I will try, wouldnt that be something if that was the total fix....

 

Thanks Yankee Dog all of those suggestions are well recieved and i will examine those options. Thanks that paint had 5 layers to get back down to the original so down to metal and started all over. 3 months though i wasnt hurrying either

 

Yup. Many folks that the ground is just as important as the hot!

 

If a lifter is/has gone bad, you'll hear a 'clack' sort of sound near whatever cylinder. My bike, a '97 FLSTC, one day suddenly without warning made this really *LOUD* SSSHHH sound as I was doing around 35 mph. The bike nor motor stumbled, nothing 'happened' other than that loud sound. Freaked me the hell out! I spent the rest of I think about 3 months trying to pin down what it was, where it came from, etc. At first I thought maybe the exhaust gasket blew out from one of the cylinders, and I was leaning toward it all being the front one as the noises coming later seemed to be from there.

Well, the bike *seemed* to keep running fine, still got the 45 mpg I was used to, still had also what *seemed* the same power. Just a loud-ish tick or 'clack'. I stopped riding it for about a month because being disabled I simply can't afford major troubles so the little things I try to take care of as quickly as I can.

Finally one day about a week ago, I couldn't stand it any longer and figured I needed to look at pushrods (S&S Quickie) and lifters. This was going to be hard for me with my bad back, but sitting in the p/u or in a car really, really hurts along with trying to get in or out of one...I *NEEDED* my bike back up and running!

So, out I go, in 95 degree F heat and 95%-100% humidity. An hour or two in that and I *had* to come back inside for the day after wringing at least a cupful of sweat from my t-shirt. I had to remove the pipes, of course, but both gaskets were fine. Eventually got to nose cone off and all looked fine that I could see just from looking inside it. Next, the pushrod covers - always a PITA putting back *ON*. Then got to taking the adjustable pushrods down ' They were all still locked, so it wasn't the pushrods. Got those out and got the gaskets for the tappet housings for when I put it back together. Magnets in place helped get the tappets and housings off a *LOT*. Took the first housing off and then the second. A day or two later I finally got around to taking the old tappets out (these were from my '98 FXD I got T-boned on). I got all four sitting on the rag and started to check them, then as I picked one up I heard a slight 'clack'. The axle needles had ground out of the wheel. The wheel moved on the axle and had a huge amount of movement. I'm lucky it didn't move a little further or the corners of the wheel and axle sides would have ground into the cam lobe. Here's where I made a super short video of it, you can see and hear the sound it made...if you read the stuff I put down, my page is NSFW if just reading it, lol... https://www.facebook.com/ig.natz.16
Fixed with new tappets, and wow, the difference was amazing! It must have been going out for a while, it just took time for that wheel to grind all the rollers down to nothing. Bike runs *much* better than it did, a little more power and sounds fantastic once again, like a goood ol' Evo should (with an EV13 cam, heh). I still have no idea why I'd hear a loud SSSSHHHH, but whatever it was, it seems fixed now, even the plugs looked fine. So anyway, it won't hurt to check pushrods and lifters, ya never know.