My 1980 HD Sportster

[JPG1911]

Last June I was able to help out a friend who needed to put some cash together quickly. He sold me his 1980 Harley Davidson Sportster 1000 XLH for a song. The bike had been stripped down and rebuilt and modified by my friend and his father(who owned a Harley shop in Va at the time) in 2000. They put about 4000 miles on the bike over the next few years, and it was parked in a shed in 2007 and forgotten about.

By the time I found out about the bike, time and chlorine fumes had taken their toll - the shed which housed the bike for 7 years also happens to be a pump house/pool shed full of pool chemicals

Here is a pic of the bike from the first time I saw it


Every bit of chrome on the bike was flaking, rusted, or gone. All of the aluminum bits were heavily oxidized and/or pitted. Every surface that didn't have good paint left on it was rusted. This was going to take some doing.

Undaunted, I picked the bike up and took it to a good friend's house to begin resuscitating it in his garage. Here she is with the first layer of dust wiped off


I didn't care one little bit about the chrome and paint. I planned from the get-go to achieve the "murdered out" look and paint mostly everything black - I have nothing against shiny bikes, they're just not for me.

Taking stock of everything, I decided to focus on getting the bike running and riding before cosmetics. There would be some things that got sanded and painted along the way, simply because I had to remove them anyway, but the plan was to get it running and ride as much as I could before it got cold, then strip it down over the winter and paint or powder coat everything and make some modifications. On the day I got the bike, I drained and refilled fluids, put new spark plugs in it, poured seafoam in each gas tank, hooked it up to my truck with jumper cables, sprayed a little starting fluid in the carb, and got her to fire right up! Unfortunately, that was the most action the bike saw for a few more months. I took stock of everything that was needed, and as is usually the case, it was a lot more than I had originally planned on. I began to order and collect parts as my budget allowed. It was late fall/early winter before I was able to get enough items together to really do anything to the bike.


The tires were badly cracked and dry rotted, so they were the first major item to be replaced. I decided to attempt replacing them myself. I am very familiar with replacing car and truck tires, and have used many different tire machines, but replacing motorcycle tires with nothing but a set of spoons proved to be quite a task! I successfully replaced the front tube and tire by myself, but no matter what technique I tried, I could not get the back tire off the rim. I eventually gave up and cut the tire off with a sawzall. The inside of the rim was badly rusted. I spent 4-5 hours scouring the inside of it with a rotating brass brush chucked into my drill, various types and grits of steel wool, scotch-brite, and sandpaper. My initial plan was to sand blast the rims and paint them, but I couldn't find anyone with a blast cabinet big enough to handle the wheels, and the only local shop that does it wanted way too much money for their services.

We did not have a proper motorcycle lift or jack, so we had to get creative when removing wheels




By the time I got around to replacing the tires, I had sanded and painted many items with either black plastidip, or hi-heat flat black BBQ paint. I also installed some 12" rise mini ape hangers and a new bar clamp.

The transition from motorcycle to "Murdercycle" had begun.

That's all for now. I will update this thread more as time allows. I still have some pics to find and upload to photobucket, and lots more of the process to share. She is a continual work in progress, and I am happy to share the progress here!

In the next post, I will detail all of the modifications made to the bike before she came to live with me, and how she got saddled with her current identity crisis - is that a Sporster, or a FLH???

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for starting this thread.

I like Sporties, and I'd love to have one. It's cool that yours is a 1000, vs 883, so it'll have a little more in it. Good deal on the forward controls; I can't ride a Sporty with mids for long.

I get the identity crisis; that fat bob tank certainly looks FLH-like. What is your plan? I'd love to see a peanut on there. Are you going to keep the front end or switch to a springer?

The finned side cover looks like it's begging to be part of a 48 look. Just MHO.

[cheesy]

Nice start. I'd like to see how it turns out

I don't know enough about Harleys to be right, wrong, or indifferent. But I know improvising and like your work stand.

I know what b!t?h getting a tire off a rusty rim can be. This may, or may not, have worked in your case but was taught to me by another improviser in Maine. You need a 5 gallon bucket, two large c-clamps, and two 1x4 boards about a foot long. Place the wheel on the bucket and squeeze the tire between the two boards and c-clamps. Spraying the rim with PB Blaster MAY speed things up a bit. Anyway, clamp everything together as tight as you can, it may break right away or you may need to sit through a double feature but it will pop that bead.

If they were solid rims, I'd tell you to park your truck on the tire and go have a cup of coffee.

[katoranger]

I like that tank. Sounds like a great bike to make it the way you want.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

Nice start. I'd like to see how it turns out

I don't know enough about Harleys to be right, wrong, or indifferent. But I know improvising and like your work stand.

I know what b!t?h getting a tire off a rusty rim can be. This may, or may not, have worked in your case but was taught to me by another improviser in Maine. You need a 5 gallon bucket, two large c-clamps, and two 1x4 boards about a foot long. Place the wheel on the bucket and squeeze the tire between the two boards and c-clamps. Spraying the rim with PB Blaster MAY speed things up a bit. Anyway, clamp everything together as tight as you can, it may break right away or you may need to sit through a double feature but it will pop that bead.

