1974 XLCH with 6800miles

[sharkoilfield]

Had a motorcycle mechanics instructor from last century over last night. He sold & serviced these new. He gave it a once over; auto advance works, points OK, drain oil from crankcase, check carb (original bendix), flush tank & carb with fresh gas, find "combination" within 20 kicks and we started and ran it twice. That mission accomplished, we're now ready for a small garage party. Can't wait to see the young mechanic who's never kick started a motorcycle.

[JW113]

 

What's next? Smokey burnouts in the driveway?

Congrats dude!

-JW

[Burnout]

Dueling burnouts!

[IronButt70]

A couple of the young fellas have never kick started a motorcycle...this is gonna be interesting!

You are going to warn them about kickbacks aren't you?. 

[sharkoilfield]

They'll be warned; but like so many other things in life, there's the talk and then there's the experience...

[Breeze]

Something I haven't seen in a looong time, is a young man limping around with a "Sportster knee".

[sharkoilfield]

What 100 years of hands-on motorcycle experience looks like, giving my XLCH a close inspection. Generator works great, accelerator pump doesn't work at all. Top end sounds good, no exhaust smoke...sure sounds sweet. I'll fix the accelerator pump and install new manifold rubbers before the rookie tries to start it. An exciting project for me; heritage instead of horsepower 

[Pete_Vit]

What 100 years of hands-on motorcycle experience looks like, giving my XLCH a close inspection. Generator works great, accelerator pump doesn't work at all. Top end sounds good, no exhaust smoke...sure sounds sweet. I'll fix the accelerator pump and install new manifold rubbers before the rookie tries to start it. An exciting project for me; heritage instead of horsepower

 

[sharkoilfield]

Manually stroked the accelerator pump thru it's full available travel a few times and gas started squirting! That was easy.
Next; install new fuel line, put air cleaner back on and start again tomorrow night. Got an extra "kicker" coming to try his luck.

[sharkoilfield]

 [attach=0]

Score! Correct NOS plugs for my 1974.

[Burnout]

Points plugs

You should use resistor plugs if you have Electronic Ignition.

[sharkoilfield]

You are correct.  My 1974 has points/condenser/coil and will remain so...making these the (hard to find now) right non-resistor plugs.
I'll have to "make" a pair of solid core wires; seems all are resistor type wires nowadays

[JW113]

I don't think you need to be too concerned about using resistor plugs and wires with points ignition. The "resistance" through the plug and wire pales in comparison to the "resistance" through the air gap on the spark plug. Resistance plugs/wires were added to cut down on electrical interference into electronic equipment like radios, and now cell phones and on board computers. Solid core spark plug wires act like little antennas, resistance wires don't. You can use the non-resistor plugs and solid core wires if  you want, but I wager you'll not find it makes no difference in any way that you can tell.

-JW

[sharkoilfield]

I'm sure there's no discernible difference in plugs and wires; but for the effort it takes I wanna go full 1974 with this ride.  What about fuel?  I can get premium gas with no ethanol and also 100LL Avgas.  Should I put something in the gas for valve seat lube? Wasn't that one of the benefits of lead?

[crazy joe]

Polarizing and Sportster Knee   I remember those days : )

[JW113]

It was possibly a side benefit, but it's main purpose was to boost iso-octane rating. And of course, poison us. I do believe that you will have a hard time putting enough miles on that Sporty to worry about wearing out the valve seats any time soon using unleaded gas.

-JW

[sharkoilfield]

JW113; for sure I won't be putting too many miles on this bike.  Just want to keep the engine on the best diet possible, if it's not too much trouble.  What can you tell me about the intake/head seals?  I'd like to change them...is there an "upgrade"?  Where do you get maintenance parts for these old ironheads? I'm going to let one of the guys in the picture re-build my carb; need a quality kit and manifold gaskets

[JW113]

Valve seals: Ironheads did not come with valve seals. It's possible to machine the valve guides to accept them, but as being discussed on another thread, opinions vary about doing this.

Maintenance parts: My first stop is typically JP Cycles or Dennis Kirk.

-JW

[Burnout]

You will need some vintage air to fill the tires, to go with the leaded fuel!

[sharkoilfield]

Sorry; I didn't make myself clear...I'm referring to the seal between the intake manifold and heads. I see different products from James & Cometic. Looks like a rubber band and a clamp over it?

[Ohio HD]

I honestly prefer the o-ring intake seals over the flat band intake seals. There used to be some silicon o-ring seals available that stayed pliable a lot longer. If you use good aircraft stainless steel clamps, you can almost pick the motor up by the intake.

[attach=0] 

[JW113]

I fought intake leaks as well with the band style. The problem I think with the band clamps is that if you don't have the '79 (?) and later heads and intake manifold, the is not enough flange on the spigots for the bands to grab on to. I got a set of brass clamps and O-ring from Harddrive, seems to have sealed up quite well and as Ohio said, intake is locked solid to the heads. I think these are a copy of what Ness used to sell back when.

[attach=0]

There's another guy selling a band style clamp set that uses silicon tubing and two thin stainless clamps on each spigot. Claims that it makes a positive seal since you're clamping to each flange individually. Perhaps so, but the price is pretty hefty. Being a cheap bastard, I bought the hose and clamps individually for about 1/3 the price, but still sitting on the bench, have not tried yet. The O-ring seals seem to be working fine, so what the heck.

[attach=1]

-JW

[Hybredhog]

  My favorite intake sealing system 0is O rings with the aircraft clamps, but I also make a few laps with Teflon tape over the O rings as insurance. If I'm dealing with a wide band situation, I do the Teflon thing also drifting over the bands edges (yes its a PIA), but you have to use the split style clamp. If its a 1980ish miss match head/manifold situation, either find the heads match or make rings like Rivera use to make & glue them on (Permitex #2).

[sharkoilfield]

I fought intake leaks as well with the band style. The problem I think with the band clamps is that if you don't have the '79 (?) and later heads and intake manifold, the is not enough flange on the spigots for the bands to grab on to. I got a set of brass clamps and O-ring from Harddrive, seems to have sealed up quite well and as Ohio said, intake is locked solid to the heads. I think these are a copy of what Ness used to sell back when.

I like the looks of the twin clamps and silicone tubing...gotta link?
[attach=0,msg1325304]

There's another guy selling a band style clamp set that uses silicon tubing and two thin stainless clamps on each spigot. Claims that it makes a positive seal since you're clamping to each flange individually. Perhaps so, but the price is pretty hefty. Being a cheap bastard, I bought the hose and clamps individually for about 1/3 the price, but still sitting on the bench, have not tried yet. The O-ring seals seem to be working fine, so what the heck.

[attach=1,msg1325304]

-JW

[sharkoilfield]

Found it!  FNA Cycles...thanks for the lead