The (annual)Harley Davidson Re-Build
The continuing story of a 1200cc Sportster.


I bought my Harley back in May 2000, I thought it was a good deal since it had only done 5000 miles. But it had been a bit neglected cosmetic ally. Over then next few months I started buying some chrome bits and got into the strange ritual of polishing it.

It seemed that I only had to mention the word "rain" and some rust or fur would appear and huge amounts of crud would descend upon it without even taking it out of the garage. Despite it's obvious faults the bike certainly has it's charm and has so much torque it could pull a plough (perhaps it's original design criteria). Is the bike crude, yes but it's well built except for fasteners having a habit of vibrating off.

I've ridden it in all weather from sunshine to sleet and have done a round trip of over 200 miles and ached like hell afterwards. The tank had a range of about 70 miles (if I took it easy) with a reserve of only about 10 metres, needless to say, I ran out of petrol a few times. My first task was to fit a new tank, I bought one second hand and fitted it but it wasn't straight forward. Even though it was a Sportster tank I still had to re-plumb the fuel lines from the RHS to the left and re-locate the ignition switch and enricher cable (doesn't use a choke but a fuel enricher)

The new tank looked really nice but it showed up the rest of the bike so I decided to improve it. The rocker covers were badly corroded so I decided to change them. So I popped them off and thought to myself just a couple more bolts and I can inspect the barrels. I ended up stripping down everything and rebuilding it. This page catalogues that rebuild. Enjoy.

Just bought it	Although it was mechanically sound it hadn't been cosmetically looked after (that's the Harley not me). The seats were a joke and quite frankly most of the bike needing tarting up. So here we go.
The ugly duckling	Everything is stripped off, the swingarm is ready for rubbing down and painting. In fact I rubbed down everything and painted it with Hammerite. I've used this before on the chassis of kit Cars. It works really well and lasts forever (ish).
Heads you win	Off with your head(s). And so it was, they were cleaned and shot blasted and are just ready for some mild porting. Now, where did I put my porting stuff. Notice the corrosion on the rocker covers? That's the chain-guard sitting on the top of the heads.
Swingarm	The swingarm had started to rust from under the powder coating so it was wired brushed and cleaned then painted with Hammerite, it looks really good. I also did the rest of the chassis while I was at it.
Where's the ingin	Off with the barrels. They were sent to BOZ engineering in Kent for a re bore and some tasty new Wiseco lightweight pistons. BOZ Engineering are a top company, very helpful and reasonably priced. Boz the owner is as top bloke.
Chaincase	I cleaned down the crankcase and painted it with VHT mat black engine paint and then removed the primary chaincase and replaced it with this nice chrome jobby. It's just a chaincase swap - right? Nope.
Chaincase two	Because Harley's evolve *cough*, design specifications change frequently (daily?) So not only did I have to change the primary chaincase but I also had to modify the clutch actuating mechanism to the 1996 specification. Nevertheless, the results were worth it. You will also notice the new S/S rear brake lines. I replaced the original self-ballooning ones.
Piston	Now that's what I call a piston, at just over 3.5" each piston has more displacement than a 600 sprot bike. Every single ring had to be "gaped" they were all out. I gaped them all to 0.015".
No Stains	All cables and rubber pipes were covered with stainless steel braiding. Just to look different like IYKWIM?.
Oil Tank	Of course I had to get a chrome oil tank. It's rude not to. Well it's not really a tank it's a 1996 model cover. They told me it wouldn't fit, it did with a bit of persuasions
Hignishun	Lots of wire, s'funny. I don't remember there being so many. All suspect connectors were replaced (that means nearly all of them)
Carb	I rebuilt the carb which was in "as new" condition. I then replaced the intake and manifold rubbers and re-fitted the carb. Note the stainless steel braided everything?
Tappet	Notice the Tappet cover, this was from a 1996 Hardly and again, they said it wouldn't fit. A nifty bit of cutting and bashing that.
Doh!	I dropped a b*##@* exhaust manifold nut and had to take the case off to find it...DOH
Nearly there	Not quite finished just a few minor things to do...Like get an MOT and set up the Carb.
Sideshot	Who's the Ugly Duckling now then.

LATER1	LATER2

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