Sporty is back up and running again....

Hell Yeah!!

A Blast from the Past

Me helping my Papa in the shop and pretending to drive the tractor at about two years old.  Those old days on the farm were awesome.  My Papa is probably the most solid dude and best man that has ever walked on this planet.  He has always been pure of heart and full of generosity, and for that, I can never thank him enough!  

Brought home a 1970 XLCH and a 1977 Roller

So I went ahead and pulled a couple of scoots out of the weeds and brought them home. One is a 1970 XLCH with engine (a 90% complete bike, I have most of the parts, just not pictured), and the other is a 1977 XLCH roller.  At this point not sure what to do with all of it.  I'm not sure the case on the 1970 can be repaired and would like thoughts and comments on that.  A friend said he could tig the broken tab, but we didn't see the broken bolt hole at the time because it was covered in grease and dirt.  Regardless, I have nearly nothing invested in these scoots and there are some cool parts that I ended up with as well.  Oh yeah, after I got them my buddy Luke's coworker called me and came to look at the CB750 I own and bought it.  That was great news.  Without further ado, here are some photos.  

1970 XLCH:

33.4mm Narrow Glide front end:

Photos of my concerns and worries with the case:

Random photos of some goodies that came home with me:

1977 XLCH Roller, 35mm front end:

Random Garage Shots:  

My ugly mug sitting down piddlin' with the front wheel and getting the caliper unstuck.  

Me and Josh discussing how to solve world hunger or something relevant to what I was doing.

Several of us still trying to troubleshoot Luke's Sporty. We've almost exhausted all our options.

The evening I rolled all this crap in the garage without even spraying it off:

Overall, it was another good weekend spent hanging with some friends playing in the garage and getting some work done.  In regards to my EVO Sporty head gasket repair, the two O-rings I needed should show up in the mail today and I can begin the reassembly.  I'm ready for the wheelie machine to be back on the road.  

Getting Closer....

Missing two o-rings for the dowels on the cylinder, so I guess I'll just keep cleaning....

Beginning Top End Reassembly and a story to boot...

So, this is my third day to work on this head gasket.  The first day, I took my time disassembling everything and making sure all was in order and basically called it a day.  Yesterday, I did a little cleaning and went to what would be our only Indy shop (really a full time worker who has a shop at his house) and he had the top end gaskets I needed.  Today I’ve cleaned some more and I believe I am ready to reassemble.  That carbon build up is some tough stuff to get off and I am tired of huffing fumes, that’s for sure. 

Here is some updated photos.  Ended up going with James gaskets because between my buddy and the Indy that’s what was immediately available and a lot of people like them.  Opinions seem to be either pay a little more for Cometic or go James. 

Cylinder:

Head:

New exhaust gaskets. 

My helper for the day, Everybody meet Pilgrim:

Some shots from the Indy, the General Lee shovel is his daily and the ’66 chopper belongs to a friend.  Some ironhead stuff out back as well.

And lastly, my trusty Yamaha. My wife’s car is in the shop, she’s driving the truck which is also having transmission problems, so that leaves me with the Yamaha once again.  It never lets me down and I will never sell this bike.  It gets me through hard times, proposed to my wife on it, and I just love it.  It’s like an Energizer bunny, it just keeps going, and going, and going…

Blown Head Gasket on the Sportster

Rode to Memphis to see a friend riding to Alabama from Sturgis and blew the head gasket on the rear.

Time to get to work.