Girls bike for Wristpin

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Some reason i thought they were same.
Sportsters are a unit construction engine where the transmission and engine are in the same case unlike the Big Twins until recently where the trans case is bolted to the back of the engine cases. A lot of people assumed Sportster engine and trans shared oil because of that type construction.
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
I know the unit construction. I thought the engine section of the case and the transmission section had "holes" from engine to trans and primary oil to go from engine to the other two via gravity
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
I know the unit construction. I thought the engine section of the case and the transmission section had "holes" from engine to trans and primary oil to go from engine to the other two via gravity
No there is a seal on the crankshaft under the primary chain sprocket, but the transmission door has holes for oil to pass from the tranny to the primary.
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Harley engines are dry sump, there oil pumps are actually two pumps in one. One side for pushing oil from the tank thru the engine and the other for pumping scavenged oil from the crankcase back to the oil tank.
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
Sprocket shaft seal.
...transmission door has holes for oil to pass between primary and transmission...thats the co-mingle of primary and transmission i meant.
Case is drysump with suction pump agreed.
I thought the trans got oil from oil flow from "hole" between engine/trans unit case.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
Im pretty sure 1970 was the last year for a external distributor on a Sporty, the 1971 900 was the first year for the nose cone (no external distributor). All the side cases were exactly alike on 71 thru the mid to late seventies with 1971 being the only 900.

My 1970 XLCH had a external distributor. My buddy's 69 had a magneto.

Was the electric start XLH a mag or distributor?

Did AMF take over in 1972?
 
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IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
The only leak I was concerned about on the early sportsters was keeping the clutch dry from the primary. Nothing like coming in off the road and the clutch's are oil soaked and expanded and you have no way to disengage the clutch. Ask me how I know?
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
My 1970 XLCH had a external distributor. My buddy's 69 had a magneto.

Was the electric start XLH a mag or distributor?

Did AMF take over in 1972?
AMF took over in 1969 as far as the XLCH vrs XLH back when you could get a magneto ignition they were an XLCH a battery ignition was a XLH. After the deletion of the magneto a XLCH was a kick start and a XLH was an electric start.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
I was thinking it was later than 69 but you're right. They owned it from 69-81. One thing I do remember is that my buddy's 69 ran much better than my 70. I probably weighed 50# more than him though. I picked mine up in the packing crate at the dealership out on a rock road in two old hip roofed chicken houses. Had to assemble bars, gauges, ect. $1,640 out the door.
 
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409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
I was thinking it was later than 69 but you're right. They owned it from 69-81. One thing I do remember is that my buddy's 69 ran much better than my 70. I probably weighed 50# more than him though. I picked mine up in the packing crate at the dealership out on a rock road in two old hip roofed chicken houses. Had to assemble bars, gauges, ect. $1,640 out the door.
Did your 1970 have AMF badging on it? I bought my 1972 from a dealer in St Louis, it had AMF Harley Davidson tank stickers on it. As far as your buddies running better 50 pounds is a lot on a motorcycle, every 100 pounds on a car is a tenth of a second in the 1/4 mile. Back in the day a Sportster was top dog until until the 4 cylinder Kawasaki's came out. I put 11:1 pistons in mine and did some head work, that thing ran Great! I paid $2125.00 for mine, I remember my dad thinking I was nuts because I could have got a new pickup for that much money.
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
We all usually agree that AMF had issues when it purchased Harley. However keep in mind that AMF led they way, with lots of help from Porsche I believe, in the development of the Evolution motor. That motor in no small way help bring back Harley when the guys bought it back. I went out and bought one of those new rice rocket engine bikes as some of my friends called it in 1985. New cam, air cleaner, pipes, and one of the earliest Screaming Eagle carbs ( ie a very large mouth, cheap Keihen ) and that bike screamed.
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Another thing to keep in mind is that as bad as they were if AMF did not buy Harley Davidson they would not be here today, thanks to AMF Harley Davidson weathered the storm and is still here!!
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
AMF pulled HD screaming and crying into modern manufacturing. The Evo and V-rod were both Porsche engineered. My opinion the Evo is still HDs best engine. TC has the catastrophic cam chain failure and flywheel misalignment issue.
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
AMF pulled HD screaming and crying into modern manufacturing. The Evo and V-rod were both Porsche engineered. My opinion the Evo is still HDs best engine. TC has the catastrophic cam chain failure and flywheel misalignment issue.
I agree I think the Evo is the best engine they ever made, I have both a 98 Dyna Wide Glide and a 10 Street glide. I love the 98 FXDWG I got 35000+ miles on it and it still runs strong also the Evo is a good looking motor!!
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
In stock form, it was my understanding from factory guys that the EVO engine was designed to 100k trouble free, as the TC was supposed to go about 200k in stock form. The testing is something else on these engines. There are weak points though that come from the factory, often those weak points are exacerbated by aftermarket accessories. I replaced the cases on a stock EVO ( except air cleaner and jetting ) with 88K on it. Everything else was serviceable and the bike ran fine. The weak point on the EVO cases was the right behind the lifter blocks, which in this place cracked, however the bike still ran fine. The cam tensioners are a funny thing. I have seen them go 30k plus and are fine. I have seen them go within a few thousand miles. I have always theorize that the cam tensioner wear was directly proportional to how the person rides the bike. Constant revving and hard launches place extra or more constant pressure on the cam chain tensioner. As for the flywheels, for me, that is an inherently bad design. Keyed on one side, driven off one side. So I rev the snot out of my bike, I drop the clutch while all that weight is spinning. The EVO flywheels are light as hell compared to the older bikes. All the momentum is now asked to come to almost a stop. The left flywheel is now taking most of that stoppage to transfer the torque to the sprocket to the primary chain on to the clutch and mainshaft to the belt or chain to the wheel, however the right side of the flywheel is still hanging out there on a press fit and kinda wants to keep going. I use to tell people, weld them up, stop doing what your doing, or be prepared for me to rebuild or replace them.
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
I blew the entire right side out of my '85 FXWG. It was bound to happen sooner or later. All but indistructable.
I have a DELKRON cased Shovelhead for a future build.
 

oleblu72

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
I blew the entire right side out of my '85 FXWG. It was bound to happen sooner or later. All but indistructable.
I have a DELKRON cased Shovelhead for a future build.



How much do these cases cost Wristpin?

Mark
 
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