My 73 sportster is all ready to go, or so I thought.&nbsp\\; It's timed close enough where a kick or two on the kickstarter and it roars to life.&nbsp\\; My problem is almost instantly, the bike gets so hot the pipes begin to glow.&nbsp\\; It does backfire alot as well as fire back out of the carb.&nbsp\\; I have the mixture thinned out as much as possible.&nbsp\\; I've tried to put a view cap on and time it, but whoever had the bike before me stripped out the hole and put a coil inside, so now I can't get the view cap in far enough to be functional.&nbsp\\; I'll ive got to go on is static timing to this point, and I know thats not much. I'll take as many suggestions as I can get! Thanks folks.

your problem might be a too lean of a mixture.

Check the pushrod/lifter adjustments, too.

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Chrome sucks.
Barges are for chopping. Otherwise, they might as well be Gold Wings!
Ride it! Beat it! Break it! Fix it! Ride it some more!

If you can find a piece of clear acrylic rod that's close in diameter to the threads that are in there now, you could get a die and thread it to the size hole that's in there now. Or try advancing or retarding the timing untill it's running cooler. The second idea would be a last resort.

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'81 XLS Roadster 1000 (1,660 built)
'04 FLHTCUI Ultra Classic Electra Glide
'81 XLH pile of parts project

Why in the hell should I have to press "1" for english?

that backfire through the card is running lean although I would suspect to advanced timing issues also.

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75 Ironhead..Ride hard..You can rest when you die.

Check your points gap...if the gap is too tight it will backfire and snort bad.&nbsp\\; Also, I'd pull the advance mechanism and make sure this is functioning correctly.&nbsp\\; You can try changing the timing while its rumbling but I'm guessing timing is not the problem.&nbsp\\;
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Push rods, points gap, advance mechanism are possible BUT vacuum leaks will cause heating and backfiring.&nbsp\\;
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Vacuum leaks cause the bike to heat up FAST so triple check your intake.

Alright, thank you folks, I'm going to spend thursday tearing into it again.&nbsp\\; I'll let ya know how it works out!