Hope it's ok to post this, please move or delete if not allowed.
I picked up a relatively low mileage '04 Train back in November 2020 for cheap (I was soon to figure out why)...figured with a little tweaking, it would be a solid, dependable ride until I wrapped up my Shovelhead chopper project.
I went into this a stranger to modern bikes - never owned a softail, anything with more than 4 speeds and a single cam, and never anything with a complex electrical system. I'm not a stranger to wrenching, and being that the bike had a carb, I felt like it was something I could take on relatively easy.
First step was to get it running right. The bike came with V&H big radius pipes, a conical air filter, and a Pro One billet front end with LED turn signals. The factory harness had been mangled to install a Badlands load equalizer and the wiring to both the front end and the LED rear turn indicators was pretty ugly. Apparently rather than taking the tank and rear fender off to do the wiring the right way - repinning the connectors and plugging into the main harness - the wires were cut, twisted together, and secured with half a mile of electrical tape.
She didn't run real well either. The bike was hard to start, choke was almost non-functional, and the carburetor leaked fuel out the air filter. She would stumble at off-idle and frequently coughed through the carburetor. Cosmetically, she needed some help too. While the tank and fenders weren't removed for the wiring additions, they were at some point for a liberal coat of flat black paint over the original Lava Red Sunglo.
First step was fixing the carb issues. I bought a rebuild kit and new piston, diaphragm, and jets from CV Performance. When I got the carburetor off, there were no HD markings at all. No Keihin markings either. Apparently at some point, the bike was outfitted with a cheap Chinese knock off. That wouldn't do, so I found a suitable HD replacement and rebuilt it. Added a CVP mixture screw and brass inlet elbow as well. Since I was that far into the project, I decided to check the cam chain tensioners. They were worn, so a new chain, tensioner shoes, and cam chain guide were installed. I also put in new S&S lifters, quickee pushrods, and pushrod covers, as well as chrome lifter blocks. Since I was already blinging it, I added cast brass pushrod collars with praying hands (from Ryan McQuiston out of CA), a chrome carb top, mini bread box air filter from Trident Cycle Supply, and chrome cam chest and transmission covers.
Now that she was running great, I moved to address some of the cosmetic issues. The V&H pipes hit the scrap heap and I put on a set of Samson upswept fishtails and changed the very dated bullet headlight out for a Bates style chrome unit. My apologies for not having any "before" pics...she was just too homely to snap a picture of. Here's where she ended up at that point - late spring of last year.
By October I had fallen in love with the old girl, so I decided that I couldn't leave well enough alone and wondered what she'd look like with more of a chopper flair. I put on progressive shocks, which lowered the rear 2" (needs to go back up an inch...I'm dragging on everything).
My 'Train came to me without a functioning fuel gauge, so I picked up an H-D "Diamond black" gauge and fuel cap along with a rebuilt sending unit. I'm not a fan of the square instrument panel, so I opted to buy an 09-17 Heritage piece to replace it. To fit the instrument panel, I used a tank top plate from an '08-up Softail and cut off the fuel pump bracketry. I removed the sending unit bracket on my stock tank plate and spot welded it on to the new plate. The hole for the sending unit connector needed to be enlarged, so a few minutes with a carbide bur took care of that. It was a little work for something nobody will ever see, but it looks factory and the gauge works perfectly (well, it did after a little tweaking on the float arm).
In the meantime, I started having intermittent issues just after starting her. She'd fire right up without touching the throttle, but would die within 4 or 5 seconds. The speedometer stopped working too - nothing on the LCD odometer screen. At first I suspected the VSS, but it checked out. Next I looked at the ignition, but the known good one my local Indie let me try didn't help. On a whim, we unplugged the speedo and lo and behold, it ran perfectly again. Must have been an internal short in the speedo - perhaps a data link issue. I bought a new "vintage" style speedo from HD and threw it in.
Next up I wanted to tackle the shoddy electrical issues - and while beginning this process, really started to plan out the build. I never really cared for the standard "catalog" seat offerings for these bikes and, since I wanted a custom/chopper look, I decided to see what I could find in a solo seat. I happened to catch a glimpse of a really sweet Twin Cam Softail chopper/bobber from Japan and that led me to Nacell (Dual Works Enterprise) - and their amazing Softail builds. These guys put together some killer TC and EVO softies - and their solo seats, IMO, flow better than anyone's on these awkward TC frames, so I hit them up for a seat and stainless mounting kit.
While I was waiting for my parts from the land of the rising sun, I removed the factory wiring harness for repair and modification. I knew I was eventually going to want a swingarm mounted fender so that meant lengthening the leads to the ignition box and relocating it. I also didn't like the plastic wiring harness channels in the seat area or the ugly vinyl/PVC factory wiring loom.
I ended up un-pinning all the connectors on the main harness so that I could replace & lengthen wires as needed and topped the harness off with much more eye appealing asphalt covered cloth loom. While I was at it, I relocated the coil with a sweet kit from DK Custom Products, added 10.4mm Taylor wires, and mounted my DK mini horn on the front downtubes just below the neck.
I also added a Custom Dynamics Triple Play equalizer/controller into the harness (tucked under the fuse box) to integrate my Fork Co. Bullet tail lamps/turn indicators.
While I was doing the wiring mods, I decided to add a neat little kit from Exile Cycles (Russ Mitchell of Biker Build-Off fame). It's basically a relay system that converts the handlebar controls to operate with 4 mini pushbutton switches located in the left grip - L&R turn signals, horn, hi/lo beam, and starter. Each function except for the starter has a dedicated button (starter is activated by holding the hi/low and pressing the horn button). Will allow for the stock switch pods to be deleted...tidys up the bars nicely!
To mount it, I added a rubberized cork mat to the sheet metal panel under the backbone and behind the neck for a little cushion, then drilled holes for zip ties to mount the relay box and mocked it up. The kit is designed to be plug & play, but I modified it by shortening the wires to tuck everything in and added an 8 pin connector for the 4 switches to make bar swaps or returning back to stock easier. I tossed the supplied crimp connectors and soldered the power leads for the buttons. On the bike's harness, I relocated the headlight lead and shortened the "branch" for the LH controls by an inch or so to maximize space and keep it clean. A lot of work for something completely hidden by the tank. Just wish I had flipped the Exile sticker around the right way, haha.
Will be adding a Kustom Tech master cylinder, clutch lever, and throttle housing on some Biltwell "chumps" after I get custom cables and a brake line ordered. For now, the stock controls plug right in and function perfectly.
Next up was taking care of the ugly frame horns/fender stanchions. A sawzall made it quick work and I did a little shaping with a grinder. Will come back and dress this area more later.
My seat came in from Nacell, so I got it mounted up. They offer 2 spring heights; 45mm and 60. These are 60's. In these pics you can see the benefit of dressing up the wiring in the seat area;
And in this final shot you can see where I relocated the ignition box; in the space under the TSM where the optional security siren would go.
01-26-2022 | 10:39 PM
04 FXSTB "Bright Train" Build Thread
