Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #32

I put in about seven hours today and I have a lot of pictures to show you why it takes so long to do this stuff.

Yesterday I decided that I wanted to beef up the fender bracket because it looked too skimpy to me.

Well today I started the project by first cutting two 1 inch tubes about an inch long. Then I slotted them so they would fit around the ends of the brackets. I then cut Two similar pieces of tubing that would fit over the smaller pieces that I cut, and I slotted them.

I welded them in place and ground them some to get a general fit.

When I put them on the bike I realized that the swing arm uprights are on an angle and I had made the tubes square with the bracket. I got out the torch and heated both sides of the bracket then hit the top of the bracket with a plastic dead blow hammer bending the crossbar just enough to get the tubes to conform to the uprights. It worked and now looks like I meant it that way.

After welding the tubing and grinding them I decided that the back side of the bracket looked too small also.

I cut and welded a piece of 1/2 inch square stock to the back side of the bracket.
This had to be ground down to make it all look like one piece.

Then Wanting to be a little different, while the fender bracket was cooling I decided to make a "Z" to go in the middle of the uprights. I heated and bent a piece of 1/2 inch square stock into the Z then trimmed the ends to fit with a slight rake to the Z. I think it makes it look like it is moving.

Although it is not done yet, I was getting tired so I mounted it to see if it looks OK.
I like it.

This is why it took seven hours, also I sit a lot.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #31

I worked about five hours today, and I am happy with the results so far but sometimes it seems like it's not moving as fast as I would like.

It is real quiet around here without Betty's extra hands to help hold parts and also telling me when to take my pills.  She told me on the phone today that it was 50 degrees in VA.
I refuse to go out of the house (garage) except to get the mail.

I spent the day grinding on the fender/tail light mount. I rounded the corners some of which I needed a Dremmel tool to get at, so far it looks OK but I am not completely happy with it.

I think I need to put something on each side where it bolts down. What I have come up with so far is a small piece of larger tube welded to the bracket to give it a heftier appearance.

I cut a piece of tube and welded a smaller piece inside to get it to fit, but that isn't the way to do it. I don't want to mess up the bracket that I have worked on for so long, so it has to be right before I weld it all together.

On another note - -

Anyone out there have a good cheap source for a respirator to use when grinding. I have tried the elastic type of surgical mask but they don't work. They ride up and hit my safety glasses and then I can't see what I am doing, or they steam up the glasses. I tried a full face mask instead of glasses and it's OK but the mask still doesn't work.

At night I am coughing up black for a few hours, after a day of grinding. I know this isn't good for me.

I need some experienced help to solve this problem.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #30

Seems I am having to take more days off, I over worked Monday and felt it on Tuesday morning. I have to learn to do these things in moderation.

"Too soon we grow olde to late we grow smart".

Before going to the garage I called "forks by Frank", very nice people there. I asked about making new tubes that are 2" shorter, no problem. They told me they had made them for lots of bikes and never had a problem with the shorter front end geometry, and never got any complaints. More to think on.

I also bought a square tubing die to go on my bender, that is made to be adjustable for 3/4" to 2" square tubing, And I  ordered a Carburetor rebuild kit to fit the VW solex I am planning on using on this bike. I almost forgot there was a gel cell battery on sale on e-bay Wednesday only so I ordered one of them also.

I got out to the garage about Noon, a good day to be inside with the winds blowing the first snow fall of this year. Yuck!!!

I worked about 6 hours but the results seemed like it should have taken me about two hours to do.

I removed the tail light and cut & ground the rear fender at the tape line, then decided to make plates inside the fender to strengthen the area where the light mounts.

I also wanted to tap these so that I didn't have to try to get my hand between the fender and tire when bolting the fender on.

I cut & ground down the fender bracket to match the tail light bracket, and started to weld and grind the corners of the fender bracket to smooth it out. This is going to take a while, I have to weld, then grind, then weld again to fix the little holes and smooth it out.

I started with a 1 1/2" piece of channel iron and made some inserts to accept the threads.

I welded the inserts in the channel, drilled and tapped them, then welded the channel on the inside of the fender.

