Mostly devoted to care and feed of Harley IronHead Sportsters in particular with frequent soirees into welding, machining and other mechanical items I find interesting.
Gotta add also, I can think of NO ONE in the industry of aftermarket Sporty work but YOU that I would have restoring this bike. You are the best I've ever seen on old ironheads. Well done!
As I'm sure you know,the rims are original Ackront rims which were standard on the xlch. Solid mounting on the oil tank, but carefully inspect the frame at the upper seatpost area. The frames were notorious for breaking at the seat post. Then the only thing holding the frame together was the oil tank which is bolted to the frame on top and the rear engine mount on the bottom. The two seatpost tubes of the frame crack at the weld where the steel tube goes into the cast seat cradle casting. And carefully remove the tachometer drive from the magneto, that drive gear has been obsolete since 1980. One more tidbit , those cool rear shocks are from early XR750 bikes..,..if I remember correctly. Have fun, your customer has a nice survivor. Oh,one more. There was a service bulletin about xlch valve springs. If left under tension in storage for , I think it was 5 years they should be replaced with new valve springs. Semper Fi.
As the owner of an all original 65 CH I can tell you about the details. The trip meter reset on the left fork is correct. Those shocks are OEM. The crimp clamps on the oil tank hoses are OEM. Yes, the MO/CO taped the wires to the frame.65 was the first year for the 12 volt so the 66 had a 12 volt Delco. The steering damper on the bottom tree was done two years, 65-66.The turndown on the front muffler was probably a common modification. I have two of those in my parts piles 66 Was the first year for the Tillotson. 65 was the last year for the DC Linkert which is on my scooter. You'll discover the bottom mount for the oil tank has little springs on the mounting bolts. All and all the 66 is a very original bike
My first bike had a Tillotson and it ran pretty well; which is good because I was clueless. Once, the diaphragm stuck and filled the cyl's with gas. After that I had a bicycle spoke wrapped around the bars to probe the bottom vent hole when it stumbled. When I switched my new 72 to a Bendix I got a reverse spiral for the internal throttle because I hate cables and I love being able to let go of the throttle. My XLCH had rubber isolation posts for the oil tank and I see no room for them on this bike. Aluminum wheels.
Gary, there is a guy that has a channel, Mags & Tillotson, on RU-vid. He has a 1968 black XLCH and a 1970 Gold XLH. He does a lot of work on them himself. He is thorough and does detailed work on them. He is worth watching for the information he offers. He has done one or two videos on the Tillotson carb. He has got a two kick XLCH with mag. I think he lives in Michigan or Illinois or someplace around there. He is worth subscribing to.
thank you again for another video, funny how a different carb can sometimes make ALL the difference in the world, I have a Mikuni round slide I keep around for testing purposes .do you think that the double lip aluminum rims are factory?
We will be waiting to watch videos about this beautiful Sportster. You are lucky to have the opportunity to work on that bike, and we are lucky to see the process.
From here this machine appears to be an exceptional example of an early XLCH. Consider looking for a way to correct the issues with the original components and retain them, rather than compromising the originality of this rare Time Capsule.
Nice old bike.Have you thought about just changing the throttle spiral from a push to a pull and using a stock Bendix cable bracket?I've done a few Tillotsenectomies and it's a good way to go.Good luck,sir.Brock.
I'll be following this one. My daily ride is a 69 XLCH. A few things I noticed... That braided throttle cable you are using with the Bendix can be attached to the internal throttle hardware up in the right handlebar. Replace the original "push" spiral grip with a "pull". It would be a shame to lose the internal throttle, one of the nicest features on these old Sportsters. I think I see the rubber pad that goes between the front of the rear fender at the bottom and the bracket that attaches to the frame is missing. That section of the rear fender is supposed to float and is steadied by the rubber piece. If it's missing the fender will crack a few inches above. I'm sure you know that those hose clamps are the original style. When you replace the oil lines will you use the same style? I didn't when I replaced mine. I used the everyday worm gear clamps and whenever I look at them my eyes hurt. The capacitor is called a "horn capacitor" in the parts book. Mine is still there but I don't know if it works. I don't have a horn. You are so right about the magneto timing retard hardware. The spiral at the left handlebar is a "pull" spiral. With the "pull" on the right handlebar with the Bendix you retain the coolest, cleanest, smoothest looking bars in the world of motorcycles. I didn't know about the vent lines attached to the vent nipples, makes sense.One of mine got plugged by insects. Packed by mud that was as hard as Roman concrete. When I tried to tap it out with a small nail the nail bent! I ended up drilling the mud out. Anyway what a beautiful example of an un-messed with pre-1970 XLCH. I know that Jarhead will be happy when you're done. And thanks a million for putting up these videos. I am also a Marine. 1976-1980 0811.
