Losing my Mind here! Cough, Sputter, Misfire.. HELP!

A leak down test can be done to see if the heads are leaking or not.

Gosh JoshBob that is a good question. I wasn't ecperiencing any overheating issues. I guess you could say blown and would still be right.. All I know is that once I got that taken care of, I have never experienced another cough with my Sportster again, not even a sniffle...

Yes, but at that point I didn't think of looking at the head gaskets. That was found because as I had said, I was redoing the top end again.

sounds to me like the timing is a bit retarded ! not a fuel issue he has been all over the jet spectrum , and still no change in drivability ! pick up coils are a big problem on sportys they melt all the resin out of them and timing goes crazy pull the points cover and card board out and check ! bet its cooked or been replaced and not set proper .

I would think his Harley "mechanic" he went to at first would have checked that first or maybe second, no?

I highly doubt it...if you read the OP's original post,all he(mechanic) said was you need a dyno jet kit....and botched installing drag pipes and the jet kit(fubared emulsion tube)missed a cracked VOES switch and a bad vacuum petcock...so I don't think this guy was much of a mechanic...

A melted pick up sensor is quite likely,because the OP did go through every thing fuel related...

well.. I may have found a solution. took out the CVP needle and reinstalled the adjustable needle.. tweaked the clip setting. no coughs whatsoever. I'll keep riding and report back on the plug condition.

That adjustable needle works really well doesn't it? I was told once, (not by anyone here), that those do not work.. "Too gimmicky," for the shop to even try. I hope you enjoy...

Interesting....is that the dyno jet adjustable needle you put back in,with stock CV jets and emulsion tube??What pilot jet you running??

i'm thinking it must be the dynojet needle. I never got any parts back from the shop. now I've got a 45 pilot and 185 main.