I had the local shop put my cam gears and cover back on and now it runs like crap. I noticed that when I checked the points gap that when I had it at the top of the lobe (where you would gage it at) that all of a sudden the cam lobe moved and my points closed. I never remember being able to wiggle that cam lobe back and forth. Should it not be fixed, stable, not move? Can someone tell me something?

 

Yes, It should move. There is a weighted spring loaded breaker plate there to advance retard the timing. That is why you set the timing at a certain rpm. I sold my sportster along with the shop manual, but it is all in there. Just as a side note, my Sportster was an 84 which was electonic ign.. When the modual went bad I changed it over to points and condenser, along with the right coil for points ign. It worked great, and I could fix it.

 

Thanks for the info. I don't know whats going on with it. It was running great. I was cruising and had a wire ground out, killing the engine, like shutting off the key. I took it to the shop and told them while it was in there to put a new gasket on the gear case to stop a leak. The shop says we didn't mess with the timing or points which I believe but now it's sounds bad, runs on the front cylinder and both intermittently when throttling it. I'm troubled to say the least. Any ideas?

 

Check your charging system,plugs and points too! I would think you will get the answer in there.

 

You might post your question in the IRONHEAD section to get more help with your issue. Good luck with your problem and ride safe out there!