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UPGRADING MY GL1200 IGNITION SYSTEM
Ha, you do realize I live in Oklahoma? I would love to come to the meet but I think taking that much time off from my business would be a little much for the ole pocket book. OH I would love to have access to a Dyno and more importantly someone who knows how to run one and then can read the results. I live in a small town 2,600 people and the next nearest BIG city is 75 miles each way so running over to the Dyno to check out changes are out, so I have to rely on what others have done, tons of reading, lots and lots of plug chops and ya, just seat of the pants tuning. Most people don't have the patience to tune up a set of carbs, they want an A, B, C, approach with a one size fits all attitude. They wanna throw in some jets, drill the slides, add some washers and gain 50 H.P..Wink I for sure would never have the experience or the expertise to tackle anything like a turbo much less build one even though I do have a good understanding of the principals involved. It sure would be hard if I had the know how to just let that injection/charger be gathering dust. I'm afraid I would have to skip a riding season and put that baby ON! Of course I don't have to miss any riding since until recently I had 9 motorcycles with 5 of them running ( I just sold two so I would have more money to work on the others, it's a sickness, Wink) I get my fair share of compliments on how well my bikes run since my buddies know I spend a lot of time trying to get them as right as I can with the resources that I have available to me. So ya, I really am interested in what other guys do to their bikes and how they turn out. I've only got about 11 years of solid wrenching experience on motorcycles so I still have lots left to learn and many things to try.
1986 SEi Limited Edition. 1985 Aspencade
If it's not broke, I can fix that!
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#31 06-22-2013, 10:48 PM,
Oklahoma? Over the years, we've had members come up from California, New Mexico and Arkansas over the years and they were small business owners with financial struggles. Maybe the break would do you good if you could somehow swing it.

Typically, up here, the dyno runs would normally cost $50. for a set of 3 pulls. Well worth the cash if you're into serious tuning. Years back I used the dyno to prove the horsepower gain after switching to a certain brand of oil and here's the link to that story: http://www.gl1200goldwings.com/gl1200/sh...2#pid44852 and it sure changed my mind on how I viewed oils for my bike, as I was a strict dino oil type person and felt that synthetics were just a ripoff with good marketing hype. The dyno results sure proved to me the value of real world performance improvements rather than just perceived seat of the pants improvements. Let it be known that the low horsepower output, overall, reflects the fact that the engine I had in my bike, at the time, was an old, tired and completely stock engine that I had picked up for a few hundred dollars. It ran reliably and smoothly , but, it was no hot rod.

I've got over 50+ years of engine tuning my belt ( I actually pulled an engine from a 1959 Edsel and helped my dad rebuild and reinstall it when I was 6 years old and have been hooked on engines ever since) and there is still so very much that I don't know, but, I am wide open to learning as much as I can and today it is so much more advanced with programmable computers and sensors on engines that we can now tune an engine with a laptop computer to unbelievable performance levels with just a few strokes of the keyboard. It's whole new world for engines these days, full of exciting and fun happenings and I love it. Unfortunately, my wife just cannot comprehend my passion for these engine things particularly since she drives an e-bike and thinks that that is fun and exciting enough. If she only knew the thrill of feeling gasoline running through her veins like I have then she would tell me to get that fuel injection system and turbo down and get it installed on my bike, sadly, she just doesn't and instead she keeps asking when will the house be done. Oh well, got to admit that on a cold night that I would much rather sleep with her than my bike, but, sometimes, on those cold nights, I still feel like creeping out to the garage to ponder what would happen if I modified this or that on my bike. Oh well, now I'm off to practise my guitar playing and singing for church today as I was asked to perform a couple of songs for the congregation. Sure hope I can keep myself in a good state of tune there.Smile
Ed (Vic) Belanger - 1954-2015
Founder of gl1200goldwings.com

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#32 06-23-2013, 04:52 AM,
Oh I've always been into wrenching on motors. Got the bug when I was in High School working part time in a Chevy garage. 64 Impala SS 327, 67 Malibu 396, 69 camero 327 with lots of goodies. Work every night all during the week so I could hot rod and drag on the weekends. These days if it uses gasoline I think I can fix it. ha I've got a 69, 70hp Chrysler outboard motor torn down right now trying to locate an overheating problem. It goes on a 1965 Alumacraft that I brought back from the dead. Ya if I don't have grease under my nails at some time during the week I'm home sick in bed.

I saw one of your videos you posted singing, you are very good
1986 SEi Limited Edition. 1985 Aspencade
If it's not broke, I can fix that!
Reply
#33 06-23-2013, 08:02 AM,
Sounds like you and I would be great neighbors. In my life, so far, I have rebuilt or restored 60+ muscle and luxury cars and it seems like every time someone saw one of my restored cars they wanted it for much more than I had in to it so I sold it and then had to find another one to work on to feed my addiction to cars. The same thing happened with all the motorcycles I had, except for the brand new ones, they were purchased ugly and mostly not running and once they ran great and looked beautiful someone wanted them so I reluctantly let them go so I could feed my wallet and my addiction to working on them. As I get older and due to a prior injury I have slowed down quite a bit physically so I don't do very much car or bike addiction feeding these days, but, my head is always working overtime on what I'd like to do if I could and sometimes weird things happen like my bike being totalled last August in an accident which caused $11,000. damage to my yellow bike. In spite of an appraisal, insurance did not pay anything near that figure to rebuild it so I had to scrimp, beg and borrow and, as a last resort, actually buy the pieces I needed to rebuild it to the state it is in now. After many hours of straightening this and that and hanging the new plastic on after it was prepped and painted I am finally able to ride my bike again and it feels better than ever and this bike will not be sold, by me, in my lifetime, unless, I get too old to ride it, I just love it too much.

