Petcock

Yep, the petcock was made up of used, mismatched stuff, and had no reserve function. I took one of the old ones I had and eliminated the vacuum part, so now I have a working reserve again.

I'm glad I found out right here in town, not 80 miles away in Webster, like I will be tomorrow.

Walking ain't crowded

As I posted before, we changed the petcock on the Sportster a couple weeks ago. So today when it ran out of gas, I switched the lever on the petcock to reserve like I have hundreds of times. No problem.

Except when it sputtered to a stop a mile or so down the road, flat out of fuel. It's a good thing my neighbor Don was home, he came to my rescue. So, looks like I'll have to fool with that next.

Here it is, sitting on the side of the road.

Either the reserve tube fell off, or the valve is backward, I'll figure it out.
I might rebuild the vacuum petcock and put it back on. I actually like that feature.

Cold!

It warmed up yesterday, at least enough to do a little tinkering. I put the 45 pilot jet back in the Sportster, and returned to the carbon fiber air cleaner. I also put the new front sprocket on it, adding a tooth. I took the new, minus one sprocket off to do it, so that's how I end up with so much crap.

I like it a lot better this way. The speedo is only off about 3 mph, as it was 5 off before. It's still geared a little low, but the street manners are good, and it's much less frantic on the interstate. Not a very good pic.

Merry Xmas

Took a short ride on the HOG today, 80 degrees on Dec. 25th? Gotta love it. Going down US1 at about 65mph-

Air cleaner fail

Since the old air cleaner is rusty, I thought I'd drill it some to see if that's the way to go. Drilled some holes, then took the tape off to lay out some more. But when I took the tape off, it pulled a bunch of the chrome off! I guess I'll drill it some more, maybe get it painted or powdercoated. Wish I still had some of that silver wheel paint.

Since I scored that clutch cover for $5, I thought I'd cut on that a little, too. When I have an extra, I'm not afraid to wreck something. I'm not sure I'm done with it. Like Jimbo used to say, "just enough red to piss me off!" Should I put a dot in the inspection cover? Probably, but no more red.

I did manage to start a major cleanup on my Hayabusa, it's next in line for a tire change, too. Nothing but money pits.

Gearing

I'm sick of the short gearing on the Sportster, so I ordered a different front sprocket. I'll add a tooth there to change the freeway buzz to a more tolerable level.

Been looking for another gas tank. I'd like to get a 2.2 gallon tank for it, the stock 3.3 is too big.

My Busa needs a major cleanup, so that's the next big deal for me, bikewise.

Jetting

Only one way to get it right, put the sniffer on it-

We spent some time on the dyno today, gained some power but more importantly, made it run better. I'm still not satisfied with it, but until I get a new ignition module, it'll have to do. We ended up at 190 on the main jet, back to the stock slide(drilled) and spring, 42 pilot jet, and cranked the timing back a little. The next thing is to get the SE module with the extended rev limit. Since this bike has been out of production since '03, parts specific to it get hard to find. I could go with a Daytona Twin Tec ignition, but that would mean switching from a map sensor to a voes switch, and new coils! So, I'll try to find Genuine Harley part.

Here's Todd wailing on it-

It gets loud after while. We had the endcap off the Supertrapp so the oxygen sensor would fit.

Rainy Monday

I rejetted the carb on the sportster today, no test ride because of the rain. I put it back to the original DynoJet kit of a 170 main, their needle on slot #4, their spring, a 45 pilot jet, .030 shim on the spring, and the idle screw out 2 turns.

Hooked an old idle adjuster up, just for kicks-

Did some cleaning and fiddling. Turned the front wheel around so the tread is going the right way. Drilled some holes, I love to drill!  Leaving the front fender off for now-

I'm anxious to ride tomorrow, I hope my carb formula works. 

Drag bars

Got some cheap drag bars off craigs. I don't know if I like them, but for $20 I'll try them. Wish they were black-

I took it for a ride around the lake, about 30 miles. The bars weren't that bad, but my carb tuning from yesterday made things worse, instead of better. The low speed manners are improved, but it won't take a slam full throttle. When I replaced the Thunderslide, I lowered the needle to the next position, as I have done in the past. It seems like a lean condition, so I'm going to raise the needle up first, then go for a bigger main jet if that doesn't work.

Where did I put that dyno jet stuff?

Went to the dragon

Not that one! We have one locally.

Then I came home and fooled around with an old handlebar clamp-

Of course, I couldn't have done it without the assistance and guidance of my neighbor, Trent, who rode over on a cloudy winter's day. 

Thanks, buddy!

New pics

After I put a new tire on the RoadGlide, I decided to hard wire my gps on the Sportster. They have the "euro light" wiring in the headlight, so it was just a matter of fishing some wire into the housing and hooking it up. My speedo is off since I changed wheels and converted to chain drive, so having my gps will be convenient. I used a sae plug on it, so I can adapt to other things too, and it's switched, fused power.

