General questions
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 357
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From: NC
General questions
I posted this elsewhere and the feedback was to re-post it here...
My son gave me custody of his 80 Sportster while he's deployed overseas.
I don't know **** about bikes but very mechanically inclined. I just did a total rewire on the bike. There was so much **** Gerry-Rigged, it's a wonder it ran. It was hard to start when I got it. Anyway, the rewire went well. It starts right up and runs great.
I just have some questions so I know what I have.
Ironhead right? Is it 1000cc or 1200?
The exhaust has a pipe connecting the two mufflers. I was told that I should keep it. My problem with that is the tach cable runs straight up between the mufflers and across the joining pipe and has melted the outer sheath of the tach cable. Someone suggested to relocate the tach cable. Not sure what they mean by relocating it. I thought about a heat shield over the pipe. It's roughly 1 inch OD. Do they make heat shields for pipes that small? will that protect the tach cable? My other option was to install a digital tach/speedo. I saw there was a digital converter for those, and can I install that piece down where the tach comes out of the engine case. If so, I can just route the wires away from the pipe and up to the digital tach/speedo unit. I have one but unfortunately it's not a "Digital Dakota". It's in a box with other ****(misc. parts) my son got with the bike and has no wire schematics.
Anyway, your help and advice, as always, is much appreciated!
Nick
My son gave me custody of his 80 Sportster while he's deployed overseas.
I don't know **** about bikes but very mechanically inclined. I just did a total rewire on the bike. There was so much **** Gerry-Rigged, it's a wonder it ran. It was hard to start when I got it. Anyway, the rewire went well. It starts right up and runs great.
I just have some questions so I know what I have.
Ironhead right? Is it 1000cc or 1200?
The exhaust has a pipe connecting the two mufflers. I was told that I should keep it. My problem with that is the tach cable runs straight up between the mufflers and across the joining pipe and has melted the outer sheath of the tach cable. Someone suggested to relocate the tach cable. Not sure what they mean by relocating it. I thought about a heat shield over the pipe. It's roughly 1 inch OD. Do they make heat shields for pipes that small? will that protect the tach cable? My other option was to install a digital tach/speedo. I saw there was a digital converter for those, and can I install that piece down where the tach comes out of the engine case. If so, I can just route the wires away from the pipe and up to the digital tach/speedo unit. I have one but unfortunately it's not a "Digital Dakota". It's in a box with other ****(misc. parts) my son got with the bike and has no wire schematics.
Anyway, your help and advice, as always, is much appreciated!
Nick
Tourer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 350
Likes: 0
From: Reidsville, NC
I also have an 80, and yes all the Ironheads are 1000 cc (actually 997). No tach on mine so I would try to reroute the cable under the engine and along the frame. Heat shields are available but if sitting still at a long light you can still melt the wire if it is laying on it. I run 1 3/4" rag pipes on mine. If yours is like mine, you will run into a lot of of weird stuff because it was a HD-AMF transition period for the 1980 Sportster. Mine has Offical HDMoCo parts and AMF parts. You cannot put a kickstart on the 80, you cannot find the bolt on battery cover either. After 3 years of searching I finally found a set of forward controls. Also some were points and some were electronic ignition. Mine is points. Anything I can help with let me know by PM and I'll answer what I can. I have some extra parts and can also help you find what you need.
I had a 1980 for 6 years up to a few years ago. For the tach cable i put a piece of thick rubber oil line on the tech cable where it made contact with the exhaust cross over tube.
An option is to get an electronic tach part number 92051-81A. This tach was used from 1981 to 1983. It looks identical to the mechanical tach but no cable, so you maintain the original look of the bike. It connects electrically to any electronic ignition; i believe also it can be connected directly to the ignition coil. I hooked it up to a Crane Hi-4 on my 1980; i have one also on my 1978 hooked up to an Ultima ignition.
Here's one on eBay [always search using the part number] ...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OEM-HARL...1a895a&vxp=mtr
Here's the Ultima ...
http://www.ultimaproducts.com/programmableignition.html
An option is to get an electronic tach part number 92051-81A. This tach was used from 1981 to 1983. It looks identical to the mechanical tach but no cable, so you maintain the original look of the bike. It connects electrically to any electronic ignition; i believe also it can be connected directly to the ignition coil. I hooked it up to a Crane Hi-4 on my 1980; i have one also on my 1978 hooked up to an Ultima ignition.
Here's one on eBay [always search using the part number] ...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OEM-HARL...1a895a&vxp=mtr
Here's the Ultima ...
http://www.ultimaproducts.com/programmableignition.html
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