Saving Essie-A rebuild

[Guest]

So, while it wasnt much of a wreck as far as wrecks go, I figured, since Im doing a running resto on her this year, I'd start here, and catalogue it for fun.

After our little lawn job last weekend, and upon getting her back home Sunday and resting up, I spent Monday taking her apart, and going over the damages with a little bit more detail. At first blush, she really didnt look that bad considering, but after removing some of the parts and having a closer look, there appears to be a bit more "little annoyances" that we at first thought.

The BIGGEST things are of course the gauge cluster, which was trashed completely. No rescuing that. I and Brett had first thought perhaps we'd be able to salvage the guts and transfer them to another housing. But once we got them apart, I realized they were indeed a lost cause. The speedo gearing was trashed. The plastic inner housing was smashed and broken in multiple places. The tach (which had problems to begin with, but I am pretty sure it was just the circuit board once again...the second I had replaced) was bent and was irrepairable. So, those were toast. Brett had brought back with him a couple of GS700/750 gauges, which are nearly exact matches, except for a couple of small details. We hooked em up, and they do simply hook right up, and everything seemed good to go. But the next day we found that the speedo was WAYYY messed up. It read anywhere from 80MPH to 145+MPH (the needle was buried) at roughly 60MPH real speed. So, when I got home, I set forth disassembling THOSE gauges to see what was up. In the end, I made one decent looking set of gauges from the two sets Brett had given me, and another set that I had scavenged the tach board from a year or so ago. They look pretty decent. Everything seems to function, but I havent had them out to see about the speedo. What i did find on the speedo gear of the second set was a bunch of rust that was jamming up the gear or letting it slip one or the other..

[TheCafeKid]

So, Rose did a nice job cleaning out the years of gathered dust, dirt, spiderwebs, dead bugs etc. and now she has a fairly nice set of gauges. And while they're not EXACT, only a total GS geek like us would probably ever know the difference. I know, and it bugs me, but finding the real McCoy will either take me many years, or never happen. In the meantime, these will do the trick.

After the accident, I found that a wiring gremlin cropped up, and one can only assume that the accident caused it as it never happened before. For whatever reason, and at no particular interval, the SIGNAL fuse will blow, taking out the signals (duh) the gauge cluster lights and tach, and my tail/brake lamp. Obviously I cant run around with out marker lights and a tail and brake lamp, lest my rebuild need rebuilt again after getting t-boned or rear-ended by someone for not having a clue what I was doing on the road.. SOoo I have been trying to track down the source of this issue. So far as I can tell at the moment, the left rear signal, which was snapped off and dangling by its wires, must have a broken or frayed wire or stretched wire or something of the like that intermitantly contacts the frame or metal inside the housing somewheres and causes the blowout of the fuse. The sigs were crapped anyway, so they'll come off, and some sort of signals replace them untill I can either afford to buy OEM (at near $80 a pop last i looked!! ) or Dennis Kirk sells exact replica knock offs that just arent flexible like the stockers (which I think is stupid anyway. Its supposed to keep them from breaking if/when you go down, but they crack and break after years of sunlight) for about half the cost of OEM.

Rose and I are supposed to leave for West ByGOD Virginia in two weeks, so for the time being, some ED or EFE signals will have to do depending on what I can scrounge up either from members here or on eBay or whatever.

[cowboyup3371]

Wish you the best Cafe. If you want, I can check out a couple of junk yards out here (one here in Co Springs and one in Denver) to see if they have anything for you.

[TheCafeKid]

Thanks man. I dont hold much hope for finding certain things as they only came on THIS model (like the gauge cluster) and there were relatively FEW of this model imported to the States (though lately, ive seen more and more of them pop up, but fortunately, or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, they're usually nearly complete and taken care of, so I doubt I find any being parted)

Anyway, I call this a "running rebuild" because other than cosmetic and simple problems, the bike runs great still. Always has. At some point, I will get the problems in my 750B's brakes sorted and then can hang Essie up (probably after the wedding trip) and really REALLY make a serious effort at going over every nut and bolt and bringing her back to pristine (aside from the first gen GSXR stuff, but thats all bolt on or take off, and so close to stock but better, again, only GS geeks will recognize its not stock) I want to get the frame cleaned up and painted/powder coated and lots of other this and thats, but will save that for when the body work goes off to the painter later this summer.. In the meantime, I need to collect the bits i am missing or that need replaced.

