'76 Shovelhead Help

[AndyNZ]

Looks good so far mate, looking forward to seeing it come together. Seems like your on the same path i am with mine.

[roosnbrews]

Little more progress made. My tank came in, and I wanted to go with a frisco mount. Purist may hate me, but I shaved the neck to get the tank to sit more forward. I put the forks back on to check tank to bars clearance and I may shave a little more to get it a tad more up upfront. Once I have the location dialed I am going to drill my holes for the tank mounting bungs. This will occur after my hardtail is welded on so I can determine my center point on the frame, but I wanted to get a visual. My hardtail from Haifley Bros also came in. Next on the agenda is to start making my cuts on the rear end to fit the hardtail. Plan is to have everything prepped for welding by the end of the week. I have a guy at Paugcho locally that's going to put the frame in a jig and weld it up for me. I also stripped about 90% of the original paint from the frame to help cut some additional cost down the road when it comes time to powder coat. S&S big bore shovelhead cases are also on order, so engine work can begin soon. More photos to follow.

[bobberadam]

Looking good so far! The original problems you found are shitty and it sucks but good on you for making the best of it and not giving up. What are you doing with the original cases?

[BurnoutNova]

Don't get to down about being upside down on the price of the bike. I have a 79 lowrider that aint worth a third of what I have into it... but that's ok because I'll never sell it anyway. All you can do is pick up the pieces and go forward!

[roosnbrews]

Looking good so far! The original problems you found are shitty and it sucks but good on you for making the best of it and not giving up. What are you doing with the original cases?

The original cases looked to have additional stress cracking near the rear mounting tabs, and the engine was covered in oil, so it was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from. I assume they’ll sit on the bench till I figure out what to do with them.

[roosnbrews]

Don't get to down about being upside down on the price of the bike. I have a 79 lowrider that aint worth a third of what I have into it... but that's ok because I'll never sell it anyway. All you can do is pick up the pieces and go forward!

Yeah I’m already assuming that by the time I’m done I won’t be able to recover my costs if I sold, but this is somewhat of a nostalgic build, as it’s my first bike build and have no intention of selling.

[farmall]

If you keep it enough years the cost/year drops to "not shit". Good call on the S&S cases. If the original numbers match the frame I'd hang them on a wall and forget them until/if you ever sell the bike since extras persuade buyers to spend more money. There's no logical reason to want stock numbers except to please number autists but there are plenty of them out there. I'd rather ride the better cases!

[roosnbrews]

Well another week has passed, and some more progress gained. Fitting the hardtail proved to be more work than anticipated, but it's complete. I'd have to say that I'm close to surgical with an angle grinder now. Cleaned up the neck a little more, removed a mid control mount, removed the piece of flat stock that was previously used as a oil cooler mount on the front and drilled my holes for my tank bungs. The tranny plate lines up nicely. But the biggest bitch was refitting the center post ears after cutting them off, but a barrel sander on a Dremel did the trick. Dropping the frame off at the welder in the morning. Tried to handle as much weld prep as I could to make it easier on him. Spoke with the engine builder, and he's getting ready for the new cases which arrive in several days. Mentioned my tappets were worn out, and my oil pump had seen better days. Went ahead and picked up an S&S billet pump. I figure the engine is now leaning toward majorly S&S parts, and I feel comfort with purchasing a quality product. I did a quick mock up with the hardtail fitted to get a visual, and decided I'm going to ditch the front brake. It just looks far cleaner, and turned out the caliper that was on there had a busted tab anyways. My question for the gurus is what is the best procedure for shaving the fork lowers? I think that would clean it up even more. My thought was to chuck them up in a lathe and turn them....

[roosnbrews]

[bobberadam]

Looking good so far. As for the fork legs, yes chuck them up in the lathe. What i do to cut down on lathe time/interrupted cuts is use a porta-band and cut as much of the tabs off as possible without digging into the leg itself and turn them down. I have also done the porta-band deal and then used a rasp file then sanded using varying grits of paper. You are going to have one hell of a reliable bullet proof machine when you are done.

[Hoghead]

I had to throw money into my shovel 11 years ago. She's run so good since i've never looked back. Yours looks nice!

[roosnbrews]

Been a little while since my last update. Been busy with work, and trying to piece this together in my free time, but I'm getting closer and more stoked! Since my last update the frame had been welded, and I got my engine back from the builder. Fresh S&S cases installed, new rings, valve guides, tappets and rollers, and an Andrews B2 cam. My S&S oil pump is installed and primed, and went with a S&S billet cam cover. The transmission felt solid before I tore it down, but had a slight leak at the kicker cover. Installed a new gasket and were good there. There was a weird issue where my stator rotor wouldn't fit inside the cases. The rotor had a slight taper to it. About .050" too large on the OD. Turned it on a lathe, and now it fits. Picked up a Paugcho oil tank for 30 bucks from the Sacramento swap meet couple weeks back, and just got my exhaust in. Currently waiting on my Performance Machine rear caliper, rear fender from Lowbrow and some miscellaneous stuff. Gonna have a buddy help me with welding some brackets for the exhaust, brake stay, and shave my fork lowers. I still need to figure out my seat and sissy bar setup, but pretty soon I'll be to that point. Im planning to do a full assembly to ensure everything is solid, and then tearing down for powder, chrome, and paint. More to come!

[Hoghead]

Fuck, that's looking good!

[Empringham]

Coming together fast man! happy you decided to save this one, just gonna be that much better when you get it all together. Im gonna go hard tail on my shovel as well and haifley bros looks like that way to go.

[roosnbrews]

On average how much will a new non-O-ring chain stretch? I purchased a new Diamond 530 STD chain and I have it trimmed at 102 links. 104 is too long, and 100 is too short. My motor and transmission are set in place for the proper primary belt tension set, and my rear axle is centered on the axle plates. Prior to setting up my rear fender I would just like to have and idea of how much I will need to adjust it after it is broken in. Im a tall guy (6' 4") and was hoping to get my seat/rear fender as far back on the bike as I can.