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GL1200 Combo - 84 Asp + 87 Int

4K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  brianinmaine 
#1 ·
I'm looking for some information and opinions around combining the best bits of an 84 Aspencade and an 87 Interstate. I've been looking for a winter project (I know winter is over... call me a chronic procrastinator!) so I thought I'd do a motorcycle project instead of an automotive one this time. Since I love travelling on my existing bikes (a 2001 GS500 and a 1991 Nighthawk 750), I've been wanting to get something that was actually built for that sort of riding so I thought I'd combine that desire with my desire to tinker with a project.

Basically, the '84 is purported to have a good motor with 60k on it (I heard/saw it run and it was driven onto the trailer), but the starter is toast (my fault after I got it home). The compressor for the air suspension works, as does the digital dash and all the lights on the luggage. There is some leakage from the rear wheel, so there's something wrong with the shaft drive somewhere. When it's running, there's clean coolant escaping from somewhere, but I haven't really narrowed down where it's coming from, other than to say that it's first visible under the carbs on the right side, so it could be a loose hose or a bad gasket somewhere. The front brake reservoir is absolutely slopped with JB Weld, so I suspect that has a crack in it that has been "repaired", and the choke level is broken off. The fairings and luggage are mostly intact, but the paint is faded and swirled pretty bad. Front and rear tires are both in very good condition and don't show any dry rot. Biggest problem with this bike is that it has title issues so the frame's pretty much worthless to me except for what I can get from the scrap yard.

The '87 runs, however, the solenoid is shot so it takes some convoluted jumper cable magic to start the bike. The shop that I bought it from said that it had low compression and the bike does smoke a bit, so that motor isn't long for this world, even though it only has about 70k on the clock. The luggage has had some holes put in it to accommodate some aftermarket speakers, so I probably won't use that particular trunk. The other big problem with the bike is that it is orange. Apparently, the guy that used to own it really wanted a Harley so he gave this thing a hideous orange w/ black trim paint job with extra orange peel and a large side of overspray. Otherwise, the bike is in okay condition, and other than burning oil, actually rides pretty well.

I know that there are some differences between the '84 and '87 motors, but my overall plan is to completely tear down the '84, since the VIN is basically worthless. I was thinking that I can pick through the various fairing and luggage bits and use the best from each bike to repair, sand down, prime, paint, and clear so that I'll have something that looks decent -- although I won't be using an original color. For mechanicals, I'd like to pull the '84 motor and put it in the '87 frame. With the engine out of the bike, I'll go ahead and do the timing belts as some cheap insurance. I have an irrational attachment to the digital dash, so I'd like to bring that bit over, along with the associated bits for the speedometer and such. I'm honestly not sure if bringing the air suspension over is worth it, but I'm open to opinions on that. There are some other bits on the '84 that I'd like to move over, like the engine guards, floorboards, forward pegs, rear saddlebag guards and the like. Both bikes have terribly hacked-in aftermarket radios, so I'll need to devise something that actually works and doesn't awful, but that's probably one of the last things I'll do.

Questions that I have, though: Are there any major differences between the two years and styles that are going to be major projects to overcome? I know that the motors are different, and that it's probably best if I swap gas tanks along with the motors. I also seem to recall that there was a different pickup on the back of the motor for the digital dash than for the analog. Also, I understand that the starter might be a bit different. What is different about it? Is it a matter of fabbing up a new bracket? I've got a couple core '84 starters, can I use the housing from one of those to put the brushes and such from the '87 in so the holes all mount up, or are they more different than that? What's the value of keeping the air suspension?

That worked out to be much more long-winded than I intended, but I'd love to hear any comments or advice you've got to give!
 
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#2 ·
Your comments about the tires scares me a little, but...

...Maybe you'd be better off pulling some of the guts out of the '84 motor and putting them into the '87 motor. That engine has some advantages in gearing and output shaft, plus the very big factor of the PGs in the front of the motor.

As far as the plastic, I think the bags and trunk are mostly interchangeable but not the fairing. The whole thing would have to be swapped. Not a really big deal.

The entire fuel systems are different, from the gas tank to the carbs, so you will have to pick one and go with it.

