I just started on my 75 xlh project bike for about a month now, putting $$$ into it of course. I was wondering what others on the board projects are and how long it to you to complete and how much money did it cost.
I'm doing most everything myself and also doing a rattle can paint job. Here is the rear fender with a shamrock that I painted.
Just to give you an idea of what my 'project' took, here is a start and a finish photo. Understand that my bike had sat for 13 years in storage at a saltwater boat shed. The chrome was a little tarnished of course.
It took me 5 years and I spent $5000. Everything was done by yours truly, including the urethane epoxy paint job. All of the work was done in my home shop and the paintwork done in the garage..........pg
I'm not doing a project, my bike is a never ending project. Put a 82 FLT gas tank on \\;it, one I got for 40 bucks on e-bay. Made a steel plate for down the middle and covered with leather and a pouch for papers and stuff and added a gumball machine lock on the hinged cover at top to keep people from messing with the gas (adding things or siphoning) Added teflon coated stainless steel brake lines. Slowly have replaced all the wiring and circuit breakers. Added a compu-fire ignition when mine started acting up. Put new starter relay, solenoid and starter clutch in it. Later bought a windsheild on ebay. Bought a fuel gauge to go with the FLT tank and installed that between the tach and speedo. Had drag pipes, bought mufflers for it and sanded it all down and painted with black ceramic coated header paint. Removed handlebar controls and painted to match tank (rattle can). Future plans (next year)are to replace cam cover and primary with chrome ones. Check cam clearences while Im there. Chrome rocker boxes. Stainless steel clutch cable. Stainless steel idle/throttle cable. Going for the blacked out with just a touch of chrome and metallic blue color look. Not sure what I've spent so far, most things have been here and there unless it broke or needed something done.
hello, i have been working on my late 84 iron head for many years it is a never ending project! it has a fat bob tank 2"over front end,wide glide shocks and everything has been chromed,also have a 86 monte ss with a roller cam and  \\;brodix heads small block been working on it for a year it will be another year or so before it is done!
Thanks Mojo.......
I still remember finishing the paint job and closing down the garage to let it dry overnight.
The next morning I open up the garage to see how many bubbles and runs I had put into the paintwork and getting the shock of my life!
The entire paint was as perfect as I could ever hope to see. Just 100% perfect. No orange peel, no runs, just a deep red glass finish that looked like it was about an inch thick. That was the first time I ever sprayed urethane epoxy paint and I was pretty worried about how it was going to turn out before I had even put the epoxy primer on anything yet.
The fellow at the PPG store hands me a few pages of instruction on PPG paints and says to me.....'Just follow this and you will get a professional job.' How right he was!
 \\;The first photo I posted was taken when I started the rebuild in 1995. I finished the bike in 2000 and of course took pics of it. When I went to post one of it finished, I noticed it was taken with a film camera (as was the one in 1995). So the one I decided to use looked better as it was a digital pic taken in 2006.
I am shocked every time I look at my old Sportster and realize it has now been 8 years since I finished the rebuild and 13 years since I began the rebuild. Man, time sure does evaporate!
I urge any rider out there who thinks he or she may want to do a project bike to jump into it right now! Time waits for none of us, and the sooner you get a project started, the better.......pg
No, its not what you may think.
Today I ran out of excuses and cannot put it off any longer.
I have to remove the engine from my Chevy van and tear it apart to locate what sounds like knocking rods and/or bad crankshaft inserts.
I bought this 350 engine on Ebay two years ago and ran it for 15,000 miles and then it starts to knock suddenly. So now since I trust no one to give me an honest repair I have to fix it myself.
Yeah guys, I know it aint a scooter engine, but cut me some slack. Its a project. Just what I wanted to do......fix a Chevy. Yeah right!........pg
Congratulations.....you have found the second best resource for completing your project(the first being the service manual). These guys won't lead you astray and will save you lots of time, money, and agravation.
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I bought my project ironhead in late February, and I finally got it on the road a couple weeks ago. Tore it down to the frame, made repairs inside the primary and gearcases, went through everything. painted it, did the leatherwork, and NOW I'm RIDING! Spent $2250 on bike, and put another $1750 into it (give or take a couple hundred). The guys and posts on this forum were invaluable.
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A couple more.
I'm going to post a step-by-step post, as well as pics and measurements on some homemade tooling you will need to complete your project. I have to whittle away at some other stuff I neglected while I was building this bike, but I should have time to post it in a week or two.
Good luck.
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Your Projects
