be gentle noob here. i have a 1976 1000 sportster that i got in a box. after valve job, piston(front cyl) and reassembly. i have 122 psi in rear cyl 128 in front. bike wants to start but won't, coil checks per manual. the only real anomoly i have is the rear cyl wants to fire, front doesnt. plug wire resistance is goofy though, i have .3 ohms on rear and 12 ohms in front. is it possible all my spark is taking the path of least resistance? what should my wires impede? thanks robby

 

Check the timing....sounds like it is a bit retarded. The ohms is measured per foot...so the longer wire will have more resistance.

 

thanks and i will check however it's myshort wire thathas 40 times more resistance. book says set timing in middle on new start. true?

 

Could be as simple as a bad plug or gapped too wide. Swap the plugs...see if the problem transfers. If the wires are long enough, swap them too. Not familiar with a '76, but does it have points? Set correctly?

 

gap way to wide. thanks guys . now i have to figure out why it runs but exhausts through the carb. intakes through the exhaust

 

That is still way to much resistance in the plug wire for front.

 

big breakthrough, seems some body ground primary roll pin out of mechanical advance unit and pushed andvance cam stop roll pin(big lobe little lobe) in untill that was acting like the locater for timing. thus acting like it was about 30 degrees to advanced. now to sort out grey smoke out of rear exhaust. i would have never figured this out without the q's and a's. thanks guys plug wires on the way.