Shovel rebirth

A while back a buddy of mine had a knuckle head,leaked so much he rigged a drip pan under the motor with an elec.pump. 'Called it his oil catcher,picker upper,pumper.backer intoer devise.

Yeah, when the bike is sitting LEVEL, the tranny oil line should be just below the allen screw in the side of the kicker cover, not the oil fill hole.

Don't need no non-stinking cat litter! My oil leaks are minimal - no oil ever reaches the floor. It's sooo much better than it was.

yeah, found that out when i tried to seat the cam into the cover. spent about 2 hours to get it right. i had to drill the oil hole first because i put new brass bushing in cover. new needle bearing in cases too. i think the leak may be from the cam walking too much ?? it was only a drop or two, but will change the seal while i am there.

Even if a little oil is getting past the bushing, it shouldn't get past the seal. The problem is almost always (as it is with mine) that the cam shaft is worn where the seal rubs it. Sometimes if the bushing is worn excessively, it will cause the cam shaft to "wobble", which causes seal failure.

I changed my seal twice and it still leaks a bit, but not nearly what it did before.

Good luck on yours.

yea...cam thrust washers arrived 2day. sumpin 2 do 2mro.

Any progress since then?

been really busy...buddy has me wiring, plumbing and installing hvac at his new house. i didn't want to do it, but it's "bike money"...hooha

got home a lil early today...installed gas tanks, fairing and other misc. stuff. all i have left is the plugs and plug wires. speaking of plugs, would you believe this beast has had the wrong plugs in it the whole time?? looked in my heads and noticed "deep" threads with carbon on the lower 1/2". never crossed my mind it had the wrong plugs in it when i got the bike. sluggish high rpm's may clear up now. ha ha ha. never, never assume nothin'. i just happened to read a thread on shovelhead usa (popped myself on the forehead with my fist), went to the garage and called myself an idiot.

anyway, should be riding this week. i put the drags back on the bike (with baffles), duals with rocket fishtails will be my winter project. i got the brackets this week, all i lack is the floorboard adapter.

Sounds good. So, your old plugs were too short and probably the wrong heat range. I've had good luck with Champion plugs RN12YC, especially made for shovelhead engines. After experimentation, I found that .028" gap was right for me. I have 38" drags on mine with 10 1/2" baffles.

put stock champions in today at .03 gap. started right up, did first heat cycle. i converted to solid lifters while it was down. from what i understood, you adjust just like a hydro...spins when off lobe, tight when on the lobe. well, my valvetrain was rather loud, and front cyl started to carbon up exhaust tips after cycle. whuz up ??? fixed one leak at front rocker cap...yea...

did i adjust the new lifters wrong. new kit from j and p. spring fit into tappet, lifter on top then pushrod...tightened rod until spring compressed, then backed off 1 1/2 turns. didnt want to go the 1 3/4 turns. someone school me on this, cause valvetrain sounded beautiful with the hydros.

have been advised to remove springs and adjust by the spin of the rod...makes sense to me.

Yes. Here's the simple procedure I use for solids.

First take the plugs out, then remove all the upper pushrod cover clips and raise all the rod covers up. I use painters tape to hold 'em up - leaves no tape residue. Or you can use thin wire and shape to suit.

Then, whichever cylinder you do first, get the rod you are working on down to the lowest point. I find that I can spin my motor over by hand with the kickstart pedal. Or, if you don't have a kicker, you can raise the back wheel off the floor and in 4th gear rotate the wheel (in the direction it would spin as if you were riding) until the rod you're working on is in the lowest position.

Next adjust the rod until you can just turn it with your fingers. After you tighten up the lock nut, there should be some resistance when you turn the rod. Spin the motor over again until the rod is once again as low as it will go and recheck the rod you just adjusted. It should still be tight against the lifter but you should still be able to turn the rod with your thumb and forefinger. There should be some resistance. The resistance assures that the rod is tight against the lifter - but not too tight.

Do the other three the same way and you're done. No measuring necessary. Reinstall plugs, drop the rod covers and make sure the inner sleeves are pushed up tight against the upper cork gaskets. Also make sure you install the upper pushrod cover clips correctly or you will have oil leaks.

I got this method from ShovelheadUSA and it has worked very well for me.

My wife had zero lash last night~! :roflmao:

Yup.

eeee's done. that is the method i used, and she sounds awesome. went for a short test ride...picked up the OL and headed to town. soooo nice to be back on the road, but i think the lil woman was way more excited than me...she was woohooin' and squeelin' the whole ride. she said that the bike was her favorite vibrater...

On the road again, oh yeah!