1983 FXRT Build: First Foray into American Motorsickles

[Tippyman]

Picked up this ole gal today. It's an '83 FXRT in a Paughco rigid frame. I don't know exactly what frame, but I'm assuming it's lowered and raked. She needs a good going through, but will hopefully be a good candidate for my first shovel.




She runs, but only if you play with the choke, so I assume the carb is all gunked up. Pulled it off and am ordering a rebuild kit. Anyone know exactly which model carb this is? I assume some sort of Keihin CV? It's got a Screamin' Eagle air cleaner if that helps identify it.









It's got dual plug heads and dual coils, which is why I suppose it has this ignition. Never seen one before, any thought on it?



Plans are first to strip it down, and fix any dumb shit I find. Once she runs reliably as is, then I'll start modding it. I only had it running for a few minutes and it's puking oil out the back from some hoses. Have to trace that down. The main thing I want to change is the primary. I gotta have an open belt drive, but that leaves me with a dilemma. Do I get a nice cheap, clean, kicker-only belt drive, and an expensive Baker kicker for my 5 speed, or do I get an expensive and not so clean belt drive that accommodates the electric starter? Will this weird ignition even work well with a kicker?

[Tattooo]

Man that is a damn nice looking bike and a great first bike for sure......

How much did you have to give for it???

[Tippyman]

Man that is a damn nice looking bike and a great first bike for sure......

How much did you have to give for it???

4K. Shovels tend to go for 4-7k where I'm at. I figured 4k was a good deal if it came with a rigid frame already.

[TriNortchopz]

Yup, Keihin CV. Look up that part # to identify model.

Rebuilding a Keihin CV40 carb
Posted by Dave63
"Rebuilding your CV40 carb isn't rocket science. It's simply a matter of taking the carb apart, cleaning items that are prone to poor performance if exposed to dirt for decades and rejetting it properly upon reassembly..."

https://www.harley-davidsonforums.com/forums/fuel-systems/41948-rebuilding-keihin-cv40-carb.html

Harley CV Carburetor Tuning Issues & Troubleshooting

https://cv-performance.com/harley-cv-carburetor-tuning-issues

[Tattooo]

4K. Shovels tend to go for 4-7k where I'm at. I figured 4k was a good deal if it came with a rigid frame already.

Not a bad deal at all..... I was curious......

[shovel625]

Picked up this ole gal today. It's an '83 FXRT in a Paughco rigid frame. I don't know exactly what frame, but I'm assuming it's lowered and raked. She needs a good going through, but will hopefully be a good candidate for my first shovel.




She runs, but only if you play with the choke, so I assume the carb is all gunked up. Pulled it off and am ordering a rebuild kit. Anyone know exactly which model carb this is? I assume some sort of Keihin CV? It's got a Screamin' Eagle air cleaner if that helps identify it.









It's got dual plug heads and dual coils, which is why I suppose it has this ignition. Never seen one before, any thought on it?



Plans are first to strip it down, and fix any dumb shit I find. Once she runs reliably as is, then I'll start modding it. I only had it running for a few minutes and it's puking oil out the back from some hoses. Have to trace that down. The main thing I want to change is the primary. I gotta have an open belt drive, but that leaves me with a dilemma. Do I get a nice cheap, clean, kicker-only belt drive, and an expensive Baker kicker for my 5 speed, or do I get an expensive and not so clean belt drive that accommodates the electric starter? Will this weird ignition even work well with a kicker?

Keep that carb, just rebuild it, it'll work nicely for that kick start

im not a big fan of electronic ignitions for kickstart or in general for a bike that your going to be riding, with that said, others swear by them and thats fine as well. I just prefer points.

i prefer the narrower BDL 1.5 open belt drives, only like 300 dollars too

if you go open belt you will need to either 1) create a small catch can for the crankcase vent tube that normally lubes the chain drive inside the primary or 2) put a small filter on the end of an oil line of the crank case vent, either way, do not cap that crank case vent, your bottom end needs a way to release pressure.

Thats a great deal on that bike. probably would have gone for 5-6k in my area. looking forward to seeing what you do with it

[Tippyman]

Keep that carb, just rebuild it, it'll work nicely for that kick start

I ordered some parts from CV Performance, gonna give her a good going through.

if you go open belt you will need to either 1) create a small catch can for the crankcase vent tube that normally lubes the chain drive inside the primary or 2) put a small filter on the end of an oil line of the crank case vent, either way, do not cap that crank case vent, your bottom end needs a way to release pressure.

There is already some fuckery going on with the oil vent lines. Wasn’t leaking in the guys shed I got it from, and wasn’t leaking until I ran it. It ran for maybe two minutes, I put it in the garage, and then it leaked a bunch out. Hoses and the rear of the oil bag where the filter is are all oily.

im not a big fan of electronic ignitions for kickstart or in general for a bike that your going to be riding, with that said, others swear by them and thats fine as well. I just prefer points.

i prefer the narrower BDL 1.5 open belt drives, only like 300 dollars too

It’s got dual plugs, so I think I’m stuck with the ignition. As for the belt, I definitely like the 1.5” kick only kits, but I need to figure out if the F5K kicker will work with this trans. It’s the factory cable clutch 5 speed.

[farmall]

Puking is typical. Harleys with oil tanks higher than the pump wet sump when left to sit.

Baker kickers fit 1990 and up so no joy. Either swap trap door and whatever else is required or replace transmission. Contact Baker tech support.

[Tippyman]

Puking is typical. Harleys with oil tanks higher than the pump wet sump when left to sit.

Baker kickers fit 1990 and up so no joy. Either swap trap door and whatever else is required or replace transmission. Contact Baker tech support.

It’s like 1/4-1/2 qt. Seemed like a lot to me. As for Baker, I contacted them, but no response yet. I figured it wouldn’t fit because I didn’t see a hole in the top for the clutch arm to go into.

I just got a response from Paughco. It’s a straight leg frame with a factory style neck, zero stretch and a 30 degree raked neck.
Set up for a 5 speed transmission and chain rear drive, obviously. What length front springer ya’ll think would look good with 30*? I was thinking at least 12 over.

[Tippyman]

Wait a minute... isn’t 30* stock? Why does my shit look so raked? I’ma have to look at the triple tree more closely. Might have some weird raked shit on there.

[Tippyman]

Took pictures of the forks vs neck. They appear to be parallel, so I would assume there's no stupid rake kit on the fork. Perhaps someone cut/raked the neck, but doesn't appear so. Maybe it's normal, but I'll be damned if it doesn't look raked out.

[Tattooo]

The neck is definitely raked....

[Dragstews]

38 or 39 degrees would be my guess ...

[rockman96]

It’s got dual plugs, so I think I’m stuck with the ignition. As for the belt, I definitely like the 1.5” kick only kits, but I need to figure out if the F5K kicker will work with this trans. It’s the factory cable clutch 5 speed.

You are not stuck with that ignition. I used to run a dual-points setup on my shovel, and later swapped it out to a Dyna S single fire. Get a Dyna S if you want a different ignition.

[farmall]

The trees look like stock FXRT and appear parallel to the neck. The neck certainly appears raked.

If you level the bottom frame tube and check with a digital level you'll find total rake. The little digital level cubes are handy for that sort of thing.