Cut the cam cover

More cutting and grinding. This time the cam cover got trimmed down. It really changes the look of the sportster engine/trans combo.

more cutting

 More cutting.....cut the sprocket cover in half. Very easy to do. Drill some holes from the back side and basically play connect the dots with the cut off wheel. Then grind it smooth. Take care though....you only get one shot at this.

Cutting stuff up

 The rear fender got cut in half. I probably should have cut a little less off but its all good.

 Cut the ends off of the struts. We won't be needing them anymore.

 This stuff goes in the garbage.

883 coming apart

I got the 883 to the garage and started pulling the bike apart.

Plans were to re-use the tank that was on it, lose the front fender and cut the rear fender.

91 883 Bobber project

Here's another bike that I have in the garage.....its a 1991 Harley Davidson Sportster 883. I wanted to build a cool looking bike that wasn't gonna break my wallet. I figured an evo sportster was the cheapest, most reliable platform I was gonna be able to get. FWIW, I have always loved sportsters. I really like old iron heads. But, I have had a few and they can be a little needy.

I really want a Shovelhead, but I am torn between a round swing-arm cone FLH, specifically a 1971 model and an earlier flatside in a rigid frame. I was born in 71 so that's why I think about the cone shovel, but I just love the look of the earlier flatside shovels. IMHO, those are the best looking engines HD ever made. I'll keep looking. Maybe next winter.

Back the Sportster project...... I found it on craigslist looking pretty sad for too much money. Ask price was 2500.00. I was able to bargain my way to a price that I was comfortable with. After buying the bike, I sold some of stuff that I wasn't gonna be using and got back some bucks. So to start, the bike cost me a grand out of pocket. It came with an S&S Super E carb and drag pipes.

More Dyna motor work

So I got my heads back for m the porting dudes. FWIW, they look good. I could have probably buttoned up everything abd been done, except for the carb......but I forgot to get gaskets for the rocker boxes. Picked those up today.

I am still waiting for my carb.....I sent my CV to Dale at Killer Motorcycle Products for a rebuild which includes a polish and tune.

Heads are bolted up. I am using Cyco MLS head gaskets. MLS...Multi Layer Steel. The process for torqueing the heads with this type of gasket is a little different. The Harley FSM says to tighten the head bolts in a specific order to 14ft lbs then turn the headbolt 90degrees for the final torque setting. That works out to about 35ft lbs on the torque wrench.

The MLS gasket sequence is different.....following the same bolt pattern, you go to finger tight then to 9ft lbs, then to 14ft lbs, then to 22 ft lbs, then 35 ft lbs, then final torque to 42ft lbs.

The best advice is to follow the torque procedure specific to the head gasket by the head gasket manufacturer.

Exhaust port before and after port  work