Been Waiting Two Years For This Picture

[04customking]

How many smiley's am I allowed?

[Little Al]

until your face breaks!

[Deye76]

I can see by the reflection in the tank of the RK, that grandson is showing RESPECT to Grandfather. As he should.

[04customking]

It should be respect but I think it's just it's own colors.

[Windweaver]

yep, grin till your teeth are full of bugs,clear back to your a$$hole. WELL DONE. WW

[Evo1]

Outstanding!

[moose]

great looking,both of them but especially the pan. what color blue is that?

[CraigArizona85248]

That's a hell of an accomplishment Jim!  Congratulations!

-Craig

[Little Al]

btw Jim, glad to see that bottle on your bench is open!

seriously though, you did an excellent job and I hope you have many years of smiles and miles on her

[crash1292]

looks great.....whats up with the disc brakes?

[04customking]

Thanks guys. Moose, I believe the color is a very slight variation of the Rio blue. The guy I got the formula from in Vermont just added some black tint to darken it slightly. Personally I told my painter to mix it like that, test it, and let me look at it. I would have darkened it more but lo and behold he painted the whole thing before telling me anything. I like it now more and more but still wish it was darker.
Craig, thanks, that means a lot from you. I have a lot of respect for what you do and how you do it.
Crash1292, not sure how to take your disc brake comment. First, it's my bike and I always planned to do it with discs as it had no fronts anyways. The bike didn't have enough original stuff to think about bringing it back stock and personally I am not a "stock" type bike guy anyway. If you looked the bike over, you'd see lots of subtle modern changes to keep it on the road and not being worked on. We'll see how that works out. I hope you were just asking the question and not telling me what a stupid thing it was to do. I'm happy with it and in the end I guess I'm the only one that has to be. Thanks again guys. I'll get the plates this week hopefully. Jim

[crash1292]

was just asking not trying to be a smartazz....restored a few BSA myself....nice job

[04customking]

Thanks for explaining. Hard to tell the "tone" sometimes on these boards. I've been known to jump the wrong way at times too 

[stroker800]

  I hate to be the bearer of bad news ,,BUT your garage looks a little crowded for saftey reasons.....you are in luck!!!! I can keep that beautiful panhead up at my place,,,NO STORAGE fees at all,,,,I know ,,,,its a good offer,,HA HA HA ..Very nice job!!! ride with pride!!
Dave

[Deye76]

It should be respect but I think it's just it's own colors.

I knew it was the RK's "own colors" LOL
OK I'll change it to rocker covers
Both bikes are very nice.

[FSG]

......  OK I'll change it to rocker covers

perhaps Air Cleaner Cover ?   

[4DWUDS]

Absaphuckinlootly Beautiful.

[04customking]

Thanks guys. Oh, and Dave, there's plenty of room in the garage but thanks for the offer.

[PanHeadRed]

04, it looks like a REAL nice rider. Excellent. 

[04customking]

I sure hope so. Won't find out this week. Rain all day today and that white $hit tomorrow and that means more freakin salt and then the whole week looks bad.

[Reddog74usa]

Man that is SWEET nice work Jim and definitly worth the wait 

[Speeding Big Twin]

Jim, you've done an excellent job. And it's good to see you've built a bike that not only looks great but can also be ridden anywhere.     Eric

[04customking]

Thanks Reddog and Eric. I sure hope I can ride it anywhere. Just came from DMV and she all legal. To bad there's snow on the ground and the damn salt truck just went by AGAIN. 

[BART]

What is the front disc brake from?  I've been thinking about installing a front disc on my '50 FL.

BART

[twincamzz]

  Project turned out GREAT !! Can't say I blame you at all for upgrading the brakes...I'm thinking of doing the same thing on a '61 Panhead FLH that I hope to make mine one day next week ! Is the front caliper a 2000 & up HD unit like the back ?

[04customking]

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't see Bart's question from awhile ago either, sorry Bart. Yes, the front caliper is off the 2000 up harleys. They're cheap and everywhere.

[Reddog74usa]

Ok hows bout an update as I'm sure theres no snow now that it's July. Hows it go down the road?

[Little Al]

she's going down the road good now I asuume? she really is a sharp looker. i just relooked over this entire thread since it was bumped back up. congrats again on a great job

[04customking]

It really drives nice. The front end seems a little hard but nothing too bad. I just can't start the freakin thing. One day it starts up fine and like now, it's been two days of kicking and it won't fire. I'm glad it looks good 'cause that's all it does now. I checked compression today and checked the pushrods and they're good. I had 98 on the front and 100 on the rear. I ecpected more but with that Andrews A cam, that I wish I replaced when I put it together, those numbers might be in line. I am ready to put it away. I'm getting too old for all this kicking.