As far as the gauges go, get over the digital. Analog units are far more reliable.

I guess that adds up to; fix the '87 with parts from the '84 when applicable.
 
#3 ·
Questions that I have, though: Are there any major differences between the two years and styles that are going to be major projects to overcome? I know that the motors are different, and that it's probably best if I swap gas tanks along with the motors. I also seem to recall that there was a different pickup on the back of the motor for the digital dash than for the analog. Also, I understand that the starter might be a bit different. What is different about it? Is it a matter of fabbing up a new bracket? I've got a couple core '84 starters, can I use the housing from one of those to put the brushes and such from the '87 in so the holes all mount up, or are they more different than that? What's the value of keeping the air suspension?
You would have to swap the entire wiring harness but that's no big deal. The 84 has the PGs in the rear of the engine vs. front on all other 1200s, again no big deal. The pickup for the speedometer on the 84A front wheel would have to be used. 84 starters are a 1 year only, different mounting, don't know if any of the internals would swap out. The air suspension, :? whatever floats your boat.
 
#4 ·
If the bikes have not been run much for a while I would get some miles on them, if possible, before tearing things apart. Then see where you are with smoke and compression. Test the compression hot with the throttle wide open.

Moving the PG wiring from the front to the back or vise versa doesn't require a new harness.

Don't be too anxious to tear things apart until you have a good idea what you really have. KISS!
 
#5 ·
Thanks for all the input! While I'm not a novice to bikes or automotive builds, I am definitely a Goldwing novice so I appreciate being told that I might be embarking on stupid! It's so much easier to correct stupid before it happens, isn't it?

I have started tearing down the older bike: Because of the title status, all it's good for is spare parts or scrap, so I might as well dismantle it to give me more room in the garage and to better document the condition of the parts it will give me. I've dismantled a few cars in my days, so I've got a pretty good process of photo-documenting the teardown, saving and cataloging every fastener, and tagging and storing all the various component parts.

It sounds like the air suspension isn't a big deal, so while I'll put those parts on the shelf, there isn't much point to rushing to slap that on the "good" bike. I'm also working on giving up my grew-up-in-the-eighties fascination with the digital gauge cluster. You're telling me something that I have to admit that I kind of already know but was trying to whistle past the graveyard on.

I did go ahead and get a new solenoid ordered so that I can get the '87 fired up to ride around a little bit. It's a little hard to do that with a couple sets of jumper cables hanging off the side! For now, I'm not touching that bike at all other than to sit on it and make vroom vroom noises with my mouth. The shop that gave the low compression prognosis appears to be a fairly reputable place, so I'm hesitant to think that it would be a stuck ring that some Seafoam would clear up, but nobody's perfect and I've seen that stuff do some magic before, so I'll give that another try. Before that, of course, I'll go ahead and get it good and hot and do my own compression and leakdown tests on it so I can try to determine why there's low compression.

The biggest problem to overcome with the '87, though is truly this:



That picture makes the Orange-and-Electrical-Tape paint job look about a million times better than it really is. And the overspray! Once I have the mechanicals sorted, the best body parts from each bike can be picked out and then painted properly in a color that isn't so... orange.

Thanks again for the input!
 
#6 ·
I got a new solenoid ordered and installed so I could get the bike up to temp and check the compression myself.

#1 = just shy of 155psi
#2 = 160psi
#3 = 160psi
#4 = just shy of 160psi

This is after the bike has been basically sitting for at least a couple months, my testing order was 4-2-3-1, I didn't drag the battery charger over, I just idled the bike until the temp gauge was just entering the white section, and I did remember to keep the throttle all the way open.

That seems like good compression to me. There is that one cylinder that is a bit of an outlier, but I've always worked on the principle that if they're all within about 10% of each other, you're probably fine. I assume that holds for these motors as well? The searching I've done here seems to corroborate that, and I'm wondering if the shop that diagnosed this as low compression wasn't keeping the throttle open? The first test of the first cylinder had me worried because I forgot that step and barely recorded 90psi!

I also discovered that all the smoke that the bike was putting out is from oil leaking from the engine -- I think the valve cover, but I couldn't really tell -- onto the exhaust pipe as it sits and then burning off. I think I can handle that.