I also relocated the horn. I had put it in the stock location but it hit the fender under hard braking, so I put it back on the left side by the enrichener.
Then I took a ride around the lake since the weather is fabulous. Stopped at Debary Hall for a couple pics-

I like my air cleaner, but I may change out the carb for something different anyway, so I'll have to look in my stash to see if I can eliminate that oil breather line. It bugs me.

Turbo!

Or turboS, rather. Rode my Hayabusa to FtMyers today to a car/bike show. Here's the turbo-

My favorite bike, it had a little lifter noise-

Cruised my Busa 443 miles round trip today, averaged around 80 mostly. It never missed a beat and rolled over 48K on the way there.  

100 miles

Put about a hundred miles on the Sportster today. It ran fine, but the Thunderslide kit in the stock Keihin carb has to go. I remember why the factory went to belt drive, too. It had to help with the vibration over about 65mph. The rear wheel hasn't been balanced yet, that might be part of the problem. Anyway, nothing fell off!

Here we are at 75mph-

Going to the Webster swap meet tomorrow, maybe I'll find some treasure.

Maiden voyage!

Well, I finally got to ride the old girl. I started out cleaning the exhaust pipe, then got the call that my parts were in. So I rode my other Harley down and picked them up, I think the inspection cover is the only thing left that I have on order.

Got home, packed the wheel bearing on the front wheel, put it on, then set the bike down on the lift. I changed the trans fluid since I had replaced the output shaft seal on the other day. Next was the chain install, then the chain guard. I wasn't sure the belt guard would work, but it went on easily. After that, I put the muffler on and made a mount out of some stuff that I had laying around.

All of a sudden, it was time to see if it would start, and it did! No jumping or anything. I rode it a couple miles, but it was getting late, so I brought it back home and adjusted the handle bar and levers, the shifter, and changed the timer cover. Tomorrow, I'll try to do some tuning on it.

The sun was going down, so the pics aren't the best.  

Thursday

Well, I transferred the title and tag today, so my first ride isn't too far off. Fabbed up a spigot for the head breathers to go into the back of the S&S style c/f air cleaner. Put new exhaust studs and gaskets in the heads and mounted the header, took the muffler apart and thread chased it and reinstalled the plates the correct way(they were backwards). Repacked one of the bearings in the front wheel, only had one seal.

On my old bike, I just ran a hose down and put a breather filter on it, but decided to clean it up a little. The cleanest setup is the Screaming Eagle, but the shape isn't right on this air cleaner. 
Every time I touch the bike, seems like I have to redo or clean whatever it is I'm fooling with. Keeps me out of the tavern, I guess.  And it improves the bike, I hope.

Gave it the boot(s)

Put the fork boots on today, so the legs are on for good, finally. Removed the stock turn signals but will be looking for replacements. The mini fairing is on, but I need to fool with it a little more to get it situated. Darn wheel weights fell off the front wheel, so I get to do that again. Guess I'll use the clamp-on type this time.

Coming together

Temporarily, at least. I put the front wheel on today to make sure that the brakes were going to work, and wonder of wonders, they do! Thirty year old wheels basically bolt on.  The Bridgestone Spitfire tires are much bigger than the stockers, leaving it with about 1/16 inch clearance on either side. Just right.

I got the sprocket spacer kit from Zippers today, so I put it in and mocked up the rear wheel again to do the final alignment. It's pretty good, but the tire is offset to the right maybe 1/8 inch because of the stock brake setup. I can't make it any better for now, but the chain should run straight. Eventually, I'll find a different brake caliper and mount and re-center everything. The fender mount bolts are very close to the tire on the right side.

I borrowed a set of shocks from Keith that are one inch shorter than stock just to see how they'd look, and I like them. One of the stock shocks is leaking and since they're not rebuildable, I have to replace them with something, so I can try different lengths. I think the ones on now are OK, we'll see when I ride the thing(this week I hope).

I spent some time filing the cylinder fins, trying to get the corrosion off them. Made a lot of progress, but the job is far from over. At least every time I clean or paint or polish, it gets a little better. I still have to clean the whole exhaust yet.

Anyway, I think I like the stance of the bike now, so I hope to keep it about the way it is, at least until I score new body work. Street tracker, or cafe? Or a mixture? Have to see what comes up.

The Webster swap meet is Sunday, so maybe I can find some cheap crap for it, turn signals, handle bars, crap like that.

Legs

Reinstalled the fork legs temporarily. I've ordered some boots, so they have to come off at least once more, but being on the bike, they may not get dinged up too soon. I misted the last pass of paint on them so they wouldn't be too shiny .Thought about putting some red on them, but I don't think so. That's just some tape.

