A compression test should be made on a warmed-up engine with the choke plate open and the throttle butterfly wide open. You need no obstructions in the air pathway. If you have a restrictive air cleaner (like the stock one), taking the cover off will help a little, too.

 

that is with the choke cable pushed in right?(normal riding posistion, not pulled for a cold start) i also replaced the round 6" filter as soon as i got it. know when i shut the bike off and go to restart it, i turn the key on and there is a little "pop" at the carb and some smoke rolls out for a minute or so, or till i hit the start button. when i shut the engine off, it doesnt do it. just when i turn the key back on b4 hitting the start button

 

Yes the choke **** pushed in.

There should not be anything happening when you turn on the key before pressing start. What you are describing is a spark igniting some unburned fuel, with the exhaust at the carb because the intake valve is open. The spark should not occur.

So when you turn on the key, current flows to the coil, spark occurs. This should not happen.

May be some other cause. I am not expert on this. See what others say.

 

thanks for all the help mick. everything you have said is going pretty well. wish that service manual would get here. feel really stupid on the rattle i had that sounded like a playing card in the spokes. it was the fuel tank. iwas pulling and pushing on stuff with the engine idled up, and found that if i pulled up real hard on the fuel tank, it quit the "buzzing" sound. i put rubber between all the mounts and re tightened and cured that sound. i also pulled the ignition switch, and tried to tighten the horn mount which is mounted on a 1" rubber sleeve. the horn shakes around up and down a little, with 2 rubber gromets that hang down agianst the jugs. that must be normal. while i was at it, it wasnt a wasted pull apart, as i was able to get at the carb clamps, and got 2 full turns on those. what i have know left is the engine rattle. for an easy way for me to explain it, it is like a camchain on a toyota truck motor when you can hear the chain rattling agianst the cover because the chain guides are worn out.it does it at a stand still and increases with the throttle getting louder as i accelerate the engine. there is no cam chain on here, but a drive chain under the cover somewhere right? i didnt get the stethascope yet, but seams like it is the noisest at the generater and the front jug. talked to the previous owner last night, and he said it has never had a tune up other than oil and plugs(it was his dads 1st, so im the third owner) he got the bike with 6,000 miles on it 6 years ago, and he said it has never had points or a tune up, or any engine adjustments since he had it. he believes the cover for the points still has the factory rivets in the cover(dont know if that means when you change them you have to drill out rivets and bolt it or what) and the bike has 24000 miles on it know. over all it starts easy, other than the rattle over an idle, it runs well, and it even had the original rubber on it. i replaced the rear tire, the front is all weatherchecked, but about half there yet, ill be replacing that next monday. for 24000 miles, no maintanence other than oil,plugs, it runs half *** decent, and has no oil leaks anywhere with the motor never being opened. the air cleaner is just a round cover with a bunch of holes in it(factory cut) and then a 6" around 1/4" thick pice of foam behind it. i replaced the foam(harley davidson part), now that i think about it, and that is when the engine noise started(coincidence?) and the little "pop" from the carb when you turn the key on a couple of minutes after shutting the motor off. thanks for all the help mick and others!

 

Could be the generator drive gear making noise, or more likely, the primary chain is loose and needs to be adjusted. Did you oil the new air cleaner foam?

 

no. the mechanic said to run it dry as the oil would just atract dirt. it is the round style crome color cover(beehive) with like ten(factory) little holes in it. when you put the foam in, it extrudes out of each the holes. the old 1 rotted out the foam everywhere it came out the little holes. when it is idling with the new foam in there you can hear a continious pup/pup,pup(not a back fire, kind of like a farmall tractor) when you put your ear next to it. if the book doesnt come pretty quick im going to take it in and see how bad the price is going to be to adjust the pushrods,get a tuneup,adjust the maindrive chain,points, adjust the clutch and such. would have rather done it myself, but dont want to wreck anything either

 

that's why you oil a air filter, to attract dirt. if you run it dry the dirt gets in the motor. get a different mechanic. i wouldn't let him do any valve adjusting or anything else either.

 

Wait for the manual. Do all that stuff yourself with our help. You will do a much better job of it than any HD trained mechanic - unless he is an old guy who had one of these back in the day. Plus you do not learn anything if someone else does it. And you do need to learn the stuff. And it is very early in the season.

That horn setup is normal.

Adjusting the primary chain and the rear chain is the first step in engine noise management [i just made up that expression]. The book has the procedure.

The generator can be a source of noise. It is a simple device. You can remove it by disconnecting the two wires, removing the two mounting bolts from the right side, tilting the outboard end down to 5:00 position, then sliding it out. The outboard end dismantles easily; you can clean it up [it will be filthy in there!] with spray can electrical contacts cleaner, measure the brushes, lightly lube the needle bearing, and return it to service. But you may wish to wait for the manual.

The bike is 1981 so it has electronic ignition not points - unless it was changed out by a previous owner, which was quite common. You will need the factory manual for that as the info is not in any other source. The rivits etc are with the round cover on the right hand side. If the cover is still rivited on the original EI is still in there. There is an EI module also elsewhere on the bike.

As already pointed out the filter should be oiled with air filter oil. You might remove and re-install the A/C assembly to see if you left something loose. You do not want nuts and bolts getting sucked into the cylinder heads!

Adjusting the two chains and the pushrods is definitely something you should do yourself.

 

thanks mick. hate to keep bothering you guys with this stuff. just kind of shooting around in the dark till i get the manual, so i dont want to open a can of worms i cant fix until i have the manual. still looking for the parts manual. you gave me a part # for that of 99451-85a and i havent located that 1 yet. i had a guy who said he had the 99451-80, and the 99451-82(said this was better than the 1 you mentioned, as it covered more precicly 1979 thru 1982 oem parts). should i grab that 1 or continue to look for the specif book you mentioned? i figured i would move on to something else while i was waiting for the manual, and ran into small prob #2. original brakes on the bike also. went to the rear brake rotor and it wiggled, figured no big deal, went to tighten it up and the bolts just spin. looking in from the rear side it looks like there are inset nuts that should be held in by 5 points(the nut would slide in) and they are both spinning in the housing. not sure if i can use a little jbweld to get the nuts to hold still and run the bolts out and replace, or if i have to replace the caliper.(is housing white metal? so it cant be tack welded?) cant thank you guys enough for the help. just feel kind of guilty bothering you guys with all these questions. i am by no means afraid to get dirty after 40 years of working on log trucks and trailers. some of this stuff is just a little different. manual will help greatly, and you guys words of wisdom, allowing alot of shortcuts and easier ways of doing things as you have crossed these bridges already. MANY THANKS! i'll try doing it all myself

 

thanks for the response. im going to try doing alot of this stuff myself with the help of all you guys. im mechaniclly inclined on diesels and know my tools, just never messed with bikes to much. the manual will help alot. gonna get on ebau 2night and find a parts manual. the guy who looked at the bike is a independant harley bike builder. he had a bunch of stretched choppers, baggers, fatboys and mutiple very nice project bikes on the bike lifts. just thought he knew what he was doing. 1st time i ever met him. he replaced the rear tire for me when i picked it up from the seller. dont think ill go bacck to him after talking with you guys. thanks for your input!