  I had to make two of them to cover the top and bottom of the tail light bracket.

That was it for Wednesday.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #29

I have been thinking about putting saddlebags on this bike, if I do these are the ones I think I will use.

The bags that I may use came from one of four Goldwings I bought from out of a old building that was used for storage and the owner decided to sell the building. All of the bikes were there about 10 years.
It was also one of the four bikes that I actually got running with out any major problems.

Please look past the bird doo, I haven't done any cleaning yet,
they will be repainted.

The bags are Shoei, I picked these because they were the smallest I had.
They also have some lines to them.

Left bag with bracket

There are some brackets with them but they are pretty rusted and I think I want the lines as smooth as I can get them,
so I don't think I will use the brackets. Then again now that I see them in the photos I like them more and they can be adapted and painted - - more thinking.

This next picture is of the bag without the frame and also the side toward the bike when installed.

I don't think it will be much of a hassle to make a set of brackets that will bolt to tabs on the frame.

All this is still in the think process.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #28

I am back to the garage after the holidays, it feels good to get back to work.
I had a great day today, starting a couple of hours early and putting in about 10 hours today.

I started by cleaning the front fork lowers with a wire brush, you may remember that this was the bike that got too near a fire before I got it.

The ugly color won't come off the forks, but the lowers will be able to be painted after I rebuild them.

I purchased 2 Shock-mate # SA1997 boots that are meant to go over steering assemblies for some kind of car.
They look like they will cover the front forks where they are discolored.
I am saving them until the final assembly of the bike.

I put the front end back on to get an idea of how the bike is going to sit.

Next I tacked a flat piece of plate onto the fender mount and mounted the tail light frame to the fender.

The tape is about the line I will use when I cut the rear fender off.

I still have to cut the plate down to the out line of the tail light front bolt mount.

Next was the battery box it is very close to the master cylinder so I remounted the cylinder to make sure the two pieces won't hit each other.
Also I need enough room to get at the brake line going into the cylinder.

I put a couple of pieces of board under it resting on the swing arm and the height comes out pretty good.
Now I have to make the mount for it, I would like to have it bolted in.

In order to get the seat right I built a dummy battery out of some pieces of 2X4 wood I had around. I cut them to the size of a battery so I know how much room I have to work with.

Would you believe I bought 7 Goldwings and not one of them had a battery in it, even a bad one would have worked to check the clearance.

The next project was to mount up the seat to see how that fit with the battery box under it.
I decided to go with the hair pin springs for the seat.

I just laid a piece of flat stock across the back frame to get an idea of how high the seat would be.

OH BOY - - - I can touch flat footed even without lowering the front end.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #27

With the holidays drawing near I find myself having less time to
work on the bike, this will change the day after Christmas because
Betty is going to Virginia to visit her daughters.

I am staying home this time and being by myself, there should be a
lot of time to work in the garage.

I double checked and everything so far is square, it was the picture
that made the rear look off set.





I decided to build a better fender brace and I remembered that I had
a Honda topper from one of the sissy bars I have. I welded up a 1/2 inch
square bar so that I could mount the topper on it. It is also much better
for support for the rear fender.

I also dug out a set of old saddle bags that I am thinking about
mounting on the rear of the bike. I am still working that out in my mind.

Everyone is busy near Christmas so I am having a bunch of family over
tomorrow (Friday 12/23/2011) so no garage tomorrow or until the day after
Christmas.

Everyone have a great Holiday and I will continue on Monday the day after
Christmas.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #26

Started today by making the support tube to go on the right side from the plate to the swing arm upright.

The process of making the sides to come out the same even though the original frame tubes are different make this the hardest frame rebuild I have ever tackled. Every tube is different so I can't make one tube then make another one to match it.

I cut down the uprights by installing the fender where it is to go, then put a level across the fender and making a mark on the tubes.
I then took hose clamps and installed them at the marks. when the clamps are tightened down they give me a line all the way around the tubes so I can cut them squarely across the tube.

This is a good way to cut a pipe at a 90 degree angle with a small grinder, just make a mark then put a hose clamp at the mark it gives you a perfect line to cut on.

