[AquazulWinger]

Hello everybody. After spending my whole life riding Ninjas I finally bought my dream machine. She ("PoCoHontas") is one owner, garage kept 1984 Aspencade with 29k original miles and if the 300 or so ive rode her I will say shes everything I dreamt she would be.

With that said, here's my problem. A few weeks ago one of the timing belt tensioner bolts backed out, she jumped time, piston hit valve, valve broke and trashed the right rear cylinder. Although I grew up twisting wrenches and have rebuilt dozens of engines, I am a newbie with Wings.

A friend of mine owns a used bike repair and parts shop sold me a 1986 Aspy that was seized from water sitting the left rear cylinder. After using Evapo Rust and honing the cylinder it still has some mild to moderate pitting. Its a shame because the engine only has 52k original and is otherwise in excellent condition. As such I bought another disassembled lower end that will be arriving today.

One of my many questions that are surely to come is can my original 1984 engine be resleeved/relined? If so does anyone know if and where I can buy the sleeve/liner? In a perfect world I would like to repair and keep her original engine.

My next question is if thats not an option can I replace the 1984 engine block halve with one of the 1986's I bought. Ive read alot of threads on this site and have gotten lotsa mixed answers. Actually they are more like opinions. Has anyone actually done this?

And I know alot of people are going to say look for a used engine instead of rebuilding. And while thats fine, I intend on owning this bike for life and though it sucks to have to rebuild it, I love restoration projects, am utterly fascinated with the GL1200 engine and look forward to rebuilding my original engine from top to bottom.

Any and all advice, help and guidance is very appreciated. Oh, and I am so addicted to my new Wing that I went out and bought 1989 1500 Aspecade to kill the Jonezes. And though its a nice bike it doesnt feel near as comfortable as my 84

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

Welcome to the forum.
Oh, and the guitar is not OEM on the '84 model.

 

[DaveO430]

An engine machine shop could probably sleeve it, and might know where to get a sleeve. Not sure if you can mate an 84 case to another year because an 84 is a little different from other 1200s. But probably not in any case because the engine halves are machined as a pair.

 

[AZgl1800]

welcome to the forum,
I see you are from that Flor duh state, what part?

 

[RambozoClown]

Anything can be rebuilt, it all depends on how much you are willing to spend. Usually the cost is so much more than a used engine, that most people won't bother. This is true for a lot of things, but as they get more and more rare, rebuilding becomes your only option. I'm pretty sure that cylinder can be sleeved, but a lot depends on the damage. Melling makes centrifugally cast sleeves in various sizes. The machine shop will determine what size you will need. Finding good internal parts is getting to be an issue for those, so it is good to have some used engines to part out. Getting custom pistons and bearings made is not for the faint of wallet. And while sometimes substitutes can be found, the research it takes for that is not something for a single bike.

 

[AquazulWinger]

welcome to the forum,
I see you are from that Flor duh state, what part?

Thanks for the Welcome. Im excited to be a Winger. And Im in PompaHole Beach but live in Belize and Roatan full time. Came back last year, got stuck with the Covid and bought my Aspencade. Im heading back next month and would like to at least have all the parts I need before I get back. I will probably own the only 2 Wings in the country

 

[Bryanlj]

Having rebuilt my mates 1200 there are at least 2 completely different engines and a lot of parts DO NOT mix n match.
Piston fitting is not easy and engine rebuilding is definately not for the faint hearted.

Even complete heads vary so much they are not a direct fit but complete engines will swap

 

[AquazulWinger]

Anybody want to buy my 1989 GL 1500? Decent Strong bike, Im just not feeling it. I want my GL1200 on the road

Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/IFkZjQ4ROgb

 

[DaveO430]

Anybody want to buy my 1989 GL 1500? Decent Strong bike, Im just not feeling it. I want my GL1200 on the road

Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/IFkZjQ4ROgb

Put an ad in the for sale/wanted forum, this is the technical forum.

