Howdy fellas! On my third EVO now :-)

I picked up a new project for the winter that should be a lot of fun and hopefully not too hard on the pocketbook. 1997 wide glide with only 16k on the ticker. It's been sitting (mostly) for awhile and no records or knowledge of what's been done (or not).

Just from a quick look it's got an odd mix of bolt on covers and such but some decent upgrades as well. Mikuni42, SE air cleaner, V&H 2-1, wiring hasn't been hacked much. Damn near everything else is bone stock from a quick once over and not a leak or weep anywhere.

I slapped a new battery in it, new plugs & wires, changed the fluids, dumped in some fresh gas and rode it 275 miles home. Runs rich enough to be spitting gold eggs out the pipe. Not real bright on a set of 10 year old Dunlops but I did make sure the brakes worked and had a friend following with a truck just in case.

On the plus side, it started right up, never missed a lick, pulls strong, no wobbles up to 75 -80 mph, shifts smooth and easy, no weird or scary noises and still not a sign of a weep or leak anywhere.

On the minus side, sooty fouled plugs, it drifts a bit to the right and has a pretty rough decel vibration.

It's going on the lift shortly for a thorough going over. Gotta make some room in the garage first and parts are slowly drifting in.

Plans are to see what's been done in the cam chest (someone's been in there) if anything. Swap cam bearing if needed and drop in an Andrews EV27 cam. Might as well do lifters while that's open. Will keep the stock pushrods if they haven't been changed out for adjustables already. Going back to a CV carb. Check motor mounts (probably will replace) swingarm, full alignment, check the front end. New lights all round, progressive shocks, fork springs, bars, new seat. New brake pads, fluid & lines, throttle cables, clutch cable, new set of Metzelers or Avons and minor things like grips, riser bushings, wheel bearings and such.

Didn't see anything alarming when I changed the fluids out but will have a good look round when the primary and tranny covers are off just in case and since I don't know what if anything has been done to it. They'll all be drained again when I jack it up and hopefully I won't find anything scary cause the budget will be hurting with just the above! Of course, some things can wait to shift the budget if needed. Considering the mileage and age, I'm not expecting major problems but I do see lots of seals, gaskets and O-rings in the near future.

I'll update as it goes along and I'm sure I'll have questions. Yep, I have the service manual. Suggestions or advice, please throw it my way. :-)

Gotta love an EVO!

 

Awesome! But where are the pics??

And maybe I can help offset your cost a bit if you want to sell that Mikuni 42... Shoot me a PM when/If it becomes available...

 

Pics will be forthcoming. Gotta get the bike here from my friend's house first :-)

It will be neat to see what's in it and with all the GREAT write ups here in the EVO section, I'm pretty confident I can handle getting the work done.

The Mikuni is sitting on a workbench at the moment and it's definitely available soon. It's getting put back on so I can ride the bike about five miles over to my own house and then it can go. Maybe a week or two. As far as I'm concerned, you just called dibs on it Rhino. I do know it's got a 160 main jet in it, but it will need a rebuild. The bowl is pretty clean but the seals are brittle and the Harley stock choke cable has a small nick in the casing near the carb where it was rubbing. There's some rust on the actual cable in that nick. Not bad and it works but it's stiff. I'll let you know when I get the garage sorted and move the bike.

 

No worries, sounds great, and can't wait to see the pics!

 

i would keep the mikuni if your looking for seat of the pants performance - if your looking for fuel economy than the CV is a better deal and it way better than the butterfly that is on it

the vibes is the motor mounts are soft on those bikes and prone to shaking the bike around, as well as the hein joints stick and cause a solid feel to the bike - its worth the replacement of those items

 

johnjzjz,

Thanks for the suggestions and info on the carb. My initial reasoning for swapping back to a CV was simplicity. A CV I understand and can work on. The Mikuni, um, no. A little too much there when it comes to tuning for me and I just don't want to fool around with it. Hearing I'll get better fuel economy with the CV just clinches the deal. I'm not after performance at this point, just reliability and a solid, enjoyable ride. Maybe later down the road, I'll do some more to it but I have all the work I can handle right now.

I'll check out the heim joints too. Motor mounts was my first thought with the vibes. Even though they "look" OK, I strongly suspect they're the originals and they're on the replacement list. After all, we all know how well 17 year old rubbers work don't we

 

The heims if you remove them as an assembly and they are not dead centered as you hold them up and look at them - they need replacement -

just replace the mounts and the heims do the mounts first and install the heims with NO infulence to the motors direction and you will be fine


i own a shop and have a collection of different bikes with different combos for different reasons -- as far a tuning the FLST i have - the S2 thunder bolt - both have tweaked motors and both have Mikuni carbs, one day after the original install i have not touched them one 5 years and the other 7 years -- BUT they are fuel hungry compaired to the CV, if your going to do it yourself, if you have that need and some ladys do, i have good info with pictures we give out to customers who want to learn and save a few bucks - they are easy and respond well to changes sooo just ask if interested -- jz

 

JZ that would be sweet! Thank you!
I like learning new stuff and tinkering around with things. I'm also one of those that absolutely refuses to pay some awful price to fix stuff I can do myself.
I'll send you a PM.

 

Sounds like a fun winter project I will be following your journey as I too have a new old one to play with this year. Can't wait for pics.

 

Pics, or it didn't happen.