I next made a couple of plugs to fit into the tops of the uprights, drilled and tapped to fit a 8mm X 125 bolt thread.

I welded them inside the uprights. I may make some kind of fancy top to go on them later.

The fender was installed on the temporary bracket on the swing arm and I blocked it up on the tire. The job now is to get the fender straight and centered just where I want it to be.

I cut a piece of flat stock and drilled holes for the uprights
Then bolted them down to the uprights.

I now need to get a center line to the fender brace I made.
I will use this to make the actual brace I want to use.
I am still thinking about the mounting of the fender and seat.
I an also debating if some small saddle bags might be good on this tank of mine.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #25

No post yesterday because my sister Pat and I took bags of presents (really necessities) out to the local Canandaigua NY VA Hospital.
If you want to do something good for the holidays or actually any time donate to the vets at your local VA hospital. They need the help.

I started out today by finishing the right side base for the upright.

Getting the upright square with the frame and left side was quite a job. Betty came out to the garage and helped with the lining up of all the pieces.

Without a frame jig I have to really think out of the box. I first ground the base so that it basically fit the frame, then I took a tape measure from the neck to a cross piece of angle iron clamped to the left side which I mounted two days ago.

I put a magnetic level on the cross piece then clamped the right side to it. By having the right side upright at a 90 degree angle, the cross piece at a 90 degree also and measuring from the neck to the cross piece on both sides I figured that everything was square. After tacking I checked everything again and all was well in my world.

 I then cut a piece of tube to go between the upright and the Cross plate located between where the swing arm mounts and I tacked that in.  I still have to cut the uprights to length and make the rear fender mount. I bolted the fender to the temporary mount on the swing arm to get an idea for mounting the rear fender mount to the uprights.

I also got an old tail light out of stock and set it on the fender to see what that would look like. I am debating on welding the mount to the fender because the tail light can be removed from the mount. If I weld it, I will also paint the mount along with the fender and leave the tail light chrome.

With the tail light set on the fender it makes it easier to figure out where to cut the fender.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #24

Some explanation today, I have been working in the garage
but to this point I have not known what to report.

I first put a seat and rear fender brace tubing, from the plate above
the point where the rear swing arm mounts, going straight back next to the fender.

After tacking this in I realized that it would get in the way of the
battery mounting.

I had to cut and grind it out, and review again how this
mounting could be changed.

 First I got the size of the Battery then I built a Battery Box.
Above picture is what I came up with.

I still have to make the brackets for it and also a hold down
system for the battery.

I decided to make an upright for the rear to serve as a fender mount
and also a brace for the swing arm.

I built the bottom from two pieces of 1 inch channel cut on an
angle to fit the mounting bracket at the rear wheel.

 I put a piece of solid round stock in between the pieces of channel
and then added a piece of tubing over the round stock.

I ground all of the pieces so that they look like one piece of stock
that goes from square to round tube.

 The tube is on an angle, but looks straight in the picture.

I then attached a short piece of 2 X 4 to the rear tire and
leaned the tubing against it.

This will give me the angle I need to get both sides to wind up the
same distance from the fender.

I set the tubing at a 90 degree angle to the ground, this way I will be
able to duplicate the angles on the other side even though they are
different lengths away from the rear wheel.

Remember that the two sides of the frame are at different distances and
angles all over the bike.

This is what makes this build so complicated.

I am sorry if I am confusing you, this is the best way
I know to explain what I have done.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #23

Just spent the day figuring out the seat and fender mounts.

I drilled a piece of round stock to fit inside the seat mounting bracket and tacked it to the up right.

I now have an idea of where the seat will mount.

I tacked a piece of tubing along the tire line to the frame this is going to be the support for the swing arm tube also.

The problem is this tube may be blocking the area where the battery goes so I may modify it later. Right now it serves as a straight line for mounting the fender, it also needs to be shortened later after I get the left side done.

This is going to be a tank by the time I am done, but at least I will be able to touch the ground.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #22

Not anything to put up as far as photos.

I have doing a lot of thinking about the way the frame and rear supports for the seat and fender will go, and how to make the tank and frame section look right.

