What's up guys, this is my first post on here, I've been reading through some things the last few days.
I received a 1980 Ironhead sportster as an inheritance of sorts this, and picked it up this past weekend and would like to know the "essentials" of what I should know about it, if that can be summarized somehow. This is not my first bike, my other is an 08 Buell Lightning, so this is my first older and carbed bike. I am an auto tech, so I don't need any dumbed down explanations either.

The bike was given to me in pieces 3 years ago fully dissasemebled. At the time, this was not a project I cared to take on myself, as I didnt know a thing about motorcycles or what I was even working with for parts. A family friend owns a shop, and put it all together for me, not a restoration assembly, but just back together and running. The motor is fully rebuilt, tank and fenders need paint, a few minor details etc.

Stock ironhead motor, some kind of baffleless slip on's, S&S Super E carb and air cleaner, 85 front end with single rotor, has an upgraded generator I was told, and an accel electronic ignition unit.

Where are good places to source parts?
Is there a diff in the 80 and 85 forks & brakes?
Am I still going to have to worry about the ignition, I don't know if thats a decent unit or just a cheapo?
Will most slip on's fit to the headers?
Which models are going to have interchangeable parts?
There is no speedo or tach on it, will I have to get an original or are there some aftermarket ones that will work?

I'll put up some pics tomorrow or later so you can see what I'm working with.

 

Welcome! to the forum and to the IronHead craziness. First thing is to get the two manuals - Any HD shop, indie motorcycle shop, J&P Cycles, eBay, etc ...

99484-85 Factory Service Manual
99451-85A Factory Parts Catalog

You need the parts catalog to search eBay and other sources for parts. The aftermarket manuals [Clymer, Haynes] are good but you need the factory manual first.

eBay is a good source of parts. OEM parts, used or NOS, are typically better than the new made-offshore parts. These are the ones to try for NOS parts that i know of ...

http://www.tomsnosparts.com/
www.OldDude.com
www.NOSParts.nl <- does not ship to USA
www.JWBoon.com <- does not ship to USA
www.SportySpecialties.com
rdns@genesco.net <- decals & transfers

You could easily find used tach and speedo on eBay; new reproductions are available - they just do not say Harley Davidson" on the face. Lots of other choices.

1978 to 1983 have dual front disc brakes which are not very good. The older and newer single disk brakes re better. If you want real stopping power go aftermarket.

I have used Cycle Shack slip-ons for both my 1980 and my 1978. I think that you can just cut the drag pipes and install the slip-ons. Good idea to check first tho. The drags will cause a loss of power around 3000 RPM.

1979 to 1981 use a different frame than the other years. So the rear fender, seat, fuel tank and oil tank/battery box are unique to those years. Most everything else will fit. But there are many small differences among the years. www.spoortster.org is a good source for historical info.

I do not know about the ACCEL EI. If you decide to change look at the Ultima kit.

Pics! We need pics! If you do not post pics we will not believe that you have the bike.

 

Thanks Mick... I see you are on the xlforum as well, I've been reading around on there too.

Here are the pictures of the bike when I brought it home, havent cleaned it up yet





and this is my Buell

 

As far as changing the front, or even rear wheel goes...what do I have to look out for with that? Are certain ones not going to work even if they are the same size? Can you swap in new bearings to make a wheel work, how big can we go on the fronts?

 

Wheels are difficult. It is not possible to say "Just look for XXX wheels". Best is to look thru J&P catalog, at the new wheels, and see what year ranges they fit. Then see where your bike fits in. Of course most will be for newer bikes. But i think there are no short cuts. Just a lot of research.

I have no experience with bearings, wheel fitment, etc.

On XLForum check out my gallery. There are two albums that show how i modified forward controla to work on my 1980: 86TO03ForwardControls and ForwardControls.

 

Good luck with the bike congrats