Let us know what you find, and how to prevent it!

I'm familiar with the later flanges, but how do these seal on the heads? Are the heads threaded?

 

Its a poor design. Its similar to a compression fitting on a steel line. The manifold is a straight tube with the sealing ring slid over it, the large nut has a taper inside it and the edge of the sealing ring has a mating taper facing the nut. Where they dropped the ball is the sealing ring has a flat edge on it that butts up to the flat edge on the cylinder head threaded nipple. You tighten the nut and the ring gets pushed against the flat face of the threaded nipple and the taper on the other end squeezes the ring around the manifold. They call it a plumbers manifold which they got away from I think in 55, my 54 still has it my 59 does not. They went to the shovelhead o-ring manifold. Really stupid design and there are kits to convert it to the o-rind style but visually incorrect so Im stuck with this.

 

You running the brass fitting on the intake manifold or the Peek seal. And good that you found the issue straight away.

 

Peek seals from the start.

 

after the war they changed the original design of material the brass rings were made from - they became tougher then the soft brass they originally used — that made the a one time use - well the rest is constant issues starting and leaks - every once in a while we have and old head or machine show up with them still in it - they would bend if you twisted them reason they worked as they annealed them selves to the tapers and flat very easy not like the cast iron brass today

 

Easy carb to restore but the rebuild kit makes things more difficult. The needle had a viton tip that didn't really seal so I put a used all metal needle in - fixed. The float pivot shaft in the kit pinches the float arm so the float sticks - I put a used one in and it worked perfectly. I didn't use the butterfly plate screws from the kit either.

Throttle shaft is nice and snug but smooth. Float height set and finished it up. Need to put the right tank on to set the throttle cable length next.

 

Forgot to mention the intake leak repair. I pulled the manifold back off and removed the front threaded nipple. When I did the engine I replaced the rear nipple because it had been reused and had an additional locating hole drilled through it. Based on the amount of sealer used on the rear one I concluded the front one could remain but what I didn't do was pay close enough attention to the sealing surface and I overlooked the importance of the surface finish. So I removed it and replaced it with a new one, let it sit a few days to cure then pressure tested it today. No bubbles.

I ran the intake flange on a flat surface of sand paper to make it flat as well.

The tool I bought was too long to fit with the head installed so I shortened it. Then like a dummy 10 minutes later I picked up that cut off part and eliminated my finger prints on 3 fingers before dropping it and sticking my had in the snowbank like Joe Pesci on Home Alone.



The old one out without too much drama.

 

Been there, done that! Did they turn white? THAT hurts! Literally had to pull my fingers apart. OUCH!

 

Not that bad and no blisters but it sure got my attention!

 

Ferrules on front cable and throttle cable.



Dual leading shoe front brake isn't correct but it looks the part and with any luck it'll slow the bike down. I'll trim the cable end once Im happy with the adjustment.