Or close to it. This is actually my son’s GL1000. He bought this to replace his first motorcycle, also a 1978 Gold Wing. It has under 30k on the odo but suffered from being parked with a full tank of gas around 2001. In the end we took parts from the other GL, a 100k mi beater, to get this one going. It’s a sweet sounding motor, no chain slap, and much smoother running. Now we are doing the shakedown runs before the end of the riding season.
Other than fresh gas, what did you have to do to it to get it running? How much of that was the reason it was parked in the first place, versus damage from being parked for 20 years?
The story we were told was the original owner parked it shortly before he passed from cancer and it was just never run again. And looking over it, I don’t see any signs that was a lie. It really does look like it was parked and never started up again.
It was worse than just needing fresh gas. The old fuel had turned to sludge. Luckily the rust was minimal. At the time we were trying to salvage the other 78 so he could sell it to cover restoration costs. In hindsight we probably should have taken the tank from that one, we would have been further ahead.
But we spent a month going between white vinegar and fresh water flushes as well as using an old clutch cable to rout out the metal lines within the tank itself. In the end we were able to clean it out and the tank is working.
And the old gas pretty much ruined the carburetors. I wasn’t able to save them and instead they were relegated to being spares. Which is when we decided that the high mileage bike was going to becomes a parts bike.
So far it has had fuel system work, tank and carbs. New ignition system, though I I replaced it while I was chasing carb issues so I actually think it might be fine. And the calipers were replaced all around since they had internally rusted and were stuck. We still need to finish things like mounting a new front tire, but it’s hot and i am not looking forward to it, and rebuilding the forks.
I was told to fill the take with gas if I am going for a long trip so that tank doesnt rust . is it true? Is that shat I am supposed to do?
I am no expert, just someone that has messed with this kind of stuff for a long time.
In general it does help, you are minimizing the area that air and moisture can attack the metal of the gas tank. But now here in the US it’s hard to find fuel without ethanol and ethanol loves to attract moisture. So I don’t know if that advice is as relevant as it once was.
The fuel system on this Goldwing was very old and after decades all bets are off. Old fuel is going to do damage no matter what. If you are thinking in the range of weeks or a few months a full tank is better, if you are looking into the range of a year or more, I actually believe draining the system totally is the better option.amd then storing it in an area with limited exposure to the elements.
