Hey guys, im new to this forum, but im very experienced with the wrangler forums. I recently purchased an 85 sportster, pretty much the exact bike ive always wanted for myself. It doesnt run but has recently. It is rough tho, but for the price I have room to make it pristine again. Its the 1000 iron head, and supposedly has a problem with thCO oil pump gear. Previous owner was my friends dad who passed away mid repair. RIP. I promised to return the bike to glory for my friends father's honor as well as the club its served for years.

I recieved the bike drained of all fluids, and the cover over your right calf taken off and gears apart. Besides the vin and small details, thats all i know. I want to make a bobber with fat tires. nothing crazy, I can do those things myself, but I think I aught to get it running at a shop. Ive never used a shop for bikes and dont have much XP on what it should cost just to get it running. ABOUT how much time and money will this cost? Any interesting possibilities/concerns early in this project? Ill TRY to post a pic or two if it lets me.. it won't now but ill keep trying. Thanks for any feedback

 

Ok I believe I was able to attach these

 

that's not an 85 and that's not an iron head either.

 

you need to run the VIN
sorry should have left this here http://www.vin-decoder.org/harley-davidson-vin-decoder

 

It's what he say's , 85 xlh iron 86 was 1 st yr evo. it's rough and going to be lots of $$$$ if dealer does any work . $80-$100 hr. Most won't bother with that old a bike . look for a old school indy .

 

Knowing the little you know about the bike, if you brought that to my shop to get it running I would tell you to budget at least $2000. I know that sounds like a lot, but there are too many unknowns. It could end up cheaper, by a lot, but it is the unknown factor that could potentially drive the price up. Also, if I tell you it is going to be $500-$1000 and it comes in at $1800, I am an ******* and you are pissed. If I say budget $2000 and it only comes to say $1100, I came in under budget and you are not pissed at me. While that bike is not an ironhead, I did have a guy bring me an ironhead roughly a year and a half ago, same situation as you. I referred him to a guy in the area who only works on ironheads and he got it up and running for the guy, and fixed a number of other issues unseen at the time. I saw the guy riding the bike the other night and stopped to talk to him. He ended up spending $3500 on the bike to make it run properly and be road worthy.

I say all that not to scare you off, but that bike needs a bunch of time put into it. Once together and able to turn over I would recommend having a compression and leak down test done to see what condition the engine is in.

 

You guys are right. What I came up with was a older ironhead. Swapped it out to the 86 frame. The number made me think it was 85, but I suppose that sort of thing happens. Had to swap the rear 4 bolt mount with the evo's, wired it, got it to turn over once with carb fluid and its still in progress. For the price you guys say, it was 1000% necessary to swap the broken evo with a better motor and do it myself.

Do they make a conversion kit for my rear brakes? I have a cable from the case that was on drums and i need them to work for hydrolic disk. Any ideas?

 

I hope you have all the paper work on being a diff yrs of eng. and frame. DOT and cops don't like vin numbers that don't match up with frame & eng. better to cover your *** before you put alot of $$$ into it.

 

I have the paperwork and its good. Still need to find a push rod conversion for my rear brakes. I was able to acquire what I think is a "fat bob" rear fender and a full length rear fender with the flare at the end. Not sure which one I want to go with. Going for a bobber, however I love that slick lip look and that fender will shield the engine better. I need an updated seat too. My cousin was nice enough to give me a nice single but it didnt fit, its for a softtail I think. I can trade the extra fender and seats

I forgot to add that I had to cut and weld the rear exhaust pipe to fit, then I wrapped the pipes. I ended up painting them silver to match the motor

 

That's the way to do it. Bit by bit, piece by piece, make it work and make it yours. Sportsters are beautiful bikes.