Again, thanks for the positive support!

 

This has been an awesome thread thanks so much for taking the time to document this project. I'm going to keep it saved away for the day I take the plunge.

 

thanks! If the weather cooperates tomorrow I will be going for my first ride on the 1250. I'll update afterwards my thoughts



The next part of this thread will be the steps and results of using the SEPST smart tuner. I am going to do my heat cycle run first, then when I come home I am going to enable my smart tuner and do a short data gathering run, come home modify my map, go for another run and see if I notice a difference. Obviously I will only be able to do the VE tables up to about 3000 rpm until my engine break in is done.

 

A couple of updates:

Firstly, this was the pic showing a bit of oil that had leaked down the cylinder mounting bolts and had gotten in between the base gasket and the cylinder before I torqued the heads down:




I had cleaned this little bit of oil but I noticed after the longer 4th heat cycle that a small amount had reappeared at the base gasket, less than what you see in the picture but it was there. I was a little concerned that I might have a small leak. I cleaned it again and on the next heat cycle which lasted 5 minutes, I kept an eye on it and no oil appeared while the engine was running. Once I shut the motor off however, a very small amount of oil started to appear again. I think what was happening was that as the engine parts heated up, it was squeezing out the small amount of oil that was trapped in between the cylinder and the gasket as the engine parts expanded. This explained why it never happened on the first few heat cycles because the engine was not getting that warm.
So today the weather cooperated, I was off work so I picked up a day permit and decided to do my final 20 mile heat cycle. I am glad to say that when I got back from that ride there was no seepage at the base and I was not able to find any other leaks. Success I think!!

This leads into my other development. After the heat cycle ride, I changed the oil when the engine was hot, and let the bike sit until it was cool again. At this point I hooked up my SEPST and decided to do my first smart tune data gathering run. I hooked up my bike, PC and SEPST, enabled the smart tune feature and headed out for my data run. When gathering data the engine has to be at operating temperature, so after about 10 minutes I hit the record button and continued to ride for about 30 minutes. The bike was running pretty well, only one pop on decel, and in general it seemed pretty good. Of course, I am not going over 3200 rpm.

When I got home I hooked my pc up to the bike again and downloaded the gathered data. I then modified the map I was using with the new data and reflashed my bike with the new map. This is where my luck turns. I head out to see how the bike runs with the new map and as I pull onto the road I notice my speedometer is not working. I pull up to the corner stop sign and the bike stalls. The bike starts right up again, I turn around and park in the garage.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I reflash the bike's ecm with the original map to see if that has something to do with it. I take the bike out and no changes, still not working.

I looked in my service manual and it says to check the VSS, vehicle speed sensor. Apparently they can get metal filings on them from the tranny and this can cause them to stop working. I locate the sensor, which is in a damn tight spot and remove it. Guess what? It is totally clean and in good shape. I double check that the plug is well seated and take the bike out again. The speedo is still not working. I reflash the ECM with the newest map again and head back out. The bike is running great until I come to a stop. It still wants to stall for a sec. Still no speedo and my turn signals will not self cancel ( another symptom of a faulty VSS). The ECM uses the VSS as one of it's inputs which explains why it wants to stall when I come to a stop. The ECM does not know that I am at or coming to a stop.

I guess I will have to take the bike to the HD dealer and see if they will warranty the VSS, I can't see why they wouldn't.

Talk about a bad luck coincidence.

Other than that the bike sounds good, seems to be running great and definately has a lot more pull. It's tough not cracking back that throttle!

 

Another slight issue.

When I reinstalled my SE slip on exhaust I picked up new crossover gaskets at the HD dealer.

I have noticed that the rear slipon is rattling right at the crossover gasket. I can actually see the gasket moving a bit and when I put my finger on it with the bike running the rattle disappears. should the crossover connection be so loose and any suggestions on getting rid of the rattle?

Yes, all of the bolts and the clamp are torqued to spec.

 

So regarding the rattling loose crossover gasket. I pulled the rear slip on off, removed the brand new loose gasket and tried my old ones ( they only had 500 miles on them). One of the old ones was just as loose as the new one but the other old one definately fit tighter so I re installed that one and put it back together. It would be nice to know if there was something that could go in with the gasket to tighten/ seal it up better.

the bike goes to the dealer next friday to get the speedo fixed.

 

Got an answer on the crossover gasket rattle question:

http://www.permatex.com/products/aut...sket_maker.htm

 

MIch,
Great thread! Helped me a lot while installing my nrhs 1250 kit on my iron. Any tips on turning over the engine by hand?

 

thanks! Is your rear wheel off the ground? Since I did not have a bike lift, I made a stand that you can see in some of my pics, this got my rear wheel off the ground. Once the wheel is off the ground put your bike in 5th gear. If you have trouble doing this rotate your rear wheel in the direction it would turn if you were riding the bike in between shifts and you will get to 5th.

Turning it over by hand is hard. Make sure your sparkplugs are NOT installed and again rotate the rear wheel in the direction as if the bike was going forward. The wheel will be hard to turn but it will go, it will be hard then easy then hard again as you rotate through the compression stroke. when I checked the squish I had a buddy help me. He turned the rear wheel while I watched the piston through the sparkplug hole so that I could see when the piston hit TDC then headed back down again. you only want the piston to hit TDC once when checking your squish.

 

I got my bike back from the Dealership today. First let me say that I love the pick up and drop off service that is offered by Steve Drane HD. Free of charge they pick up and drop off your bike, which up here is great because most of us do not have insurance in the winter and it is almost always wet out.

The speedometer problem turned out to be a faulty VSS sensor as I suspected, it was replaced and speedometer is working fine now. They said it is the first one they have replaced on a Sportster.

The tech that worked on my bike said he noticed 2 slight oil leaks on my front cylinder. At the base of one of my pushrod tubes ( I think this bit of oil is actually a bit of assembly lube that is from when I installed the new o rings and is still working it's way out. I have only ridden about 50 miles on the new rebuild) and he also noted a slight leak on the left forward head bolt. I had been looking carefully for any leaks and had not noticed this so I will be watching carefully when I insure the bike in April. It seems to be an unlikely place for a leak but I am sure it is possible. Anyone have any thoughts on a leak at a head bolt?

The tech did say that the bike seemed to be running great.