power pack down a Yellow/ Red. There is also a Black/Red going in from Fuse box?

There is a pressure switch for the front brake light. Looks like a cb750 unit. Not sure where it is on your bike??

[BenelliSEI]

Looks like your brake switch should be on the front brake hose splitter?

[Johnie]

Thanks a lot John. I see the brake switch now. Regarding those 2 black wires from the right switch...as noted there was only 1 female black wire in the loom for those 2 wires. I plugged one in and tried it and got nothing. I plugged the other in and got the starter and all electrical working, but no spark. I rigged up a double female connection for the 2 wires (per member Lucien) and got starter, all electrical and spark. I have no headlight, but I read that these early Wings have a cutoff switch that will not let the headlight come on until the bike is running to preserve all the power to start the bike. So I definitely made progress today thanks to Benelli and Lucien...I so much appreciate your input fellas. The oil light even went off. So I am fired up as I was pretty worried about all the cut wires from the PO. Plus, there is a electronic ignition which I was not to confident would give me spark do to the age of it. I'll keep on at it...

[Lucien Harpress]

You might need to take a look at the headlight later.  There is a headlight cutout when you start the bike, but it only engages when you push the starter button.  So you should have headlight once you turn the key on.

There's a little white light on the dash that says "Light" or some such.  Basically, the early 'Wings came with a Reserve Lighting Unit.  As I recall, if one part of your headlight burned out, either high or low beam, it would automatically switch to whatever was left so you didn't lose your headlight completely, and would light up the indicator to let the rider know.  As they got old, these RLUs tended to fail and made weird stuff happen with the headlight.

Or your bulb's burned out.  Either/Or.   

Electronic ignition was a popular upgrade for the 1000.  I'm not quite sure why, but putting the points on the rear of a camshaft made them an absolute pain to set correctly, so a lot of guys replaced them.  I've got a set of old Dyna pickups on mine and I love 'em.

[BenelliSEI]

The RLU can cause issues. We had one that ultimately got replaced and was the cause of some weird stuff happening!

[Johnie]

I did check this headlight before putting it in and both filaments were good. I'll pull it and check again and will look at the RLU and report back.

[Johnie]

Headlight issue found. Prior to starting this project almost a year ago I checked the fuses. Looked again and found the headlight fuse had a very small crack which took a magnifying glass to see. Replaced that fuse and all is well now. Thank God for an easy fix.

[BenelliSEI]

I check fuses in the holder, using a 12v. probe test light. Surprising how often there is no power across the fuse block with a fuse that looks fine to me! Seems to happen more often in the past few years?