Made a skull key for it the other day-

Today, I've been sanding the triple trees and trying to clean up the fins on the heads and cylinders. The corrosion on this machine never stops!

I'll get it one day.

More forking around

After cleaning and sanding, I decided I was too lazy to want to keep polishing the legs, so they turned black.

Forking around

Took the forks off today to redo the seal on the left one. I decided to do everything on both, hopefully they'll never have to come off again once I reinstall them.

Bent my cheap scissors jack, hence the 2X4s holding the front up.

The right fork was pretty much ok, fluid was still reddish/purple HD type "E" colored. The right one however, had about 4 oz. of muddy, gooey slime in it, the result of the bike sitting outside so much. The rain water had gotten into the dust cap cover, then rotted out the dust cap, and finally rusting the spring out of the seal itself. The poor thing must've sat outside for a long time.

Anyway, I changed out the seals, dust caps, and fork oil in both, checking the springs, etc. along the way. I'm glad I bought that service manual off craig's for $20. Now they're reassembled and waiting for my next move. I started to sand them down to get the pits and what was left of the clear coat off them. I have to decide whether to polish them out or just paint them black. There's already a lot of black on the bike, and I heard you can have too much, but there's nothing darker so far.

f

I also managed to get the tires mounted and balanced, but haven't got bearing seals or the sprocket spacer kit I ordered, so it'll be a little while yet before I take a ride on it. The wheels look tall with the tires on them.  

    

 

Turkey Day

Got up early and put Tom into the oven, then went to Sanford for the Turkey Day 5K. The weather? Fabulous, about 60 and sunny. Julie and I made it. I gimped it, but met my goals.

1. I wasn't last.
2. I didn't need an ambulance.

So then, the best thing to do is eat like a pig, no, two pigs, then climb up into the attic and get the Xmas crap down! It's worth it in the end, though. Makes my wife happy.

The never ending wheel saga

Got the wheels all painted and polished as good as they're gonna get. They aren't cherry by any standard. My front tire came in, so I went to my buddy Keith's shop where I could mount the tire. While I was doing that, Okie got to work on my rotors-

Here he is-

I should thank those guys right here, because without their help, my projects would be a lot harder to do.
With that done, I got them installed, but had a Hell of a time getting the tire to blow up. I finally gave up and will dismount it and try again tomorrow. I cleaned the outside of the rims where the bead seats, but the 30 year old crud on the inner part must be letting enough air by to keep the tire from "popping". So I'll go at it again tomorrow, and maybe the rear tire will show up and that will be done, too.

I turned the bike around on my lift so I could take the front wheel off, it might be time to attack the forks.

Fairing came in

I ordered a fairing from a guy on ebay that looked like the HD one I had on my old Sportster. Today it came in and it sure is the genuine article. At a fair price, too. I just have to find a way to make it blacker-

Finished cleaning and painting my wheels today too. I hope I don't have to do that job again anytime soon. If my tires come in tomorrow, I'll be able to give them the Mother's treatment.

Got my sprockets

But, I didn't know I needed a new spacer behind the trans sprocket, so another delay. Zipper's has a kit with the spacer, a new seal, and a quad ring, so I'll order that Monday. It's filthy around there(like the rest of the bike), so the seal's probably leaking anyway. I let a friend take my new chain, so he has to replace that before I can ride. You can see the gap between the sprocket and the nut-

I did get the new cam position sensor installed, so that's some progress. The old one was melting-

Also finished the horn installation, and it actually beeps!
I ordered new exhaust studs and wheel seals today, too. I may ride this thing by Xmas. 

Thursday

Made a little more progress the last few days. I cleaned and painted the front wheel. Now, when I get the rear done, I can turn the bike around and get to work on switching it over. I redid the spacer on the brake side, still waiting on the sprockets.

I made a slider block for the swingarm, to keep the chain from grinding on it as it stretches.

I haven't decided if I'm going to make a chain guard or adapt one from another bike. The stock belt guard is too bulky.

With the clutch and cable adjusted, put the mid mount controls on for now. Traded the forwards for them and $100. I had the shifter and old SE pegs in my stash of crap.

Soaked the carb in PineSol overnight, it did a great cleanup job on the CV and smells fresh to boot! The carb does have a Thunderslide kit in it, so we'll see how it runs now that it's clean and I'll replace the cps when it comes in. I put the SE air cleaner on it, but I have several different ones so it won't stay like this. I'll eventually run the carbon fiber S&S style one I have, probably.

I hope the sprockets come in tomorrow, but I have plenty of other stuff to do on the thing. I need to fab some kind of mount for the header, so it doesn't stress and rebreak the muffler mount. I also need to start cutting my front fender. It's a little narrow, so I'm going to whack it and make my own mount, so I can run a 100/90 tire without clearance problems.