Some progress

So mom & dad are in this week to visit. I had a big interview at work this morning so I took the afternoon off and spent it working on the 78 with dad. We got the carb rebuilt:

Fresh Keihin Butterfly: (Lots of silly O-rings.)




Then, for the hell of it we started tearing down the primary drive. It went pretty well as we broke less stuff than I did the other day on the Buell. (This bike is a bit greasier, though.)

With the primary and clutch off.



Quick picture of the main drive sprocket of the tranny output shaft. At 78,000 miles, it is due for a change....



Lots of cleaning to do now and then I'm going to tackle reworking the oil pump so it doesn't feed the primary case as the new clutch with the belt drive is a dry unit.

Parts Have Arrived

Here's a picture of the replacement stuff to get the bike basically road worthy.



Belt primary drive with dry clutch, transmission mainshaft support bearing, new final drive sprockets, the little tiny carb rebuild kit and the new wiring harness for the handlebars.

Not quite sure when I'm going to get to this one, but it's ready to go when I am.

More New Parts on the Way

Well, Just ordered a carb rebuild kit (Original Keihin butterfly. - It's a kick-only 1200 and starts generally first or second kick. I'm not changing it.) and new handlebar wiring harnesses just to get all the buttons and switches working again. Now to wait for the parts to arrive.

Almost Back at it.

So I finally ordered the replacement primary drive. It is a belt drive system with a dry clutch that will let me take the oil pump apart and put a plug in the port that causes the oil to drain from the tank to the case. This will also eliminate the source of the famous Harley leak as there will be no oil at all in the primary case.

I'm going to go with new final drive sprockets and chain. (Probably going down two in the rear to get the rpms down as it only like to cruise at about 60 or so currently.) Haven't quite decided whether to go with standard or O-ring chain since the final drive chain is supposed to be oiled by the blow-by out of the primary case.

So much for that clutch

Guess I waited too long between starts. The primary was full this morning and now the clutch is stuck together. I got it started no problem. Much easier with a squirt of lighter fluid in the carb. (I still need to rebuild the accelerator pump.)

I just printed out what I need to do to plug off that drain and then I looked up to see if anyone makes a belt drive primary conversion that will fit in the original case. BDL does. It's not cheap at $690, but that comes with a new input bearing and a new dry clutch. That should fix that and it will still look original.

Still starting

Cleaned out the garage again so I had to move the bikes out.

Figured I'd fire the FX up to see how bad the oil leak is. Considering it's been sitting for two months, it wasn't terrible. Maybe I'll get the inspection next week.

I do need to start ordering some parts.

Minor Update

Bike registration is now legal in Louisiana. Just need to get it inspected.