The Motorcycle Diaries (maintenance and repair)

 So way back on September 17, 2023 I posted about fixing the front base gasket of my 1992 Harley Davidson Fatboy.  

https://heresolong-voices.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-motorcycle-diaries-maintenance-and.html

I had a high dollar oil pump and a new cam cover, I painted the heads and cylinders.  It looked great and ran great.

For forty (40) miles, at which point oil came pouring out from under the front cylinder.  😒

I'm a damn good mechanic, if I do say so myself, so there had to be something going wrong. Maybe the cylinder base was warped.  Well, that got pushed aside for about two years (how does that happen?  Too much else going on).  A couple months ago I decided it was time. Pull the front cylinder back off and send it out for clean up.  Problem is that when I got it apart, it looked perfect.  Which means not the cylinder at all.  Stretched cylinder stud?  Shouldn't be as the studs are relatively new and a top brand.  What could it be? 

Well, here's a hint.

Picked up a used engine, allegedly from a 1991 FXR (easily checkable) and allegedly with 30k miles or so (less easily checked).  But I trust the guy I bought it from as he is the service writer at a nearby shop.  I walked into the shop, in fact, said hi, asked if he knew of anyone who had an Evo engine.  "Why yes, he did".  😁

Anyway, it's not a simple swap because I'm going to transfer over my oil pump, my cam cover, my cam and lifters (depending on visual inspection), my adjustable pushrods, my new pushrod covers, my roller rockers, and my Manley valve springs.  I'm debating on my heads but I think mine are stock, plus they have the same 170,000 miles on them as the engine.  I can't remember whether it was the Road King or the Fatboy heads I sent out, but I think it was the former.  Would be easier than swapping valve springs, though. 

Either way, a fair amount of work but I figure to have all the upgrades in the new engine prior to install.  It's only about an eight to ten hour job (maybe less) so maybe during Spring Break but I tend to get busy fast so we shall see.  Would be nice to have 5/7 bikes running all at once.  Summer plan, get 1989 Honda CBR running, get 1946 Harley WL flathead running, sell 1988 Honda CBR, have 6/6 bikes running.

Hey, a fella can dream, can't he?

Gratuitous motorcycle picture for NotClauswitz

Oddly and annoyingly, I must have been so excited about getting my Fatboy back on the road that I posted neither details nor pictures.  I need a pic for someone so here is the LHS from before the accident and the RHS in my garage right now.

A couple quick points.

1) $2500 quote to replicate my artwork on the smashed RHS tank.  If it's good enough for the Steelers it's good enough for me.  Logo on one side only now as we were able to save the LHS tank.

2) Powdercoated the frame and swingarm because they looked like crap after the frame work was done (well the frame looked like crap, the swingarm looked old and junky after I powdercoated the frame).

3) I pretty much put it back the way it was.  I had thought about leaving it stripped down, without bags or windshield, but then the Road King needed an engine rebuild so this became my go to bike.  Stripped down was way more fun when I was 25.

4) The drip pan is because in spite of a brand-new OEM still-in-the-original-box major-score-because-they-have-been-discontinued-for-about-twenty-years primary cover, I still have a very small primary oil leak.  You can keep your jokes about leaking Harley's to yourself.

The point of the pictures, by the way, is to show that you can swap out the exhaust and put proper saddlebags on a Fatboy.

Harley restoration, Part 1

Ran into some snags yesterday with a customer's project.  High compression pistons not matched properly to the cams he chose.  Consider talking to your mechanic before you buy a bunch of parts.

Meant that I had some time available so after getting caught up on another quick project that had been sitting around I decided to start tinkering with the Fatboy.

Still waiting on the fork assemblies to arrive as I just ordered a set of dual disc lower fork legs.  After years of looking discovered that VTwin Manufacturing makes a set for the 41mm Softail front end.

Pulled the wires through the new handlebars, bolted in the rear fork, rear wheel, and shocks, then loosely bolted the transmission into place. 

Here's a few pics so far.

The handlebars will be coming back off and replaced by a different set.  These are the "same" bars that I have on my Road King, only two inches shorter, but turns out that they have more pullback than the RK bars and I hate them on this bike.  Hated them the second I bolted them on, and it just got worse the more the day progressed.  They are way to far back so will be switching to a Flanders set.

Keeping track of the timing, I have about two hours into the bike so far.