If they were solid rims, I'd tell you to park your truck on the tire and go have a cup of coffee.

I wish I had known these tips on Friday, when I would have passed them on to my illegal Son. He was trying to remove the tires from his old Honda 750, and they've been on there for more than 20 years. He ended up using a reciprocating saw.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for starting the thread on this interesting project.

[JPG1911]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

I wish I had known these tips on Friday, when I would have passed them on to my illegal Son. He was trying to remove the tires from his old Honda 750, and they've been on there for more than 20 years. He ended up using a reciprocating saw.

I too, resorted to a sawzall on my rear tire

The Fat Bob tanks have grown on me, and like the extra fuel capacity, it's nice to have 5 gallons

I have considered a springer front end, but I would really like to put a set of 39mm forks on it with full "tins" and the elongated headlight fairing a la the HD Fat Boy. I forgot where, but I actually found a full "Fatster" kit online that includes all the parts. I'd want it to be black of course, not chrome, so it will get powder coated when i get it.

[JPG1911]

Bad news in sporty land. The transmission is toast. I have lots of pics and back story yet to post here, but every time I think about it, something pops up, lol. I sat down to make the promised update post, and I just got called back into work. I'll get some more pics and info up tonight. Off to work I go!

[Weldangrind]

Is it a full unit motor, or can the transmission be separated?

[JPG1911]

It's an Ironhead, the engine and trans share a case. Extremely similar to the shovelhead motor except for theddisplacement, shared case, and it has parralel push rods vs the shovel's V configuration. I've already pulled the tranny and confirmed that it will have to be rebuilt or replaced. My options range from $400 for a used one to over $1200 for a built Andrews transmission. Since the motor is well built and significantly more powerful than stock, and I don't want to strip any more gear teeth( I sheared off 6) I'm going to resuse the trap door and shift forks, and replace all gears and shafts with Andrews parts. Should run me about a grand before I'm done. More info and pics when I get the kiddos in bed tonight.

[JPG1911]

Backing up a few posts, I promised more pics and a better description of the mods and current status.

My friend wanted a FLH or Road King type big twin cruiser, but his dad had this little stock sporty at his shop, so they tore it down and began to mod it into a more laid back cruiser than a mid-control racer.

They started with the engine. The jugs were bored 0.040" over and honed. Then, new forged Weisco 10:1 pistons and new wrist pins and rings were fitted to the factory rods. The bottom end was deemed good, so the cases were not split. The heads were sent to specialist with a flow bench and given a full port & polish, as well as decked 0.010" and lapped. New stainless steel valves were fitted into the stock bronze valve guides and new springs were installed with the factory rockers and rocker boxes. 1980 was the first year of electronic ignition on the sportster and it was still quite buggy, so they yanked it in favor of a more traditional breaker point system. They installed a high output accell ignition coil and installed Andrews PB+ grind cams, and capped it off with a S&S Super-e shorty carburetor and drag specialties 1.75" diameter drag pipes with baffles that are more for the inspector to see than to actually serve a functional purpose. The transmission was left stock - more on that in a minute

Next they installed the forward controls and dual Fat-Bob tanks. The fenders and tanks were hand painted with a wonderfully nostalgic crinkle finish blue paint job by my friend's uncle. I have since learned that the pearl effect in this type of paint application is often referred to as a "saran wrap job" and is accomplished by laying plastic cling wrap over the wet paint and ripping it off swiftly. Pretty neat

This photo shows the effect pretty well if you zoom in on the tank



They then fitted a very nice Corbin 2-up saddle and sissy bar, custom mirrors, grips, gas caps, and an 1960's reproduction Caty-Eye dash with single digit speedo. The suspension mods consisted of Progressive rear shocks and a front end from a newer sporty with dual front disc brakes.

The bike was dumped on it's right side twice, but sustained little damage. When I got it, the rear master cylinder was leaking. I wonder why...



<sigh> back to work I go... I will add more later

[Adjuster]

I like the dog. LOL


/

[JPG1911]

Scout is a good dog, he guarded the Harley while it lived in his owner's garage for about 6 months

Back to the Frankensporty...

I had painted the rear wheel gloss black, replaced the tubes and tires, and a cracked rear brake rotor



and painted many other parts different shades of black in a few contrasting finishes. I replaced the factory chrome 8" rise buckhorm handlebars with a black 12" mini ape hanger set from JP Cycles, and a nice set of black Arlen Ness knurled grips. I secured the bars with a black bar clamp with a chrome Willie G skull emblem on it. This is the only bit of chrome I intend to leave on the bike when I'm done.


I made and soldered on wire extensions to all of the control wires to make them fit with the new taller bars, and I also reattached the turn signal wires and front brake switch wires that had been disabled. I routed the control wires through the inside of the bars as well to clean them up a bit. The clutch cable was long enough, but I had to replace the factory brake hose with a black braided SS Goodridge hose. Interestingly, I manage to create a dead short with the brake light switch when I was installing and testing it. It pushed enough amps through the brake hose to melt the black coating on it



I replaced the points with a new set of blue streaks and set the gap, set the static timing, removed cleaned and tuned the carb per the S&S manual and installed a new K&N type cotton gauze air filter.

