I recently purchased my first bike, a '75 sporster. It is a real sharp bike with lots of chrome, fat bob tank, '40s style hinged rear fender, full front fender, 1000cc bored .60 over last year,straight pipes. It began to leak oil (especially when hot), so I took it in to the shop. He tells me that the SOB that sold it to me welded a bunch of stuff in the cases and has oil lines going where they dont belong and in a nutshell made the leak worse. He said he knows a guy with brand newcases for $900. Then depending on how bad everything else is it could cost me about $2,000 total for parts and labor. Should i have him fix it? If I do, what else could go wrong down the road? If the top end goes, do I still have room to bore? I dont think the tranny has had anywork done to it, so what are the odds of that going? Am I better off buying a new or used motor? If so do you know of anyone/websites that sell them? Iam young and new to the motorcycle realm and do not know much about themand I do'not have alot of money to play with, about $2,500. I do not want to sell the bike and screw anyone over nor lose money on it since I took a loan out for it. The world is filled with enough people that lie, cheat, and steal. Please give me some incite. Thanks Joe

 

Sounds like a bunch of bullsh*t to me. Clean it up, find the leak, get a manual, then fix it.

 

I agree 100%. Sounds like scam time to me too.

Learn to wrench on it, fix it yourselfor buy yerself an Evo, or Honda, or Star, or other bike that requires no user participation.

 

OK, you can make that three in a row that says you are being handed a line of bullshit.

From the sound of it, that guy is trying to sell you an engine job that you do not need.
If you have some mechanical ability, get yourself a factory manual and begin to learn something about working on a bike and doing repairs. There is no question that cannot be answered by some member of the forum here regarding anything concerning fixing an ironhead.

Now, if you are someone who does not like the idea of working on bikes at all, then I believe you need to trade the machine for a Honda, and the later the model the better........pg

 

Hey, thanks for the input. Tomorrow I am going to the shop to check out my bike. He's going to leave it apart to show me whats wrong, "trying to prove hes not ripping me off" so he says. I will take pictures and post them.Let me know what yall think. It didnt start leaking oil tillthe motor got hot, than it startedleaking like a sieve.

 

One thing I'll say is them Honda's just run forever.Put in the gas, change the oil and forget it.I own two myself.
But they just ain't an Ironhead.

 

Sorry to hear about your sobbering intro to motorcycling and hopping you're not feeling ripped off. It sounds like a nice looking ride.

I'd encourage you to get the bike home and get to wrenchin' on it. There's a great satisfaction inworking onyour own bike.

 

If you want to learn to work on the bike yourself, dont be afraid. At one point everyone here knew nothing about fixing motorcycles, I still do not claim to know very much, but man I like working on my own bike.

 

YEP,
A bit of mechanical ability and OWNING A FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL & PARTS CATALOG goes a long way to making you capable of wrenching your Ironhead.

In reality, the older bikes are fairly straight forward and simple. Made to work on. And having the manuals supplies the missing key you need to know what to do. Plus you have internet resources that some of us never had in the oldie days when learning ( YEP! YOU HAVE IT EASY BRO!)

Do not get intimidated and do not throw money at it unknowingly in an attempt at a fast fix. This is a BIG MISTAKE new guys often make that sours them forever on classic bikes! These bikes are really "hands on by owner" steeds. Jump in, you'll love it.

Again, if not. BUY A HONDA! Or new HD or something that requires no knowledge or effort to ride and maintain.

This is the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth!

GOOD LUCK!

 

I think I should help with your problem. I have a 76 so your bike and my bike are very identical. When I got mine, the thing leaked oil everywhere. And just as you said when it got warm, but thats rather obvious though as oil becomes thinner the warmer it gets. The thinner it gets the easier it is to find locations to leak from.

This mechanic is likely saying that the previous owner welded up things not needed to be done because he is looking at the "drain plug" at the front bottom of the motor. Althought its a bolts its never to be removed. It was welded in by the factory. Or he may be talking about the breather valve between the primary and the cam case. Some people have JB welded or actually welded up that valve for some reason thinking it would be better. In fact it causes more problems. It causes the primary case to have no vent to relieve pressure and in turns will spit it out over the oil access plug and or the starter housing.

As far as the oil lines go, there are only three oil lines (unless the previous owner added an external filter or oil cooler). The oil line on the top of the oil tank is the return line and it runs down to a valve on the top of the transmission case right under the starter motor. The second oil line which is in the middle of the oil tank is a relief line and it runs to a valve located on the back side of the CAM cover. The last oil line which is on the bottom of the oil tank is the feed line. It runs from the oil tank to the oil pump right under the CAM cover.

It would be really hard for someone to screw those three lines up.

On my bike the problem was the primary cover and the drain plug for the primary. My previous owner had stipped the drain plug on the primary case. I went out to auto zone and bought a self tapping drain plug that was the next size up and re-tapped the hole. I made sure to put a copper gasket on the plug, and also thread sealer and it hasn't leaked since. I also had a problem with oil leaking from an old rotted oil line. Which might be what your problem was all along.