Long story short, engine catastrophically failed on my '92 xlh1200. Would prefer to put a new one in to replace it instead of rolling the dice on a rebuilt block, but I am having a hard time finding any vendors with a motor that will fit. Any suggestions?

 

If the cases are salvageable, you are better off rebuilding your motor to your needs. Changing cases and losing the VIN# you drop the value of the bike considerably and for no gain. If the cases are good, you can build just about any motor you want from them.

What is catastrophic?

 

You can get a new crate enging from quite a few vendors, including the MoCo. HOWEVER they cater to the BIG TWINS ONLY. How do you know it's catastriphic without a complete tear down? Is a connecting rod poking through the case? Old Ironhead transmission speedometer cases were known to blow out a chunk of the case. Even those were rebuildable. So yer options are limited to Salvage or used off of ebay. Famous Last Words - ran when it came out. That's a hell of a crap shoot with absolutely no idea of the internal condition of it. Rebuild what ya got.

 

1) I have torn it down which is what led to the call. Wrist pin and part of the cylinder have broken off and bounced around the case as well as one of the pistons and heads are cracked.

2) I'm not worried about value or matching numbers. I feel very comfortable riding this bike and it has a little sentimental value which is why I'm interested in keeping her going.

 

That sucks. I would just buy a used case and rebuild from there. Matching numbers and resale are of little concern on a '92 sportster.

 

Update: got a good deal on a Buell 2006 xb12r engine and going to attempt to make it work. If anyone has an tips on fitting it into a 92 xlh frame I'll take it.

 

Looks like a clean engine. My understanding on the XB motor is that it is a pretty different beast on how it mounts but I have seen rigid sportster frames meant to incorperate this motor with the sportster.

https://voodoovintage.com/products/m...ell-boardtrack

 

I sent my cases out so it can be done but I was dealing with a 52 Panhead. I agree with the rest of these guys, just rebuild it unless the cases are trashed.