Conversion and Restoration Activities
A GL650 front fender was obtained for painting because it is slightly different than the GL500 front fender. Once it arrived the various body pieces were sent out to be painted. The painter selected for the job was Brian R., who was highly recommended by a friend who had recently had some motorcycle body parts painted by him. I was also pleased with his work and would not hesitate to recommend him to others. If you're reading this, thanks Brian!
Basket Case was disassembled down to the frame and the frame paint was
freshened up.
The cam chain and various seals and o-rings were replaced in the engine.
The stator was replaced with a rewound one from Custom Rewind.
Basket Case was gradually reassembled in its new form as various restoration
actions were performed.
Here is a partial list of the activities performed:
Repacked swing arm bearings.
Greased center stand and side stand.
Repacked tapered steering head bearings.
Replaced front and rear wheel bearings.
Greased rear brake mechanism.
Cleaned and lubricated rear drive splines.
Replaced rear drive gear oil with synthetic gear lube.
Installed main fuse modification.
Installed new battery.
Installed new air filter.
Installed new choke cable.
Replaced oil and oil filter.
Replaced cam chain.
Replaced stator.
Adjusted valves.
Replaced coolant.
Replaced spark plugs.
Replaced tachometer cable.
Replaced clutch cable.
Replaced inline fuel filter.
Lubed rear suspension.
Lubed front and rear driveshaft splines.
Adjusted oil pump chain tension.
Cleaned oil pan and oil pickup screen.
Lubed throttle, clutch, and choke cables.
Rebuilt petcock.
Cleaned and lubed starter. Installed
ground modification inside
starter.
Adjusted fuel/air mixture.
Synchronized carburetors.
No metal or wires were cut in the conversion process so the bike can be returned to its original configuration by simply bolting on and plugging in the original parts. These parts are now in safe storage. Just in case anyone is wondering, though, they are not for sale.
What became of the original GL500 bike that provided many of the body parts?
Those parts were replaced with donations from a silver 1982 GL500 parts bike.
This is its new look.
Although the overall condition of these body parts is not quite as nice as those removed, they are still perfectly presentable.