1989 Sportster Trouble

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  • lovechild
    Member
    • May 2012
    • 46

    1989 Sportster Trouble

    So I bought a sportster. A sportster which had been messed with a lot. In hindsight I should not have bought it, but my lack of knowledge and experience meant I did. Rose tinted glasses? I will never make that mistake again.

    Here it is:




    After a few sleepless nights, feeling like I had made a huge mistake, I figured I may as well try to turn this heap into something that I wanted to ride.

    I swapped out the mustang tank for a lowbrow axed tank, and went at it with some rattlecans.
    Swapped the awful seat for an Old Gold Cobra seat. Installed some biltwell frisco bars which I internally wired, and sorted out the rest of the wiring at the same time. Have never been a fan of those tombstone taillights, so I swapped that too. Relocated coil,choke and ignition switch. The exhausts were some stock ones which had been completely butchered, so I got some stock ones cheap and put them on.

    Enough rambling, here it is.



    I'm pretty stoked with where its at. I still want to swap/hide the speedo, get a 21" wheel and shave the fork legs, but summers coming and I want to ride it, so that stuff can wait for now.

    This is where I could really use some help. Its running like turd. Fouling plugs, running really rich. The mixture screw seems to make no difference to the idle, but the plugs didn't seem to get so fouled when I had the mixture screw right it.

    Checked the jets, its running a 170 main and 45 slow. Got stock pipes and aftermarket air cleaner.

    Any advice to help get this running right would be much appreciated!
  • ajInMs
    Senior Member
    • May 2011
    • 493

    #2
    What type of needle is in the carb for the main and have you messed with it all, changed the height or replaced it and is it sticking at all? When you say it is running like a turd, can you be more descriptive in describing the symptoms? This would help people understand what is going on and be able to offer better insight into troubleshooting your problem.

    Comment

    • lovechild
      Member
      • May 2012
      • 46

      #3
      I haven't messed with anything yet, but like i said the previous owner had pretty much messed with everything! The needle is the adjustable type with the clip on it. When i say it runs like turd, i mean the throttle is just not that responsive, and tends to bog out a bit when accelerating.

      Comment

      • Evidence
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2012
        • 1552

        #4
        Dumb question, but have you deep cleaned the carb? Do you know how much the guy before you rode it or let it sit? I would start there, you might have some goobered up gunk in there...

        Comment

        • lovechild
          Member
          • May 2012
          • 46

          #5
          Right, after some research i worked out someone has put a dynojet kit in there. They had the needle jet set wrong, so i moved the clip and what do you know! Runs like a champ!

          Comment

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