ride ol iron

[garyajaz]

dug out the sporty.   
some air in new tires, charge batt, fill oil tank and gas tank.
new plugs, a tad of ether. 
and behold.....(after 7-8 kicks) it started.
WOW... no heart attack or anything.
so rode it around town some.  adjusted carb when it was hot.
idles as good as stroker will. all good.
took down freeway for a few miles. pulls hard and running well.
came home.

tried to hot start....nada, nope.  aint gonna happen.
LOTS of kicks later. still nothing.
crap. let it cool some. rechecked spark and put new plugs in.
other ones a little oil fouled.

some background. last two times I had it out I stuck front exhaust valve in guide.
this time had SBC ream it loose. it wont stick. although it does pass a bit of oil.
it is high compression (80 cubic inches)so I have comp releases. slow kick speed it would not start cause bled off too much compression.
ok, valved the releases. its manageable.
still slow kick speed. I could start it when younger...ahem...
so after resting a bit I retarded timing some.  hey it fired, twice in a row even.
maybe will give up some timing/power for starts.
I already took off the S&S L series carb for a c.v.
(enricher and acel pump) again sacrifice power for starting.

so ran it around a little. turned off.
no start.
crap.

I just to old for it I guess. when 50 years old I rode it to work every day and started it.
no releases.  now nope. 
also 80 pounds less ass to kick with.

guess I will go ride the Buell

[Racepres]

I always have best luck choking [or enriching] hot Ironheads. Sounds wrong, but Works, you must be quick to get the choke off, or Only kick one or three times with choke on...but, it always worked for me.
?? 80 inches ?? or '74" Ironheads take some serious massaging [$$] to go much over 74 inches.. but certainly easily can go to 96" [+++  $$$].

[garyajaz]

yeah, 77 inches on biggest arm S&S made at the time.
the other 3 is bore job, axtell heads (large valves) sifton valve train, custom cams from sifton
belt primary drive, outside return oilers, close ratio tranny
yep on and on.
guys at  h-d shop want me to bring it down today for their party.
I shall try.  I usually like to shut it off at home so if no restart I home....lol

[Ohio HD]

They are cool Gary. My first boss, back in 1977 to 1986 had a 77 inch Sporty, right side shift of course. It ran strong. I know he still had in around 1992 or 1993. But I haven't seen him since then.

[garyajaz]

under his watchful eye I retarded timing a bit more.
fire 5 kicks.  cool. new combination of release valving and timing seems to be helping a bunch.



rode to h-d shop and parked amongst all the baggers.



surrounded by baggers.  felt like i was riding a mini bike.



then fired up on 5 kicks. felt good, rode it 30 miles to another hot dog...ah Harley shop.   then easy hot start after hot dog to come home. 



a good day was had

[rider7816]

Cool looking ride!  Ummm,  maybe my memory is fading, but isnt the front caliper supposed to be on the other side??  I dont think I have ever seen the front pie caliper on the right side.

[Wicked]

Just flip the forks side to side....   Shorter brake hose = less weight...   

[rider7816]

 

[iamdouglas1]

Neat Sporty Gary.

Glad to hear the compression releases work for you. I have a '69 ch that I'm thinking of installing a set.

I'm curious, do you have to use them both at the same time? and I assume they close themselves automatically?

. . .and "Rider", seems you know your sportsters.

[Racepres]

Cool looking ride!  Ummm,  maybe my memory is fading, but isnt the front caliper supposed to be on the other side??  I dont think I have ever seen the front pie caliper on the right side.

Been done many times..some claim it makes for less "rattles" IDK
I'm curious about that long ass Tank, and the mounts?? Rubbermount sportster tank with reworked mounting?

Diggin the XR rear fender too...Did that a long time ago...

Nice look! Without the goofy taillight...required by rule in my case...

[Burnout]

The bracket for a pie caliper is designed to be loaded in extention, not compression. Heavy braking (is that possible with that caliper?) might collapse that bracket. Calipers make less noise when they drag on the rotor.

[garyajaz]

nice catch rider.
that bike has been like that 30+ years and you are the first to comment on front brake.
I swapped fork legs and set them up that way.
beats caliper sticking up and front. this tucks them away.
also the braking forces work against the leg not away from it.

doug, yep, press them both in. when it fires they close.

race prez.
also yep. when had S&S L carb , when hot, I would key off full choke two kicks. choke off key on and kick.
the pilot passageway on those things are 5 inches long. comes up from bottom of carb, through a adjusting jet and down. would kick for ever just trying to get fuel up.
sooo, get a good wet charge. course if not fire or over do it. it was thourghly flooded and had to start over.

been riding hell out of this beast last few days.  great fun.
its finally starting with out a act of congress.
gas tank is XR, center mount.