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XL Bobber Project

Started by JW113, July 17, 2016, 09:43:22 AM

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biker3r

The paint came out damn nice JW, guess im behind the times first time I seen aluminum pipes.

JW113

Aw man, I cast out bait like that and no one busts my chops and calls BS? Guess the fishin's gone dry in this here pond!
:fish:
:SM:

OK those are not aluminum pipes, I had them powder coated with that Jet Hot ceramic coating. I love the stuff, looks just like polished aluminum up close.

And thanks biker3r, was the best $600 paint job I ever got!

-JW
2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber

rageglide

I had thought you were going with the standard silver jet Hot vs the polished (like you had on the corvair).    The black paint does look amazingly good for the price. 

JW113

Well the stuff on that Corvair you could not really see much of. Did the same thing as I had done on my softail. I don't recall ever using the standard flat silver.

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Although I just took a look at the Jet Hot web site the other day, did not realize all the cool colors they have now. Should have went with polished red!
:doh:

-JW
2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber

garyajaz

was biting my tongue on the alum pipes comment .
wondering how soft they got from  the heat at port.
and in all my years never  saw a alum pipe... got me!
craig has that coating on his pan.  looks good.

JW113

2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber

rageglide

It's true.  I seen it running.  Sounds good!

JW113

August 28, 2016, 06:42:51 PM #32 Last Edit: August 28, 2016, 11:54:33 PM by FSG
Yep, it's alive, and is running. Construction part done, tuning part start.

It fired up immediately as soon as the starter button was pressed. Then died immediately. I dialed the timing up a notch or two, and hit it again, this time it lights up and running good. Let it warm up for a minute or two, then shut it down. Look for leaks or any other unexpected BS, all good. Roll it out to the street and fire it up, seems happy as a clam and eager to go. I let out the clutch, and WOW, grabby clutch! Almost killed it. OK, I did kill it. Why did the neighbor have to be out there watching? Fire it up again, this time a little more throttle, release the clutch and SHA-ZAM, almost wheelied the POS. OK, need to take a look at that clutch, pretty grabby. But once on the roll, felt really good.

Spun around the block to Roadrage's place, trying to keep a low profile (no helmet, no license plate, with drag pipes, yea right) and stopped to "let it cool down". LOL  Chit chatted a bit, then headed home. Was surprised when I tried to shift to second gear, it wouldn't. Almost stalled it again. So putz on home in 1st. Tested the brakes, and as I had imagined, NOTHING. New disk, new pads, nothing bedded in yet. All part of the 'tuning'.

First thing first, took a look at the shifter. Yep, put it on wrong, hitting the foot peg on up stroke. Easy fix, rotate to the next set of splines, Fixed! By now, it was time to break out the gin and have a maiden voyage toast. Or two. Maybe more. Never mind. Took some pics, then time to put the pony in the stable. This is where the story turns south. Don't remember just how or why, but somehow it ended up laying on the ground on the right side, and bent the xhit out of the brake lever. I pick it up, park in garage, and swear a little bit. OK, maybe more than a little bit. Gave it the once over, and amazing no damage other than the brake lever, and maybe the throttle sleeve. Never trust an alcoholic to park your motorcycle.

So today, time to fix the damage. Easy-peasy, rode down to the dealer and got a new throttle sleeve, and I had an old brake lever in the stash. All good, but need to figure out what to do about a license plate. I bought this nice (and cheap) axle mount plate bracket, but it is for a 3/4" axle. Sadly, Ironhead axles neck down to 1/2", so too sloppy to use as is. Also, there is very little extra thread on the axle to add this .155" thick bracket. Decided to drill a hole in the swing arm, and mount it just behind the axle. Dug around in the parts bin, found a 3/8" washer that would "just" fit in the bracket mount hole. A little filing, and nice big hammer, and in it went. Fired up the torch and fusion welded it in.

While in a welding mood, also welded a couple 5/16" washers to some 1/4-20 bolt heads, to put into the drag pipes so's to break up that reversion wave and get back a little of that mid-rpm torque dip that drag pipes are famous for. Yeah, I know, yeah yeah yeah, drag pipes are crap for the street. But damn, have to say they sure sound mean has hell on this old Ironhead. Gonna give it a go until I find a reason to not. Sorry.

Here's the final deal:

Engine: Stock 1000cc
Heads: Ported/flowed by Ironhead Tom of Albert Lea MN (RIP)
Carb: S&S Super E (until I can find a Keihin CV)
Exhaust: Cycle Shack 1-3/4" drag pipes
Ignition: Crane Hi-4E - Single Fire
Cams: Stock HD "P"
Frame: Stock 1978 XLH
Forks: "90's" era Softail 41mm, with "2000's" era sliders
Brakes: Rear stock drum, Front 2000's era 4 piston caliper
Wheels: Akront 16" aluminum w/ Buchannon heavy duty stainless spokes
Bodywork: 3.2 Gallon King tank, front fender scavenged from Sportster 48, custom rear fender mounted to swing arm
Tail/Brake Lights: Sportster 48

Well that's about it. Now on to dialing in the carb and timing, and put some miles on this beast.

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-JW
2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber

JC 92FXRS

Very, very well done JW...nice old pick-up back there too.  :up:
Cheers, Jeff
"never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence"

packrat56

 :up:
I like it ,good looking bike
Now I know, why some animals eat their young.

JW113

Thanks guys! Can't wait to get this sucker up in the hills and see how it handles. I got the plate mount on, now need to go to DMV and get it out of "storage" and licensed for the street.

-JW
2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber

JW113

Alrightly, a little test and tune today. Started off at the DMV, paid the fees and got it out of hock. Er, I mean out of non-op. It's all legal now, no more riding around with no plate.

I knew the timing was off, since all I had done is center the plate in the adjustment range. I got TDC set  in the sight hole and static timed it. Will do a dynamic later.

Then I drilled the drags for washer "baffles" I made last week. Also dialed the accel pump off on the S&S E. Then, off we go for a little test ride.

Clutch was still a little grabby, but I fixed that. Or rather, it fixed itself after a few stops & starts. I had taken the clutch all apart and cleaned it up, so it was bone dry when I took it for a spin last weekend. After some oil got into the plates from running and using the clutch, it's feels great now. Neutral is not quite as easy to snick into as I like, so will get one of them Tamer II's on order. That helped my other ironhead tremendously.

Once it warmed up, it coughing and sneezing. I don't like to run with the choke on, so usually shut it down after just a minute or two. But 5 minutes into it, it warmed up nice and was running and idling smoothly. It does have a bit of a sneeze just off idle, so will mess around with the accell pump tomorrow.

The front brake set up (11.5" w/ 4 puck caliper from a 2000s Softail) is a dream. Will slow/stop the bike PRONTO. The rear (stock drum) is useless. The pedal was going down pretty far, so I turned up the rear adjuster nut on the cable. When I got back home from the test ride, the rear brake was smoking! Whoa. Need to have a look at that. Should be able to lock the rear wheel even with drum brake, but no way. I'm thinking the new brake shoes have something to do with that, they are not even remotely bedded in yet so probably very little pad/drum contact.

Suspension-wise, it's firm but nice. Hardly any dive on braking, and it seems to take the harshness out of our screwed up streets here in San Jose, far better than my Road King does. Spring seat is also helping in that department I think.

So one step at a time, will do a bit more tuning tomorrow, this time get some freeway miles on it and see how it does with full throttle pulls in 3rd and 4th.

-JW
2004 FLHRS   1977 FLH Shovelhead  1992 FLSTC
1945 Indian Chief   1978 XL Bobber