GSScott had mentioned he may have another ES style cowl, as well as RapidRay and SaltyMonk. So between the three of them, I should be able to come up with one thats in better shape than my own. Mine could probably be made to look good again, but not without some body filler/plastiweld etc, and Im just not sure how that will hold up with the vibrations and what not, as that plastic is amazingly flexible. Without the frame behind it, which i removed to see if I could find where it was bent (still no joy there yet, gonna have to break out the tape measure and start hunting for distances) I was shocked at how much that cowl plastic will flex. If they'd made the sidecovers out of the same stuff, they'd probably never ever break or lose their tabs...

Which takes me to my next issue. The fairing has little snap in lowers to it. Just some little knee fairing type things (I will get some pics up here soon to go along with the write up) They pop up on ebay from time to time, and I think one side is even still available new. But my left side busted a tab. I have an extra RIGHT one, and there was a gent on here looking for one that had an extra LEFT one, but I dunno what happened to him..

[bonanzadave]

She took a licking and kept on ticking.

[1100E]

I'm glad both you and Rose are OK, sorry to hear about the crash.

You have a lot of friends here on the Forum. Parts for these bikes are getting scarce but they're still out there if you look hard enough, my '80 1100E resto is almost done and we scrounged up all of the parts needed. True, the ES was built in low numbers and has always been a rare bike, but I'm sure many of the parts you'll need are common to the '82/'83 E. Make a list of the things you need and we'll all look through our private stash or keep an eye open for you.

Remember that great photo you posted a week or two ago? Things could have been much worse, you have a great outlook on this experience and I'm sure Essie will come out the other end looking better than new

[TheCafeKid]

I'm glad both you and Rose are OK, sorry to hear about the crash.

You have a lot of friends here on the Forum. Parts for these bikes are getting scarce but they're still out there if you look hard enough, my '80 1100E resto is almost done and we scrounged up all of the parts needed. True, the ES was built in low numbers and has always been a rare bike, but I'm sure many of the parts you'll need are common to the '82/'83 E. Make a list of the things you need and we'll all look through our private stash or keep an eye open for you.

Remember that great photo you posted a week or two ago? Things could have been much worse, you have a great outlook on this experience and I'm sure Essie will come out the other end looking better than new

Well, im just glad that Rose wasnt hurt other than some bumps and bruises. Me, I would have been ok with it if I had been broken in 100 different places as long as she was ok. As it was, a bum thumb and a big bruise on a very scary place, and some other sore joints and stuff I think I can live through. Bottom line is Rose is OK, and better still her mentality about the whole thing is better than mine. She still wants to ride, and trusts me to get her there in one piece. I am just annoyed that I got fooled by some shadows and couldnt keep the bike and us from going down. But, I suppose it happens even to the best. I just wish, if we had to go down, I would have been on a different bike! But those are the perils of riding her. Take the good with the bad.

So far, there have been many GSR members who have been more than helpfull, and more than generous. I cant thank these guys enough. I dont expect anyone to just hand over parts to help me out, but simply diggin through your stash and offering up whatever you may have that I am looking for is more help than I could expect. Hell, Brett Griffin ran off an grabbed up some bits from his stash THAT NIGHT just to get her going for the weekend. He and I are pretty close, but that was awesome, and I am humbled by his willingness to help a friend out (on multiple occasions in fact) and his out and out giving personality. I dont have a lot of friends. But there are a few that I consider family, and he is one of them.

Its gonna be a bit before she looks her sunday best again, but thanks to a bunch of you guys, I feel pretty confident that I will get her there in due time. You guys is da best!

