Naked Cooley

[GS Jim]

Hey guys, a blown head gasket and much encouragement from Paul Kahnert (BOM June 2005) finally convinced me to attempt a sustantial restoration of the Cooley.

At the moment, the engine is getting a total rebuild including a Wiseco 1085 piston kit at Gord Bush Perfomance, (http://gordbushperformance.com/) one the of premier Ontario race shops. In the meantime, I'm going thru the frame to improve and detail things that have been on the to-do list for a long time.

As always I count on you guys for help, because what little I have learnt how to do on my bike has be due to this great forum. It's safe to say I've never dug this deep into any of my bikes and hope I haven't got in over my head, LOL.

The plan is to stay fairly stock and do mods that are "period correct". Will ditch stock airbox in favour of pods and have a new stainless 4-1 pipe on hand for it.

I wanted to replace the swing arm bearings and was wondering what's the best way to insert the new ones? I was thinking of using a long section of 1/2" all-thread to press them back in and using a little grease to facilitate insertion, any better ideas?

[Guest]

Just did my swing arm bearings and the hard part is not putting them in but getting them out. You can put them in the freezer first, some people do as it helps them go in but mine went in just fine with a rubber mallet and appropriate sized PVC etc.. Looks like you're doing a fine job of tear down there, not much of the bike left, lol. If you're going this deep down the rabbit hole you might as well clean every single connection on your harness. I use Deoxit but there are other methods. How are your coil wires looking?

[Frank Z.]

Nice. Subscribed!
What are your plans for carbs... smoothbores?

[GS Jim]

Just did my swing arm bearings and the hard part is not putting them in but getting them out. You can put them in the freezer first, some people do as it helps them go in but mine went in just fine with a rubber mallet and appropriate sized PVC etc.. Looks like you're doing a fine job of tear down there, not much of the bike left, lol. If you're going this deep down the rabbit hole you might as well clean every single connection on your harness. I use Deoxit but there are other methods. How are your coil wires looking?

Hey AZR, yeah getting the old bearings out was a bugger, until I finally thot of using a suitably sized socket wrench and an extension to drift them out.

I had thot of heating the swing arm with a heat gun, but also freezing the bearings is a good idea, thanks.

I'm going to touch up the paint on the frame and will check all the connectors, yes. I had rebuild the front calipers last year and will tackle the rear this time around since it's already off the bike.

Coil wires look OK, but not sure what I should be looking for, do you mean just there physical integrity?

[GS Jim]

Hey Frank, trying to keep cost reasonable (engine rebuild will costa bomb), so keeping stock 28mm carb for now, they were rebuilt last year.

[Frank Z.]

Hey Frank, trying to keep cost reasonable (engine rebuild will costa bomb), so keeping stock 28mm carb for now, they were rebuilt last year.

Ah, you have the better Euro carbs... nice!

[Guest]

For the coils, if you don't want to upgrade to Dyna's (and you really don't need to if yours are working fine) you could just dig out the stock wires and put in new ones. Pretty simple really but they can take some time to dig out if they decide to be difficult. I've done it plenty of times, they always come out but some quicker than others. But it's winter where you are so a great project for in front of the TV. New wires and caps for a 32 year old bike will be a great improvement.

[Guest]

Hey I forgot to mention that if you're buying new bearings for the swing arm try a local bearing shop. The dealer here in town was charging $23 per piece, the bearing shop $7 and same quality.

[GSScoobie]

Is it getting the Cooley fairing and gauges?

[GS Jim]

Is it getting the Cooley fairing and gauges?

has 'em already, the bodywork was done a couple of years ago.

this is what it looked like before I went nuts and tore it apart

[GS Jim]

Hey I forgot to mention that if you're buying new bearings for the swing arm try a local bearing shop. The dealer here in town was charging $23 per piece, the bearing shop $7 and same quality.

Thanks, wish I had talked to you before - OEM parts already on hand.....

[GS Jim]

Engine Cases

Got inspired today to tackle the engine cases which needed some attention. The stator housing in particular had some nasty pavement rash suffered one day while late to pick up the new girl friend and getting off the bike in a hurry (no, side stand wasn't quite down all the way, LOL).



Tomorrow I tackle the swing arm

[Guest]

She's gonna look like better than before and go twice as fast..well almost.

[GS Jim]

swing arm

My Cooley has the later GS1100 alu swing arm which was looking a little ratty, so I decided to give polishing it a go..... Well, I've now learned that polishing engine cases does NOT prepare you for tackling the swing arm !!

I did the flat part on either side and decided to call it quits, before I tossed the blasted thing over the back fence in frustration Oh wait, might need that part later on....

[Guest]

Ya stuff like that I always go at them with wet/dry paper first, just too much for the wheel at first. One thing I did that really worked was putting the buffing wheel on my angle grinder. Worked like a charm, I was even able to skip the wet/dry process on several pieces.