'95 Sportster build

[ToddW260]

The M-Unit was pretty much the unique part of this. Other than that, even though it seems like I'm redoing the entire bike ( I just about am) it's a pretty mild Sporty build. I do plan on updating the thread when I fire it for the first time.

As far as the M-unit goes, I've gone as far with it as I can until I can actually run the bike. All the lights and indicators work, the horn works and the starter cranks when I hit Start. The M-ride app is kind of cool, but I don't see myself using even half the stuff it can do. Especially since I'm not running any gauges. I'm not sorry I'm running it, I think it's a solid unit and I like the way it works. I think it's just overkill for what I'm doing with it. If I was going to do it again I'd think hard about the non-blutooth one. If you're not running blinkers, gauges or idiot lights I would just chopper wire it and be done, I think it would use less wire and look cleaner.

I have been making progress, but haven't posted here in a while because it's all pretty much run of the mill work, I wasn't sure if that sort of stuff was encouraged over here or not.. Rebuilt the CV which ended up costing a whole bunch more than I was hoping due to a torn slide diaphragm, cracked fuel inlet, rejetting and swapping out some Dyno jet innards for CVP stuff. Red Kote'd the tank, banged bent intake back into round, purchased and installed new carb support bracket and "illegal in Cali" breather bolts. If you're interested it's all in a thread over on XL in the carb forum.

Currently saving up for a Golan petcock and some kind of air cleaner to wrap up the fuel and air intake side of things. After that I need new throttle and clutch control cables and a front brake line. The stuff that was on it is way too long due to the apes that it had when I bought it. Then it's exhaust, rear axle, ign module, tires.

Please continue posting including the "run of the mill" work. Your posts have been clear and I like seeing the thoroughness and neatness of your work. It is inspiring as I get ready for my "winter project"
Also, what is your username at XLF? I was looking for your posts there.

[Luky]

I would skip that "M" unit! I knew it was trouble.
Geeks might like it.
If someone had just not butchered the
stock wiring you would have saved a lot of time and money.

[Tattooo]

If someone had just not butchered the stock wiring you would have saved a lot of time and money.

You got that right...... Isn't is amazing how many people will start cutting wires they think they don't need, then they wonder why shit won't work anymore......

[industrialmarshmallow]

Hey! I was kinda surprised to see this brought back up. I'm still working on it, but it's getting closer. I'm shooting for spring. A couple of setbacks due to me being an idiot*, $$$ (as always) and a couple house projects that have priority are what's slowing me down currently.

The PO had told me the bike had been taken to 1200 from 883 but the PO before him had done it so he didn't know what method was used. To me, it looks like stock jugs and heads with new pistons, so I'm thinking just a bore job. The bike still had the stock 883 ign module on it so I got a 1200 version off Ebay.

I decided to add an oil pressure light. I had to open up the wiring harness to run the wire the way I wanted it run which I REALLY didn't want to do, but like I've said before, once I decide something isn't right I have to fix it or it'll bug the shit out of me forever. I cut out a little bracket and ground out the rear part of the counter sink on the two rear handlebar clamp bolts so it would fit in there. Added an LED from Amazon and hope it works. It lights up when I hit it with 12v so at least the circuit is good.
IMG_20181027_235836 by David Arens, on Flickr

Ended up going with a Cone Engineering 2 into 1 exhaust, but haven't put it on yet. I do look at it in the box once in a while though, it's real pretty and considering the quality and performance I don't understand how this is almost half as much as some other systems out there. I was thinking about using the Cone headers but swapping the muffler for a cocktail shaker but after talking to the guy at Cone I decided against it. He said the Cocktails were designed to be run as a pair and I would have to reduce too much from the collector. I have a set of James round copper crush gaskets I want to use with it. I needed the correct nuts anyway and this kit came with 'em. I also didn't fancy dicking around with the stock style gaskets.
20181023_210738 by David Arens, on Flickr

20181023_210646 by David Arens, on Flickr

I stripped all the satin clear off and reshot it with gloss. Still bare metal underneath. The satin made it look like it had been painted a silver/gray but I really wanted to be able to see the bare metal. I'm still not 100% happy, I think the gloss adds too much shine. I really want it to look like it does without anything on it, just not sure how to get there and still keep it from rusting.
Bare metal at the top, satin clear on the bottom.
20180912_203145 by David Arens, on Flickr

[industrialmarshmallow]

Back to me being an idiot...

