Share your wisdom to my first semi teardown of a 2003.

[gordonv]

Side note question:
Are these the two piece rubber dampeners that were mentioned? The left side was pulled from the 2000 GW wheel. They look two piece-ish. The right side are my Valkyrie dampeners I pulled from my wheel and are clearly one piece molds. The GW ones look to be in much better condition (they should with only 12k miles!).

If you can push out the inserts, then they are 2 pieces. But I would suspect they are fixed. By the 99 IS they where 1 piece dampeners. You could also look at the fiche for the original year.


As for your posts, you don't need a lot of "Oh" and "Ah" posts, so we are just sitting back till the job is done or a question needs asking or answering. Learning along the way. I've a spare GW rear drive from my previous GW GL1500 being kept as parts for the Valk.

[Moofner]

Well here we are a month later, and I hate to admit that I had to take some time away from the project due to work and a serious case of the downers.

Winter has hit the family hard, not in hardship but in general life happiness. So this is now my attempt to pull myself out of the defunct and back into the process of winning. A good way to do that is to finish this bike and get it ready for Spring.

First, areas that were finished. I finished the final drive and the servicing of the drive shaft. Although I don't have pictures of it, I also took a look at the u-joint and lubed it up too. Figured I should get it done since I've looked at the rest of the final drive area.

I also sorted a few more parts. Jersey Mike's shifter was procured. I also got a LED accent kit, since the carbs out would make the project a whole lot easier.




I also picked up some new Metzler 888s and removed the front wheel. Fun fact: Read the manual and remove the speedo cable before you try removing the axle. That thing super snapped at the wheel attachment point. Time for a new one! Oops. Also, the other new tires are for my 2014 Valk. Time to change the shoes on that beauty too.





So there we are. A month later and I'm finally putting the depression fueled procrastination aside. The job isn't going to do itself and there are still plenty of challenges ahead of me. I'm not looking forward to setting the carbs and synching them, but it will get done. My friend's bike deserves no less and I definitely need a damn win.

Remember to share your wisdom. That is the whole point of the thread!

[Moofner]

IT IS THE THREAD THAT WILL NOT DIE! Why? Because maintenance is still on going.

Anyways... Lots has happened in a short time. New rubber, Metzler 888s, got mounted. Good thing too, the old rubber was way too old. Don't mind the helper in the pics, he gets excited when Dad goes to the garage and wants to join in. I also took the time to install the Galfer rotors I got from forum member 98valk.





Next up was servicing the Progressive 416s I also got from 98valk. Sadly, a lot of fluid leaked out during shipping, so I spent a bit of time draining them and reservicing them. I took a page from MarkT's book and added 3 oz of fluid to them since I'm a bit on the heavy man side. Who am I kidding, the way heavy side of 280 lbs. After that was done, I installed the shocks, got the rear mounted, and made sure everything was tightened in sequence for proper alignment.




Next up was the front. New brake pads were in order, but it was all pretty simple.



Finally, after 2 months, it was time to take her off the jacks. Got a few buddies over a couple of beers and we lowered her down. I then installed the rear fender and rear seat.



Now the fun of figuring out how to route my air lines begins.



I also made another order to Redeye Technical services for some fuel rail seals. I remember that being some sound advice back when I first started. I also ordered some red led projector angel wings. Cheesy, I know... but they just seem to fit in with this being my deceased friend's bike. I'll also be looking into getting an auxiliary fuse block to install the accent lights and wings lights into. I'll start installing the electronics and finish up the desmog install while I wait for the seals. The bike is coming along nicely!

[rug_burn]

    Actually it looks like you friend's maintenance was not all that bad.    
    I have a similar story-  an old friend, now long deceased sold me his Valk before he went, and I just can't let his bike die either.    
    Those final drive-to-rear wheel splines look probably a little better than mine, which have 170,000 miles on them.  They'll be fine for a long time, I'd say.  
    One thing you should probably replace is the fuel and vapor rail o-rings on the carbs as long as you got it apart.   I measured all mine and got them from an online o-ring store for a couple bucks.  Nitrile material, as always for petrochemicals like oil, gas and grease.   I can tell you the sizes if you want.  
    If you're going to bother with the float bowl 'o-ring' you might as well get the whole rebuild kit for each carb, I think they were about $25 or $30 each and just buy new idle jets, $6 and change each.    
    Another thing I did was to use standard inch size o-rings on the intake tube-to-cylinder head joint.   Using .103 diameter cross section rings and the right ID (again, nitrile or viton) kind of overfills the space and insures you will always get a good seal.  They actually protrude pretty good visibly, and tighten down just fine, and never seem to leak.   Also, they're a lot cheaper than the $10 per ring honda price.   The standard metric ones Honda uses are the standard o-ring setup depending on 20% squeeze on the dia of the cross section, but as many of us have seen, these are a little prone to leak with advanced age.     The shelf life of Nitrile material is 10 years;  they don't last forever.
     I always jack my bike up good and high, too.    You don't have to bend down as much.     I tie ropes good and tight from the handlebars to the rafters to keep it steady;   yeah, it is a little scary, I admit.
     Good luck-   
     Looking at your further posts-  how much are you asking for a new rear flange and pumpkin?    Like I said, mine is getting worn...    Send me a message if you're interested.    Your boy will probably be a good mechanic some day.     Good to see him there...

