Parts arrived

Grabbed yesterday's mail this evening and the parts I ordered from NOSparts.com had arrived. The NOS derby cover is way beefy. Actually has webbing on the internal surface to strengthen it. I think I will use it instead of the other spare. The new shifter lever and toe piece are re-pops, but are good enough for stand-off scale. Main difference is the rubber in the toe piece has H-D written on it instead of Harley-Davidson. Otherwise, it's identical and not worn square like the original.

Still reading a bit high

But I think I may have left some WD40 in the little magnetic cup thing. That may be causing it to act like a viscous coupling and adding drag as after strapping GPS to the tach, it is pretty close at lower speeds but gets progressively further out as the speeds go up. I may try to snake a small tube into the unit from the back to try to use compressed air to clean the magnet out before I end up taking the bezel off again.

Otherwise, the needle is moving very smoothly and the odometer is about right.

Speedometer refurbish

Well, I looked around to try to find an OEM speedo for the bike, but nothing out there in the aftermarket looks even close to the original unit. So, I figured, it's already broken, how much more damage can I do to it by taking it apart, right?

The unit is a Japanese POS that is hermetically sealed by the bezel at the factory. It is not made for disassembly. I've never met a thin sheet of stainless steel that I couldn't bend with a pry bar, so, I grabbed a flathead screw driver and went to work.





After about twenty minutes, I had the bezel off and the gauge mechanism came right out. It's main problem was that it was filthy. In addition, the drive assembly had broken loose from its crimp to the backplate and was not allowing the weird little magnetic doohickey actuate the needle correctly.



After cleaning it up I started thinking about how I could stabilize the drive unit and came up with an external strap that is held in place by the original screws that hold the guts to the main housing.



While I was in there I also added the mileage from the other two odometers to it so it should be pretty darned close to actual.

I then set about re crimping the bezel with a pair of needle nose pliers and finally after about two hours of fiddling with it, I think it looks pretty passable.



Took it out for a test ride and while the odometer was pretty much right on, the speedo was reading high. When I got it home after a little drama. (The choke plate popped out of the mechanism and closed on me. Luckily I was just getting to a gas station about 2 miles from the house so Mona was able to bring me the tool bag and I got it back going in a few minutes.)

After getting home, I was screwing around with the drive cable and all of a sudden it seated much farther into the speedo drive than it had before. Now the whole thing seems to fit properly. I took it for a quick spin up the driveway and back and I think it is working correctly now.

I'm re-hydrating as it's 80 degrees and kicking that thing before I realized what happened to the choke wore me a bit out.

Once I rehydrate, I'm going to take it out for another quick spin to see if it is OK or is still reading high.

Starting to gather parts

Found a link to a PDF file of an entire 1971-1984 FX parts manual. It has all the exploded views and original H-D part numbers for every piece on the bike. 15Mb file, but certainly worth the download.

I'm ordering an NOS Derby cover to replace the "Live to ride" unit I installed years ago after the original was damaged.

Also ordering a new shifter lever and toe pad since the original is badly rusted and the rubber toe piece is worn out. That should get me a customer number at NOSparts.com so I can use their database a bit more easily.

I also joined the Shovelhead.us forum and I've found one of dad's posts from a few years back.

Contemplating gears

Given that I think the bike has the original primary chain on it, and the drive sprockets are original and about a sharp as a razor, That stuff will be replaced fairly quickly.

The rear wheel sprocket is a 51 tooth unit from the factory. Drag Specialties sells a replacement with 49 teeth that is nickel plated like the OEM and not chrome. (That's hard to find.)

So that will take the final drive ratio from a 23-51 to 23-49. A difference of about 4.1%. Assuming that 3000 RPM = 60 MPH, that gear change will only result in a 2.5 mph increase at the same engine speed.

The transmission sprocket is a 23. That is the largest that was available from the factory, Custom Chrome has up to 26 tooth transmission sprockets. A 25 tooth unit will put the cruising speed at 68 MPH or so. That is probably what I'll end up going with.

So instead of a 23-51, it will have a 25-49. Should even be able to keep the same chain length.

Pricing parts

Started to price out tires for it today. No purchases yet, just looking. Looks like tires, tubes and rim strips will be about $285 shipped. Tubes add a complication. Have to know whether it is a center or side valve. The front is center and the rear is side.

Also, the original sizes listed in the manuals are hard to find. Dunlop makes what looks to be a set that is pretty close to the OEM tires. MT90-16 in the Rear and MM90-19 for the front.

Click for tire link.

Test Ride

It is a wonderful late autumn day here in Southern Louisiana. Bright sun. A bit of wind. About 80 degrees. And I'm off work. Dragged the bike out of the garage, threw some insurance on it, geared up and went out for a shakedown ride.

Here's the route I took:

Click for map.

The bike started pretty well, maybe about 10-15 kicks. And, of course, since it's been sitting for a month, the first thing it did was puke oil all over my boot. I should know better. One of the things that is going to get changed on this thing is I'm pulling that check valve and plugging it.



The ride was uneventful. The brakes are scary bad. But then again, they've never been good. It rode well enough for what it is. Only a few things that really need fixing that I've noticed so far. Tach needs to be rebuilt. Original speedo needs to be rebuilt so it can be reinstalled. Clutch lever needs to be aluminum rather than chrome finish to match the rest of the handle. Neutral light is out. Front brake light switch needs to be repaired. New tires & tubes.

That's the bulk of it. I'm going to reinstall the OEM pegs to put it back to stock.

Here are a few pictures from the road.











That's a pretty good introduction to Louisiana for the bike. It seems to like it.

I stalled it once exiting the driveway where I took the last pictures. Took about twenty kicks to get it going again, but she finally fired back up.

One thing it does not like is running faster than about 55mph. I think that I'm going to go up a tooth in the front and down at least two in the back to help out with highway speeds when I change out the original sprockets. It won't like getting off the line much, but it should be a little nicer to ride on more open roads.