The oilproblem

The summer 2009 after the engine overhaul was a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

But the big problem was a serious oil spill when running.

I layed down under the bike sooooo many times during this summer to locate.

The problem was that the amount of oil pouring out and spreading under the bike.

Because of this it was so hard to locate its origin.

The oilproblem when it still was totally out of control

(this much dripp just standing still at idle)

But I saw it came somewere by the oilpump.

So the first thing to wrench was to remove the oilpump again.

I disassembled the pump and took care of the gasket surfaces.

Very fine wet sandpaper on a sheet of thick glass and slowly start even the surfaces.

And it was some areas that didn't was completly flat but nothing extreme.

The pump went back on the bike again together with new quality gaskets.

And than...? Same result.

Under the completly clean underside again and this time I saw something.

The pour came from behind the pump, between the block and the pump.

Of with the pump again.

It is wery tight between the block and pump so it was hard to see when on the ground looking upp.

But finally with the pump on the bench again I saw a plugged hole with bolt and copper gasket and this was lose.

Sooooo good to have found the problem.

Tight that bolt to specs, and back on the bike....finally dry.

The third winter (09/10)

After a summer of hell with a oil leak on the overhauled motor the autumn ended with a fairly dry driveline.
This winter I wanted to give not only mechanical attention to the racebagger but also cosmetic.

On the agenda this winter was
# Oil problem
# Front wheel
# Clutch
# Handlebar controls
# Seat
# Shocks
# Luggage rack

Side bag brackets

The side bag brackets was in same shabby condition as the lower bag brackets.
I first considered new chrome but I decided it would look better when black.
So they also got black powdercoat and new mounting hardware.

Both the side bag brackets and the small brackets mounted on it got new paint

Lower bag brackets

The lower bag brackets that also doubles as rear exhaust mount had a bad look.
Crome was rusted and was in a general shabby state.
I made small nice nuts that I welded on the backside of the bracket for a cleaner mount.
Than it all got a round of black powdercoat before mounted with new stainless insex buttonhead bolts.

Shiny new black powedercoat instead of the dodgy chrome.

The small nuts I made welded on the backside

Nice stainless buttonhead insex bolts makes a tidy and sturdy connection

Floorboards

The old floorboard was replaced by a complete set of floorboards from a Fat Boy -04 with mounting brackets, gearshifter and brake caliper.
The old boards and some of the old hardware was shaved of and the measurement begun.
The new position became about 4" forward and 1,5" down in the rear.
To mount them I made adapter plates which were mounted in the original brackets and new holes was made to mount the new floorboards.
On the backside of the brackets I welded handy, nice little nuts to make mounting more easy.
The new brackets got a round of black powdercoat before it came on the bike.
And than I mounted it all with new nice looking stainless buttonhead insex bolts

Right side mounted with brackets and new hardware.

Left side got the same treatment and the stock kickstand was used in the old position.

The kickstand worked fine and just needed a thin wedge to give it the right angle.
I also shortend the shift rod arm and made a fancy new linkage out of reinforcing bar that I painted silver and mounted with the stock ends from the  -04 linkage.

Carb and mufflers

To top off the engine rebuild I did an upgrade to the "in and out section" of the bike.
The old S&S carb was replaced by a CV with a alu flange to match the S&S intake.

 CV with aluflange and S&S intake

I found a complete OEM chrome lid with the stock black grill on a local swapmeet.
It had probably been sitting on a shelf for three decades or so because it was all covered in dirt and dust but under this it was a immaculate chromed lid hiding.

The immaculate lid with the grill intact

The lid I paired with a backplate I did from scratch together with a K&N filter from a Twincam that I bought at a swapmeet.
First I made the plate itself to match all neccesary holes, than I cut small pipes and welded to the backplate to get the right spacing for the K&N filter between the backplate and the lid.
I also made some handy nuts that I welded on the backplate to ease up the mounting of the lid.
Finally I welded support brackets to the backplate to mount in the stock mounts in the rockerboxes.
So much measuring to get everything all lined up and a perfect fit, but It became a nice piece in the end.

The CV airfilter backplate

Lid, backplate & K&N

Another modification I did was a remote idle adjuster.

My friends with Mikuni HSR's has a remote idle adjuster that I thought was a handy feature.

Another friend with a Buell S1 had also an external idle adjuster and he had a CV carb so that looked interesting.

Some hunting at eBay and a Buell idle adjuster cable was on the way over the pond to me.
When I got it home I realized that the thread at the Buell CV was larger than on a Harley CV.
But I just cut a smaller thread over the old and than it worked like a charm.

The external idle adjuster from a Buell S1 finally on my CV

And the end part got a pair of Supertrapp mufflers.
The new muffles was shorter than stock ones so I had to weld a extension bit on the stock pipes to get the total length to match up.

Supertrapp mounted in the new powdercoated brackets and ready to roar

I also removed the rusty and dodgy heatshields and replaced them with exhaust wrap instead.

Exhaust wrap on the front pipe running all along the left side.

Airbox, exhaust wrap and Supertrapp.

Engine rebuild

Late September 2008 the work begun to lift out the now quite tired AMF power plant for further care at the Potato speed shop.

Mr Potato is a known Shovelhead friend who not only wrenches the beast, he also races the Shovel on the 1/4 mile distance.

Disassembly was not a happy experience, even though the engine had an overhaul autumn 2005 according to the documentation I got when I bought it. The heads was totally crap and the piston rings were wrong. Only one valve seat was ok, the others were a mess.
Two valves were bent and the rear exhaust valve guide fell out by itself !!!!
But with some appropriate help a new custom valve guide was fabricated and a new big guide hole was milled out so we later could press it in to the head. Only thing that had an ok status was the cylinders and pistons so we kept them.
Even the crank pin rollers had factory specs after 60000km/37000miles so we just replaced the cage.

Potato Speedshop, where Shovels get's TLC and eternal life.

The recipe for my Shovelhead overhaul:

# Compression release valves

# 2” Kibblewhite intake valves.

# Basic porting on the heads.

# A fresh Keihin CV carb with a permanent mounted flange for S&S intake.

# S&S intake ported to match head

# Custom air box with K&N filter and OEM cover.

# Andrews J cam

# Crane cro-moly pushrods

# Jims lifters

And of course all bearings, gaskets and other worn out stuff was replaced.

The heads got glass blasted for a shiny look and the cylinders a nice coat of black paint.

To top it of, the OEM mufflers was replaced by dual Supertrapp slip ons but more about carb and muffler later.

The mighty 1340cc/80" engine rebuild started like this:

Deconstruction in progress

Out with the power and some serious cleaning of the empty middlesection

Mr Potato himself with his magic Shovelhands starting the renewal

New customvalveguide in it's new home

Overhauled head with Mr Potato's special "clearance check, rocker cover"

After I made the porting we gave the head a run in the flow bench.

When the heads was overhauled we also mounted a set of compression rear head.

A friend helped me to machine a hole for the release valve.

We also did an extension for better reach.

It is a tight fit between the sparkplug and the release valve

The other gizmo with the cable is the "cylinder head temperature sensor".
This was apparently original equipment on the old FLT's.

The sensor on the rear head is paired with this gauge in the fairing.

(What the hole next to it is for is a enigma and it's not pretty either.)

Than I did a dynorun again to compare before and after the overhaul.

One of the pull's

Red -> before overhaul vs Blue -> after the overhaul

Not so much difference but nice even curves after.