Gents, just recently bought a 1991 xlh 1200 from a pal, bike needed some work. He had mentioned that the rear cylinder stud had broke off, however his buddy had already drilled it out, so it just needed to be tapped and helicoiled. I got the right helicoil kit, come to find out that whoever drilled out the old stud had drilled too close to the exhaust port, and even if i tapped and helicoiled, the exhaust wouldnt fit correctly. So now im at a loss.. I may need to just remove the jug and have a machine shop fill the hole and do the tapping. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I do not have alot of time at home, so this project bike literarlly just went from small amounts of work to a major amount of work if i'm correct.

 

So it sounds like part of the original stud is still in there? Find a machine shop that likes challenges.

 

Depending on how much of the new coil is showing in the port touching it off with a dremal works. Ive had to unf**k more buggered up shovel ports then I can remember.

 

I can't help and it is too late now but there is a jig to drill the old stud to the tapping size of the stud so the correct tap can then be run in to remove the rest of the old stud.

It was wrong for the person to drill the hole oversize by all accounts.

 

I think I would pull the head and take it to a competent machine shop or a Harley indy shop with experience. You can pull the head in an hour or so. Just make sure you are at TDC compression stroke when you remove the valve train. You don't need to pull the cylinder off unless you want to replace the base gasket, which might be crumbling anyway. When I did a 1250 upgrade on my 1991, the base and rocker cover gaskets pretty much disintegrated.

I have a brand new Cometic rocker cover gasket set if you are interested, send me a PM.

John

 

Personally, my first step in a situation like this would be to call Dan at Hammer performance and ask him what your best options are. I'm sure he's seen this more than a few times and he'll be straight with you. If Dan says he can fix it I would just ship him the head and the helicoil kit. Their shop prices are very reasonable and they specialize in headwork. Otherwise, sourcing a used head would be another option. Those heads are very easy to come by, but then your have the gamble of buying used engine parts and not knowing why they are no longer part of a functioning engine.

 

When I said the jug, I meant the head* not the jug. Its the rear cylinder left stud (closest to the tire). I have been trying my hardest to find a solution to this mess. I am a fairly decent TIG welder, however I do have my reservations about doing this work on my own, and I may just replacing the head. Just sucks that this minor miscalculation on some previous owners part turned into a costly fix, I wish I had caught this before I pulled the trigger on it. So for now, I'm digging thru the internet looking for more ideas. its a shame these heads are aluminum, if they were steel, I'd be more inclined to use my tig torch.

 

I'm weighing my options, I have a 1972 Ironhead that is completely disassembled which will require a bunch of my time.

 

Well, I'm weighing my options right now. The issue I'm really having is that I bought this bike with the intent on it being a budget friendly fixer to get on the road quickly, but so far I've already invested another $750 into it, and I still hav'nt even taken it for a spin yet. I've also have a 1972 1000cc Ironhead that is completely disassembled, which has a ton of replacement parts that are about to be put together, but I do not have much time to be in the shop. Its looking like that 72 Ironhead is going to be a couple years long project.

 

Just thinking outside the box.
If it is a small off-set.
Is it possible?
Could you get a stud, cut it and weld it together but off-set to desired alignment for flange.
The stud would thread in head and the off set would go through flange.
The off set and flange would keep stud
from spinning.
Alternatively could the flange be modified?