new nose cone for shovelhead

It came in the mail today, complete with a bushing, seal & allen bolts. I think I'm supposed to take the cam out and have the bushing reamed to fit, and then I should be good to go?

The exact words on the box are: nose cone gear cover polished lacquer. Should I strip off the lacquer before polishing? Say with acetone? None of the other polished parts on the motor are lacquered.

Well, I put it to the buffing wheel yesterday and removed the lacquer. It looks better now. There were spots on it where the lacquer didn't look right.

As I said earlier, I hope this is the last bad part I'm replacing that came with the motor .

Why go to the trouble of pulling the cam out take a reading off the cam .and hone the bushing to size couple of thousand clearence should do just fine . Just back off the push rods to take pressure off the cam cover.

It was easy to get out, and the cam is worn out. Looks to be the original cam or even older. I started another thread "Early or Late '77 FLH Motor?" to try and find out exactly when the motor was made so I can fit the right (Andrews) replacement cam in it. Some will only fit the "early" '77 motors and some the "late" '77 motors.

So I've found yet another part I must replace. This motor was just half-assed slapped together with whatever happened to be laying around the shop and called "freshly rebuilt" by the seller. The amazing thing to me is that it ran as well as it did before I began replacing things over the past couple years. I'm impressed with how tough these old motors are . . .

Gotcha. Did not remember you were replacing the cam.

Sent the cover & old cam to Prodrag last Friday, so he could switch the gears & size the bushing. I also took a measurement off the pinion shaft and found it was down to .561" - a thousandth less than the 9/16" it's supposed to be (36 years of wear & tear?). So it looks like the pinion bushing will have to be sized as well.
The cam Kirby picked out is an Andrews #1, which is a mild performance cam. Not sure what the numbers mean, but I think I'll get a little more get up and go from it .

That would be very welcome! I love all the mechanical sounds my motor makes and the clutch plates when they rattle.

but I think I'll get a little more get up and go from it .[/quote]
Probley more than a little

Looking forward to it! It's gonna be in the 70s the next few days . . . wish I could ride. But today we began our 2 week Christmas break. Counting my blessings . . .

I hope it's not going to be harder to kick. Since having the heads rebuilt last winter, and new rings, it has been harder to kick because I have more compression. (Compression was in the 60s in both cylinders before the upgrades). I believe that when this motor was brand new, the manual said the compression was 90 psi. Not much by today's standards. I don't know what it is now - don't want to know LOL.

Cowboy, guess I'll just have to hang on tighter . . . .

Just an update on other things I'm doing to the bike while I'm waiting for the cam & cover to arrive. Got a FabKevin stainless seat hinge which is a bolt on. It will look much better than the one I had - which I cut off. The new hinge will be much closer to the front of the seat.

I'm making a new oil filter bracket as well. Will post before & after pics when everything is in place. I also ordered a new Crane inner cam bearing.

Dang boys, even though the sun is out, it's mighty cold here today. Good day to hang around the house . . . right now listening to a Chet Atkins CD & sippin' a cup of coffee with a bit of rum in it . . . Mmm, mmm.

Got my new helmet from Lick's yesterday. It fits a bit tight but I'll scoop a bit of the foam out for a custom fit. Attached the smaller Bell shield to it. Kirby is sending off my parts and soon things will start happening . . . When I went out to take the picture this morning, the thermometer inside the shop said 15 degrees. I couldn't get the fluorescent lights to come on fully . . .

Yesterday I scooped out some of the foam from inside the helmet with a bent serrated knife, then sanded smooth. Fits perfect now. Doing a little body work to the spot where the seat hinge formerly was welded to the frame. Nearly all the parts on the frame have been designed and fabbed by me ; both upper motor mounts, fork stop, kickstand stop, oil tank & fender mounts, exhaust pipe mounts. The rear fender & brace were modified for the look I tried to achieve. The new seat hinge from FabKevin is a stainless bolt on design - I can position it wherever I want, drill two holes and bolt it in. I took the time to polish the exhaust pipes and get rid of the gold color and the oil stains from the leaking cam seal. They are still pretty scratched up in places and I have been considering going over them with a scotchbrite pad for a satin look. Installing new exhaust gaskets & a new bolt system that has special locking washers to keep the bolts from backing out. Hopefully, when I get the sled back together the cam seal leak will be gone. The oil leak was why I did all this stuff to the right side of the motor in the first place . . . .