Can't find if anyone has removed a painted there (grenade) Coil Cover. Would like to paint it gloss black. Also is there a special tool to remove the ignition nut or can you use a regular socket or channel locks.

 

I haven't painted mine, but I have taken it apart. Yeah, the nut is an odd-ball. H-D does make a socket for it - I was able to get one from my dealer. Other guys have tried to buy the same socket but were told that it was unavailable to civilians - only H-D mechanics could buy the socket (?!WTFFF!!?). Those same dudes have been able to remove the nut with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Good luck, amigo.

 

I used a spanner wrench I got with a set of progressives for an old sportster I had. Worked great

 

Re the above last couple of posts: Tools that have anything to do with vehicle ignition systems often have restricted distribution for anti-theft reasons.

Jim G

 

A few days ago I reported that my Breakout was dripping oil out of its air cleaner onto the engine case, AND the sparkplugs had been partially fouled by oil.

Since then, with some help from a local indy dealer, we solved the problem.

The bike needed a new air filter element!

Here's the story:

The indy dealer examined the air filter element and said it was quite dirty. He asked when it had last been cleaned or replaced (it's an oiled filter so can be cleaned versus replaced). I told him it had been done just 1400 miles ago, at the HD dealership in Austin, Texas shortly before my move to Canada.

He thought it looked too dirty for that to be the case, and wondered if my mechanic at the HD dealership in Austin maybe got distracted when doing that last service, and did not clean or replace the air filter. If that had indeed happened, it meant that the filter had last actually been cleaned or replaced about 3400 miles ago.

At any rate, he got me a new genuine filter, and I installed it. The oil dripping went away immediately. And, with new spark plugs, the engine is running better.

Here's the theory on what happened.

The air filter might indeed not have been cleaned or replaced at that last HD dealer service. It then got too dirty in 3400 miles to pass sufificent air for the engine, so the engine started sucking air from the crankcase ventilation system which breathes through the air cleaner.

Because of those 2 large displacement cylinders, there's a LOT of air being sucked and blown via that crankcase ventilation system. That means a lot of oil getting inducted into the intake manifold and into the engine, where it built up on the sparkplugs until it partially fouled them.

In addition, the amount of oil being sucked into the air filter was sufficient to saturate the bottom of the filter, and start leaking out onto the crankcase.

Replacing the air filter with a new one took away the high intake restriction, and stopped the sucking of oil from the crankcase ventilation system.

It is also possible that my HD mechanic DID clean and re-oil the filter, but put TOO MUCH oil into it, causing both the too-high restriction, and the premature "dirtying" of the filter, as the oil would trap an incredible amount of junk from the air with the engine having to pull as hard as it did to get air through the overoiled filter.

I am reacting to this by doing TWO things:

- Making SURE the air filter gets serviced whenever it is supposed to

- Making sure it is REPLACED, rather than cleaned, as determining the correct amount of oil to put into it after cleaning it is evidently an imprecise science, and the cost of a new air filter is minor compared to the trouble an improperly restrictive one causes.

Hopefully, this discovery on my part will help others.

Jim G

 

Well, that's good info Jim. Gotta keep that filter clean..buuut...your engine IS STILL ingesting oil vapor.

The only way to end that is to vent the crankcase to the atmosphere...tree huggers be damned

 

I agree that is the superior long-term solution. Big V-twins should not be trying to dispel crankcase pressure via the intake air cleaner.

As soon as anyone here posts the kind of easy to follow and complete "how to" that LA-Dog used to post on various topics, on a simple and not too costly external venting system, I'll do it!

Jim G

 

OK, Cool.

As for the existing carbon buildup ..... well, I like to think that the small amount of carbon on my pistons got flushed away the first few times I got stuck riding in the rain, hahahahaha!

So, get a kit installed and pray for rain!

 

Yes, but I try to AVOID rain as a matter of policy (too hard to clean the bike if it gets road spray on it, especially the Turbine wheels, so I have had my Breakout for over 3 years, and have never yet got caught in the rain - ever.

Jim G

 

Well, I'm in the middle of an overnight (2 nights) trip,, my first. Because I've been trying to emulate the old school chopper look, (as best I can ), I have a 30" sissy bar on my 2014 BO. I bought a "dry bag", 65 liter = 18 gal, the kind with the roll up and clip to seal top. I just drop the rolled and clipped top loop over the sissy bar with the bag sitting on the pillion seat and bind the the bottom of the bag to the lower sissy bar with a bungee. TALK ABOUT COMFY !! Been riding 6 hours leaning back on that bag with my feet forward on the pegs, livin life large.

I'll try and get a pic up when I get home. This could catch on. They didn't have roll top bags in the 60's an 70's. Turns out the damn things were "made" for sissy bars. Secure as it gets; undo the bungee and lift the bag off the sissy bar. Carry the whole shabang into your hotel room. Takes like 8 seconds.