I ordered a new brake line and clutch cable from Magnum Shielding. Great quality stuff. When I got the bike it had 16in apes on it and since I've got tracker bars on it now I couldn't just order stock length stuff, I had to measure. I got the brake line installed without any issues. Took the bike off the jack to roll it outside and admire my handiwork. Yep, gorgeous. I'm a certified bike building badass. Rolled the bike back inside and felt weird resistance while turning the bars. I hadn't put the little line clamp back on under the trees and in the ten feet the bike moved the brake line had found its evil way into the fork lock which acted like a set of scissors on it when I turned the bars. It didn't cut it all the way through, but I'm not going to run it like this.
20180826_103002 by David Arens, on Flickr

The clutch cable... I measured and measured an debated and measured again. Trying to figure how long to be long enough without having extra cable looping everywhere. Finally ordered the cable and installed it. It works great.

If I only turn left.


20180908_160826 by David Arens, on Flickr

[industrialmarshmallow]

I ended up going with a Golan petcock. Not disappointed.


Wheels and tires. What should be the last big thing. I wanted to switch from the Mag front and solid rear that it came with back to wire spokes. I bought a pair of rusty dual flange 16in rears from a guy down the street for cheap. They both had a couple broken spokes and the bolt holes on the drive flange on one of them were wallowed out.

I figured I could take them both apart, use the good spokes from the one with the bad drive flange to replace the broken spokes on the one with the good hub. Put in new bearings and I'd be set.

Now that I'm halfway in it, I'm seeing $50 rears in ready to run condition all day long on CL. I haven't spent anything other than time on the first two yet so I'll probably keep an eye out for one after Christmas. Knowing my luck, there will be a sudden shortage...
20181216_115730 by David Arens, on Flickr

I picked up a 19in spoke front from the local swap for $60. Spokes are good, tire is shot, won't hold air, seems to be leaking out from around the valve stem as fast as I can fill it. No rust on the outside, but the rim lip is bent in one spot. You can see it when it's spinning. Put it on the bike but haven't messed with it otherwise yet.
20180826_142312 by David Arens, on Flickr

I really like the look of Firestone ANS, but still debating on if I want to spend that kind of coin on a fashion tire.


That's the big stuff I have left. I still need plugs and wires, a rear axle, engine and primary oil, fuel system is still just mocked up so I need to tighten that all up, probably some other small stuff I'm forgetting.

This is how it sits as of 5 min ago...
20181216_115620 by David Arens, on Flickr

[industrialmarshmallow]

Please continue posting including the "run of the mill" work. Your posts have been clear and I like seeing the thoroughness and neatness of your work. It is inspiring as I get ready for my "winter project"
Also, what is your username at XLF? I was looking for your posts there.

Thanks Man, I don't have a fraction of the knowledge or skill a lot of the people on here have, but I try to do the best I can. My name over there is Matt Black. I don't really post a lot over there either, most of my questions get answered through searching. There is some good info posted by smart folks in a carb rebuild thread I started. And I have a build thread, which I think is pretty much the same as this one.

[brooklynbomber]

I love this bike, except for the seat. Can’t wait to see the pipes on, I really want to put something like that on my 95 as well.

[industrialmarshmallow]

I love this bike, except for the seat. Can’t wait to see the pipes on, I really want to put something like that on my 95 as well.

Thanks Man, I appreciate it.

Yeah, the seat isn't my favorite aesthetically. It's pretty comfortable, like new, and was $30 off craigslist so it'll do for a minute. The bike didn't have a seat when I got it, and I was kind of surprised how much new seats were. The other issue is now that I have the electronics under the seat vertical space is at a premium under there. I did try a Burly low profile solo seat and it looked great but didn't clear since the M-unit sticks slightly above the frame rails. If I had the older style M-unit where the wires connected on the sides of the unit instead of the top it wouldn't be an issue.

[brooklynbomber]

Another option is making a fiberglass pan to fit over your electronics package. Its expensive but think, most of your body weight and general comfort comes from your seat. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

[farmall]

That's unfortunate about those M-units.

