Well, the 22 Degree V Twin is in my workshop and now the fun begins by removing the carbs, this bike has 47,000 Miles on the clock but no idea how many real miles are on the motor, but to be honest it does look fairly clean, except where the oil and grease tend to stick.
With the old plugs removed and New ones ready for later, I poured some Marvel Mystery Oil into the Bores as I have no idea when this last ran, the tags say 2006 but no idea when she ran to be honest, so thought that marvel will help the rings for sure as I use that in my Flathead Motor to keep the valves from sticking.
She has been sat for many years but I have seen way worse, I rode the CX500 for many years but never had a GL500 but pretty much the same motor, so now the fun begins as I have to remove the air box then attempt to get the carbs out, I did have a look on you tube but nothing like just jumping in and having a go, quite fun today, albeit dirty and oily but love this sort of stuff.
By the look of it, the frame is way more forgiving than the CX model as the airbox wasn’t too much of a struggle to get out and as I am not putting it back in, I can make a sigh of relief as the New carbs should just bolt right on.
Still, it is out now and whilst I was there I pumped the suspension up as it was on the ground almost and bunged 65 pounds of air in that Mono shock system, I really prefer twin shocks if truth be known but beggars cannot be choosers.
Well that’s that out of the way, right, next up is to make a start on these carbs, I’m used to a rack of 4 carbs these days so these seemed a little easier to get too but the cables were a bit of a pain comp[aired the CB750 and CB550 versions I usually work with.
I undid the hose clamps on the rubber intakes and then set about with an 8mm Ratchet wrench and undid the mounting bolts on the aluminum manifolds, te inners were a little awkward but I was persistent and got them to crack undone with no real issues.
I can see all that Oil and grime in between the cylinders and when I get the carbs off, I shall spray some st100 on it and remove it with cloths etc, may as well as thats the best time to get any sort of access to that area and with carbs on, its almost impossible to be able to reach your hand in that area.
After a few swear words and a good use of a screw driver, I managed to get the carbs out of the frame, way more room on a GL500 than a CX500 for sure, but still a bit of a struggle, the cables were the push pull variety with the 2 10mm hex nuts but a pain to remove the cable nipples from the arms, but managed to get them off, the choke was pretty easy as it is just a screw and bracket holding that.
Look at all that grime from years of riding etc, I am glad that I can now get in there with a rag and some ST100 cleaner to get the majority of it off and use a cloth as I dont want to use water, a long laborious job but I will clean it up and get it looking way better for sure.
From the right side you can see the oily substance that has sat itself here for many years, but usually if you can get it off, it kind of protects the casing underneath and it should come put quite clean after a bit of scrubbing.
Not show winning but so much better, I mean, how far should I go, I just want the bike to run, then make the new 2 into 1 exhausts for it, soon as the New Carbs arrive I can fit them.
So, I am now ready to top up the radiator reservoir tank and have some 50-50 in my Hot Rod, so will use that, and then I will call it a day and get on with some other stuff whilst I await New Carbs n Cables from Murrays.