Custom Shovelhead bobber stalls at the lights after the jets are changed 

Hey, thanks for commenting! I think for the most part that my bike is what I want it to be! And maybe even better that what my original vision was when I got it 14 years ago. Maybe you can tell that it was a little steampunk inspired…? At this point now it is more just about what else I can add to it to make it MORE what I want it to be… I guess… haha. But really though, are these custom chopper/bobbers/hot rods, or what have you, ever really finished? I feel like there is always something to add or change to make it that much better or cooler. But maybe that’s just me because this is my first even custom build. I would also like to one day have a small collection, like you do. What the Shovelhead you are building right now? Is it a stock engine?

the first 2 I built them in the mid 70s... those I was finally happy w the finished product lol... this one I started 4 years ago.. I'd like to send u some pics of the one I'm currently doing ... let me know . it was a stock harley motor an 80 cubic inch 13 40, but I tore it all down and rebuilt the motor so now it is better then a stock motor. if ok to send pics I'd like ur opinion on my forward control pegs. and my passenger pegs too. so let me know.. I enjoy watching the videos u have, thank u . talk to u soon .

@@robertogorman2840 I'm going to create an email specifically for my youtube so people can send me pics of their bikes! Probably set that up in the next day or two... I will let you know when its all set up!

I can't hear you speak up

@@RedRiderCanadaBC I thought steampunk when I first saw it. The rapid wrenching and your custom air cleaner really cool. The brass looks like an incense burner lol.

You bet it is! Thanks for the view!

That makes two of us 😉

Thanks! I'll get it going good.

Hey thank you for the encouragement! And for subscribing too. I hope you enjoy the vids :)

Oh, and I dig the air cleaner cover too. My first bike was a Raleigh and it's cool to see how you applied the heron head badge. At least it looks like it's off an old Raleigh bike. I could be wrong. Regardless, it's very imaginative, much like the rest of your creation.

Hey, yea I wish I had some more harley buddies to work and figure out problems with. I’m fortunate enough to have my dad around to help out and some old friends of his who I can ask questions if I need. But still not quite the same as having some buds who I can just get together with for an evening and just need around on our bikes together. I’m glad you like my channel. Thanks for watching!

Shadetree surgen is in Florida..

@@jerrybigrig9475 Shadetree is a bit south of me. and we have never met in person. but i think from what i see he is cool.

yes,,,him

I love Pacific Mike! He is definitely a go to for me when I’m in doubt

👍🙂

Mike's garage... Yes he's the man.. And real nice guy

@@JamesCarter-ii4up I wanted to ride down to the bike show and meet him but Im not sure Ill make it.

What...we don't have leaded gas anymore?!!!! Jeez. I have ta tell my bike. Hey, don't tell anyone I didn't know that , and I'll buy ya a beer next time I see ya!

Thank YOU for watching the vids!

Thanks! I'm nor pro, but I try. I want to know what's going on "under the hood" of any vehicle I operate regularly.

Thank you for watching!

Hey thanks for the comment! My engine is 96 inch (supposedly) since I had the pistons replaced and cylinders bored, it was a 93 inch before that. Also, my cam is a C-grind cam so I think that is the issue with the compression: not bad compression - just hard to get an accurate reading with that cam… so I’ve been told. And my carb is a S&S Super E. That is just what came with this engine when I bought it.

Thanks! Mine was leaking at the exhaust where they bolt to the heads. These Shovelhead exhaust setups aren’t the best design; having only one stud to bolt the pipes up with. I ended up having to break down and put some gasket maker silicone around the ports and that dealt with the decel popping.

I rode that combo for years !!! surely would have liked to move up to 93", but was good with the 88. One kick, or 2-3 if i had a couple !! 10-1 was plenty, running a jockey with a 27 tooth on the trans. Was kind of tough on the clutch but open road, you could cruise.