 

[AquazulWinger]

Hello everybody. After spending my whole life riding Ninjas I finally bought my dream machine. She ("PoCoHontas") is one owner, garage kept 1984 Aspencade with 29k original miles and if the 300 or so ive rode her I will say shes everything I dreamt she would be.

With that said, here's my problem. A few weeks ago one of the timing belt tensioner bolts backed out, she jumped time, piston hit valve, valve broke and trashed the right rear cylinder. Although I grew up twisting wrenches and have rebuilt dozens of engines, I am a newbie with Wings.

A friend of mine owns a used bike repair and parts shop sold me a 1986 Aspy that was seized from water sitting the left rear cylinder. After using Evapo Rust and honing the cylinder it still has some mild to moderate pitting. Its a shame because the engine only has 52k original and is otherwise in excellent condition. As such I bought another disassembled lower end that will be arriving today.

One of my many questions that are surely to come is can my original 1984 engine be resleeved/relined? If so does anyone know if and where I can buy the sleeve/liner? In a perfect world I would like to repair and keep her original engine.

My next question is if thats not an option can I replace the 1984 engine block halve with one of the 1986's I bought. Ive read alot of threads on this site and have gotten lotsa mixed answers. Actually they are more like opinions. Has anyone actually done this?

And I know alot of people are going to say look for a used engine instead of rebuilding. And while thats fine, I intend on owning this bike for life and though it sucks to have to rebuild it, I love restoration projects, am utterly fascinated with the GL1200 engine and look forward to rebuilding my original engine from top to bottom.

Any and all advice, help and guidance is very appreciated. Oh, and I am so addicted to my new Wing that I went out and bought 1989 1500 Aspecade to kill the Jonezes. And though its a nice bike it doesnt feel near as comfortable as my 84 View attachment 326167 View attachment 326168 View attachment 326167 View attachment 326168 View attachment 326167

Hey Guys and Gals here are the 85 and 86 engines I bought. The 1st is the 85 and is in excellent shape. The last 2 are the 86 with 52k. Other than the pitted bore its in excellent shape too. Any opinions on if its to pitted and is theare they compatible? Thanks again

Put an ad in the for sale/wanted forum, this is the technical forum.

Thanks will do. Sorry im still trying to navigate the site.

 

[DaveO430]

If the 85 is in excellent shape I would use it. The only thing to figure out is if you want to use the PGs on the front of the 85 or change the rear case and use the 84s.

 

[AquazulWinger]

If the 85 is in excellent shape I would use it. The only thing to figure out is if you want to use the PGs on the front of the 85 or change the rear case and use the 84s.

Im sorry Im still learning the lingo. What are PG's?

 

[AquazulWinger]

If the 85 is in excellent shape I would use it. The only thing to figure out is if you want to use the PGs on the front of the 85 or change the rear case and use the 84s.

And are the pistons, crankshaft, cam etc interchangeable on the 85 and 86? Thanks again for everything! You advice is invaluable.

 

[AZgl1800]

PG is the Pulse Generator, which provides timing to fire the spark plugs

 

[DaveO430]

And are the pistons, crankshaft, cam etc interchangeable on the 85 and 86? Thanks again for everything! You advice is invaluable.

Yes, all the same.

 

[DenverWinger]

I wouldn't be afraid to run the pitted engine, as long as the bearings are still good. It'll probably use a little more oil than a non-pitted engine but I expect it will run just fine. And I figure the oil use will probably diminish with miles as things "seat in" again.

 

[Bryanlj]

That looks badly pitted but will run just use oil

 

[Nsights]

Best of luck whichever way you go. I don't have much first-hand experience with anything but my '84 Aspencade but I can tell you that it should go and go once you get her up and running again.
My wife and I went for a ride this past weekend (me on the bike, wife in the Terraplane) and turned 100k on the odometer. Yeehah.