1974 Harley Sportster questions

Well about a year ago, I traded a beautiful and fully "sorted" 1971 Triumph 650 TR6 ... for a "mostly stock" 1974 Harley Sportster. BIG Mistake. I guess my "rose colored glasses" were foggy. Anyway, it has needed some work. I had all the "tins" painted black and added some OEM type "repo" stickers. Also added a "cycleelectrics" gen/regulator to eliminate the charging problems. Rewired the whole bike, and added new OEM type controls and turn signals. (rear signals not installed yet.) Since the seat on it was a custom piece of garbage, I installed the seat from a 2005 Harley XL1200R sportster I once owned; it actually fit It still needs an OEM type speedo and tach, instead of the "late" model speedo it currently has, but I think that's it. I think it "looks fair", pic below :



Now for one of my two questions. Though it works fine, is the rear brake pedal spring "broken"; or did AMF Harley make it this way ... to REST right on the primary cover and case joint ??? :shock: :shock: :shock:



Question two. The parts book shows only one primary/gearbox drain screw for 1974 cases. However, mine has two :shock: Could the primary side case be from a "newer" model, or is my OEM 1974 AMF Harley Davidson parts book wrong ???



Comments and answers are most appreciated, cheers.

Comments :lol: :lol: What did you do with the rest of the petrol tank ? ...... and where did you get all that scaffolding to hold onto... Well you asked!
It looks "unbalanced" visually to me. Then WTF do i know....................

Notice the similarity with the handle bars...... Hey.... at least i've responded to a HD question.. Others will be gagging on their cucumber sanga's....

I suspect the guy who bought your TR6 is the one with 'a happy ending' in this story...!

Or the guy who succefully 'off loaded' the Harley...?

I confess I'm not a Harley fan... does it show...?

If I had that bike I would seriously consider building a "Norley” I think they look cool and if I am not mistaken, you can actually build a Harley engine to make a boat load of torque. Go for it and you will have a very righteously cool bike.

Seriously!!!!! A person who likes riding motorcycles is ok in my book....No matter what it is !

I'm sorry you can not get the answers to your two inquiries.

Fast Eddie said:

I suspect the guy who bought your TR6 is the one with 'a happy ending' in this story...!

Or the guy who succefully 'off loaded' the Harley...?

I confess I'm not a Harley fan... does it show...?

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Yes, I beleive the guy I traded the Triumph too ... is the Happy ending. (same one who "off loaded" the Harley)

I admit this Sportster has been a LOT of work. I had to fix the charging problem and starting issues ... just to ride it. But ... I remember these sitting in the showroom, brand new, and expensive. I thought they looked cool then, and still like the "looks" now.

I guess this motivates me to get my other 1971 Triumph project finished.

madass140 said:

I'm sorry you can not get the answers to your two inquiries.

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Thanks Don ! However, I DID invite the comments, and do find them amusing. Maybe I'll still get an answer yet. But if not, perhaps I may pose these questions to the "XL" forum ...

Ok, madass sent me back to actually read your post and see what questions had been asked.

On question 2, I would say that your bike is right and the manual is wrong. Doesn't it have different oil in the primary and transmission? If it does then it would have to have 2 drain plugs. Or, if it has the same oil in both and they join in some way then the drain plugs would be in the 2 low spots in order to get a full drain when changing oil. Ford used to do this on car oil pans that spanned a frame member. It was a real bad deal if the owner only noticed one plug and always left about 2 quarts of oil unchanged.

Question 1 is a bit of a head scratcher. It looks like that is the way it was intended. AMF doesn't have a stellar reputation for their ownership of HD and it could have been a bit of a cost cutting thing. Does it work ok? It looks better than a screen door spring attached to the front tip of the brake pedal. Is there a safety mechanism that will keep the brake pedal from hitting the road if the connection to the rear brake fails? Norton Commandos have the problem of the brake pedal going all the way to the road if the rear brake cable breaks. A safety spring is available that all '74 and previous Commando owners should have installed.

Yes, Beach, I would seriously consider building a Norley if I had a Sportster or even if I just had a Sportster engine.
Dan.

Yes, Beach, I would seriously consider building a Norley if I had a Sportster or even if I just had a Sportster engine.
Dan.[/quote]

Dan, my reply was not toward you, but the haters....I agree the Sportster has it's place in the cycle world..

If you think HD has some strange corner-cutting implementations (NOT canyon carving), you should see early Buells!

I've only owned ONE HD out of almost 150 bikes owned over 42 years, a 1980 AMF Sporty very much like the one you have.



Supposedly, it previously belonged to Freddy Fender, the Tejano musician.

It was like badly worn-out farm machinery, although it DID run (barely). I never had it long enough to get any close-up pix of any part of it, so can't answer your questions. Sorry.

I like the look of the iron head motors and if I had a complete bike of this vintage I would build an XR 750 replica street tracker. I do actually have a 1972 motor that I am planning on putting into a slimline Frame. Mine however will not be a Norley. I will build it with Whitworth nuts and bolts thus it will be known as 'a Hardley Worthit'.

Oh that's cruel Dave, I laughed my ass off but it is cruel. There is a great HD place here in my home town of Fullerton, Ca. called "Sporty Specialties" that do & know all things Sportsters. I will be driving by it tomorrow & will stop & ask them your two questions if no one has answered them yet.. I for one have always wanted one just to play with.

Not being cruel gtsun, I like the Early Sportster engine and am genuinely going to do the project. I also have a 1995 883 Sportster - which is a different animal, but I must say that it goes and handles reasonably well, after replacing the strangled jetting with a Dyno power kit for about $65.

I am still collecting parts for my Hardly Worthit and may end up using a Japanese (Aaaah!) rear hub because of the drive and brakes typically being on different sides, which better suits a left brake right chain arrangement. I would love to use a Madass 4LS front brake and am stuffing as much loose change as I can into my piggy- bank. I am also following the saga of Indian-made tanks as I would like to get a short circuit Manx tank, but they don't seem to do much for Slimlines at the moment. Fortunately I will be in India in March so I hope to be able to see what is available and take it away with me if I'm satisfied.

Well it's not cruel I guess if you build it, ride it & enjoy it. I know nothing about featherbeds or any frames really but have heard it's hard to get a engine low & forward enough to keep the high speed handling good. But many have pulled it off well. I would like to see your build in progress, good luck.

An XR750 made out of a late sportster motor with a decent frame would not be all bad in BOTT races.

Have you seen the trick bits which are available for Honda CT110 clones. I'm about to make spine frame for a 150cc road racer.

I suspect the rear cylinder moves the centre of gravity back and upwards a bit regardless of what you do. Dave Degens built a nice looking cafe racer with an ironhead engine in a wideline frame. I consider my project to be a poor man's Norvin and hope to have a bit of fun with it for not too much money. The Slimline rolling chassis cost me US$1,000 and the Sportster engine (1972) along with a frame of 1971 vintage cost $850 so I am not into it too much at the moment. I will post some photos when I have actually started doing some work on it. I am in the middle of a Matchless G15 resto which I have posted some photos of on here and don't want to monopolise the site with my build threads.

dave M said:

I suspect the rear cylinder moves the centre of gravity back and upwards a bit regardless of what you do. Dave Degens built a nice looking cafe racer with an ironhead engine in a wideline frame. I consider my project to be a poor man's Norvin and hope to have a bit of fun with it for not too much money. The Slimline rolling chassis cost me US$1,000 and the Sportster engine (1972) along with a frame of 1971 vintage cost $850 so I am not into it too much at the moment. I will post some photos when I have actually started doing some work on it. I am in the middle of a Matchless G15 resto which I have posted some photos of on here and don't want to monopolise the site with my build threads.

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Sounds very cool dave M, I look forward to your thread on the build