My compression isn’t super high, but apparently is good for a Shovelhead. I’ll take it apart this winter and see if I can replace the rings and maybe hone the cylinders again to get the compression up to 9:1.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC looks as though "by the plugs" it's getting better, might just need to be run a bunch for the rings to seat, carry an exrea set of plugs and a wrench just in case.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC Hey Red if you're going to pull the rear cylinder then you might as well do them both IMO. That way you can freshen up everything while you're in there. What type of cranking compression are you getting now? Incase you don't know how it can be done even with the kickstarter style, just hold the throttle wide open with the compression tester installed and kick it over as fast as possible until the needle quits climbing usually 5-6 good kicks do this several times and record each measurement then compare the highest reading to the other cylinder. They should be within 5% of each other. If you've got access to a leak down tester I'd preform this test also prior to tearing it down to see if you're getting blow by past the rings. As easy as your pipes are to pull you can also listen to see if there's any leaking back on the compression stroke thru the exhaust valve, I'd also go as far as removing the carburetor and manifold to check out the intake valve prior to pulling the head and cylinder. If you do end up tearing it down then I'd recommend doing a fluid CC test of the head #1 to again check for the valve sealing and #2 to know if both combustion chambers are equal or if you need to do any type of head work.ike I told you before every Shovelhead motor that I've ever worked on the rear cylinder always runs richer than the front and it's because of the design of the engine when the rear cylinder is on the exhaust stroke and the front cylinder has both valves closed on its compression stroke it causes a negative pressure in the 2 into 1 exhaust system like you're running allowing for the little bit of colder air in the front part of the exhaust system to be pulled into the rear cylinder prior to the valve being completely closed. The only way to get away from this is to run true duals. You're not going to be able to increase your compression ratio simply by honing your cylinders. That's going to have to be accomplished by your piston configuration and clearances. Now as far as the rings go if you're getting blow by past them when you did the leak down test if you're getting around 2.5 psi-5.0psi that's normal on a gapped set of rings anything higher than that then I'd be looking at them. Even if you were to get "Total Seal" rings and hand filed them only then would you be able to get it down below the 2.5psi range. Red this comes from years and years of building racing engines, high performance engines and forced induction engines. I'm not trying to tell you not to freshen up your lower end on just saying to run the tests before you open the can of worms. You're going in the right direction and I really think that you're right there. Like several other people have said only make that 1 change at a time so you know what it's doing instead of several at once. I can't wait for you to get the picture exchange site up for the bikes to see what some of the other people are riding and building. Keep the rubber side down and the throttle twisted. Ted

Hi Red , I'm with Bruce...one more up on the low speed, (or 'mid', if you like) leave the main alone, and I think you just about have it. They'll never read the same on both plugs, one will always look a little richer than the other. 'Tan' is where you want to be ideally. Oh, and the idea that rich is better, or lean is not...yeah, yeah, yeah...don't settle for either. It's either right, or it's not. It's not that hard, as you can see, to have it perfect. And once it's perfect, leave it alone. Some people get 'tinkeritis', and can't leave it alone, and they just constantly create problems for themselves. It's like the timing...once you got it, just don't go back there. If you have something come up in the future, you know it's not that, or the mixture in the carb. Really narrows down the possibilities of figuring things out, huh?! 'Simple', is always your friend. You're doin' great ! Won't be long, you'll have people wanting you to do tune-ups. DON'T DO IT ! No matter what you tell them, they'll go home, and change the timing and jets, then come right back and tell you how it's not running right! And they'll KEEP doing that untill you finally are burnt out, and start throwing wrenches at them! Years ago, I started sicing the dog on them ! Not very nice, but highly effective! Rubber Down, Thottle Up !

I’ll take your advice and just change my idle jet up a bump, I was considering doing that but just wasn’t sure what exactly to do next haha. I also turned my mixture up a bit after that ride, so I’m going to take it out for a little burn and see if that made a difference at all. I think I’m getting close!

Bruce, thank you so much for your faith in me haha! I appreciate your feedback 🙂

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thank you! And yea I know the lefty loosey thing, its when bolts are upside-down and stuff that I get all mixed up lol

I have it gapped at.40 which is within the recommended range for an electronic ignition on a Shovelhead. And yea, I think I need to bump my idle jet up a bit and should solve the issue of stalling, hopefully. I’ll play around with my air/fuel mix as well as my idle screw and see if that changes anything and if not then might mess around with the plug gap a bit. Thanks for the comment!

That being said though, when I did my timing I static timed with the timing mark in the centre of the timing hole. So I was thinking I should time again this time the the timing mark at the back of the hole (I’ve read and been instructed that that’s where it should be timed at) so the timing will be a bit retarded at that point and then I can see what my plugs are looking like after that.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC Electronic ignition… So you may have 12 Volt D.C. battery power, powering the ignition module. (Was wondering if it was a “way-back”, magneto type of ignition. I have not worked on a Harley, my experience has been with other brands. Sure have been intrigued by Harley brand for decades, even became a museum member when it first opened in Wisconsin, several years ago. The Harley history is rich and interesting. Reads like you are willing to keep learning about your ride, that is very impressive. Thank you for sharing, have been learning as you post new videos. 👍

@@RedRiderCanadaBC The retarded spark can be a leg and foot saver when kicking the bike over upon startup. Advancing the timing during engine run can be an adjustment art, depends upon fuel octane rating, etc., etc. No shortage of trials with older motorcycles. Thanks again for sharing!

Two of my favourite things! I’m glad you enjoy my videos 😄 thanks for watching!!

