Tuesday, September 21, 2010

GL1000 nearly complete

<-- HIDEOUS
I was able to get rid of the Comstar wheels and replaced them with Older, Vintage(er) Wire spoked wheels from a 1977 GL1000 that was parted out in Nevada (thanks, NV guy).
The 'Comstar' wheels were the cheap way of making a 'Mag', ie magnesium rim popular in racing. The Comstars have 5 spokes made of either stainless steel or aluminum in some cases, which are cut and stamped to shape. They are then riveted to an aluminum rim. There are 10 rivets out the rim and another 10 on the hub I think. Just looking at them makes you think "That is unsafe". They are cheap, cheap looking and cheap to make. Honda and others tried to pitch them as better and lighter than spoked wheels, but really they were just cheaper.
The rivets on mine were rotted through, and I was able to pop some of the blades off with a little pressure. Unsafe at any speed. Anyhow they are gone, replaced with much better wire ones, new tires, tubes etc.
Switching back in time to older wheels was not just a straight bolt in deal. The 75-77 front brakes had 2 piece cast rotors rather than the one piece stainless ones on the later bikes. The spacing of the rotors is a few millimeters off, so it was necessary to machine the caliper brackets to line up the braking surfaces.
With a salvaged 5/8" Nissin master cylinder, Speigler stainless/teflon lines, new pads and all of the correct retaining springs in place, bled up, the front brakes feel just right.
The CBR600 5/8" dia. master cylinder on the rear is now linked up to the original caliper and bled. I used the CBR's brake line, as it was in good shape and had the right length. So far it also feels right. That is linked to a Tarozzi rear-set on the right side.

This bike is nearly complete, just needs final touches, new oil and some test riding to make sure everything behaves.
The following is a hint on what the next project might be:
http://www.diagnostic-assistance.co.uk/mech_inj.htm
Not much of a hint, as the Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection system was used on pretty much everything. 


No comments: