I took out the tappet guides and the tappets from the 83 Ironhead during the rebuild and now it's time to reinstall them. I made the rookie mistake of not marking which ones went where. I have one previous picture to go off of and I took a picture of two of the tappets for all of you to see. Two of the tappets are of identical length and the other two are also of the identical length (I will say two of them are long and the other two are short...i.e. how much the tappet bolt is screwed out). Can any of you help me figure out which ones go to which tappet hole? Judging by the picture it looks like it goes in this sequence from the rear of the engine: SHORT, LONG, SHORT, LONG or..... SHORT, LONG, LONG, SHORT??? I had them all layed out in order then I transfered them to my workbench and I then forgot which ones went where.

Yes, I know I should have marked them but after all I am human...

Any help would be great!

 

probably long short short long front to rear or visa versa, as your intakes in the center should be closer to your cams, but if they all fit the same in the case then all you have to worry about is valve adjustment which it seems as if you will have to deal with anyway. good luck and have fun

 

Thanks servi but judging from the pic when they are in the engine you can tell starting from the back it goes: Short, Long, ....then I can't really make out the other two....Shoulda woulda coulda marked them....

 

If you look closely those tappets you notice that they are equal, only pushrod adjustment screw is turned more out of base ( maybe exhaust tappets ??) . It would be nice to put them back were they were. But more important is that lifterblock and lifter are same "pair" that they have been. There might be some marking (or grove) in cam that indicates where lifters roll has gone.
EVO sportster engines has different length of pushrods and hydraulic lifters, in EVO pushrods are color coded by length.

 

Yes the tappet housing and the tappets are still in their repsectable pairs. Yes the pushrod adjusment screw on two of them are screwed out more than the other two as I stated before (I may have not used the correct terminology but that is what I meant) Two of them measure one length and the other two measure another length....the EXACT SAME LENGTH. I am not aware of any markings on the tappet housings or the tappets themselves. I thought there might have been something in the service manual about adjusting them and I could figure out which ones were which but it was written very grey in that area. I marked EVERY SINGLE nut, bolt, stud, clamp, wire, bearing, clip, tab, spacer where they go....then go off and forget to label these...just move forward and figure it out is my plan.

 

The parts catalog shows just one part number for the tappet guides - 18607-57B. Same part number 1957 to 1985. They are all the same. If they look different then perhaps you are looking too closely.

The tappet assembly is part number 18508-52B. Note the -52B part. This was used before we even had Sportsters.

So put them in however, it will not matter.

 

Now, Mick, I know you would want to know the truth, so I am going to help you.
If all the parts were brand new, then you would be right.
But when parts have run together, it is VERY advisable to keep them in their respective places, and, in this instance, that would include the pushrods.
They "bed" together, and(now this goes double for a cam) the wear rate can accelerate greatly when things are mis-matched upon re-assembly.
Good housekeeping is to accurately identify each part upon disassembly, and then reassemble accordingly.

 

at this point in time i dont know what youre gonna do about.In a perfect world i agree with IRONGEAR but in a not so perfect world ...one where we forget to do stuff...then you gotta do what you gotta do and i dont thnk that is the end of the world.Make sure you adjust accordingly when you put them in. I love my ironhead and i try my best to do everything to the best of my ability but lets face it we aint exactly going to the moon on these things.

 

Mick I am looking at the same numbers in my parts catalog and service manual so that's a good sign at least lol!

Ha-ha very true Straydog. Take it from me guys, I am border line OCD so my shop is in order and in line all day, every day. That goes for parts that are stored as well. I simply moved the engine case then forgot which way it was placed, therefore left me not knowing which tappets were which. I know I don't need to defend myself in the respect of good housekeeping but even though I'm a young pup compared to most guys on here...this is not my first rodeo when it comes to working out in the shop.

On a lighter note, I agree with Mick on them all being the same and I am sure we all know that each tappet will wear accordingly to its own location. It is not the end of the world if they get swapped around but it is best to get them back to their respectable location.

I take no one knows the answer to my question though...the question about the short and long adjusted tappets?

I'm heading to the Harley shop to get their take on it. I’ll keep you all posted.

 

can not help much but if all is correct i would think that all would be adjusted close to the same, maybe valves are seated at different depths, or pushrods are worn?cams are worn there are a few variables that would change adjustment, just a guess but i would think that the exhaust valves would be alitle shorter, just a guess