THANK you Again sir, for another video...home made diagnostic tools are the best, years ago I made a 4 foot tall Manometer for 4 cylinder engines with 4 carburetors, using ATF because its pink, and because of the sizing of tubes I used I ended up with a meter/gauge that is very very accurate due to having "fidelity" or in other words a larger "SCALE"... the only thing that could make it better is if I could find mercury... but us lowly humans aren't allowed to play with such elements lol., I named it the MAN-O-meter 4000
Great test jig - it sure sparked my interest! .The only thing to improve it, in the future, might be to include the proverbial " Flux Capacitor" (lol).
The sliding gears(m.s.2nd &c.s. 3rd) and the pocketed gears (m.s.3rd & c.s.2nd) seem like their the ones that break the most and cause catastrophic failures I generally replace them with Andrews just as preventive crankcase insurance
What better place than this to get some sympathy 😢😂 Just did the top end on my 73 XLH and after $70 of the wrong head gaskets "mine is an early model 73"🙄 like I'm supposed to know that 🤣 She's purrin like a kitten got two good runs with my beautiful woman on board i walk out the next morning and oil is id dripping out of the pump and sure enough it's cracked on bottom and side😝 Oh well here we go again 😂 I love my Sportster 👍😎
Loved this video Gary!!! I have a round column mill/ drill from taiwan- Long Chang machinery co. I know not to build parts for NASA on it, just doing small bike stuff on it for chopper builds!!! Your the man!!! 👍🍺 SLICK
Very cool! I learn something every time I flip the switch on, I always impress myself when Im doing a project when A) I don't hurt myself and B) I don't break anything.
I was tense when you fired up the lathe with that huge chunk of metal... sketchy was not descriptive enough!! LOL! But it sure looked like it worked well. How did you find the center, or did you chuck it down and then put counter weights to balance it out? I assume there was some weights on the u-bolts. I have a small hobby lathe, I am unable to even try this kind of thing... now I have a 12speed harbor freight mill, that is very sturdy... almost 25 yr old... I am not even a novice machinist, more like a blind machinist.. LOL! NOW the IBM magnet brought back lots of memory of those old DISK PACKS!!!! We used them on Computer Vision equipment and it was a very sickening sound when the read/write head would crash into those platters... Not to mention hours of work to reload data from the magnetic tapes... Kids today do not know how good they have it with SSD drives!!! LOL!! Good video again.
So you worked those old IBM machines??? I suppose you remember the punch cards too??? Didn't bother to find center, just shoved it in the chuck the only way I could get it to fit. Yeah, there were strap clamps under the u-bolts. I put the spindle in neutral and "balanced" the weight. That part worked surprisingly well. You were tense??? I ws behind a pile of sandbags the first time I flipped it on. Yikes!!!
Great video as always, Gary. Do you work on or do you recommend anyone for transmission work on a 74 Triumph 650 Tiger? I inherited one that’s been sitting for two decades. I got it to pop off and run briefly before the kicker clock spring broke and I discovered the transmission has been full of water. I drained it and topped it off with ATF. The primary and crankcase oil are fine. Thanks for educating us, Sir
Contact me at this link: www.ironheadcycle.com/pages/contact.html . I used to own a Tiger (and an A65 BSA and a Triumph 500) and worked in a Triumph/BSA/Norton shop.
I googled "triumph anti sumping valve" and found at least two kinds. I've always been reluctant to put anything (even extra elbows and bends) in the oil supply line. If a bike is going to sit a while I drain the oil into a clean jug and just pour it back in when I want to fire it up.
