Something I just remembered, might make a difference, I told the first guy who worked on the bike to put on a stock carb since I thought the old one was shot, he said bike had aftermarket cams n it was better to rebuild the s&s

 

dont misunderstand anything i am going to tell you.beleive me i am not trying to be an a$$ even if it sounds like it.---but you seem really eager and happy to throw money at your bike...buying stuff to look at and what is really killing me is you paying all those people to work on your bike and still getting bad results.to me if you pay a proffessional to fix somthing it should be fixed.i mean that is the whole reason of paying someone.the point i am trying to make is jump in there and start doing stuff.when you start doing that and get to become mech. inclined even if you choose to takeit in no one will be able to bs you and take advantage of you.it honestly pi$$es me off when i hear of stories like this(i hear alot of them) when mechanics(mostly auto) fix crap that probably didnt need to be fixed and still not fix the real problem at hand.----my 2 cents and again i am not tryin to be a jack a$$ im really in your corner ....im not adding anything mech. because everyone else said everything i thought of.good luck and jump in there and work on it otherwise you wil be forced in saying what someone else told you never knowing if it is true or not.----theres plenty of people on this forum that will help you.good luck.

 

I am no expert, but a new ear to your problem. These ironhead motors have 2 separtae phases, 1. when cold and 2. when running temperature. I just bought one 12/09 and road it a little at purchase. It seemed to run fine. Got it home and road it when warmed up and no top end. Turns out carb was old. Put on new carb and had top end.

Seems your bike runs great until warmed up. Then it runs very hot. I don't know where you live but this bike is not like the harleys for the last 20 or so years. I mean the knowledge of "harley mechanics" may not allow them to work on this bike. In all your telling there seems to be no mention of timing or valve adjustment. You have a vintage bike so you need a vintage mechanic. I don't know if valve adjustment can cause overheating but timing advance can cause overheating. In the old XLCH kick start the magnito timing could be adjusted with the left hand grip. I don't remembre if you retarded or advanced to start, but 1969 XLCH would start at one timing setting and when warmed up the timing would be changed, using hand grip.

Long story short, Find a vintage mechanic, check timing, and advance weights under distributor plate holding the points. If advance is not working bike will run great cold, then when warm trouble.

Please let me know if I am wrong, but a motor is a motor.

This is a learning experience for me.

 

If it really is running too hot, I would look for retarded timing or an intake leak on the rear cylinder. The advance mechanism may be causing timing issues.

 

thanks guys for all the info. i finally got around to workin on my carb today(been outta town for past week). seems to be running good after a few short test rides. probably still need a new air filter tho. i tried to look up some hotter plugs but couldnt seem to find any, prbly not lookin in the right place. anyway, tommorrow (weather permitting) will be the real test. ill keep you posted.

thanks again, and hopefully i can get some pics up soon so you can see what im workin with.

 

I thought I had an overheating problem up until about 24 hours ago, too. And I'm also running the S&S carb - you probably have the shorty "E" series like I do (I believe "G" series were for Evo models, etc.).

As far as tuning that carb goes - if it was installed per S&S instructions the way it was supposed to be, is jet the way it was recommended, etc., it's a really easy carb to tune. Three adjustment screws (don't even NEED a flathead, though it makes it easier) - big copper one is your air / fuel mixture, smaller one towards the rear of the bike is your idle, and the smaller one towards the front is your fuel accelerator pump.

Mixture screw does what it sounds like - helps control the ratio of fuel to air you are getting in that carb. Turn the bike over, let it idle. Then, turn the mixture screw one way until it starts running ragged. Turn it the other way until it runs ragged. You want to put it somewhere roughly in the middle, and can tweak with it from there.

Idle, once you are warmed up to temp, should be turned until your bike is hanging around a steady 1,000'ish rpm's. It doesn't take much tweaking on this screw to change your rpm's, go easy on it.

Last screw is the accelerator. This guy will improve your throttle responsiveness / amount of fuel flow on acceleration and under load. This is purely to your "taste", really, but you can start by rotating it (GENTLY) clockwise until it's seated. Don't crush it or put too much pressure, you'll be sorry. Then, start backing it out. The further out you bring it, the more fuel you get on rev'ing. You can snap your throttle as you adjust to get a feel for the responsiveness. Too much and you'll tend to run rich, too little you may run lean.

So, if your carb is tuned LEAN right now, that's going to aid in it running hot. Clean your plugs, tune your carb (it's really not too bad to do), see if it makes a difference.

Other things - certainly, DEFINITELY get a manual and check out those points / condensers. Did a number on me, and just adjusting the gap to where it SHOULD be makes a huge difference.

Also, when I first got mine it was running VERY off. On inspection I found the plugs gapped roughly TRIPLE what they should have been. Can't hurt to check those out. Misgapped plugs can do a number on you. And certainly check out that timing. Really everything these guys have said already is pretty important, and some of it easy / routine.

Get the easy stuff out of the way, and start fixing by process of elimination.

Final thought - is it your actual key that's heating up, or did you mean the heat coming off the motor was just that hot?

Good luck to you. Keep us posted.


- Al