Great people to do business with is an understatement. I got my order from Georges and they made a mistake. I ordered a 500040 and they sent a 580040. I called and spoke to George and told him about the mistake but told I would like to buy the tool they sent by mistake. He told my it was mine free of charge and the right tool would be going out today. I must of told him three times that I wanted to pay for it but he wouldn't hear of it. That is a man and company that takes pride in what they do. If only everyone in this country felt that way we wouldn't be in the shape we are in. George earned a customer for life.

Bill

 

See I told you that Georges was great, we have a similar story. He is just great to do business with.

 

Well, You are from the "Show Me" state, so guess he "Showed You".

GREAT!!!!!!!

Day late, dollar short, as ooze-ual. In a 'pinch', we have JB Welded the plug back in. I mark the 'rotor' with the timing marks, that way, DO NOT have to use the timing plug, and thus, eliminate that SPRAY mess. And you can shoot the timing light in thru the inspection hole.

 

I had the same problem, and I found the following solution written by a "Hawg Ryder" in another forum. It worked great, and I'm sure it saved me a lot of time, and a huge headache.

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Here's a quick and easy fix that will last the life of the bike. Go to the local hardware store and buy a 3/8" IPS (iron pipe size) tap...this is a PLUMBING tap and it will be larger than 3/8" in diameter...plumbing fittings are measured different than standard threads...they also have "tapered" threads, so as you screw a fitting it, it gets tighter.

You'll have to grind off the first 4 or 5 threads on the end...you want to shorten it up a bit so it's more of a "bottoming tap". Not a big deal, just grind it flush.

Buy a nice 3/8" IPS male plug fitting to use as the new timing screw. If the hardware store doesn't sell one with a nice allen hex in it, go to the auto store...they'll have it.

Coat the tap flutes with grease (this will catch the small amount of shavings) and put it in the hole...twist it in and cut the new threads. You don't have to drill or anything, it'll fit just perfect in that stripped timing hole.

Put in the new plug and you're done. If ya' use the plug with the allen hex, it will look almost identical to stock.

This has been done countless times by lots of folks besides me and it works perfect. Of course, with the oversize hole you can't run a stock plastic timing plug, but those things SUCK and I never use 'em anyway. There are better options to use when timing the bike with a light.

 

a harley mech friend of mine did the same thing that scooter 941 suggested to a old shovel head. worked great. you could also have some one hold a shop vacumn near it while you tap.

 

Hi fellas,

Wanted to share my experience because the ideas in this thread helped me out immensely.

I have a 94' Sportster with a 883 EVO engine and in the picture below is the necessary part numbers to order the correct tools to tap (P/N: 2282-1) the timing hole without splitting the case (written on packaging in picture below as well) and leaving the engine assembled. Someone early in the thread suggested this solution from Colony and after reading more in the thread and doing more research on my own, I realized that the suggested tap (P/N: 9407-1) was only for a dissembled engine off the frame which wasn't going to work for me. I ordered the corresponding "oversized" Allen plug because that works the best for my setup but if you have something different, you can google the part number or search the Colony part number through J & P Cycles (they are a distributor for Colony as you cannot buy direct from them) and find the Colony catalog to narrow down the correct setup for your bike. This is the original link for the tap & plug package that I mentioned for use on disassembled engines that can be found on J&P Cycles (https://www.jpcycles.com/product/432...ming-hole-plug) that was posted in a previous post in this thread.

As far as the experience went, I put Vaseline on the end of the tap and after starting it, I'd back it out in intervals to vacuum out the shards, clean off the grease with the metal shards, put fresh grease on again and start again then repeated until I was close to the end. You really don't need to bottom out the tap in the hole because in my case, the plug is roughly like 5-7 threads deep and the hole looks to have 12+ threads before it hits the flywheel so there's no need to surpass the plug's depth because you want to avoid leaving any metal debris in the back of the case/hole as it gets more difficult to remove the shards with the grease sticking on the inside.

After a quick test drive, I did notice a tiny amount of oil in front of the plug but it could be a remainder of previous tests when I was trying to salvage the original plug with Teflon tape which obviously didn't work. So a few more rides are called for before calling it resolved so I will update this thread if this ends up NOT being a valid solution.

Hope this saves you some time.

Colony Part Numbers

 

+1 on 3/8npt plug

 

Pro tip for newer members, alway check the first and last posting dates on things before you add anything, you'll notice this ones going on 14 yrs old. The related topics at the bottom of threads is terrible about this and welcome the forums guys. Nice replies as this does come up regular in here

 

ya, gettin old
didnt notice dates til last few posts