FINALLY she was able to start, idle, go, and stop, and look pretty good doing it, I think.

[JPG1911]

There was still much that I wanted to do, but I finally had a running, riding motorcycle that I had resurrected with my own hands. The only part of this project I've paid someone to do/not done myself, was mounting the rear tire. It sounds and runs spectacularly, it stops well, and I am in love with her. The apes and forward controls make slow turning and maneuvering a bit more daunting, but still manageable and fun once I got the hang of it. I even got an antique motorcycle license plate because the bike is 35 years old! It's pretty awesome to have a motorcycle that is older than me.

I had been taking her for short rides around the neighborhood totaling about 30miles, but hadn't gotten to ride in traffic, or on any main roads or highways yet. Finally on February 22 of this year, She was good to go, and my friend had set aside the day to go riding with me.

The maiden voyage

I slapped the license plate on, and rode 12 miles across town to my friend's house. He took me through some beautiful scenic roads in the marshes on the edge of town that I didn't even know were there. We hit a little bit of highway, a lot of twisties, and took the bridge onto the island where we stopped for lunch.

This is the only pic of my bike out in the wild


After lunch, the bike started right up as usual, then died. I switched to reserve, and she had a little trouble, but started. I rode to a gas station a mile up the road and filled up. While sitting on the idleing bike waiting for my buddy to fill up, it died unceremoniously and would NOT crank back up no matter what I tried. 2 hours later, I had killed the battery trying to get it started so I gave up and had my wife bring the truck, loaded up the bike and took it home. I had made it approximately 70 miles in one glorious morning, and had lunch at the beach - all in all, not a bad day.

Once back in my driveway, the bike started right up like nothing was wrong. I pulled the points cover and discovered a loose wire. Oh well, at least I knew what was wrong now. It idled fine, but the timing seemed off, like the advance was stuck. I was riding around my street, then puling back in the driveway and making adjustments, then test riding again...

and that's when disaster struck

The timing seemed ok, and the bike was sitting in my driveway ideling, when all of a sudden, it sounded like someone dropped a handful of marbles into the engine. There was extremely loud, extremely expensive sounding noises coming from the engine. The bike lurched forward, and cut off. I stood there horrified for a good minute before I had the nerve to touch it. I turned the ignition off and turned the engine over with a few bumps - it wasn't seized, and nothing sounded broken, it turned over normally. I turned the spark back on and fired it back up. It sat there ideling happily for about 20-30 seconds. I even revved the throttle a few times, and it sounded great. Then the same loud noise was heard and I quickly shut the engine down.

I realize that starting the engine back up was not a smart thing to do. I really can't say why I did it, I know I should have at least drained the oil to check for shavings/nuggets.

I drained the primary oil - no shavings I removed the primary cover and discovered the tensioner spring had a shattered corner, and I found some shrapnel from it in the bottom of the case.


I also saw grind marks on the top corners of the case and cover where the primary chain had jumped up and slapped them due to improper tension. There were 3 different chain tensioners in the ironheads, After reading many horror stories about the same version I had exploding and wreaking havoc on motors, I determined that it was at fault.

Satisfied that this was my issue, I noted that the clutch was nearly new and in exceptional condition, replaced the chain tensioner, gasket, and oil. I also took the opportunity to replace the clutch cable while the primary cover was off, and learned the procedure for adjusting the clutch. My clutch throw is now buttery smooth and much shorter engagement than it used to be.

When I fired the bike back up for the first time after the repair, it ran great... until I put it in gear. The noise was back, and the whole bike bucked and jerked as I tried to move it the 10 feet from my shed to the patio slab. I shut the bike down, and drained the primary oil. This time I was not so lucky.


there was a good bit of metal shavings in the case this time as well, but nothing appeared to be damaged upon initial inspection. I removed the clutch and eventually pulled the transmission.

This is what I found



I sheared 6 teeth off of 4 gears


With that amount of stress, It's almost guaranteed that the rest of the gears and both shafts are weakened, and have micro cracking. I could pay for magnafluxing, but no need to confirm what I already know. I could replace it with a used transmission for around $4-500, or buy a factory replacement or Andrews built unit for $1000-1200+ but I think what I'm going to do is purchase the Andrews close ratio gear set with wide ration 1st gear, and Andrews main and counter shafts, and reassemble with new thrust washers on my trapdoor and shift forks.

[JPG1911]

I think that it also bears mentioning that the guys over at the Sportster forum said I should go buy a lottery ticket, because when transmissions fail in this way it almost universally results in shrapnel making holes in the cases and often pieces get into the bottom end of the engine and completely destroy it. The only reason mine didn't grenade the motor is because the trans let go when it was sitting in my driveway instead of doing 60 down the freeway. So I've got that to be thankful for