[Moofner]

   Actually it looks like you friend's maintenance was not all that bad.    
    I have a similar story-  an old friend, now long deceased sold me his Valk before he went, and I just can't let his bike die either.    
    Those final drive-to-rear wheel splines look probably a little better than mine, which have 170,000 miles on them.  They'll be fine for a long time, I'd say.  
    One thing you should probably replace is the fuel and vapor rail o-rings on the carbs as long as you got it apart.   I measured all mine and got them from an online o-ring store for a couple bucks.  Nitrile material, as always for petrochemicals like oil, gas and grease.   I can tell you the sizes if you want.  
    If you're going to bother with the float bowl 'o-ring' you might as well get the whole rebuild kit for each carb, I think they were about $25 or $30 each and just buy new idle jets, $6 and change each.    
    Another thing I did was to use standard inch size o-rings on the intake tube-to-cylinder head joint.   Using .103 diameter cross section rings and the right ID (again, nitrile or viton) kind of overfills the space and insures you will always get a good seal.  They actually protrude pretty good visibly, and tighten down just fine, and never seem to leak.   Also, they're a lot cheaper than the $10 per ring honda price.   The standard metric ones Honda uses are the standard o-ring setup depending on 20% squeeze on the dia of the cross section, but as many of us have seen, these are a little prone to leak with advanced age.     The shelf life of Nitrile material is 10 years;  they don't last forever.
     I always jack my bike up good and high, too.    You don't have to bend down as much.     I tie ropes good and tight from the handlebars to the rafters to keep it steady;   yeah, it is a little scary, I admit.
     Good luck-   
     Looking at your further posts-  how much are you asking for a new rear flange and pumpkin?    Like I said, mine is getting worn...    Send me a message if you're interested.    Your boy will probably be a good mechanic some day.     Good to see him there...

I've  got the other pumpkin setup and can message you tomorrow. Brain is a little dead from 4 vodkas and juice, coupled with a long day at work.

In other news... how do you split the carbs without damaging something?! Pictures to come tomorrow but the rods going through the housings were super corroded. I can't get the carbs to split no matter how hard I pull or even pry. I think I need a clearer head and will attack it tomorrow. Listening to the advice of changing the fuel and air rail seals is going to be a bugger.

Guess I'm in it to win it now!

[Moofner]

Urgh... I think I'm going crazy with this build. I'm having a hard time splitting the carbs. Not sure what I'm doing wrong other than not using enough strength or prying to separate them. I don't want to damage them. There was a lot of white powder between the rods, but that shouldn't stop me from pulling them apart.

The rods were pretty snowy. Yes, my wife let me work on the carbs at the table.



I also tested the Opt7 lights and some cool wings I found. I'm going to tie the wings into the turn signals for a very cool and noticeable effect.






I also think I'm going crazy. I'm pretty sure I purchased some carb bowl gaskets and now I can't find them. I knew I would be getting in there and thought I got some. I know the moment I purchase 6 more I'll find them. My messy garage has finally come back to bite me in the butt.

[rug_burn]

As I recall, you just pull those rods out, and figure on replacing them if they're that bad, and then break the carbs apart.  I think I had to bump or give them a little shock to get them apart, but it wasn't a big deal in my case.       Also be careful not to get them mixed up.    I got an egg carton for all the parts and tried to keep everything  hooked up identical, and not change the adjustment or synch screws so I wouldn't need to synch them, but to no avail.    Had to do it anyway, but it turned out to be very easy .

[98valk]

if its not leaking why take it apart?
bowl gaskets last a very long time, no need to replace them. I've had the bowls off my carbs at least 10+ times playing with jets. still Zero leaks with the org gaskets.