Ironhead `83 XLX rebuid and questions thread

[spamer80]

Hello to all. I was previously the owner of Honda DN-01`08 for 10 years, it was my first bike. But unfortunately, after 100 000 km together she became too much for my pocket ($600 for 2 brake discs? No aftermarket? Easy!) and with tears she was sold. Our last ride was from St-Petersburg to Moscow (800km) where I picked up this babe and rode back.

Why Ironhead? Because I have friends which rides Shovelheads and I was amazed how easy to wrench, cheap and reliable they are. But the days of my touring rides are gone along with my money for that and because my ride is 90% in heavy city traffic, Shovel is too big for me.
So, even though I read that Ironhead is not for everyday ride, and is better to buy Evo Sportster, I did not. Now 2000 miles for this month and I`m really happy with it. It really does the job.

Still, because it`s my first carb bike, I never seen, never used and never touched any, I have a questions.

The bike itself is in pretty good contition, however most of the seals, hoses etc are old and leaking oil.
So the first thing I`ve done was all the oil replaced, air cleaner replaced for K&N, spark plugs replaced, fork cleaned, chain cleaned, carb tuned, all the oil hoses replaced to the new ones, valve clearance adjusted. Thank you very much for the stickies! It was the HUGE help!



The questions will be in the next post along with pictures.

[spamer80]

So, before I will make any changes to bike, I want to rebuild it to the stock new condition.

The first question was about this:

It`s a straight pipe and I`ve found it in the front muffler. It was just lying there. And it almost for the size of muffler. WTF it could be and why it was there? No signs of welding etc.
Nothing like this was in rear muffler.
Since I removed it, the bike started to sound better (more alike from both mufflers) but at higher revs (4000+) when I close the throttle, it SOMETIMES started to shot in the muffler.

[doodah man]

it could be part of the cross over portion of your exhaust, the connector pipe? and it was just laying inside the muffler, not attached at all, is that right?

[spamer80]

The next current question is about primary plug tool.

I`ve bought this one and was so frustrated when found that it`s TOO SMALL for plugs size and both plugs are too stuck to be opened with it.
So I`m searching for this one

and unfortunately can`t find it anywhere.

[spamer80]

Originally Posted by doodah man

it could be part of the cross over portion of your exhaust, the connector pipe? and it was just laying inside the muffler, not attached at all, is that right?

Totally right, not attached to anywhere and looking on me from muffler sometimes
And that metal hitting to metal sound from exhaust was terrible...
And nothing like this on rear one.
Now both mufflers are alike straight with perforations inside.

UPD here is some new pics.
It was there, in front muffler


And this is how my mufflers currently are looking like.


And this was here. In rear pipe. Nothing more. And it was in this exact condition.

[Rodzilla]

In my opinion the pieces you found inside the exhaust are nothing to worry about. Someone probably just did a poor job of modifying the mufflers to improve their sound. Their handy work fatigued over time and broke loose or something. I would not worry about it.

Primary plug tool issue is a little more tricky. I think most people just make their own tool, I did. The tool just needs to fit the plug really, really well so that there is almost zero chance of disengaging and scratching the primary cover. As long as the tool fits in the slot with little or no play, and you can apply a suitable amount of both compressive force to keep the tool in the slot, and rotating force to loosen the plug, you should be fine.

After making a tool, I discovered that I had a long crow bar whose prying end fit the slot almost perfectly. I put one wrap of tape around the end to tighten the fit and avoid scratching anything, and basically the weight of the crow bar loosened the plug. It would be very easy to over tighten the plug with a tool of this length, be cautious.

Your bike looks nice. Enjoy.

[spamer80]

Thank you for your reply. I thought the same about someone who inserted that pipe into muffler, for me it looks just like that, but still better to ask other people opinion. But I still wonder why only one of two mufflers.
Anyway, now and before the bike still sounds too loud for me and I don't like when car alarms starting to work when Im passing through.
Is there any way to make it quieter? Any baffles or how the stock exhaust should look inside? I' prefer to make the bike quieter before any neighbor try to kill me

[Hippysmack]

Here are a couple more ideas for the primary plug:
http://sportsterpedia.com/doku.php/t...k:ref:tools106

[Rodzilla]

Yes, I think there are several ways to make that bike quieter. Hopefully, some of the more knowledgeable members will respond soon. Many of the folks on this forum have extensive experience with pipes and muffler systems, hopefully you will hear from them soon. In short I think baffles can be re-welded back in the mufflers;

https://www.jpcycles.com/product/441...SABEgLXVPD_BwE

Also cones or lollipops might be effective. My experience is limited to making mufflers louder, not more quiet..... sorry.

You can always fit some aftermarket mufflers to make it more quiet, but that would be a last resort in my opinion. If I don't miss my guess (and I may), those are the original mufflers and you would really want to keep those..... Even if you choose to swap out mufflers, you want to keep those if they are originals. Personally, I would keep them on the bike.

[spamer80]

Hippysmack, thank you, seems like DIY is still the best option out there. But I also found this:

and it seems far more practical. But the J&P says it still only fit 1972–1976 years. I`m not sure it the size was the same in 82-85.
Rodzilla, yes, I`m 100% sure that I prefer to keep these stock ones.