1977 ElectraGlide Restoration Project

[JW113]

Howdy all,

Well a couple weeks ago a running 1977 ElectraGlide that I bought off of Ebay rolled into my garage, and now there is a bunch of parts all over the place and a bare frame sitting on the floor. I've done a handfull of restorations, but is my first Shovelhead FLH. I hope you guys don't mind me posting the progress on it, and "look over my shoulder" to keep the train on the right tracks.

During the disassembly process, I was happy to find no bad surprises. The bike itself seems fairly stock, with a few exceptions:
- Super B carb & home made air cleaner
- BDL belt drive primary
- Mallory E-spark ignition w/ stock coil
- Biltwell 14" apes
- LePera Hollywood seat

It's been repainted, a so-so not terrible job but a few chips & stuff here and there. The front end seemed soft as hell, we could bottom it out just by rocking it with the front brake locked. When I took it for a spin before taking it apart, the front brake worked so-so, the rear almost non-existant. It also howled real loud at idle, which I tracked down to a very loose front caliper. And it also did not seem to have much for power, which for now I'm chalking up to a poorly tuned carb.

Other than that, I think it's got a lot of potential. My plan is to take it all apart, fix the stuff that needs fixing, and put
it back together. I want to make sure the frame, swing arm, and forks are straight. Will measure the frame tomorrow to see what 40 years of who knows what it's been through, and if all OK, send it off for powder coating.

I took the forks apart. The tube caps were *really* tight, and I had to heat one of them with the blue tipped wrench to get it off. That one also had essentially no oil in it. Pretty likely they had not been apart for a long time, if ever. Definitely need to be completely rebuilt.

Someone in the past painted the whole engine black expect for the nose cone and rocker boxes. Yuk! I'll take it all apart and have it bead blasted back to bare aluminum, and have a look at the bottom end and heads and fix what needs fixed.

Although I want to keep it basically stock, I plan to do the following:
- 40mm CV carb
- Crane Hi-4 single fire ignition
- Velva-touch or Hydra-glide tappets
- S&S Oil pump
- Mild cam, hopefully that's what's in there already

Am on the fence about painting it now or later. Also want to round up a spring police solo seat.

I want to keep the stock banana calipers and try to make them work as best they can. I really like the look of those big old calipers and 10" disks. If you have any tricks, I'd love to hear about it. Resleeve the master cylinders smaller perhaps?

So that's it for now, feel free to fire any tips my way!

see ya,
JW

[FSG]

pix, pix, pix   

[rageglide]

I agree, needs pictures.  (although I know he didn't take any    just like our road trips...)

[Old Crow]

Too bad you're thinking sprung solo.  I've got a complete air bladder cop seat setup that I'm not going to end up using.
Do you have any idea what Mustang wants for the pillion that matches the early air bladder seat with the basketweave upholstery?! 

The seat I'm getting rid of is the later, smooth seat with the HD logo embossed in the top.

[76shuvlinoff]

Do a compression check before you dig in. It'll tell you a lot.

Sounds like you're going to be overhauling the front suspension.

Those nanners are likely full of crud and corrosion  I was able to clean mine out and polish up the pucks and pots but eventually I swapped em out for better. This difference is at this point I am not concerned about authenticity... yet.. and my 76 would make a purist curl up in a corner and cry. If you are going to keep those brakes, go over all the caliper pins and bushings. That'll reduce a lot of rattle and eliminate drag. If the hoses are factory, let em go in the trash.

Sounds like you're going all the way, be sure to include swingarm and neck bearings on your check list.

The 40mm CV is a great choice for a shovel. Finding an unmolested one is the trick. I have a 40 in my possession somewhere but I know I changed out the spring, needle, and jetting. At the moment I'm not sure where any of that, including the carb, is right now. CRS is a bitch. 

And like FSG says, pix!

Good luck!
  Mark

[turboprop]

Have you considered sealing off the primary so it uses its own oil bath vs recirculating the engine oil?

[JW113]

OK, pics I got! Not by my camera, but from the ebay ad. :-)

I'll be going through and replacing pretty much every bearing in the chassis. Wheels, swing arm, neck, etc. The front forks need a total rebuild, you would not believe the black goo that trickled out of them. The right side fork drain plug would not come out, had to drill it, and got maybe 1oz of black crude to dribble out. The surface of the tubes is pretty worn, probably replace them. I'm more familiar with Evo/TC forks, so need to get educated how to replace the bushings in these early Showa sliders. Hope it doesn't involve a bunch of fance tools. Will start with TFM.

Speaking of swing arm, any harm in adding a grease zerk fitting so's to keep fresh grease in there?

Air spring seats, did they have those in the 70s? I thought that was a 90s cop Road King thing? I have a pogo spring seat on my Indian, and kind of like the way it rides. Bouncy yes, but pretty comfortable ride.

Yes, I should have done a compression check, but I figured that I'm going to tear it all down anyway to check the flywheel assembly, so what the heck. At best, the bottom end is OK, and a valve/ring job will freshen everything up. If it looks tired, then the whole pile will get rebuilt.

I'll snap some frame pics when I get it set up to do some measurements to check if it's bent up or not.

see ya,
JW


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[attach=1,msg901946]

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[JW113]

Have you considered sealing off the primary so it uses its own oil bath vs recirculating the engine oil?

It has a BDL belt primary. I plan to keep that until it gives me a reason not to. Never had a belt primary before, so what the hey, might as well use this as an opportunity to find out what that's all about.

-JW


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[fourthgear]

  What fun !  Those Bushings in the lower Legs do take special tooling & expertise to replace properly . I sent mine off to have it done with new Tubes . There are few that do it any more .

