Ironhead First Harley - 1975 XL1000 Café Project

[sifty]

Ok, had a few goes at routing oil lines, and no obvious method found yet. Looks like I have to have 3 lines travelling down past the front sprocket/chain somehow, the feed to the pump, the output from the top of the case to the filter, and the return to the tank.
It would be much easier with a 77-on model that has the scavenge output in front of the pump that would go straight to the filter, but I'll have to deal with what I have. It really does seem like oil flow was an afterthought when they designed the ironhead...

Since I'm looking at it with everything off I'm also a bit nervous I'll plumb it in then find something rubs or constricts the lines when I put her back together. Also doesn't help that I bought hydraulic hose that is a bit thicker than needed.

I'll get there, but will take a bit of thinking. Might have to look at alternate routes, or make up some solid pipe sections with flexible connections...?

[IronMick]

In my experience any hose that has a larger OD than specified in the parts catalog is going to cause problems with kinking somewhere.

oil lines: 3/8"ID x 5/8" OD
vent line: 1/4" ID x 1/2" OD

I buy mine from a local indie motorcycle shop. He always has the correct stuff in stock.

One time i checked at an auto supply. The counter guy actually pinched the hose while he measured it before my very eyes and declared it to be correct

[sifty]

Yeah had a bit of trouble finding thin-walled oil hose unfortunately. Lots of fuel injection, trans cooling hose etc but most of that is 5/16" or the metric equivalent.

I'm thinking of routing under the starter and down past the chain etc with sections of copper pipe, and having rubber connections at either end. The pipe sections are slightly smaller than 3/8" ID which isn't ideal, but are still larger than 5/16", and probably are less restrictive than the 90 degree elbows into the engine etc. Still thinking at this stage, will see how we go after another look at the options...

[IronMick]

Originally Posted by sifty

... I'm thinking of routing under the starter and down past the chain etc ...

You can go straight down and along the frame with the feed line. I have not done it myself [yet!] but another forum member posted this recently.

[sifty]

I may have to do that Mick. First I'll reinstall all the hardware temporarily so I know just where I can go, then look at the options. I would like it hidden if possible from an aesthetic viewpoint, but function over form...

[sifty]

Painting parts

Father's day here in NZ, and first day of spring, so when the wife asked what I wanted to do for the day I took the risk and said I'd really like to spend the day in the shed (and got away with it)...

After cleaning the oil tank and discovering kerosene dissolved the rattle can paint job I had spent lots of hours and $$$ on, I went back to the paint shop for advice, where they laughed their silly heads off at my predicament, then sold me some proper stuff, and told me to learn to spray properly...
They recommended Durepox epoxy urethane, a 2 pack primer developed for racing boats, that is tough as hell, impervious to everything, and in satin black, was ideal for a one-application motorcyle finish. I have had spray guns etc for years thinking I would learn how to do it, but always been too nervous to have a go. They assured me it was easy if I followed the instructions...

A beautiful day here so I just set up a rudimentary turntable outdoors, utilising the old washing machine drum I used for my 'death trap' tumbler. I only have a cheap compressor, but I did fit a quality regulator/water trap, and it seemed to handle the job (you only need 50-60 psi). I know spraying outdoors isn't ideal, but I had nothing to lose, and had been granted some time on a decent day so set to it...



Immediately after spraying I hung the pieces inside the shed to reduce the chances of dust/insects etc ruining the finish...



And I did a few bits while I had the gear set up. Most of the morning was spent sanding old paint back, the battery box cover was chromed so I gave it a good sand to rough up the surface...



The rear guard came out pretty good (ignore the obvious dents, they will be covered by the seat) the spray went on beautifully with an extra 20% reducer added as recommended, and coverage was simple using my turntable setup, with no drips or sags during the whole process...



You can also brush this stuff on, so I did a few small pieces that needed paint by dipping a small brush in the spray gun reservoir. These are the adaptors I brazed up for the front indicator mounts...



I was pretty pleased with the results. I chucked on a second coat around 15 mins after the first, and barring the odd bit of dust etc that landed, it looks pretty good. I was so impressed with the simplicity of the spray gun system (I used a gravity feed type as there were lots of small fiddly bits) I reckon I'll never use rattle cans again. The best thing is the confidence I gained using 2-pack (simple as hell if you follow instructions, and clean everything properly when you are done). I have a few other projects I am keen to have a go at now...

I also finished up nice and early, and we went out for tea as a family, me knowing I had parts curing in the shed that should be ready to bolt on soon. A good day...

[sifty]

Oil Lines Part 1

Being a 75 model , the oil return fitting is on top of the case beside the vent, not in front of the pump, so there was no easy way to route the lines where I needed them to go. I needed to run this return line down and forward to the oil filter, plus back to the tank somehow, in addition to the vent line and the oil feed to the pump.

First thing I looked at was the oil tank mounting bracket that had the large grommet in it, to see if I could pass 3 lines through it. As I was replacing the grommet anyway, I couldn't see any reason not to enlarge this hole, so I filed it out to a rounded rectangular shape and cut down a large round grommet to fit. This just took away another source of kinks in the lines, and makes it easier to work with…



Then as space was still tight I looked at using short sections of copper tubing in place of thick rubber hose. As I would have rubber at each end of these lines, and there was no mechanical clamping, I was not concerned with these tubes cracking. The ID of these is slightly smaller than the desired 3/8” so it isn’t ideal, but it avoids any 'squishing' of the rubber lines, and is probably still better than the 90 degree elbow joint at the output connection, so I’m not unduly worried…

I had never bent copper tube before, so had a few goes until I got the hang of it (note the discarded sections below). I had bought refrigeration tube which is soft drawn and in a coil, so did not need annealed. As copper work-hardens easily however, I used a tube bender and took care to only make bends in small increments, and to not make too tight a bend. It went well and the only problems were when I had a double-bend that I couldn’t get the former around, and the tube tended to flatten out or kink when trying to bend by hand…



The other difficulty was in getting the bends in the right place. I could mark it on the tube ok but it was difficult to get the bend in the right spot, and the angle correct. The plan was to feed the oil down to the filter hose and back in copper, which should leave enough room for the oil feed from the tank to be run entirely in rubber. Here are the two lines temporarily in position (note smooth curves)…



And with the oil feed tube in place, seems to be enough room there…



And how the tubes look underneath. I staggered them so the connections would not be beside one another. Note also these are just the first stage, there is no flaring of the tube ends yet…



But seems to be coming together…

[JBA123]

Heat helps with the bending of pipe.

[sifty]

Yeah looking at that. Still playing with the lines so trying a few methods, will let you know how things go in next update, cheers...

[boneheaddoctor]

I'm not so sure I'd like copper pipes doing that.....because copper is prone to fatigue and cracksing...and we know how these shake...but they are semi-floating with rubber hoses on each end so thats a lot less likely. I'd still feel better using steel brake line.

But then I'm one of those guys that thinks "what can go wrong" and plans accordingly.