[Little Al]

I lucked out, my is a 3 kicker hot or cold. the only time it might take more then 3 kicks is if it runs for < 1 minute then I shut it down, then it usually take 5-7 kicks. if I let it warm up 2 minutes or more it's reliable 3 kicker.

I have no idea what cam I have in it, not a single marking on it when I had it out, but it was in the motor when I bought. I'm also running solids with aluminum pushrods set up pretty tight (barely turn with 3 fingers, 1 drop of oil in the cup). She runs really good, I'm a happy camper.

I know you've been struggling with your ignition, been watching your thread on it with Craig. Like your oiling problem when you first got her running, you'll work it out.

btw, again, not know what cam I have and with stock, standard pistons (not oversized) I have 121 in front and 119 in rear

[04customking]

That's great Al. Mine starts almost first kick after it's been run but when it's cold she is a bitch. I spent all that money on an ignition that I know nothing about. I really can't believe there is a problem with it at all but I just keep wondering. I know people use that cam alot but I suspect that's where my problem lies. My other stuff just doesn't play well with that cam. I need to walk away from it again for awhile. I'm going to upper New Hampshire on the RK in a couple of weeks. I'll clear my head then. Gotta stock up on the Jack.

[Pynzo]

If you want a reliable 2 kick cold ignition get a Hunt magneto.

[04customking]

That's probably what I should have done. I really do believe that this ignition is fine. Hell, Craig has it and loves it so I gotta believe that I have other issues.

[Little Al]

Jim, if ya run low I always have plenty of Jack on hand, I'm a Tennessee Squire after all, lol Many times problems have been solved for me by Jack.

Best advice is your own, walk away for a while take the RK on that ride and remember why you love bikes in the first place. Good luck bro

[Pzokes]

04customking,
Kick it a couple of times then pull the plugs.  See if they are dry.  I've had good luck with that ignition.

With a new bike/combination, I usually do some practice starts at home until I learn what the combination is. 

[04customking]

Pzokes, believe me I have. That's one of the things that bothers me. When it doesn't start and I think it's flooded I pull them and they do NOT appear to be wet but if I toss in the spare set on the bench it will usually start in a few kicks. Not always but usually. So I think it's flooded but the plugs don't appear to be.

[Pzokes]

Would you humor me and squirt some starting fluid down the carb for a quick 2 seconds.  Then try turning the ignition on and kick it.

[Reddog74usa]

Whow not even 2 seconds

[Pzokes]

OK, just a quick squirt.  I count fast.

[04customking]

I will have to get some. I don't have any here. I came home from work today and glared at her for a second and walked away. I came back to leave on the road king and glared again for a few seconds and said what the hell and gave it one and a half twists and pulled the enrichener on and kicked it once and then with the key on kicked it and she started right up on the second kick. I really think Craig nailed it with me not having the voes wire grounded. I had the timing advanced a bunch so that it ran down the road good but too much for it to start. Now the timing is where it should be and for ONCE it started good and when I twisted the throttle it seemed way more responsive than before. That reminds me that I have to answer to Craig on his post in my other thread. His instructions are different than mine. No mention of grounding the wire on mine. I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks all for your help with this. Jim

[04customking]

Here's todays update. With the voes wire grounded and the new Bosch plugs from the other day, one and a half twists with the enrichener on, no "practice" kicks with the key off, key on and ONE kick. This thing is going to drive me to drink.....oh wait, too late. This is great if it keeps up. Took it around the block and it runs good, but not great. I think I might have some carb jetting issues too. Seems lean. The starting issue will be huge if that is fixed. I will keep this updated. Thanks again for all the suggestions guys. Jim

[Pzokes]

Great. I checked my Power-Arc directions, and they say to ground the VOES wire when not using it.  My system rotates opposite from yours and Craig's and is on a "cone" cam cover bottom end.  

[04customking]

Strange how mine don't say anything about grounding. Anyways, today I came home and tried the same technique. Almost caught on the first kick but stalled, and hasn't started yet. About 20 more kicks with varying pops and "almost" catches and nothing so I am done looking at this thing until I get back from the weekend. I've had it.

[Pynzo]

What kind of oil are you using right now?

[04customking]

I'm running Harley 60 wt oil. Why???

[04customking]

Oh yea, I couldn't wait for the weekend. It won't start. POS

[Pynzo]

Thinner oil in a cold motor will help the motor to spin faster allowing easier starting- 60 wt at 75 degrees will not spin as fast as 50 wt. When the motor and oil are hot it's no problem. It's a trade off as you need the proper wt oil for when the motor is hot, not when it's cold. It's been fairly cool here for an east coast summer so I haven't gone to 70 wt as I usually would've by now. Even though I weigh 240lbs, and my motor is worn in, 60 wt causes resistance to motor turning over at 75 degrees (or less) in the early morning hours.