tappet trouble . . .

. . . and reuse your old parts, too. I suppose where you are, original shovel parts are harder to find. There are some really good swapmeets around here where just about anything motorcycle related can be found - for a price.

Yeah,they're getting pretty scarce and those that have parts don't really want to part with them.
Getting tough to find OEM Evo stuff too...

Well, the Evo's are antiques now ha-ha. I have had to rethink my situation about parts. Since the rear cylinder is the one that belches smoke because of deep scratches, and has a broken fin, I will replace it with a new one. The front cylinder is in great shape and is a V-Twin item anyway, so now they'll match. I'll paint them both with 500 degree black. I'll clean and keep the pistons but change the rings (Hastings). All new gaskets, o-rings etc. where needed. New Andrews cam down below, fitted with the original gear. Count in the machine work on the rocker shaft and arm and it's about $500 for everything. But first, I need to get a good pair of glasses. It was great to get rid of the cataracts over the summer, but I was left with 20/60 in each eye.

So, no 1340 - this time around.

I think that's a good decision...You should be able to get all the power you need out of a 74"er. You'll notice a nice boost in power with a freshened up top end,just make sure you don't pick a top end cam when you're a bottom- midrange rider.Good torque in your normal RPM range makes it fun to ride...

I'm replacing the cam with the same one I had in the motor before. I do ride in the bottom to midrange RPM mostly and the J grind Andrews has worked well for me.

I cleaned the inside of the heads yesterday and will do the tops of the pistons today. Post # 30 shows what they looked like previously.

The piston tops aren't very smooth after cleaning, but I suppose they'll be ok.

Josh,did you post those pics on Shovelhead Forum? I don't want to say they'd be fine because I'm a little concerned about the pitting on the pistons and looks like a little in combustion chamber too. One chamber and one piston looks to have more than the other.Are they from the same cylinder?
I'm thinking the pitting could create hot spots and bring on preignition and or detonation and pitting there now could have been caused by it already.
I think you should find out for sure by someone who would know for sure if they're OK or not before you rebuild and run into problems again.

I have never figured out how to post pictures on the shovelhead forum. Been trying for years, that's why I post stuff here . . . reckon to be safe, I'll have to replace the pistons & wrist pins, too. Kit is $115 including rings. As far as the heads go, I'm using what I have as it's getting expensive to replace everything else.

I may have to sell the bike eventully as I really can't afford to keep fixing it. But I must keep it in running condition or I won't get much for it. Ever since my school cut my salary to only $10,000 a year, things around here have been tighter than Dick's hatband. That's one of the main reasons why I'm quitting at the end of the school year next June.

Well lets hope that with the new piston kit and other new and repaired parts, that when you get it back together you'll have years of trouble free riding Just your regular shovelhead maintainance and tightening
Kinda hard to tell condition of things from pics but heads dont look too bad.It's the ridges on the pit where the potential for preignition or detonation come in.So, if they are pits in the chamber a light polishing to take the ridge down and you'll be fine...If you think they might need it.Maybe let Tattoo have a look at them for his opinion

Not sure how to proceed with the polishing of the heads. Would I need to take the valves out? And what would I use to polish the chambers with? Tattoo has not been at his shop lately so I'm pretty much on my own.

The pistons are far worse than the heads.

You wouldn't want to remove any material and make chambers larger. Just a light rubbing with a fine grit scotchbrite pad where you can feel pits to smooth off ridges not so much as to completely remove pits,you'd want a pro if you were going that far.Leave valves in,then clean chamber again to get the little dust out.If you don't feel comfortable trying that,just leave them.They don't look all that bad,the pistons did

True enough..It is a shovel any little pits would be filled in with carbon soon..they run pretty loose tolerances..Yeah,if you feel an edge,then maybe take it down...maybe smooth valve pocket edges on pistons if you are gonna use them...
Josh,you might want to check out cam bushing spec in the nose cone while you have it out...I don't think it should be hard to get off the nose cone.

I don't feel any really 'sharp' edges anywhere, just rounded, smooth edges. I suppose I'll leave the pistons in and just change the rings.
Lucifer, I have already gotten the cam out of the cone if that's what you mean. Right now it's a lot of waiting for the shekels to accumulate and buy parts here and there. It is taking much longer than before the pay cut, but we have other priorities that must be taken into account, such as bills, food and beer LOL.

Here is a list of all the things I am replacing (so far):
new cam
new set of solid lifters
new rear cylinder (broken fin and deep scratches on old one)
new piston rings
new rocker arm & shaft, shims
new gaskets & seals
set of adjustable pushrods (used)
oil filter/sae 50 wt. racing oil (I will run the new oil a few miles and then change it and the filter again)

Unless I have forgetten something that's about it.

If you can swing a new piston kit, I'd do it. Everything I've read no matter what type of motor always stated to be very careful when cleaning carbon off pistons not to scratch or score pistons. Yours look scratched and scored pretty good.
Yeah the cam stuck in nose cone is what I was talking about,I've only done a couple but IME once you're ready to take cone off tapping with rubber mallot to break it free from gasket but cam should stay in chest with pinion and breather gears. It shouldn't be a press fit in nose cone and difficult to get out if it did happen to stick in the bushing.
I thought of the possibility that when you bought this motor the nose cone bushing wasn't reamed for proper fit since they did such a "great" job on the whole motor(sarcasm in quotes).

Well cutting the beer out is a little drastic, and you're right, the bike ran fine before the lifter chit the bed and that wasn't from the pistons. Binding rocker arm I'd say started the chain to lifter roller failure.. should be lookng into finding and fixing the rocker arm binding....
Josh instead of cuttin beer out, those rocker arms can be rebuilt except for a worn or bent shaft.

Cutting the beer is not going to happen , boys.

I bought a new nose cone and new cam a couple years ago and sent them to Paul, along with some other work, and he did a fine job reaming the cam bushing to fit the new cam.

The weather here has been great for riding so far this month as we've had a warmer than usual November. Cold mornings but in the 60s most afternoons.