It's easy to disperse a flasher and three circuit breakers. There's no need to duplicate any TSSM functions with such a unit since there's no need for a TSSM. Pre-TSSM HDs function fine and if a breaker (either HD style or inline blade) gets weak it's easy to bypass until replacement. A single unit is also a single point of failure, and they are absurdly expensive:

https://shop.revivalcycles.com/motogadget-m-unit-blue/

The bike is looking good. If you want a fashion tire remember those wear out so you'll need MORE fashion tires.

it's real pretty and considering the quality and performance I don't understand how this is almost half as much as some other systems out there.

It's a nice piece. The cost of more expensive pipes is because HD owners are groomed to expect assfucking. Your pipe seemed odd because it WASN'T a ripoff. The price for 20' sticks of tubing isn't shit and sheet metal forming was perfected before anyone here was born.

https://www.coneeng.com/ has some interesting stuff. Thanks for posting!

[industrialmarshmallow]

That's unfortunate about those M-units.

It's easy to disperse a flasher and three circuit breakers. There's no need to duplicate any TSSM functions with such a unit since there's no need for a TSSM. Pre-TSSM HDs function fine and if a breaker (either HD style or inline blade) gets weak it's easy to bypass until replacement. A single unit is also a single point of failure, and they are absurdly expensive:

https://shop.revivalcycles.com/motogadget-m-unit-blue/

The bike is looking good. If you want a fashion tire remember those wear out so you'll need MORE fashion tires.


It's a nice piece. The cost of more expensive pipes is because HD owners are groomed to expect assfucking. Your pipe seemed odd because it WASN'T a ripoff. The price for 20' sticks of tubing isn't shit and sheet metal forming was perfected before anyone here was born.

https://www.coneeng.com/ has some interesting stuff. Thanks for posting!

I agree about the m-unit. Kind of. A basic "standard" wiring harness would have been much cheaper, a hell of alot easier, probably used less wire and really, the m-unit is just overkill for what I have going on here anyway. But... looking at the big picture, if I hadn't used the m-unit I wouldn't have rewired and diagrammed every inch of wire on this bike or had to figure out how to make it work with the stock controls. I might not do it again, but I wouldn't trade the experience. If that makes any sense...

[industrialmarshmallow]

Another option is making a fiberglass pan to fit over your electronics package. Its expensive but think, most of your body weight and general comfort comes from your seat. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

Future plan is a building a custom pan or modifying the one I have on there now, then recovering it. I agree, quality stuff isn't cheap, and it shouldn't be. Truthfully, it'll probably be a while until I get to it. Unless I really can't stand this one once I get some miles on it. I dunno, priority now is getting it on the road!

[1956ford]

I love this bike, except for the seat. Can’t wait to see the pipes on, I really want to put something like that on my 95 as well.

I was thinking the same thing. My wives first bike was a 250 knighthawk. She is a short gal, I removed the seat cover and just cut some foam out of it and reinstalled the cover.
It worked great and I kept the foam and reinstalled it when we sold it.
I think if you could get that little rear spoiler thing out of the seat it would be fine. Just my opinion, its your bike do what ever puts a smile on your face. Thanks for posting.

[industrialmarshmallow]

Got a couple little things done and wanted to post an update before I forget what I did. Also, Flickr wants me to start paying to upload any more pictures so I'm testing out Google photos.

I finally decided on a rear wheel, ended up going with an 18in Moto Iron from TC. I wanted to build my own, but tools and parts would have cost at least twice as much, and at a year and half into this project, I'm getting impatient. While I was at it, I threw in a pair of fork rubbers. Those are one of those things half of me thinks are goofy and the other half digs the shit out of. I got the carb permanently mounted, put the petcock back on the tank and am just waiting to get a couple spacers for the mounting ears on the front of the tank before I mount it up. I went to mount the exhaust but the flanges I had looked like Pringles so I ordered a set of Drag Specialties Heavy Duty ones. They are a hell of a lot beefier than the ones that were on there.


I'm hoping to get the pipes mounted up this weekend. Also, picked up plugs and wires, Taylor 409 wires and Accel U-Groove plugs.