Hey all. New here. I own a 76 ironhead. Riding in this off and on weather when I can in Oregon. My love for the V-twin engine and of course my Harley is what inspired me to join this Club and Forum. I just got into Harleys and the logistics of vtwins. The complexity of the engine and how easy a bike is to build realistically, if you know what your doing and have the right help. Has also helped strike a nerve in me to want to learn more about them. So, if anyone here knows a bit about vintage Harley Ironheads? I have a few questions about mine. She's down and out right now.......

 

Welcome and ask away,

 

Thank you sir. Well I had purchased my bike rode it for a couple weeks. It started warming up substantially around here after the rain. Bike was running a little funny kind of started hesitating when i would take off in first gear. I messed with idle screw on my carb and then tried to lean out my bike a little bit. Did that, ran fine. Pulled the plugs noticed alot of black dry soot on my front cylinder spark plug. More so then the rear. The rear was clean light brown. So i started messing with my mixture screw even more trying to lean it out. Thinking i may need to go with a smaller needle in my jet Maybe. But i tried adjusting my pushrods, and say maybe one is a little too tight maybe. But after i adjusted my rods it started puking oil out of i believe my head gasket. Both the front of the front cylinder, and rear of the rear cylinder....FML....Any thoughts?

 

i tried adjusting them to spec. As in my exhaust rods a little looser than my cylinder rods. you think maybe i have the cylinder valves too tight or something and im getting too much oil buildup pressure in the cam?

 

What carb is in the bike? Is it the original Keihin? or an S&S? or ...?

Here's a good thread on pushrod adjustment ...

Ironhead Push Rod Adjustment
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s...ad.php?t=44143

And a good video ...
Ironhead Sportster valve tappet adjustment.

Setting The Pilot Screw on Your IronHead ...
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s...ad.php?t=71361

It is impossible to get a good tune-up if there are intake or exhaust leaks. Both wreak havoc with plug color. Whenever there is a significant difference between the two plugs these leaks are the first thing to check ...

Intake And Exhaust Leaks Tests
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s...ad.php?t=39766

Welcome to the world of wrenching [and hopefully riding ] an IronHead.

 

you need to buy the OEM workshop book and parts book so using terms not in them will just get people guessing

 

my guess is you didn't assemble the pushrod covers correctly. when you adjusted the valves you forgot to raise the inner tube into the rocker box before you installed the keeper.

 

in the video at 1:03 you see the inner tube with the keeper removed. At 4:56 it shows the inner tube pushed into the rocker box and the keeper istalled. Thee are corks or O rings for the push rod tubes also.

 

@ IronMick
Its a Mikuni Round slide Carb. Probably around 80mm. Looks like a relatively new carb. I wouldnt know the condition of it until i took it apart. Seemed to work just fine when i first bought it.
@Johnjzjz
I will try to find that?
@ 72 Ironhead XLH
You could be right...it was a pain in the *** to re-assemble because who ever worked on it before me trying to adjust the push rods. Crimped and beat the **** out of the assembly before me.
So i was having a hard time re-assembling it. Had to crimp the little metal keeper piece at the top of the rocker tubes? But if you dont re assemble it right it can cause oil to start puking out the head gasket?? Or is that a whole other problem in itself? It wasent doing that until i tried adjusting the pushrods..

 

Omg....i watched that video....i think you were right. @72 Ironhead XLH
I forgot to push that inner tube into the rocker box. Thats why the keeper wouldnt fit....fml....makes sense.