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Hi Guys,

Firstly, thanks for all of the good information you all take the time to post...a big help to first timers such as myself.

I took delivery of the project today, looks in solid condition, apparently she fires, but I wont worry about that too soon. Anyway, as a first timer, I am asking you guys where you would start. I plan to take all the cop stuff off of it, and the 37 miles of wiring that no longer is required, take all of the fairing off to see what we really have.

Any thoughs or suggestions are well recieved. Part of the deal was 3/4 of a 79' (I believe) LTD, seem like some good parts there.

Thanks guys, I am looking forward to begin, I appreciate the help!! Photos below.

No suggestions guys? OK, I will pull all the fairing etc off, I plan to pull the engine out and powdercoat the frame. I will post pictures of the wiring when I can take good ones, but it looks like a rats nest, so... how hard is it to rewire the whole bike?

Put a cb radio on the cop bike and call it good. j/k I don't know what your going to do or what your plans are for each. You can find wiring diagrams and manuals in the forums. If there are a lot of wiring issues I'd almost start fresh with the basics and keep the headlights, turns, brake light, and all the necessary wiring like the ignition and such. Scrap all the rest. Get the bikes to the frames and motors. I'm skipping that step until next winter when I will break everything down for cleaning, powder coating, and rebuilding. In my opinion take a look at all the projects and see what path you want your bike to go down. You will get a lot of idears. good luck!

Fun stuff isn't it. I'm building a 79 right now. I'm planning to completely rewire the whole bike. I modified diagrams I found on this site to work for my build. I'm doing away with all the handlebar switches. I also went with LED lights. Basically I'm keeping the rectifier/regulator, and that's about the only original part. I'm using about 3 toggle switches, a 3 way toggle for the signals, 2 or 3 fuses, an LED flasher, and maybe a starter solenoid.

What I've found so far is that a 79 bike with 40k miles involves a whole shitload of work, and that's without rebuilding the motor.....

Thanks for the input guys. After a week or so srewing aroung with an actual location to work, I was able to start today.

I have decided to take it all the way dowm to the frame and havi it pordercoated. I took the boxes, the front fairing and the exaust off. I bought the harbor freight lift btw, for $100 seems pretty good. Tank came off, wasnt even attached so that was easy. The whole battery area is a mess with quite a bit of corrosion.
Below are photos and questions:

The wiring is a complete rats nest, I have been advised to start over, i think I will go this route as the wires are hard and is complete disarray.



The centerstand must be from a completely different bike as I am pretty sure it should not run against the chain. This also explains why I could not get it up on the centerstand.

The coils are zip tied on, works I suppose but dodgy to say the least.

The igniter is toast accorging to PO. I am thinking of putting a Dyna 2000 kit on it, any thoughts or suggestions? there is the whole kit for $424 on Z1, but do I need the control box? I still dont have my head around this part.


Overall i am pretty happy that there is little rust, the worst is corrosion. Brake lines look OK, but I think they will be replaced, neither resevoir has brake fluid in them although they look quite good on the inside.

Thinking about rechroming certian parts, is this expensive? More tomorrow as I get through it. plan is at this point to keep the cop bike style, with the fairing etc. also would be good for the road trips I like to do each summer.

Plenty more photos, I am a novice, any thoughts or suggestions are always welcome.

Cheers Guys,

I would try and get the bike started before I did any thing. Wiring is a pain and time consuming. Roy

wow looks like you got your hands full. i will stay tuned

Man that does look hacked and corroded. One good thing about mine was that it leaked and sprayed so much oil that it actually preserved everything but the wiring. I don't know which is worse, cleaning baked on oil or corrosion.

Are you planning to powder coat the frame black?

Unless your wanting to do a complete rebuild of the bike from the frame up (powder coat, paint, etc, etc) I would take roy's advice and get it fired up and go form there. A basic wiring setup is pretty simple, but will definitely take some time. You can always work through the existing wire loom a piece at a time.

Now if your wanting to turn it into a project and redo everything, then by all means tear it down and remove it all, evaluate the structure, paint it/powder coat and start putting it back together how you want it.

Here are a few things I noticed looking at the pics of your bikes. First the LTD you have is not a 79 but rather a 78. I say this based on the type of cam cover it has as well as the clutch cover. Also it appears to have an 18" rear wheel when an LTD comes standard with a 16" wheel. The bike is an LTD for sure the rear footpegs mounts tell me that. It looks as if someone has hacked the LTD mufflers and grafted them to the cop bike, cop bikes come with a different kind of exhaust which acts as a stop for your centerstand. This is possibly why your stand is getting up against your chain the LTD's did not come with a centerstand so there was no provision made to stop it. Looks like a cool project good luck with it no matter which direction you go with it.

here is my to cents, looking at the bike i can see you are going to send some money getting it on the road unless you are moneyed up i would think twice on sending $424.00 on the dayna there is alot of other ing. out there alot cheaper and you have money left over for other things that you will need thats just me good luck and have fun

Thanks for the input guys, the plan is to take it all the way back to the frame and get it powder coated, there are some rust issues on the bottom that make me want to do this, this year. I hear you guys on the wiring, but just looking at it is very daunting, lots of new splices and things going on, I am thinking just pull it out and start again.

Jeff, you mentioned a cheaper ignition than the Dyna - any information would really help. I am definately not cashed up, but want to spend where I need to and do it right the first time.

Gringo, you are right, the exaust was the stop for the centerstand.

the shock are shot btw, rusted and have 0 play in them.

cheers, thans for the input