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Well, I now have an '86 too. Just got home a bit ago and unloaded it. I tried to take it for a ride up the street and it's a good thing I trailered it. Open the throttle and it quits. It's got a butterfly carb and the idle transition ports must be plugged. All it will do is idle. And the inside of the gas tank smells like turpentine.
The tires are four years old - got the receipt from when the previous owner put them on, and probably don't even have 1,000 miles on them. The little rubber **** are still sticking out of the tread. The battery is 8 years old but it starts the bike fine. It'll get a new battery.
But first is to get the fuel system cleaned out, go thru the carb and intake manifold and get 'er running decent. I got a Super E carb and S&S manifold that I bought for my '89 but don't have an air cleaner for it.
Otherwise this bike is BEAUTIFUL and it don't need no work other than go thru all the electrical connections, change all the fluids, and probably repack the wheel bearings since the owner couldn't recall if he had that done when they put the tires on it. Even got a genuine Harley-Davidson cover included with it.
$5,500 bucks plus a promise to take care of it because it was the poor fellow's pride and joy. He had tears in his eyes after I loaded it and was getting ready to leave.
I think you scored there. Put the S&S on there. They sell an adapter plate that will let you run the S&S carb with the stock air cleaner, which would be a lot cheaper than getting the S&S air cleaner.
The gold pinstripes means it's the "base" model black paint, not the "vivid black" or some such BS that had red pinstrippes (only difference) and cost several hundred more.
Front fender skirt and points cover are not original.
Front fender skirt and points cover are not original.
Yeah, the points cover has the gold H.O.G emblem on it. Other non-stock add-ons are the chrome lowers on the forks, the fringy things on the clutch and brake levers, leather pouches on the inside fairing below the windscreen, the highway pegs on the engine guard, and I don't think the chrome guard on the oil tank cover is stock, but it might be.
Otherwise I think it's mostly original, right down to the stock mufflers, which are in perfect condition with no rust, scuffs or scratches. Even those rubber rear muffler hangers are still good and not shrunk or hard.
Some of the rubber grommets are starting to crack and deteriorate with age, like the one around the oil filler neck, and I imagine those are not available from H-D anymore. But should be able to find them online someplace.
I'm pretty happy with it for only $5,500 bucks and the super low mileage for the age.
Yeah, that oil tank grill thing is not original, but could have come as a HD accessory. Somewhere, I have a 1987 HD accessory catalog with everything they had for that bike at the time.
Check the crossover pipe under the chrome cover. They tend to crack. You don't want to let that go or you can end up with:
New ones are, of course, NLA. However, a complete exhaust system from a twinkie FLHT up to 2008 will bolt right on.
I shined a flashlight in there and looked at that crossover pipe and don't see any cracks in it. But when I put the new carb and manifold on I'll unscrew the hose clamps on the chrome shields and look it over good.
I think that grille/guard on the oil tank cover was an H-D accessory. Our '89 has it and I've seen a lot of other bikes with them on there too. Since it's probably almost 30 years old and the chrome still looks like new on it, it more than likely came from Harley and was not a Chinese or Jap thing. That's one thing about these old bikes - when it comes to chrome Harley knows how to do it and didn't cut corners.
Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm sort of attracted to the nolstalgia of these older Evo's and I couldn't resist this one.
We've been gone on a trip on our '89 the last three weeks. I had a Honda Silver Wing that I put up for sale at the Honda dealer on consignment and they sold it while we were gone. So we had cash when we got home and the '86 'Glide was definitely a trade-up from the Silver Wing! Sure, it needs some work but I'll spend the weekend going thru it and have it running again. And I think I know a local guy here that has either one of those adapter plates for my stock air cleaner, or has a S&S air cleaner for the carb. I looked at it when I bought the carb and it was pretty close except the bowl vent hole was on the opposite side so the air cleaner backplate don't fit.
Anyway, even though I maybe paid a little too much for it, it's worth it to me. It's a true classic and I like it.
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