Goat's 1977 GL1000 "The black bull"

[kicker]

It's got that aged cast alloy finned goodness

[Goat]

Not a very exciting update. Its all back together and running. Though seems to be throwing oil out the captains side front cylinder... yay. Probably should have done both gaskets while I was there.... Hopefully an Italian tune will sort it. It has been sitting since 1998!

While i'm waiting for exhaust bits to turn up. I put on some new rear shocks, and whipped off the front end to replace the super notchy steering head bearings, and fit new stanchions and seals.

Races out and a clean:

Painted up the triple trees so they don't look as ham:

Forks in bits. The stanchions weren't rusty, they had worn through the chrome in one spot. So did need replacing. An expensive endeavor

 

The early wings (75-77) had a weird 2 seal arrangement. The replacment seals only had one, hopefully that won't be a problem. We'll see.

[flyingbrick]

That tank blew my mind

[DezTruction]

On 15/12/2021 at 08:45, Goat said:

Just when I though the mechanical gods were cutting me some slack with the local seals, I went to reassemble the rocker assembly only to find out why this head was in the parts bin. The thread was completely stripped on one of the bolts.

One with a dowel no less. Yay.

Things ground to a halt, as I didn't have any helicoils.

Bike night Tuesdays are great. And the infamous Seedy Al turned up:

With one of these:

 

Ooosh, M8x1.25 here we come.
A quick helicoil and we were back together

Gaskets on (Its so happy!):

Head on

Timing belts are brand spankers even though they look old. Just got a bit filthy from the trip plus engine disassembly and cleaning.
Believe it or not, I am cleaning it up as I go. The engine was filthy, and the paint has come off in places and the alloy is stained dark. So can never get it looking mint without a spraybomb. Orders of magnitude better than what it was though.

The engine even does a complete 720 degrees without binding. So I must have done something right?

Just need to set the valves then the covers can go back on. Tonights job.

Back like 100 years ago rebuilt my Z1000 I ended up just Helicoiling every thing on the motor I just couldn't trust that old aluminium (It was only 11ish years old then)

[Goat]

The misery continues.

I finally got it all back together and running. Then it started to run really badly. I.E. not at all on the cylinders on the side i had just done the headgasket on. Oh boy.

I double checked all the cam timing, and that was all good. So must be the carbs (again). So whipped them off for a 2nd stripdown and clean.
I had noticed that the fuel lines had all turned dark brown. Hmm. Rust in the tank? Yep. yay... Better pull the tank out.

What a fucking mission. I got the tank out, and yep, she was rough. Tuel sender shows the condition of the inside of the tank:

Yummo. 

I ended up buying some CRC evaporust and soaked the sender in it just to see if it met its miraculous claims.
Yep, I'll be dipped, it sure did. A++

Cool one, nice. I'll get some more and fill the whole tank! Over the course of a couple of weeks I was rotating the tank around letting it do its magic. It was working a charm!

[Goat]

It was so effective, that it actually ate away the bottom of the fuel tank. Turns out it was mostly just rust holding it together.
Parts are almost unobtanium, and my Scottish and Dutch heritage make it difficult to for out money for a good condition one. So i just mothballed it for a few months.

Bought more bikes in the meantime, turned them into projects, and now came back to this.

I stripped the tank back to bare metal to see what i had to deal with:

It was swiss cheese, but a few hours with the tig i managed to get it holding gas!
I ended up having to just plate over the whole area as it was so thin and just kept cracking the welds.

A lick of paint, and its just like a new one:

 

Popped the carbs through the ultrasonic cleaner and reassembled:

 

I get it all back together, pop some fresh gas in it. And it fires right up. On all 4. Perfect!

Oh, but wait. No it wasnt, theres a sweet smell of coolant in the air, and if I stopped it for 30 seconds and re-started it. A solid column of stem comes out of the right exhaust, and the expansion tank bubbles when i rev it. 

Cool one, nice. The other headgasket is blown...

Ah well, i'm well familiar with this process:

Cleaned up the surfaces, fortunately this cylinder head was in a lot better condition than the other one. So just needed a clean, then wanged it back together with the other gasket i already had in stock.

She runs, beautifully, no combustion in coolant, no coolant in combustion. All cylinders run at the same temp. Revs up to redline, and starts before you've even finished pressing the starter!
I'll call that a success. For now anyway.

Giving the wiring clump a bit of a tickle up, then i can put the rear back on and take it for its first ride since i've owned it!

Then i can switch back to the Laverda, as i've now got all the bits i need to assemble the engine! And now, hopefully, my bike stand will be free so i can put some other turd on there.
 

[Goat]

Oh yeah,

This went for its first WOF since October 1996. Just over 26 years ago! Clean sheet VTNZ Wof. Its all legal beagle.
Rode it right home and put it in the shed. Has been raining every opportunity since (except last Sunday). Will get some pics of it in its current, legal state next time its sunny here.

It actually looks really good out in the sun. Had a few VTNZ patrons, plus the wof inspector complement me on how nice it was.
Sounds wild, and pulls really well. Super comfy.

Just need to fix the fuel gauge as it reads negative !? The more fuel the lower it reads? wut.

Gotta sell it though to fund new turds, if anyone needs "the black bull" in their life, lemme know.

[Goat]

After a bitter-sweet journey, its time to say farewell to the old girl: