My new project 88 FLHTC

[1954bmw]

Tab could have straightened out on it's own, those speedo drives are not very high tech, keep an eye on it.

[7and7is]

More pics please, what size is that 21 on the front??

Sorry for not getting back to you on this, its a 21" x 2.15" tire is 90/90, apparently thats as big a tire you can fit on that rim safely, if anyone knows or has installed a bigger tire than that let me know.

[1954bmw]

No biggie, hopefully you were putting some miles on her, I've got an 86 Classic and like you bike, good luck. Do you happen to know what PO did to stretch the bags???

[7and7is]

I think the bags are just after market pieces, the metal brackets that go around the stock bags seemed to have been hacked off, not getting any miles in currently, took her out for a test run, and the front end was a mess as well as the front brakes, pulled the forks and got rid of all the air assist stuff and beefed up the oil to 20wt, currently waiting on a caliper/rotor from Wilwood racing, and braided line from Galfer, also so noticed on the first run oil coming from the top of the rocker covers, the PO put some decorative flame covers, and looks like he did not use gaskets under the washers, so going to pull the tank and pull the cheeky covers and just (hopefully) install new bolts/washer/gasket and stop the leaking.

[1954bmw]

Hope you have the shortened allen wrench, think it's a 3/16, space is kind of tight on them rocker boxes. That square back bone takes up a lot of room.

[7and7is]

Yea found that out today, however when I removed the faux covers (They only occupied the right side of the rocker covers) the PO just bolted them on (and they were hand tight?!) no washers or gaskets, and the bolts were to long so I had to run up to my local harley shop, he had the washers and gaskets, but only one bolt, took the bolt to Fastenall had them match it, the other bolts on the front head were tight and appeared dry, coundn't reach the other ones will go out tomorrow and see if i can find a shorty allen wrench, do have a question I noticed today when I removed the gas cap I got a pretty good puff of air, I removed the tank to check the tank vent, and it appeared to have two vents see pic.




The one in the 1st pic (By the yellow wire) has been soldered up, the one in the second pic seems clear I blew air through it and it comes out in the tank, the cap looks like a vented cap but it looks kind of crusty,my question is should i drill out the soldered up vent?

Some random pics

the offending (To long) bolts

Were the offending radio used ti sit

[JBinNC]

One of those tank vent tubes is just a drain from the filler neck area to handle spilled gas. The other one, I think the one that is soldered up, is for an evap system that your bike might not have had. The cap is a typical pressure/ vacuum cap, and it's OK if it allows vacuum relief (air can flow into the tank) and does not allow too much pressure buildup (that forces fuel into the carb, and out the carb overflow hose).

Jim

[1954bmw]

+1^

[7and7is]

Damn Jim you are a world of knowledge, and I am glad you are aboard, thanks for the info, just piddling around today waiting for parts, polished the front forks, didn't go super crazy as I'm trying to keep it some what ratty, but i do like to rub it, and working on a brake peddle the PO's peddle was a little on the short side and i continually kept smacking the exhaust with my boot.



Just another quick question in the pic below there is a device that is attached to the top motor mounting bracket, and there is another one down by the shifter, and they appear adjustable.

[JBinNC]

Those links are used to align the chassis. The motor, transmission, and swingarm are one piece, and the frame and front fork are the other. As long as the bike hasn't been wrecked, and the various rubber mounts aren't too worn out, you should never have to adjust those links. See the service manual for a full discussion, I won't go into it here.

Jim

[7and7is]

No biggie, hopefully you were putting some miles on her, I've got an 86 Classic and like you bike, good luck. Do you happen to know what PO did to stretch the bags???

Was doing some looking around and these bags look pretty close to what is on my bike click the link https://www.rycamotors.com/abs-saddlebags/ also why piddling around in the shop made me a brake pedal, I scraped the brass knucs idea, found an old socket and made a pedal out of it, pretty straight forward, cut off the old pedal mount and filed it round, and drilled a hole in the lever (SS burnt up a bunch of drill bits) stuck a bolt in the socket and bolted it down.

[7and7is]

Been riding the bike some, however the front exhaust bracket keeps breaking, no matter how much I beef it up it keeps finding its way to a weak spot and breaks, the PO basically had strapped the front exhaust to the back exhaust as a fix, so I got a "manufactured" exhaust on its way, aaaaaand I cant stand looking at those ugly ass bags and fairing anymore that shit is coming off, pulled the fender and chopped it, also was wondering if any of you E glide owners experience a really hard lever on the front brake, Im talking almost zero travel with the lever, the caliper (Wilwood) is braking and retracting normally, just wondering if this is normal for this MC (it did the same thing with the stock caliper), I did search this on the inter web and it seems like a common complaint, and nothing i looked up had a definitive solution.

[JBinNC]

Your braking solution is a front master cylinder with a smaller bore. (I need one on my WideGlide as well.) I think factory master cylinders can be had down to a 5/8 bore for your era controls, and down to 9/16 for the '96 - up controls.

Jim

[1954bmw]

Watcha thinking on the fender struts???

[mcknzAlex]

It seems like everything is going well with this build.

[7and7is]

Your braking solution is a front master cylinder with a smaller bore. (I need one on my WideGlide as well.) I think factory master cylinders can be had down to a 5/8 bore for your era controls, and down to 9/16 for the '96 - up controls.

Jim

Thanks Jim

[7and7is]

Watcha thinking on the fender struts???

I think im going to hack them off and pop a couple of brake lights in them if i can find something to fit, exhaust came in and got it installed will post up some pics tomorrow, also wanting to get rid of the floor boards and install pegs, been searching but can't really find anything so may have to fab something up.

[markwade74]

Hell man, as far as floorboards go those are pretty cool

[farmall]

It's easy to install Dyna foot controls on FXRs (common for TC conversions and what I did on the brake side for my bagger box install on an '88 FXR) and that's what I'll do if a bagger ever follows me home. Drill and tap a block of steel (I through-drilled mine because blind holes can be an asspain ) then bolt on the Dyna peg. If you get the long brake rod Dynas use you can shorten it if needed (I did to fit my FXR master cylinder) as it's suitably thick. There's enough metal to drill and tap the shortened Dyna brake rod for a Heim joint. If your inner primary has an undrilled area in the casting you can drill it for the mid control tube and use a longer Dyna arm (also a good mod for FXRs) which are about 20 bucks new. With the inner primary off inspect the transmission shift arm for looseness and while there install a steel Dyna arm. I drilled my Dyna arm a bit lower so I'd retain the longer more positive shift throw of the mid control Dyna arm.
Remember all exhausts on rubbermount HDs should be connected to the drivetrain which moves relative to the frame. (The old Thunderheader mount which imitated the old FXR mount broke many pipes because they were too light to get away with tying them to the frame with a Barrymount. I shitcanned mine and make one instead.) Most bagger exhausts mount to the transmssion trap door bolt holes. Red Loctite those fasteners. Check out FXR Twinky swaps and all will be clear.
A bagger exhaust may require more creative mounting to clear it.

[7and7is]

Ya know, it just didn't seem right that the exhaust was frame mounted but that's just my naivety to rubber mounts, well my new exhaust doesn't have that problem.



Made a couple of bungs for the top shock mounts, not sure how the shocks were mounted from the factory but they were just bolted through the fender and as you tighten the bolt it just flared out the fender which just seemed wrong the bungs make for a solid mount for shock and fender.


Also going to move the battery box to the primary side, there seems to plenty of places to bolt things on when you delete the bags, going to mount to these two bungs, and fill the void behind it with an aluminium panel were i will mount my various switches i will need when i delete my hand controls.



Farmall do you have any pics of your peg mounts?