Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Road King Update 5th November 2011
Things have moved on apace at Cycle Enterprises and my 1994 Road King is beginning to resemble a motorcycle again. Much of the re-constructed, re-conditioned and/or replacement cycle parts are in place and the engine is getting close to completion too.
Starting at the back-end the sub-frame covers, rear crash bars and pannier supports have arrived back from powder-coating. They’re black as black and bolted in place, looking much, much better than the corroded chrome and bubbled paint they presented before.
Geoff’s also fitted the Progressive Suspension Tour Link to hopefully lessen flex at the swing arm and stiffen it up. No problem at all going on he noted, especially as the previous exhaust has gone and the S&S SPO Touring mufflers and Power Tune Duals exhaust system have yet to be fitted.
Also on now is the 940 Ultra Touring Series rear shocks from Progressive Suspension which look fantastic in place, it’s almost a given that they should handle much better than my tired old Progressives but have also dropped the back end down an inch to match the new cartridges in the forks. Geoff, confident, initially bolted the new shocks on upside down as they’re effectively designed upside down - luckily unconvinced though he finally checked the fitting instructions in the box and counter-intuitively - mounted the 940s the right way up.At the front end we discussed the seized GMA floating rotors which don’t float and Geoff showed me the partially stripped six pot calipers which are pretty much seized as well and in need of pads. All agreed it would be a pig of a job to recondition any of it - damn you salted roads! To compound the problem unfortunately GMA’s six-pot system has long ago been discontinued and the company itself is now sold and been absorbed by someone else. Even getting the bespoke pads for the calipers is proving difficult. Once again on this project I might have to revise the ‘just doing it up a bit’ mindset and cast around for a different, more convincing and reliable solution. That solution will probably involve a bigger, more established company which is well known and respected for their braking systems, who almost incidentally also carry, as a matter of course, an extensive back catalogue of spares and consumables for any of the systems they’ve ever supplied. You know, just a thought.
However the forks are done, the Progressive Suspension Monotube fork kit slipped into my ‘retro’ fork legs no problem whatsoever. Cautiously Geoff let me know that the new hi-tech tackle was effectively a lowering kit and he had chosen the less radical drop; one inch lower springs rather than the alternative shorter springs supplied in the kit which would lower the front end two inches. I was happy with his choice, it is exactly what I was hoping for. The forks do look bleeding short even one inch lowered, but I guess there’s not much of them stock once the Road King’s distinctive chrome headlight cowl is removed. Geoff also asked carefully if during my ownership of the machine anybody had dismantled the forks. I replied in the negative which was fortunate as a under a previous owner, someone had put them back together wrong, short ancillary springs in each fork had been in completely the wrong pace. So I’d ridden it that way for a good eight years and basically never realised. Scary, but it handled okay I thought, now the handling has seen all these 21st Century upgrades though I should appreciate the difference.
Ah the engine: It’s looking very clean and purposeful in lots of shiny black with the odd polished or chromed highlight. It’s looking better than brand new already and I can’t wait to see it all in one piece. Hearing it fire up again almost seems like an impossible dream after so much time, but the project really is getting that close. The bottom end is more or less complete and complemented by re-painted barrels and heads. Also looking great is the new chromed Twin Cam 88 long case primary I’d picked up at Manchester H-D during one of their sales. I’d carefully lined it up alongside my original shoddy Evo long primary and they looked very similar and had soon after bought a new gasket which I was relieved carried the same stud pattern between Evo and 88. John Reed over in California has made me up an adapter in his home workshops for the original Evo three stud chromed derby cover. That will hopefully allow it to be fitted to the Twin Cam primary case. Any problems though and I’ll be in the market for a Twin Cam derby cover, which should get a few confused looks from anyone in the know once the Evo is back on the road. Geoff reported no problems fitting the newer primary case to the decade older, earlier generation lump by the way. Way to go Harley-Davidson Motor Co. who don’t normally change everything at once, especially if it works.
My original starter motor has also been blacked out and gone back on (there was never anything wrong with it) but the new show-chromed heavy-duty Terry’s starter I’d basically swiped off my girlfriend Mandie on spec hasn’t gone on Her shiny starter is definitely for Sportsters only. You can tell the difference I was patiently told when the starter motor is off the engine by looking at the grubby end where its gears engage with the motor proper. Still live and learn, and yet another good reason to do these projects.
Special for me but not for Cycle Enterprises where it’s all in a day’s work, was that the S&S 510V Camshaft is now in place. Geoff just threw that factoid in almost as an aside, so I’’m guessing that it wasn’t too much of a hassle. So too I’m guessing that the S&S High Performance Hydraulic Tappets are also installed, seeing as the bottom end is complete and likewise was so easy a task that he never thought to mention it specifically and, okay, I forgot to ask. So er, yeah I’m guessing they’re are already in place when he assembled the rest of the bottom end. It would be logical Captain.
Top end wise Geoff has re-cut the valve seats and polished the exhaust outlets in the head and replaced the tired, slightly pitted exhaust valves with a new set supplied by Manley. He explained that exhaust valves lead a much harder life than the the inlet valves and mine were looking a tad rough but not unexpected given the mileage and age of the bike. The exhaust valves were too rough unfortunately to attempt to re-cut as so much meat would have had to be removed that the valve would’ve risen too far into the rocker boxes.
Chatting with Tony who I’d collected en-route we’ve decided to polish the distinctive Evo rocker box and covers top and bottom with the distinctive Evolution middle sections painted gloss black - so perhaps looking like a a particularly generous Marmite sandwich with a bit of luck. When they come back to Geoff, he’ll finish the top end, installing the S&S Quickee Pushrod Set which were sitting tantalisingly close to the motor which are ready to be dropped inside their thin chromed sleeves and over the new S&S lifters.
When Tony and I popped in on fireworks day, we also took the opportunity to drop off the original petrol tank which Tony has restored to a gleam. He’s invisibly filled a small chip in the paintwork. The chip was luckily on the black area. This is a good thing; matching the silver would have been a real bitch, matching blacks is hard enough. Tony has also lovingly re-polished the lacquer to a glass-like finish. If the work he’s yet to do on the colour-matched panniers and mudguards come out anything like as perfect I’ll be more than well chuffed.
So Big Thanks this instalment to Geoff and the crew at Cycle Enterprises (Stoke Golding, Warwickshire Tel: 01455 213 007), nice one guys!
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