I used to have a 1969 70 HP Chrysler on my 16 foot bow rider and I rebuilt it twice because the piston crowns melted. Check the fuel pump output with a measuring cup and a timer, make sure the spark plugs are the correct temperature range and look carefully for green slime in the carb jets and, obviously, carefully inspect the water pump impeller and housing along with all water intake passages. Also make sure to use a high quality 2 stroke oil and use the Chrysler service manual to determine correct oil flow, as a cheap oil may cause overheating by itself and the problem is compounded if you have further problems as I stated above.

Thanks for the kind words regarding my singing. My songs went over well at the service today. Funny how I don't hear my music as sounding very good, ( I understand that that is an issue with a lot of singers, because, we hear things differently inside our heads than outside) but, all the positive feedback I get from it makes me realize that I should just keep working at it to the best I can, just like engine tuning, and eventually I'll get it right on down the road. I'll post the two songs I did today in the prayer section if anyone wants to hear them.
Ed (Vic) Belanger - 1954-2015
Founder of gl1200goldwings.com

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#34 06-23-2013, 10:31 AM,
thanks for the tips on the Chrysler. this boat motor stuff is all new to me so just like everything else I have to spend 5 hours reading and studying to do a 30 minute job. this over heating at top end has been just about to eat my lunch. replaced the impeller, thermostate, cleaned the high pressure bi-pass and then removed the water jacket cover this weekend (BIG mistake!!!!) Broke 7 bolts out of 20. 10 hours labor to remove the studs and rethread, what a nightmare!!!
1986 SEi Limited Edition. 1985 Aspencade
If it's not broke, I can fix that!
Reply
#35 06-23-2013, 04:35 PM,
Too bad about the headaches with the water jacket cover. I hate it when bolts break in aluminum. Next time heat the casting with a heat gun to expand the aluminum then use a 3/8 drive impact gun set on low to hammer the bolts out gently, usually works. The Chryslers usually are not too bad to work on. I used to have an 18 foot Checkmate with a high output, large displacement, Mercruiser inboard 4 cylinder engine, now that was a nightmare to work on. Special pullers and Mercruiser tools were needed to work on just about everything and since it was an inboard nothing was easily reached for servicing. My 27 foot Bayliner Sunbridge with a high output 350 ci Chevy engine was the easiest to work on, even the Volvo/Penta outdrive was a simple yet sturdy design that required very little maintenance and no special tools were needed for any servicing. The only non routine servicing I did on that boat was to replace propellers which cost $270. for a cheap aluminum prop (several times over the years) and $1200. for a cupped stainless prop. What a difference in fuel economy and performance a good prop makes, like night and day. I sure miss that old boat, so many weekends were spent on that boat with my family, although I do not miss spending $300. to $500. a weekend filling that boat with gasoline, oh well, at least I didn't have to pay motel bills when I was out of town on weekends on that boat since I could comfortably sleep 6 adults with room for 2 small kids as well. Good luck with getting that Chrysler running properly. Speaking of props, perhaps someone has placed a prop that is too large in diameter or has the wrong pitch for that engine/boat combo and that could be causing your overheating problem. Check the manual and check the prop to be certain that the prop is the right one for your boat.
Ed (Vic) Belanger - 1954-2015
Founder of gl1200goldwings.com

Reply
#36 06-23-2013, 04:57 PM,
Ya, I have another boat 1985 Granda 19' with a V-6 buick and an OMC out drive. I can do anything to that boat, I've had it since it was band new (I live on the 4th largest man made lake in the world, Lake Eufaula) This outboard stuff is a whole new cat to me. Those bolts caught me way off guard, I'm used to working with rusted junk. I swear I didn't have 5lbs of pressure on them when they would snap. I have never had bolts so bonded into a piece of metal, I used every trick I knew of to get them out but they just wouldn't budge. 13 of them just turned right out, no problem but those others!!!!!! I agree on the prop thing, the first thing I bought for my Granda was a ss prop, I've only had to have it rebuilt once in all these years and that boat has been run hard since I was an avid water skier. Now I just like putting around pulling up to the beaches and socializing. I have an 1972 Mercury 80hp that I have to find a new lower unit for and I'm still working on the hull putting in a new transome. I've thought about the prop being wrong but the rpm's work out right on the top end but it still may be wrong. I've checked the cavatation plate height re. to the boat also. I'm hoping that the high pressure bi-pass is the problem since it was kinda cruddy in there and the water jacket cover plate had so much scale in it that I could see the level might have been covering one of the three return holes.

Na, we wouldn't make good neighbors, your OL would hate me since I would always be in your garage or you would be in mine. Wink

Here's a couple of pics of the ole Aluma Craft

[Image: 1965Alumacraft032.jpg]

[Image: 1965Alumacraft030.jpg]

[Image: 1965Alumacraft029.jpg]

[Image: 1965Alumacraft028.jpg]

My 86 SEi was a total that I bought for $400.00 took me almost a year to rebuild it, scrounging parts, buying what I could when I could and having to learn about a whole new motorcycle. I love it now though but it is still a work in progress.
1986 SEi Limited Edition. 1985 Aspencade
If it's not broke, I can fix that!
Reply
#37 06-23-2013, 09:59 PM,


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