I think I am going to pull the trigger on a used 883 motor. No sense spending 2x on the 1200 when it will get a Hammer 1275 kit and heads ported anyway. Even if I can get my engine running again with the new lifters I think I would like to have a spare waiting in the wings as the 2000-2003 motors (that aren't crash damaged) are becoming harder to come by. If new lifters don't do it I'll just scrap the bottom end (or rebuild it and store it away) and sell off the heads and cylinders. I'm already going to sell the S&S rocker boxes as they are too close to the battery, but they'd be perfect for a hardtail setup. I'll use everything from my primary as it's all new and swap cams as well as mine are new N2s. I feel a little better now that I have a path forward that won't be too expensive, just more work. I built this bike from the ground up exactly as I wanted it and I'm not gonna let some engine gremlin spoil my good time. All is not lost.
Good call on the used engine. When looking for a beater/scrambler the prices on the 883, really even the 1200s are cheaper than a full rebuild. And you’ll have enough spare parts to fully clutter the shop.
Early morning sunshine tells me all I need to know.
Pulled the rocker boxes again today and dismantled them to clean them up. I had a thought the last time I put the bike back together. I realized I never re-checked the pushrod lengths when I swithched from the S&S rocker boxes to the stock boxes. Well, I was running 0.050" shorter pushrods on the S&S boxes which put me at 0.110" preload on the lifters. I checked today on the stock boxes and they are at approx 0.160" of prolead with the 0.050" shorter pushrods so I am 0.060" out from where I want to be and 0.010 out of the max recommended. I ordered a set of custom 0.100" shorter pushrods from Hammer today so that should get me back to 0.110" again. I don't think it has any bearing on my situation as I haven't really run the bike with the stock rocker boxes and I think you still have a little wiggle room at the max recommended. I just don't want to kill another set of lifters. I considered buying some adjustable pushrods but custom ones are only $110 vs $350 for adjustable ones with covers from Hammer and I already have their base kit for the stock covers.
Last edited by OCSpringer; 03-03-2024 at 06:43 PM.
It’s worth a shot with the shorter rods. I have a set of adjustable rods and didn’t want to use them in the 1275. I haven’t played around with the lifters or travel limiters, so not much help there.
Yes definitely still looking at used engines. I just want to make sure I have exhausted all avenues first. After this go around I am completely out of ideas so if it is still having issues after I get it back together I think that is my best bet.
So I went and picked up a set of used rocker boxes on OfferUp for $50 from a 1993 Sportster and the quality difference between the 2003 and 1993 is night and day. The 1993 boxes are smooth and totally cleaned up whereas the 2003 boxes are completely unfinished. Looks like harley just removed the finishing step altogether at some point. Just terrible.
That’s matches what I’ve seen with the 07 and my 20 model. The 20 has a sloppy routed harness, no clear on the frame and swingarm and other small stuff I’ve found that doesn’t match the assembly quality of the 07.
Even found two dry clutch plates in my 20 model, that were never presoaked during assembly.
Had no idea on the rocker boxes, I really didn’t have the bandwidth during engine assembly of my 20 to pay attention to the castings. I’ll be tearing down the 07 soon and will pay a bit more attention.
Finished reconditioning the used rocker boxes I bought. Many hours with a dremel later, they look amazing. Keeping my black tops but redid the other ones as well to keep for spares. I'm just going to trash the originals. They're not worth saving imo.
Last edited by OCSpringer; 03-09-2024 at 01:24 AM.
Well, bought a used motor that John pointed me to on Craigslist down in San Diego. It has potential but sat outside for 6 weeks sitting on blocks, wrapped up in a tarp, under some avocado trees during all that rain we had recently so the bottom half is pretty dirty. I'm going to give it a good scrubbing this weekend and see what I am really dealing with. I had a couple concerns initially but so far things have checked out. For the $$$ it was worth the risk. $650 for the complete motor. It's from a '96 883 with 5500 miles on it. I get the new pushrods from Hammer on Saturday hopefully so I can get the bike back together Sunday and see where it stands. That will decide the fate of this "new" motor. Either way I need to tear the motor down and make sure it's not full of water or anything crazy. It doesn't look like it was outside very long as once I cleaned off the mud from the oil pressure sensor it looked like new. If everything checks out I will send the heads off to hammer and get them redone and order a 1275 kit to slap on there.
02-19-2024, 05:34 AM
