[shoreride]

Everything is going great !!



The engine is sealed, the water pipes are sealed, electrics are cleaned.

Before I put the engine back in, I do have a few questions.



Airbox:

I cleaned out the breather tubes that come out of the bottom of the airbox.

When I first took off #12 I took out what I thought was "grime". It just fell apart in my fingers and looked like oily/gas grime.

After looking at the part fiche I saw that it might have been a filter (#13 on Airbox Part Fiche).

What can I replace it with? I'll check to see if it is available from Honda. What would a filter be doing there anyway.



Carbs:

Can you help me connect the throttle cables and choke cable? I have a the Haynes manual and the shop manual. I'm wondering if a clear photo could help...



Exhaust:

When dismantling the bike, I took the exhaust off in one piece. I assume it would be easy to assemble the same way?

The sportster mufflers don't seem to slip on as easily as the stock mufflers. The stock mufflers are too pitted and rusted to use again.

So what do I need to know about putting them together? Folks have said how they slip right in, but they don't seem to go in as far.

Do I need to collapse the slotted pipe fitting before mounting to the H-Box?



Thanks for the help guys

--Keith

 

[LRCXed]

The filter in the bottom of the air box was there just to keep any oil or water build up from sloshing around. Just clean it all out and don't worry about a replacement. All the stuff I've tried in the past has not lasted worth a crap. It all fell apart pretty quick.



HERE is a link on installing the cables. You'll see that putting them on before you put the carbs in is the easiest way.



More than likely you still have the original gaskets inside the Hbox. Pull them out first. That's why the pipe won't slid in all the way.

In order to get the pipes to go in far enough to seal up the split sides you'll need to cut off some of the front edge off the harley pipe. Ideally it would be best if you could weld up the splits and grind them down so there's no chance of them leaking.

If you have access to a metal lathe and a welder you could always make adapters like I do and weld them on the pipes. Then you can slip them right into the original style gaskets with NO chance of leaking at all.

 

[bandit]

well done Kieth.

Larry has,im sure cleared up all your questions.



ill only add,slip your gear shift on,and check that you can get all your gears.

 

[shoreride]

Great Great THANK YOU



Someone at my office offered to weld the mufflers like you did. I didn't want to take too much of his time, but I think I may see if he can help out.

Even he said, all things considered that would be the best and "easiest" way... I might check back with you after I talk with him.



The gaskets came off with the header pipes and mufflers (as they are still attached to those pieces).



I'm uploading a few photos that I'll Edit into this.

On that one connection, John (co-worker) braised two of the tabs. When we pulled the mufflers off we tore the tabs a bit.

 

[LRCXed]

I've had those type of problems too. I went to a muffler shop and had them expand a new pipe that I cut new slots in and welded it back in after removing the old one. It's not too hard, just time consuming.

 

[shoreride]

In order to get the pipes to go in far enough to seal up the split sides you'll need to cut off some of the front edge off the harley pipe. Ideally it would be best if you could weld up the splits and grind them down so there's no chance of them leaking.

If you have access to a metal lathe and a welder you could always make adapters like I do and weld them on the pipes. Then you can slip them right into the original style gaskets with NO chance of leaking at all.

OK so now that I read that again it makes more sense. Maybe the Sportster pipes are going in as far as they can.

There is about 1/4 inch of the slit still showing beyond the 'H-Box tabs'.

 

[LRCXed]

Yep, you got it now. But the extra brazed weld inside probably isn't letting it go in all they way either.

 

[marshallf3]

Airbox:

I cleaned out the breather tubes that come out of the bottom of the airbox.

When I first took off #12 I took out what I thought was "grime". It just fell apart in my fingers and looked like oily/gas grime.

After looking at the part fiche I saw that it might have been a filter (#13 on Airbox Part Fiche).

What can I replace it with? I'll check to see if it is available from Honda. What would a filter be doing there anyway.

#12: Tube, Breather (which attaches to)

#13: Filter (which eventually las to a drain hose with a plug in it (#18)



I'm sure you could rig up something with bits and pieces from an auto parts store. Its purpose would have been to prevent that drain hose from filling up with crumbles of leaves and other muck that might clog up the drain hose. It's one of two drains coming from the airbox that are plugged off and that you're supposed to periodically pull the plugs out of at the "bottom of the bike" to drain any accumulated water and crankcase breather blow by stuff that normally accumulates in there over time. Not exactly essential, when changing the air filter and you see any accumulation, pull the drain plugs and if nothing comes out just run a piece of old large diameter guitar string through there.



Guitar string is a wonderful thing to keep around in various diameters. If you aren't a player and don't know anyone that is most guitar repair shops will always have some collecting in their trash cans from restringing guitars they'll gladly give you.

 

[shoreride]

Thanks for the input



I tell ya it was nice to get those tubes totally clean though. They were pretty nasty inside. It certainly wasn't unplugged in years.

I think it would have been a bear to access the top (at the airbox) with the engine in.

It might be something to think about for anyone who has their engine out, otherwise it might be a tight squeeze to reach it.

 

[shoreride]

Hey guys. Well after going to a wedding for my new sister-in-law, getting a hernia, and healing up a bit...



I'm trying to tackle a bit more with this exhaust.

I'm having the same trouble as before (getting the mufflers to fit deep enough into the H-Box to bolt up to the frame).

Even if I use the stock mufflers, I'm still missing the mark. If you look at the H-Box picture I took earlier

That lip on the inside seems to be part of the gasket material, but I thought all the gasket material came off, in one piece.

You can see it on both the header pipes and stock mufflers.

I can scratch along the side (between the h-box and this "gasket"). There is a lip that I can feel on the inside, so it doesn't seem to be a welded part of the h-box. On the header side there is a visible seam, which makes me think it is a gasket material. BEFORE I TEAR into it I wanted to ask... it seem malleable so it must be gasket right???



I hate no knowing... Thank you all for walking me through some of these questions

 

[shoreride]

Update:

So I continued to clean out the h-box and stock muffler connections until I could slide the stock mufflers fully in the h-box and cleanly reconnect the mounting bolts. I did use the dremmel to gently grind away on some of the brazing weld. That piece I saw earlier seems to cover the remaining 1/4" of pipe as it slips into the h-box...



There was no way I could remotely get the sportster mufflers to mount at the rear pegs (as the stock mufflers do).

After cleaning the h-box, the sportster mufflers seat completely so there does not seem to be a need to cut 1/4" off the end of the pipe as was mentioned earlier. The real fix would be to fabricate a bracket as was done here:



link

or here:



link

I didn't realize the Harley mufflers and Stock mufflers were that different.

They are relatively inexpensive, great chrome, nice sound, but they won't be going on yet.

I'll use the stock mufflers for now, get the bike running and rolling, and mess with the sportster mufflers later. Hopefully this nickel anti-seize compound will work its magic when it comes to removing the exhaust components in the near future.