What a fantastic job! What was the overall build time including bike buying?

 

Looks good. Where did you find the tank badges, they look new?

 

It did not take long, since I didn't have to do anything to the engine. I probably spent 2 weekends touching up the frame, a weekend doing the new switches and painting the controls, 3 weekends detailing and polishing, and a weekend putting it back together after I got the tins painted. I bought the bike last September.

 

They are new, and about impossible to find, they were discontinued almost 20 years ago. The bike didn't have them when I bought it, so I figured I was screwed. I searched the entire country for them, calling dealer and dealer. I found an old Harley dealership in Wisconsin that had 3 NOS ones, and bought them all, figuring I would never find them any more of them. I didn't even ask them the price. I've seen the 84 FXR ones that are identical aside from the bar being silver and the sheild gold going for almost 300 bucks a pc on ebay.

 

Nice work

 

Very cool. I remember when the 84 Softail came out, and I drooled over it for days. I thought it was the coolest production motorcycle ever to be built. I could not afford one at the time, but I now have a 99 Custom that I bought three years ago that I love.

 

You are kidding aren't you? $300 a PIECE or set? Either way that's ridiculous. But, if that's true, I still have my originals so maybe I aughta cash in myself?

BTW, That's a really good rebuild. I have a 84 myself that I bought new. hard as hell to find parts for as you found out. A mix of shovel parts and evo engine parts. If you are going for 100% authenticity then there's a glitch or two besides the carb for the visual factor that may want to consider. 1) the handgrips aren't correct, 2) the footpegs didn't come from the factory with chrome caps, 3)The air cleaner cover needs the Evolution 80CI coverplate (I might still have that piece), 4) As you know the solenoid didn't come with a chrome cover either, 5) And to be honest, I don't remember if that was the stock location for the front turn signals since I had mine off within hours of buying the bike, same with the exhaust. I worked for a custom bike shop in those days but was **** poor after paying for the bike so it was stripped, not added to. The lighter the better back then. The stock exhaust alone weighed over 50 lbs. 6)You know what yours looks like (awesome BTW) this what they look like after 20 years and 2 miles out on a gravel road plus living in a barn>>



One word of advice...When taking pictures and posting them it's wise to not take pictures of anything that show where you live like license plate , registration # etc. , bad things can happen. One more thing, you mentioned polishing the primary and other aluminum? If you did then be sure to clearcoat it soon or otherwise keep it well polished with wax. I didn't and I didn't so this is what happens.

 

Good eye Mr Phoenix, I'm impressed. The grips and pegs were intentional. The solenoid cover came on it, it's sort of glued on so I just left it. The bike had a super e on it, so I never got the original air cleaner. The one you see is part of the mikuni kit I bought. I haven't been able to track one down yet. If you would entertain it, I would be interested in yours. The blinkers are in the correct spot, but those are actually not the stock bars. I will probably change to the stock buckhorns at some point. I have an original parts manual, so I know all the part numbers of the pieces.

I could have used your bike when trying to match the color.... Harley used a 2 part system back in 84. They still had the red paint available, but the silver base coat to get the candy was discontinued. PPG didn't have codes for 1984 Harley, so finding the correct color was the hardest part of the restoration.

When I started this project I used the book 'Harley Davidson Softail' by Greg field along with original literature, adds and posters from the day. I also went to the hd museum and took pictures of the one they have on display. I noticed some small inconsistencies between bikes, so there are some things I couldn't verify. For example, some bikes had a black crossover heat shield, some had chrome. Some had black dashes, some chrome. Most appear to have a chrome upper front brake line, but I have seen some with a black upper half, and the replacement part comes in all black....I think the moco just did whatever back then.

Glad you still have yours, hold on to those emblems....and let me know if you would be interested on selling that ac insert.

 

I love to see an iconic bike like this brought back to its original state (or as close as one can get). It really looks sweet.

 

Very sweet bike I read where you said those are not stock bars, which I was gonna ask, so any chance you can tell me what bars they are? because they look very close to what I've pictured in my head having on my fxstc
Thanks
Sean