Thanks again

More of this to come, and pics and stuff. I suspect this will be a long running, constantly updated thread

[kinnet]

After the accident, I found that a wiring gremlin cropped up, and one can only assume that the accident caused it as it never happened before. For whatever reason, and at no particular interval, the SIGNAL fuse will blow, taking out the signals (duh) the gauge cluster lights and tach, and my tail/brake lamp. Obviously I cant run around with out marker lights and a tail and brake lamp, lest my rebuild need rebuilt again after getting t-boned or rear-ended by someone for not having a clue what I was doing on the road.. SOoo I have been trying to track down the source of this issue.

We found the electrical gremlin.

We were thinking that the the fuse blowing and it taking out the signals and the tail lamp didn't make much sense. So TCK got the manual out and I was tracing wiring that would possibly connect all these things. As I was doing such, a b/w wire ( a ground, perhaps? I'm not that smart yet. ) led me to all the signals and the tail lamp, and to the horn button.

This made me think of an old post I read that said the horns were taking out the signal fuse... So, we checked the wires on the horns, and sure enough, there were some bare wire spots that would intermittently touch the frame and take out the fuse.

I taped them up nice, TCK tucked them away, and so far so good.

WV here we come!

[Larry D]

We found the electrical gremlin.

We were thinking that the the fuse blowing and it taking out the signals and the tail lamp didn't make much sense. So TCK got the manual out and I was tracing wiring that would possibly connect all these things. As I was doing such, a b/w wire ( a ground, perhaps? I'm not that smart yet. ) led me to all the signals and the tail lamp, and to the horn button.

This made me think of an old post I read that said the horns were taking out the signal fuse... So, we checked the wires on the horns, and sure enough, there were some bare wire spots that would intermittently touch the frame and take out the fuse.

I taped them up nice, TCK tucked them away, and so far so good.

WV here we come!

Nice.

It's always the simple things that end up driving you crazy.

[salty_monk]

I have some signals that you can probably use to make something acceptable... Yours for the price of a flat rate box. ($11).



Those are the mounts that go to the fairing frame. Posplayr has a good trick for fixing those tabs... you need a bit of aluminium (pref right angle), some files, & a drill plus some strong epoxy. I have done it on a few tabs now, works great!

Do a search for the link.

Dan

[kinnet]

I have some signals that you can probably use to make something acceptable... Yours for the price of a flat rate box. ($11).

Those are the mounts that go to the fairing frame. Posplayr has a good trick for fixing those tabs... you need a bit of aluminium (pref right angle), some files, & a drill plus some strong epoxy. I have done it on a few tabs now, works great!

Do a search for the link.

Dan

Dan - Thanks for the offer, good sir. However, TCK was able to scrounge some up locally. I think he picked up the set from BlowerBike.

[BassCliff]

Josh, Rose,

I just found this thread and learned that you two had been down unexpectedly. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're OK. I don't have much in the way of parts but please let me know if there's something I might be able to help you with. I'll keep you two in my prayers for a while.


All the best to you and yours,

Cliff

[UncleMike]

Do you guys have a list of the parts you need?

[TheCafeKid]

Actually Mike, I THINK I have sourced everything thus far. I managed to get to "cherry pick" through Blowerbike's box o signals and found a complete set of really nice ones, Greg also has a spare and some extra lenses I am buying from him, and Ray has a 1100ES fairing in fair condition I will purchase when we get back from WV as well. GSScott has a few bits for me as well, so everthing else just seems to be cosmetic. I wish I could find an original 1100ES gauge set, but that would be like finding a needle in a hay stack i fear...

Got her all back together for the trip. Still some stuff I will need to clean up/take care of, but she's roadworthy, and that will do for now. Have all year i suppose to work on the other stuff. I will put up some pics when we get back, but today has been spent running around doing many things, and then packing stuff and loading the bike with the saddlebags and whatnot..

[kinnet]

Nice.

It's always the simple things that end up driving you crazy.

I try to keep in mind that Occam's Razor keeps the cutting clean.