It's starting to look to me like you guys were spot on with your advice, and I greatly appreciate it!
 
#7 ·
So you are saying the '87 motor is good? That's a bit of luck.
As far as the leak goes, I'll bet...
...if it's on the left side, it's the shift shaft seal. If on the right, it's the rear cam seal.
Unless somebody tried to fix something, those valve covers just don't leak.
 
#8 ·
So you are saying the '87 motor is good? That's a bit of luck.
As far as the leak goes, I'll bet...
...if it's on the left side, it's the shift shaft seal. If on the right, it's the rear cam seal.
Unless somebody tried to fix something, those valve covers just don't leak.
Well.... yes they can. But you are right, the shifter shaft seal is much more likely to be the cause of his leak on the left side. Another source of oil leaks from the valve covers could be the rubber seals around the bolt heads for the covers.
 
#9 ·
It is on the left side, and there was a lot of oil around the shifter, so I'll start looking there. By the time I was finished with the compression test last night, I was a little too wiped out to rearrange my shop lights to get a good look under the bike and trace the oil leak. I've just run into a lot of leaky valve covers in my time, so I usually start looking there just by reflex! Hopefully tonight I can get out there again, set my lighting up right, clean up the area really well, and then find the source. I think I still have some of the UV tracer additive I can put in the oil if it gets hard to find, but it rarely comes to that.

Thanks again for the tip on where to start looking. I feel like I have made a pilgrimage to the foot of the mountain!
 
#12 ·
Good news on that compression

That's good news on that compression and I will bet they are spot on with that shift shaft assessment. Glad you got her going. I'd ride her for a while and then deal with that hideous (your words) paint job. The fringe benefit of that paint is you ARE likely to be seen! :ROFL:
 
#13 ·
Yep, that's my plan right now. I'm going to put the good tires on it and replace the missing mirror and then see about putting a few hundred miles on it. I figure that will help me build a pick list of what needs to be done while I work on painting the '84 body work. That way I can take it off the road to do the timing belt, swap all the fluids, get that oil leak plugged, do whatever else needs to be done, and then put the finished body work on.
 
#14 ·
By way of an update, after sorting out the wiring on the replacement solenoid, I took the utlra-high visibility machine out of a quick ride the other day. Just a quick trip around the neighborhood streets at first, and then a quick trip down the main drag and back. Figure maybe 10 miles, if that. The bike I've ridden for the last decade or so has been a '91 Nighthawk 750 so this was certainly a lot bigger and heavier than I'm used to, but it is so much more comfortable and rides so much smoother. I just need to re-train myself to pick my feet up after a stop without banging my boots on the bodywork! Other than the fan not kicking on (fuse is good, next step is to check the fan itself, then I'll go after the thermo switch), the bike runs absolutely perfectly.

I have the '84 pretty much completely disassembled so I'm going to get the fluids and tires swapped, fix the fan, do the timing belt, and just ride it while I fix and paint the Aspencade body work. And even though the disassembled bike takes up a little less room, I think it's going to be time for a garage sale to get the parts I don't need cleared out! It's getting pretty crowded having four bikes, a car, and a dozen tires in a two-car garage while I've also got a table set up as an extra workbench for working on an automotive transaxle. :)
 
#15 ·
Glad you got things going. As for that title issue on the one bike, can you do a title search, get a duplicate and then maybe get the last owner to sign it over to you? Or maybe a salvage title? Just curious as I love to hear you got both going and back on the road!
 
#16 ·
And two thumbs up on the GL1200 UHV! Ultra High Visibility! That's funny right there!!:ROFL:
 
#19 ·
Looking Good

I'd have to say that you are going in the right direction. Combining parts from two slightly different though basically the same model bike can turn in to a night mare and an extensive search for parts.
 
#20 ·
While I could probably get the paperwork with enough time and effort, I'd have to deal with a bunch of shinny happy people to get it done, I'd have to spend some money as incentives, and then I'd still need to track down about 800 bucks worth of parts to make it a rider again. That would probably involve another parts bike. I know where this goes and as much as I truly enjoy building them, I like riding them a lot more :)

I'm glad everyone appreciates the ultra high viz modification, but I'm afraid that I am very anxious to return it to a slightly more stealthy configuration!
 