[turboprop]

I missed that part about the belt primary. You probably already know, but that three finger hub is not the best setup. I ran an enclosed Primo belt drive for maybe ten years and beat the hell of it. Only had one problem and it was my own fault. A bolt in the inner primary backed out and tore the belt up pretty good. Was a long way from home. I limped the bike back to the hotel, next day the belt broke. As luck would have it, a local indi shop had the correct belt in stock. Other than that it worked great. Best of luck with the project.

[Slammers]

VERY cool bike JW. I like it. 

[76shuvlinoff]

VERY cool bike JW. I like it. 

Yes it is, I like the black bars too. Similar stance as my 76, same seat, makes me squirm at 50 miles and cry at 80.

Mark

[JW113]

So today I spent cleaning up the frame, and checking it for straightness. So you guys probably hate Californians right now, and I don't blame you. I was out in the garage all day, door wide open, was 76 degrees at 2:00 o'clock. Hank Williams, Dick Dale, Buck Owens, and Jerry Lee playing out the stereo. Life could not be much better!

I cleaned up the frame out in the driveway with a garden hose and a bottle of simple green. I think it was not a whole lot different than Deepwater Horizon, what a mess. But it did clean up nicely.

I then set up my frame checking jig in the garage. It does not take a whole lot of high tech to tell if a frame is within factory spec or not. Here's my not-so-high-tech "frame table" to see what sort of shape the frame is in. All it takes is a digital angle gauge and some adjustable jack stands. Crude yes, but it works.

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The front engine mount measured out at 0.1 degrees. Perfect!

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And the rear mount, 0.0. Can't get much closer than that.
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So far, so good, Seems pretty straight.

-JW

[JW113]

Next step was to see if the neck was OK. First check was neck to frame alignment:

[attach=0,msg902182]

Then if the neck angle was good.

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So far, all is looking good. If this thing has been down or not, the frame seems as good as it left the factory. So off to the power coat guy it goes!

-JW

[Racepres]

Do yerself a favor and Double check even triple check alignment, and that belt could last indefinitely..Nothing wrong with a 3 finger clutch at all...Been runnin them for years, and yes tried the 5 finger...Set it up properly...

[Ohio HD]

Five adjustment studs, a good clutch retainer, like the link below. These are tunable for free play, and will not wear like the cheap plastic ones. An aluminum pressure plate like below. The clutch will feel engage smoother, no chatter, no dragging from the belt, find neutral easy, shifts with a click of the toe.



https://www.ymphd.com/Shovelhead-fws-Panhead-fws-Knucklehead/1973/Clutch/Hardware-and-Parts/Y001940/10335

http://store.road6customs.com/High-Performance-Pressure-Plate-for-66-E84-Shovelhead-r6cds243375.htm

[Racepres]

Ever try to sit on a 5 legged stool???

[Ohio HD]

 

[JW113]

  What fun !  Those Bushings in the lower Legs do take special tooling & expertise to replace properly . I sent mine off to have it done with new Tubes . There are few that do it any more .

Can you recommend where you sent yours? Think I'm going to have to find someplace to do this, I see the bushings need to be reamed with special reamer after the're pressed in.

Going to get a set of tubes on order from Forking by Frank this week. Hope they are easier to get hold of than they used to be!

thanks,
JW

[06roadglide]

Man I love them ole shovels!!  I'm sure you know, just take your time and use quality parts, toss out anything that's problematic and she'll be good to you for a very long time.

Here's my 78 FLH I did (started on) about 12 years ago.  It went through several phases before it ended up like this.

[rageglide]

Like that a lot 06roadglide!   Looks a lot like JWs roadking custom.   But cooler.

Looks like a 5speed trans slipped in there.

[fourthgear]

  What fun !  Those Bushings in the lower Legs do take special tooling & expertise to replace properly . I sent mine off to have it done with new Tubes . There are few that do it any more .

Can you recommend where you sent yours? Think I'm going to have to find someplace to do this, I see the bushings need to be reamed with special reamer after the're pressed in.

Going to get a set of tubes on order from Forking by Frank this week. Hope they are easier to get hold of than they used to be!

thanks,
JW

I sent mine to Bill's custom cycles in PA. , Looks like they still do them.
http://www.billscustomcycles.com/store.php

[JW113]

Thanks 4thgear, I will indeed give Bill's a call tomorrow!

I measured my fork tubes, and actually don't see that they are worn that much, they just ain't that pretty to look at. But since you don't see them, behind the tin, what the heck? Will double check though.

06roadglide, nice bike!! Hope mine is half as nice when I get done.

-JW

[JW113]

So I dropped my frame, swing arm, triple trees, and a whole bunch of misc frame brackets off at the power coater guy today. 20 pieces total, $400. Not bad.

Also found out Duncan Keller of Yankee Enginuity is back here in San Jose with a small shop, and has the tools to re-bush my fork sliders. Plan to go see him on Friday and drop them off, he wants to take a look at them. Says he almost never replaces the lower bushings, as they are hardly ever worn enough to require it.

cheers,
JW

[dr evo1]

looking at the way your checking the neck. checking the out side of the neck is a casting not a good place to check. the right way would be to have the bearing cups in the frame use a steel rod 1" diameter,  slide the rod into the neck with the bearings. with the frame level on the floor or your table let the rod go all the way to the floor. the rod should be center line of the frame. you can also put a angle finder on the top side of the rod and check the rake. when they powder coat they sand blast first. when they first blast check all the welds if you see any what looks like oil in or around the welds it could be cracking in the weld better to fix sooner then later. I blasted my 79 FX frame and saw what looked like tiny lines of oil at the welds where the lower rail meets the casting for the swing arm and the top left tube were the shock fender strut mount. I didn't know any better so I blasted that spot again till I couldn't see the oil. well after it was powder coated and all put together I got about 500 mi on my new resto a the frame broke.