Nice find i also have a 77 fxe i just purchased in good shape needs some tlc but was still ridden. when i purchased it he drove it to the title co and was picked by his daughter. i also have leak in primary, all the fuel and oil lines need to be raplced. I am currently replacing rubber seals on gauges and tank plate.

 

Belt looks like an older BDL or Primo unit and the oil puking is normal for a shovel that's been sitting that long. The check ball in the oil bleeds by and loads the crankcase with oil that gets puked out the breather port . Next time you try to start her kick a pan under as she will bleed for a bit till all gets works out.

 

OP there's a guy over in the classic parts for sale section who has complete chain primary setup for sale right now , may be your best bet if you want to go to a button start as finding a ring gear for the belt system will be an issue without buying a complete new unit.

Just posted up ,

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/class...ket-parts.html

 

Thanks for the heads up on the chain primary! I cleaned out the Bendix on it just enough to make it function and the throttle freed up a bit, enough to try and get it going. Couple kicks and she runs! Let it get good and warm and tweaked the carb a little, it seems to run really nice. I think I'll get a kit coming for the Bendix and try it for now. It has an internal throttle cable with the hard wire, it's pretty stiff and doesn't like to return to idle, I'll get a new cable coming with my kit and hopefully can get all that all working.

What do guys like for foot controls on these era bikes? This seems to have a hodgepodge of parts to make forward controls, t's not very user friendly...

 

Good luck on the project. My first Harley was a '77 Superglide. Bought it in '78 with 4400 miles on it. I rode it from Oklahoma to California that summer. Here's some diagrams that I have looked to over the years. Easy Rider mag used to print simplified diagrams.

 

Thanks for sharing those! I've been studying diagrams and chasing a few gremlins with the wiring on it. The melted stuff I had found in the headlight belonged the the kill switch on the handle bars. Someone had disconnected everything so it wouldn't do more damage, but I need to fix it. Definitely think new wiring is in the near future. Just deciding if I want to go with a reproduction harness, or a universal kit and wire it myself. Outside of that not much has happened. I'm waiting on some parts to come in, new throttle cable, a CV carb and flange adapter, and a set of used forward controls I scored on eBay. They were very well priced and advertised for 4 speed frames. After purchasing I was looking closer at the pictures I believe they may actually be for a 90s Dynaglide (FXR) and I'm not certain the frame tabs are the same... We'll see how it works out once I've got them.

The oil pump needs a little loving, the check ball that keeps the oil in the tank must need replaced and the seat lapped, in a matter of several days it drains a fair amount (1/2 qt or so) into the crankcase.

 

Check here, I repair those all the time so I did a little how to with pictures. Fixes about 90% of them.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/gener...ll-repair.html

As long as your frame has the forward tabs on both sides the controls should fit, those are pretty universal through a lot of later years.

 

I ran a 3" Primo belt primary on my '52 pan for several years and no issues or problems if it's aligned right. I also dumped the Linkert carb for a Bendix and had no issues with that either.

 

Had a partner who ran one of those old 3" belts on a rat pan chopper he had. Few us in a pack pulling into the campground one afternoon he decides to do a little dig me and hits it and snapped the rear two studs on the tranny and it went sideways in the frame. I remember that belt whistling past my elbow slapping the guy ahead of me between the shoulder blades, took him off the bike.

 

Thanks for sharing the link! I'll have to see if any of the guys around here might have an old EVO pushrod laying around.

I've seen some conflicting things on the controls, but what I gathered is all the 4 speed stuff was the same (long as the tabs are present), and the Softails used the same design up to '99 or so. Mine has both tabs on the frame, what I'm seeing is mine uses a 3 bolt mount on the shifter side and what I bought is 2 bolt on both sides. Matches what I see when I look at FXR parts. Hopefully it works out! If not I'll pass them on to someone else and try again.