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1990 FLT. 115000 klms.
Still trying to decide to rebuild or not to rebuild ?
Getting late in the season here in Canada , no garage and its getting cold outside. I work 6 days a week and was wondering if one day is good for one guy only to pull an Evo motor and get it into my basement for a winter project .?
You will get it out in about 2.5 hours.....how long it will take to get into your basement I cannot say....
I wouldn't rebuild it unless it needed it, like smoking bad, rattling etc.
Thanks Spanner ., after many different opinions from " rebuild now " to " relax and ride it " ... i have decided as a new Harley owner that as it sounds fine and has no leaks etc. , i might just leave her alone until next year .
Will rebuild the carb. etc. as i have the kit .
Was not sure about the 115000 klms. on an air cooled motor with an apperantly weak cam bearing and lifter assy.???
Im getting on and this bike will be my last so need to be good to go .
Any advise is appreciated.
Thanks Spanner ., after many different opinions from " rebuild now " to " relax and ride it " ... i have decided as a new Harley owner that as it sounds fine and has no leaks etc. , i might just leave her alone until next year .
Will rebuild the carb. etc. as i have the kit .
Was not sure about the 115000 klms. on an air cooled motor with an apperantly weak cam bearing and lifter assy.???
Im getting on and this bike will be my last so need to be good to go .
Any advise is appreciated.
Cam bearing should not be an issue on a '90, unless you were in there anyway. I had to straighten out my engine after a lifter roller let go. I think new lifters after that many years would be good insurance.
My Wide Glide had 126,000kms on it when it got written off, I had just done the lifters. If you wanna play during the cold, dark winter then don't do a full rebuild, lifters and inner cam bearing (you'll be in the vicinity so might as well do it) will keep you busy, buy some peace of mind and not break the bank.
New lifters come "empty" so you only need to undo the timing side rocker gear mounting bolts and drift out the shafts, rather than pull the whole shebang and add time and gaskets to your work.
It will rattle like a dog for a coupla kms when you start it up for the first time.
My Wide Glide had 126,000kms on it when it got written off, I had just done the lifters. If you wanna play during the cold, dark winter then don't do a full rebuild, lifters and inner cam bearing (you'll be in the vicinity so might as well do it) will keep you busy, buy some peace of mind and not break the bank.
New lifters come "empty" so you only need to undo the timing side rocker gear mounting bolts and drift out the shafts, rather than pull the whole shebang and add time and gaskets to your work.
It will rattle like a dog for a coupla kms when you start it up for the first time.
Thanks Spanner39 ., will do a compression test to see if all is well before i put her to bed for the winter.
Can you elaborate a little on the procedure you suggested regarding the lifters , i had purchased a set of rollers and tappet blocks earlier , as they were on sale .
If the comp. test is ok., i would be interested in doing all but the whole shebang .?
You take the top and middle rocker covers off then you set the first cylinder to TDC with both valves closed.
Undo the bolts that hold the rocker assembly down onto the lower rocker box but ONLY the two on the timing side (right hand side of bike).
Then you can drift out the rocker shafts and remove the rockers and pushrods (make sure you mark them so they go back in the same sides (inlet and exhaust).
Do same with other cylinder.
Pull pushrod towers, and remove the lifter blocks.
Put new lifters in the blocks (doesn't matter which way the hole faces in the lifters) and get some thin fishing line, thread it through the circlips in the top of the new lifters so you can hold them up and stop them falling in the motor and replace the lifter blocks and pushrod towers.....remove fishing line ;-)
Put the pushrods back in and now, because the new lifters have not hydraulically expanded yet you can get the rockers back in and with a bit of jiggling (remember each pot has to be at TDC with valves closed each time), refit the rocker shafts (making sure the cut outs are lined up so the bolt will pass through the holes in the rocker gear) and re-torque them.
Slap the rest of the bike together and start her up.....the lifters will clatter until pressurised whichever method you use to fit them.
Last edited by Spanners39; Oct 17, 2012 at 09:30 PM.
and get some thin fishing line, thread it through the circlips in the top of the new lifters so you can hold them up and stop them falling in the motor and replace the lifter blocks and pushrod towers.....remove fishing line ;-)
Good tip. I'll Remember this one. Thank's,
Ride Safe,
Harold
Evos have been round the clock several times, relatively undisturbed. I understand there is one with 250,000 miles at the museum.
You must bear in mind that the internet is like highly concentrated folk-lore, where just one drop should be diluted in an entire ocean to become partly true! We could list a frighteningly long list of things that have gone wrong with Evos, but the likelyhood is any that got your bike were fixed long ago.
So ignore cam bearings, lifters, and all the other things you will read about. If YOUR bike is running fine it may carry on doing so for as many km again as it has on its clock.
If however you are tempted to start tuning it, then by all means consider a rebuild. A friend of mine rebuilt his top end on an elderly engine and blew the crankshaft soon after, because he started riding as if it was new!
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