I have begun to fully disassemble my Valkyrie

[Craig9409]

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great summer. The weather has turned wet once again out here in Western WA, and so I have started to disassemble my GL1500CT for it's restoration. I'm around the 50% mark so far and I'm making ready to remove the engine.

So far the removal of the air box has been the most challenging. Much like delivering a fat baby from a skinny mother on her first delivery. I'm a retired fire-paramedic (City of Tacoma, WA) and I had the pleasure of delivering several kids over my 36 years on the job but none were as difficult as this air box. I'm more worried about getting it back in, especially hooking up the 3 hoses on the bottom once it's in there. But like anything, we'll work through it I'm sure.

I was never able to connect, after several attempts, with the Shinny De-smog kit guy so unless there is another option, I'll be keeping the smog and the evap/purge stuff on reassembly unless anyone has a different idea. My Valkyrie is a California emissions bike. Just my luck.

Incidentally,  my vintage 2001 Ford F-250 7.3 Diesel pickup I obtained in late 2012 and restored, (featured prominently on my YT channel ) is from there too. Again, just my luck.

I finished editing the disassembly video Part 1 yesterday and it is now in HD on my YouTube channel if you are interested the link is below. I'm really in a quandary on the actual moves I'll need to make to remove the engine from the frame. The book says after getting everything disconnected, to move the engine slightly forward and unhook the universal joint from the output shaft. It looks like the carbs are going to hit the frame to me but we'll see as I have a few more things to accomplish before I get to that point.

I think I have enough raw video "in the can" to make the Disassembly Part 2 video so I'll get to working on that as well.

There is a huge amount of thick oily grime along both lower sides of the engine from what was probably a persistent oil leak collecting dirt for a very long time. I seriously doubt the 16,500 miles on the Odometer. I'm thinking 116,000. It's like 1/4" thick of pure filth and I need to take some time and get that off of there before I pull it or it will make handling the engine very unpleasant as well as difficult. I know there is an oil leak emanating from the roughly 3/8" hole that traverses the bottom of the engine from one side to the other.  I have that plugged off on both sides with paper towel and it doesn't drip now. I'm not sure why that passage is there, perhaps it is a relic of the casting or manufacturing process. You can see clear across the engine looking through it. Oil leaks inside there somewhere and slowly spills out on the lift. A few drips per week if I don't keep it plugged with paper towel.  I'll feature this in possibly the next video.

Other than the leaking oil, the only other thing I found so far was a missing header copper crush gasket on cylinder #3 (center on the right) when I removed the stock exhaust system. Someone has been here before me. The other 5 gaskets were there. That could explain the extra popping I was having on that bank during deceleration.

If any of you have removed the engine before and have some words of advice or encouragement, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise I'll soldier on.

Here is the link to the video- Disassembly Part one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVWHvdc9JyE

I hope all of you are well and in good order. The Thanksgiving Holiday will soon be upon us. Warmest Regards from out West,  Craig

[Bagger John - #3785]

Motor mount hole for a through bolt - perhaps for a different application like a GL1500A ('Wing)?
The 1100 and 1200 GL-series engines used such a passage for one of the frame mounting bolts.

If yours is leaking, the seal between crankcase halves is likely compromised. This warrants a case split.

I'd seriously think about putting the motor on a pallet and sending it to Attic Rat for an R&R if you aren't comfortable with doing the work yourself.

[Craig9409]

Yes, That was my thought. The two halves of the engine case have no gasket but use a "sealant" which I suppose is an RTV material. Honda probably has some they license or something like "Right Stuff" made by Permatex may be better. Time takes it's toll and I have developed a leak between the cases. I'm betting more than one given the amount of oil that has been blown back along the lower half of the cases and allowed over years to collect every dust cloud passing it. The cases will have to be split open to reseal them which is a good time to inspect everything including the shift drum and forks. This is also how to possibly crack the riddle of how many miles this bike has on it.

So Attic Rat is the guy who knows all about the rebuild process? I'll consider that but maybe I'll give it a try. This project is after all a quest for knowlege. Mistakes are allowed as long as we correct them along the path. I have several other bikes to ride during this journey. I've looked over the factory manual Chapter 11 and it doesn't seem to be too terrible. I have the time. There are a few special tools needed like a set of the two piece piston ring compressors. I think the learning curve may be steep but I think I can handle it and amount of experience gained would be big, the video content rich. I'd bet the passage is like you say, from another application of the F6C in a different bike.

I'm not an authority on the lineage of the 1500 motor and which bikes contained it. I will say this, it is the whole reason I choose this bike for my video project. The engine looks like no other, and as a bonus, it's a damn fun bike to ride. I couldn't believe it when I did the first test ride.

Aside from that, it has developed a screech that raised the hair on the back of my neck the first time. Not often, but now and again it sounds like something out of a horror movie. It's very brief but a loud screech which sounds like a belt screech. It never did it during the 180+ miles I did on the test ride video but has developed it since and usually does it once or twice every trip now. So???? It sounds like it's right between my legs. Maybe I'll find out the source of that as well. The only belts I know of are the timing belts so maybe a tensioner failing? Thanks for commenting! I appreciate any input I can get.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I’d check to make sure it’s not coming from a more common leak site. Like the shifter seal, oil filter, etc.