#21 ·
I realize I'm dragging a thread back from the dead... but I hate reading stuff like this on the Internet and never knowing how it turns out...



Thanks to the advice I got here, I went ahead with the '87 and used the '84 as a parts bike. While there were a few differences here and there, most everything was a perfect swap. I did find that the front rotors on the '84 Aspencade were vented while the ones on the '87 Interstate were not. That meant that swapping the wheels over also meant swapping the caliper brackets in the front in order for the bracket to be able to clear the thicker rotor. I also found that the '84 fairing is just a tiny bit more narrow than the '87 so I couldn't use the chrome trim plate.

There's still some work to do -- there is so much overspray still on the engine and the engine guards! -- but I was finally able to get it out and ride it around the other day and it rides great. There were a ton of terrible repairs made to the bike before I got it, but now that all of wires are connected to the ignition switch and all of the nuts and bolts are attached to the suspension, it doesn't overheat or rattle at all! Go figure, huh?

As far as the color change goes, I used mostly the plastic from the '84 and after sanding them down to smooth out the old pin striping wound up using 3M 1080 Gloss Blue Metallic vinyl wrap. I'll never paint a vehicle again -- that stuff is just great to work with. Now you'll excuse me, but I've (finally) got a Goldwing to ride! :dance:
 
#22 ·
Most excellent! Glad you came back to show us your work! Been thinking about painting mine, I will have to look into that vinyl wrap.
 
#24 ·
Thanks! I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on the durability. In theory, the wrap is supposed to be good for 3-5 years and since the bike is stored in the garage when it's not out on the road, I should be closer to the 5 year mark. On the other hand, a couple of the edges have come up in one or two places, although when I pressed them back down they've stayed put so far. In retrospect, perhaps I should not have trusted the folks that said the 3M primer/adhesion promoter wasn't necessary around the edges.

Curious question about the seat, though. I was going to send the worse-for-wear seat off to have it re-upholstered and use the "better" one in the meantime. I'm fairly certain, though, that the seat on the bike now is the '87, though. So, maybe the orange-addicted PO had already swapped seats on me?
 
#28 ·
To be fair, the vinyl wrap does have a lot of seams and if you're right up on it you can see them. This was my first attempt to wrap anything and there are a few parts that I will likely go back and re-wrap at some point since I learned a lot during the process! I've gotten myself totally bogged down in projects before trying to get it "perfect" though, so this time my goal was to have a bike that would look 90% perfect from 4 feet away and I think I've accomplished that. Otherwise, I'd still be trying to wet sand and layer paint.

The wrap comes on a 5' long roll and I found it on eBay being sold by the linear foot. I started out with 2ft, so a 2'x5' section just to try it out. When that worked, I bought another 30', but I way over-estimated how much I would need. I've got right about 13' left, so right about 20' worth of wrap at just over $10/foot. I also had a couple bucks into some carbon fiber print vinyl that I used for the bottom triangles of the right and left side covers. I may use some of that on the dash area, but I haven't decided if I'll like the look of that yet. All told, I think I spent about $350 on vinyl, with easily $130 worth still sitting on the roll, unused.

The big benefit, though, is that I could apply the wrap in any temperature and humidity, I didn't stink up the house with paint fumes, and it was easy to go out and apply wrap for 15 minutes and then put it down and come back later. It was easily a tenth of the amount of time I would have spent shooting primer, sanding primer, shooting more primer, sanding primer, shooting several layers of base, doing more sanding, then putting on a couple layers of clear, and sanding yet some more.

The best I can say about the contours is that I accepted the fact that there would be seams and I just managed where I was putting them to make them less conspicuous. The absolute hardest part to do was the middle rear fender panel between the sidebags. The heat gun will give you some flex in the vinyl, but it only stretches so much, and just like wrapping a present, you'll eventually have some folds to deal with around the corners. Sometimes you can stretch it out past time, sometimes you need to cut and seam. Using a super sharp X-acto knife and knifeless tape are keys to getting good seams and having edges and corners that don't look awful.
 
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