Puking out the breather? Maybe a bit too full eh… or a check ball not seated in the oil pump.

I hate getting stopped by cops when it’s a kick only bike haha. My taillight was always burning out (before I got some proper bulbs) so I was being stopped almost every time I went out it seemed. Last time I got an order for a safety inspection. 🙄 You know it’s not going to be good when the cop says “just let me go check the book”

Think it was 3 ignition kicks and she started. I tried immediately after it stalled but think it might have been flooded so just coughed a couple times.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC good start to the day then :) Did you stop filming after the stall - how many tries before you crossed the road?

Yea I had to pause the video for a bit. And I tried a couple times before I crossed the road, when it first stalled.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC I'm glad you didn't wear yourself out like before. :) I'm getting that she is not far off for you now. Keep the kick starts coming though - they make your channell.

I’ve been doing the idle thing lately. I’m going to put a longer screw on there so I don’t need a keep a tool in my pocket. My E has a thunder jet too.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC oh yeah mine has a thunder header exhaust on it on that idle deal I bought two of them little idle deals somebody made them they was brass and they was real tall and you can reach down in there and you could you set the idle on it but I can't remember where I ordered them from I'll try to remember yes but that set an island up a little bit before it was just sat there night and when you first start should help all right thank you red your bad ass girl oh yes you might be able to get you kind of a stiff piece of rubber hose and slide it down over your idle screw

Thank you. It sure is eh!

Awesome! I don’t know a lot, I’m still learning all the time. But we gotta help each other out in the shovel world! Thanks for watching :)

Have a keihin on the pan, works flawless over 20 yrs.

Thanks!

Sorry mack, but its just the opposite. the rear cylinder on HD runs hotter ( less air flow) and causes it to appear more lean normally, as this hotter environment burns the gas more completely.

Thanks brother! Ride safe 😎

Thank you! 😄

@@RedRiderCanadaBC 😁

Hi! Not crazy to see ya here 🙂

that's what it is alright.

Super E carb and the air bleed was in there when I got it with the engine.

You got a collection eh! Thanks for subscribing!

@@RedRiderCanadaBC I refer to them as my Harley harem...

Thanks!

Yea I think the editing program I was using screwed up the sound because my original videos were much better for volume. Trying learn this computer stuff and I won’t lie, it isn’t coming that easy to me! Lol the Shovelhead is cake compared to technology side of all this. Thanks for watching anyway! And for the like 😎

Make shure any James gaskets aren’t restricting flow

I bought it

Didn’t take it down. Working on getting fixed!

it's working now

@@o.u.t.olduglytroll3712 thanks man!

It’s a Super E. I just put a 70 main and a .028 intermediate.

Will be bumping the intermediate up to a .0295 most likely

I’ll give it a shot! Thank mark, don’t be sorry haha.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC a red obviously checking in and see how you're doing hope my little tips may help you okay hot rod I'll wait for you next video

This is an old video and I think I was stressed about my bike, and just generally going through some health issues at the time. Much better now!!

Was a little bit yep

@@RedRiderCanadaBC Be patient with her, as truly a very beautiful bike. I love the metal affect with the copper tubes, the aluminum steel and how it all looks like an incredible machine - I look forward to seeing my rides

My editing program (a new one since the last one failed me) messed up the volume on this video unfortunately. Volume was good on the originals. I’m working on getting better set up to be able to do better editing.

I think it translated fine! I’m glad you’ve watched all my videos now 😊

I’m at 850 ft

@@RedRiderCanadaBC 850 not a factor, you're all set. Keep it on two and good luck with your channel.

Thanks! 😃

My bike starts easy and runs nice.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC You and your dad know better than I. Great job working so hard to answer so many questions! Best of success for you.

Scott, Might be interesting if you read up a little on 'plug heat ranges', and what they mean. No offense, Brother. Just makes for good reading.

I have one on order! Can’t find anything in this town I live in.

No VID Tho?

it's working now

I don’t know why, but this comment is just showing up now!

@RedRiderCanadaBC well, Hello again then, lol , it's been that long?

I’m just working with minimal equipment right now is the only thing. Are you saying to just have another angle so that people can hear me better? It would probably be good to have both angles so I can talk to the camera when I need to without having to turn around.

@@RedRiderCanadaBC Yh that’s what I mean, are you not able to make your go pro face you ?

I can make the GoPro face me, it’s just not ideal for stationary filming because it gets hot after not too long. I guess they are intended to have wind cooling them off. And now I need a new phone because the speakers on this one are starting to go. I’ll have to work something into my budget!

@@RedRiderCanadaBC nice well gd luck : )

But I have to admit,I miss my 1983 FXRS 5 speed shovel. That is the only bike that down through the years I wished that I never sold it.