It's pretty ugly but it's ALL there except for the front brakes. I'll have to get a pic next time I'm at my workshop but someone actually cut the master cylinder off of its mount. I've never seen anything like it.
My original plan was for a complete restoration but after really looking at the bike and poking around I decided that cosmetically it was too far gone to try to restore like new so custom it is...
I also have a 2000 TL1000R that has a billion miles and a few crashes on it. While looking at the two of them sitting on my screen porch as the snow was falling I decided to make two bikes into one. So the GT will be receiving most of the Suspention from the TL. I have plans for a future project using the TL v twin but that's a story for another time.
As I've been tearing down the bike I've been bagging all the hardware and labeling it for future use.
A few dollars spent at http://www.mcmaster.comwent a long way to keeping all the small parts inline.
One of the first surprises I found was the radiator. On the outside it looks great. Not a fin out of place, no signs of leaking. Once I got it removed I found this...
I guess that's what happens when a bike sits from the mid 70's Till now. I've taken the radiator to the local old school radiator shop. It's the kind of place that'd rather re-core a unit than sell you a new one. I have high hopes when I get it back it'll be as good as new.
Next up was carbs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the PO had actually drained all the fuel out of the bike before parking it. With very little work they cleaned up like new,
The only real work I had to do was helicoil the drain plug on the left carb. I did notice that the jetting was strange, the left and center carbs had 102.5 mains in them and the right had a 100. It's been my experience that on triples it's usually the center cylinder that's different. Is my arrangement correct or is it possible that someone put the wrong carb in the wrong spigot at some point?
A few more afternoons of disassembly and cataloging brings me to my current state of being ready to start mocking up TL parts on the GT chassis. With any luck I'll be bringing the TL to the shop tomorrow to start breaking it down so it's ready to give up some parts.
I'll be updating this thread as the project moves forward. If the final product is half as cool as what I envision it's gonna be a baaaad waterbuffalo!
This bike and I have a long history together. Tens of thousands of miles, at least ten states, and it tried to kill me twice. I gotta say it's bittersweet. But once I'm smoking down the road it'll be worth it! Moving forward....