The bike is big and boxy to begin with so I have decided to leave the top outer frame as it is, also there is a upper engine mount incorporated with a heat shield and the rear upper engine mounts come off of the the rear section of the same part of the frame.

I have started to add a couple of supports that will brace the frame connecting the back wheel. when the bike hits bumps there will be a lot of pressure on that section being a hard tail.

I am still working on the way to smooth out the rear of the tank area.

It is going to be a challenge to make a rear fender and seat mount that will support and still not add any more to the boxy frame than I have to.

This is the hardest build I have ever done, I can't believe how thin the frame is in spots.
I have had to fix spots where the welds have burned through the frame even on a lower setting on the welder.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #21

Pearl Harbor day,  70 years ago.

Haven't posted the last few days, mainly because I haven't been in the garage.

My Neuropathy is acting up again, and my hands don't work the way they should.

I also have a friend coming over today, he broke a key off in a ignition lock and I need
to get it out for him then make a new one from code if the lock has a code on it,
otherwise I will try to make one from the broken piece.

Years ago I did locksmithing and I kept all my machines, I also added
motorcycle key blanks to my inventory and I keep up on the codes to make them.

Note always keep at least 2 keys minimum for each lock you own,
it will save you dollar$ in the long run.

Also doing a lot of thinking about the bike design.

I only received one reply to my questions for building the bike, but what a great reply.

Skip has some good ideas, I am trying to figure out if I can do them.
I have a limited amount of tools here in my shop, I am thinking about bending the bars for under the tank with my cheap pipe bender.

I think I will try to bend one and then duplicate it if I can.
I would then weld it on before cutting the frame.
I have a very crude bender so making the bends right may be a problem.

I still am looking for input as far as cutting the fender and fixing the tank area.

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #20

Sunday 12/04/2011

I finished most of the filling on the neck area and ground it smooth.
Before the frame is ready for primer I will glass up all the small imperfections.

I have decided I don't like the look of the rear tank tube mount.
I haven't come up with a fix yet but I am thinking of adding a piece
of stock on an angle from the center to the out side frame to smooth it out.



more thought on that later.



I added a rear fender mount to the swing arm, then cut a slot in a block of wood
and tied it to the wheel with a pull tie so I could move the wheel around until
I got the rest of the fender to sit where I wanted it.




Now there is a choice that I am having a hard time with.




Does the fender get cut off at the pull tie (like I first thought) or some where
between where the tie is and the end?



After sitting and looking I also like the look of the longer fender.

What do you think? If the tie is in the 12 o'clock position and the end of the fender is 9 o'clock, where do you think it should be cut?

I am taking Monday off to rest up a bit, so let me know what you think.

I would also like input on the rear Tank tube mount.

                                                               
Thanks

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #19

Saturday 12/03/2011

Spent most of the day welding and grinding on the neck.

Nothing in pictures because I still have a lot to do,
I hope to finish the neck and tank mount today.

"Hang in there"

Chopping a Honda GL1000 Goldwing #18

Friday 12/02/2011

First step today was to fill in the area at the top of the neck with some short pieces of 1/4 inch flat stock. then clean and
smooth the welds on the neck so everything is flat to accept the plates.



I cut two plates out of 1/8th inch plate I had laying around, smoothed them and cleaned up the surface rust.




Honda uses a much thinner metal between their frame tubes, but I like a minimum of 1/8th inch just for strength.




The process is very labor intensive but it works for me in the end.




I tacked in the right side with a little bit of hammer forming then welded it solid.



This is the left side before plating it.



Left side plated and also ground for the first time.

I will grind all the welds smooth and fill the gaps again by doing more welding and grinding.
This way there will be a minimum amount of fiberglass in the finished frame.
I fill the low areas then grind so that I don't loose the strength of the original weld, it takes a while but I think it is worth it.

Even though most of the front is hidden by the gas tank I will fill and smooth it anyway. I even wound up touching up Honda's welding
on the front bottom tube or should I say lack of welding because there were open areas where they didn't weld it at all.

I will also weld and grind down the two dots where Honda spot welded an insert into the bottom tubes (see above photo).