Everything is coming along nicely. The bodywork is wrapped in blue, the timing belt is changed, and I’m just waiting on the last few parts from BikeBandit.com to seal up all the various leaks.
One of the “while I wait” projects was to get the cooling fan working. I bought a universal thermostatic switch from Advance and was working on getting it hooked up when I discovered that there is no power at all to the cooling fan. According to the wiring diagram, the cooling fan is supposed to have +12V whenever the ignition is in the “run” position and the thermostatic switch in the water pump housing is supposed to ground the fan when things get too hot. Tracing things back, though, I discovered that there was no power at the fuse box, so I dug in to the wiring harness a bit. What I found was that the original GL1200 ignition switch was replaced with switch from some other Honda motorcycle. While the GL1200 switch has 7 wires, this one only had 6 so good old Cleetus did what any redneck would do and just didn’t hook up the last wire. That last wire just happened to be the blue-orange for the cooling fan.
I pulled this mess out and replaced it with the ignition switch from the ’84 Aspencade which eliminated all the electrical tape and crimp connectors:
(The black switch is the GL1200 while the silver one is from some unknown other Honda motorcycle)
With the new switch in place, I buttoned up the radiator and went to give the bike a test start. Nothing. The lights go out as though it is going to start, but nothing from the starter. I seem to recall that when I installed the replacement solenoid the wiring was wrong but when I wired it the right way it wouldn’t start. I suspect that there are some other shenanigans going on with the wiring harness and it might all stem from trying to make the wrong ignition switch work. My next step is to pull out the wiring diagram and start looking at the starting circuit.
In good news, though, I did find that the tires from the ’84 have 2012 and 2011 date codes and aren’t dry-rotted or worn so I’m going to just use those for now any maybe look to new tires for next year.
Next steps (in no particular order):
– Rebuild rear air shocks
– Rebuild front forks
– Change oil
– Change front brake pads
– Change rear brake pads
– Change front brake fluid
– Change rear brake fluid
– Change coolant
– Install new tires/wheels
– Swap speedometer sensor
– Swap luggage
– Swap fender
– Bolt up bodywork
– Glue on new side panel mounting nubs
– Assemble front fairing and windshield
– Get orange and blue paint off engine guards
– Bolt left engine guard to the frame
– Replace left front turn signal assembly
– Install hardware on luggage
Once those things are done, it’ll be time to get it registered and tagged. Then I can worry about getting a radio installed while I’m riding it. I also think there will be a number of rattles and such that I’ll need to run down plus I need to make sure the cooling fan really does work.