My brother bought a 93 1200 off a friend for $500. Someone had done all kinds of custom stuff to it at some point, elongated tank, wide glide front end, billet aluminum rims, drag pipes, red/yellow flame paint job, even the swing arm was two tone....But it had been sitting for years, rusted out tank, no cap, Super E carb just gross, no battery, funky wiring, junk cables, you get the drift.

I thought, hey I can get that running (famous last words), so I cleaned out the tank, soldered the leaks, rebuilt the carb (twice), addressed the electrical, rebuilt the starter, checked compression, plugs, wires, checked bolt torque's around the bike, this and that, filled it with gas, and then it started and ran. Boy was he was excited to take it out for a few hours to see how it goes.

2 hours later we're on the side of the road calling a flatbed.

We thought the rear exhaust was leaking (it was) but we didn't know why. Borrowed a socket wrench and tightened it up. Rode away, but still blowing air and running like crap.

After about 1/4 mile (in an attempt to get it home) smoke started to billow. Then oil began to run. Game over.

I tore it apart today and yes, fried electrical everywhere. Pulled the rear exhaust off and yeah, the gasket was gone at the bottom like I had originally thought but the lower exhaust stud was already coming out of the head...hhhmm. Removed the rocker box and noticed the #3 head bolt was already about 1/4" out of the hole....Pulled the rear head off and low and behold the head gasket was GONE and the head and the jug are both melted away at the leak point.

SO, was this whole fiasco because of a bad head gasket? Or was that head bolt already loose and that's why it all went south? The bike was properly warmed up before operation. Interested to hear opinions.

Just thought I'd share some pics for those who like to see the damage.

 

Looks like it was leaking for awhile, then you lost a chunk of the gasket.

 

Good write up. Head bolt was already loose. Somebody hurriedly put it back together and it is stripped off in there or they forgot to tighten it, my guess.

 

Lol! That bolt was why they end up leaving it sit in the first place...
Never got back to that sumbytch!

Thanks for the Story.
Good Find!

Sorce

 

Somebody was wringing that out hard when it went completely to cut it out that deeply, gasket had probably been leaking for while already. Up side is 1200 stuff is plentiful and cheap.

 

Improperly installed, began to leak, just got worse till catastrophic failure.

But damn, you got me interested in seeing the WHOLE bike, and you just showed the damage.

BTW, you did only spend $500 on the old girl, don't give up on her.

 

Sorry to see that but for 500 and got to ride it you did alright even though it’s toast. Compression check when you got it running should have been on your to do list before riding. All kinds of Sportster parts out there. If you got to fix a Harley ya broke the right one. Good luck and let us see the progress.G.