Here's a pic of the push rod. I tried to figure out what type they are here but it only got more confusing the deeper in to it I got: hydraulic, solid, combo, reverse mount, texas side straddle, etc.). Can anyone tell what type these are and if 2 of them should be too tight to turn with fingers?

 

There's 4 valves,operated by pushrods. At no time are all 4 valves closed at the same time,so there is never a spot where you can turn all 4 pushrods with your fingers. Hard starting when hot could be a bad coil,bad plug wires,leaky intake,or lack of compression. I had a '77 FXE,and the piston rings were so bad at 5,000 miles,I could spin the kicker over with one hand,just as fast as I wanted-and yeah,same problem,no start when hot.
One more thing,when you sit there and crank the starter over for minutes at a time,the starter/solenoid is going to get hot,and sometimes even hot enough to smoke.

 

They look like stock hydraulics and yes 2 can be tight to turn if the lifters are good and holding pressure but it should bleed off over time.

 

I concur with TwiZted, hydraulic units are what you have there.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED: Hey All, sorry for the delay but thought I'd follow up with the end result to this problem. Based on the above feedback I did away with the inline fuel filter, took carb off and re-mounted tight as hell even though I felt it wasn't a leaking manifold, and even rigged a temporary bungie cord to lightly apply upward force to counteract the downward force of the heavy carb, resulting in a carb that was cantilevered out but not hanging or being pulled up. I bought a new AGM battery. Then, with all this done, I hit the starter and the bike started and ran for a bit -then crapped out -again. Oddly enough, at some point I noticed the rear exhaust pipe was warm and the front pipe was cold. Both plugs were new and I checked the spark was being delivered to both cylinders.

Finally, after much sitting and staring, I took off the points cover to check the timing and, lo and behold, I noticed the points weren't meeting face-to-face. One side was touching but the other side had a gap. That didn't make sense and then I noticed that the nut thingy that holds the lobed cam was wobbly loose.

Suddenly, a beam of light shown down from the heavens and I distinctly heard angels sing. I tightened down the bolt good and snug, the points returned to face-to-face position and the proper gap was confirmed. After buttoning everything back up, I hit the starter and the bike roared to life. I took a 10 minute ride, everything worked great, tweaked the carb settings a bit, then took another ride, and then another.

Result: Bike runs great. I'm assuming that originally the nut was tight enough for the bike to run okay but my ten minute shakedown run was enough vibration to loosen the nut and make the timing inconsistent.

I offer this only as another item that future readers may want to check if they are experiencing similar problems.

Thanks to everyone for their input. Regards, Bulldog1085

 

Did you by any chance check the advance unit while you were in there ? Second biggest ignition headache with old shovels.

 

Hey Twizted: What exactly is the "advance unit"? I'm familiar with the points and the related components but am not sure which part is named the advance unit. The bike starts and runs well now. Can I assume the advance unit is doing its job?

 

Advance unit is behind the points plate , it's the Gizmo with the springs & flyweights. Weights wear out start bouncing in there and you after idle timing goes crazy. Very common wear item that gets overlooked.

 

No, I haven't done anything with the advance unit. The bike is actually running fine after a dozen years of sitting. Well, running fine for a mid-70s Shovel....I'll check the advance unit the next time the bike craps out on me. Fingers crossed that isn't soon.