[Craig9409]

Great points. No, it is for sure from the area specified in my original post. and yes there may be others, but this one I know for sure. I haven't seen any others yet but I need to get further in to be sure. I did find signs (dried blue stains and streaks) of an occult coolant leak at the thermostat housing behind the radiator. But it has never lost of puddled coolant so I don't think that is an issue. Or, it is no longer leaking.

But for this oil leak, we see a small oil puddle form under bike. 1-4 drips over 24 hours so not too bad. I stuff a piece of a paper shop towel in each side of the channel, no puddle but the shop towel plugs eventually become saturated and begin to drip. This could take a month. I wish it was something simple like you say but that's not how I roll. I had already changed the shifter seal which is on one of my videos, and the oil filter was clean without any evidence of leaking. The puddle and drips are directly from that open cross block channel. The easiest thing to do would be to run a piece of all thread through there, place a rubber washer, steel washer and nylock nuts on both ends. Then it would no longer leak, it would just fill up, hurting nothing. But, I may split my cases to see whats inside so, I'll take a shot at resealing it by the book. This bike is a learning project so why not go whole hog? I'm not going to learn any younger, and I have all these thousands of dollars worth of nice tools to play with. And an air/hydraulic lift table in a brightly lit, heated garage. What more could A guy want?

[The emperor has no clothes]

Great points. No, it is for sure from the area specified in my original post. and yes there may be others, but this one I know for sure. I haven't seen any others yet but I need to get further in to be sure. I did find signs (dried blue stains and streaks) of an occult coolant leak at the thermostat housing behind the radiator. But it has never lost of puddled coolant so I don't think that is an issue. Or, it is no longer leaking.

But for this oil leak, we see a small oil puddle form under bike. 1-4 drips over 24 hours so not too bad. I stuff a piece of a paper shop towel in each side of the channel, no puddle but the shop towel plugs eventually become saturated and begin to drip. This could take a month. I wish it was something simple like you say but that's not how I roll. I had already changed the shifter seal which is on one of my videos, and the oil filter was clean without any evidence of leaking. The puddle and drips are directly from that open cross block channel. The easiest thing to do would be to run a piece of all thread through there, place a rubber washer, steel washer and nylock nuts on both ends. Then it would no longer leak, it would just fill up, hurting nothing. But, I may split my cases to see whats inside so, I'll take a shot at resealing it by the book. This bike is a learning project so why not go whole hog? I'm not going to learn any younger, and I have all these thousands of dollars worth of nice tools to play with. And an air/hydraulic lift table in a brightly lit, heated garage. What more could A guy want?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

[Jims99]

The screech could be the belt pulley’s (there’s an upgrade you can do) or a common problem isn’t a screech. There’s the buzz bolt that will make a noise that’s just not right, mine does it at a certain rpm range on occasion. Sounds like a dry bearing.

[Craig9409]

The screech could be the belt pulley’s (there’s an upgrade you can do) or a common problem isn’t a screech. There’s the buzz bolt that will make a noise that’s just not right, mine does it at a certain rpm range on occasion. Sounds like a dry bearing.

Interesting. I haven't heard that sound as far as I know. This is a  1/4 second loud "screech". Like you stepped on a cat. Almost like a tire skid sort of screech. High pitched. It doesn't have to ride far. One day I just took the bike up to Safeway to pick up a few items for dinner. About 1.5 miles out... screech! Sometimes it's less in volume and a few times it's like "WOW- what the hell was that?" It has become more frequent. It didn't do it on the first long test ride out to Pe Ell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbfW_A13b30&t=535s but it started doing it the ride after that. Now it's once or twice every ride regardless of duration. I haven't ever caught it on camera.

Knowing I was soon to take this bike apart, I limited riding it and I figure I'll look for the issue on tear down. I hope I find something. I highly suspect those belts as the source. I have yet to have the belt cover off the front of the motor so, I know nothing of all that magic inside there. I bet it's a tensioner as in photos, I see there are two spring loaded types. This bike I believe sat for a long time in disuse and so that is exactly the sort of thing that goes as our German friends say, kaput. 

[Valker]

The screech could be the belt pulley’s (there’s an upgrade you can do) or a common problem isn’t a screech. There’s the buzz bolt that will make a noise that’s just not right, mine does it at a certain rpm range on occasion. Sounds like a dry bearing.

Interesting. I haven't heard that sound as far as I know. This is a  1/4 second loud "screech". Like you stepped on a cat. Almost like a tire skid sort of screech. High pitched. It doesn't have to ride far. One day I just took the bike up to Safeway to pick up a few items for dinner. About 1.5 miles out... screech! Sometimes it's less in volume and a few times it's like "WOW- what the hell was that?" It has become more frequent. It didn't do it on the first long test ride out to Pe Ell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbfW_A13b30&t=535s but it started doing it the ride after that. Now it's once or twice every ride regardless of duration. I haven't ever caught it on camera.

Knowing I was soon to take this bike apart, I limited riding it and I figure I'll look for the issue on tear down. I hope I find something. I highly suspect those belts as the source. I have yet to have the belt cover off the front of the motor so, I know nothing of all that magic inside there. I bet it's a tensioner as in photos, I see there are two spring loaded types. This bike I believe sat for a long time in disuse and so that is exactly the sort of thing that goes as our German friends say, kaput. 

When mine did that, it ended up being a front wheel bearing on its way out. Lasted another 500 miles though.