Goat's 1977 Potato

[Goat]

So yeah, many years ago I met this cool dude called Chris. He lives in Christchurch. Apparently he was a born loser, but I liked him anyway.
It turned out he was a bit of a badass, and was into the devils bikes. He had an Ironhead Harley. A handsome dude with a handsome bike.

I was in love. Every time I'd call in and visit Chris, id have to pop into his shed and sit on his Ironhead chop. It was just the coolest thing. I knew I had to have one.

Fast forward a few years, and an auto bid on a friday night. And I had purchased this non running, broken gearbox, POS. Yay, just what I need. More projects. But I enjoy self inflicted misery. So yeah, cool one. nice.

Took my shitter of a ute all the way from Wellington to Wellsford to pickup this turd. Had my dad rolling up with me. We share a love of misery, projects and motorcycles. So both were equally excited at the prospect of acquiring another non running project.
Both of us never thought we'd see the day when either of us would buy a Harley! Low and behold, April 2021, I became a Harley owner. Who would have thought.

Made it all the way home. What a mish. We stayed in cambridge. But boy, a lot of driving in a turd of a ute. A relief to have it back in the garage. 
I'm sure the Harley would appreciate its new stable, adorned with French vehicle memorabilia, and sharing its space with and Italian stallion Laverda, a Miata, and some of japans finest 2 strokes!

 

[Goat]

So the only description was that it was a non runner, suit parts. Gearbox broken.
Cool, exactly what I was after! an expensive unknown on the opposite end of the island. Perfect.

So first step was to try and figure out what was wrong with the gearbox It was stuck in gear and the clutch wouldn't disengage fully. Real easy to maneuver around. So whipped the chain off.:

It was a shit to get the clutch out. But made some tools to help. The oil looked disgusting. But there was no broken metal (yet) so hadn't grenaded, good? i suppose?

 

[Goat]

I got the gearbox out and could see what was happening:

Still no chunks of metal. So that was good. Though you can see in the back of the engine cases someone has been in there to repair. So it has had a catastrophic failure at some point in its life.

[Goat]

Gearbox out on bench, you can see the damage. Which must have happened previously. As there were no bits in the gearbox!
Looks like the problem was the shifter rod had popped out of the shifter caddy. So Thats all the problem was. Yay. However, i wasn't happy with the condition of the gears....

This one was completely missing a dog!

 

The others had loads of chips on them:

 

 

I managed to track down all the gears i needed as NOS. Great. Were cheap as chips too. Howevere, it took almost 3 months for them to turn up from the states.....
Project parked.

[Goat]

While waiting for the bits, i set to work cleaning up all the corroded engine. Well, just a quick pass to make it not look like it had been pulled out of the sea.

Making a start. Looking good. Has potential. This was just a quick 400 grit with some CRC, then a quick going over with some autosol.

 

 

 

[Goat]

Had ol mate @kicker blast my carb in his cabinet. Oooohweee. Looks like a bought one.

 

A few months later... with the covers all cleaned up, and now on a new bike table (why did i not get one of these earlier. My god what a difference), it was ready to pop the gearbox back in.

 

Absolutely essential stuff had started to turn up from the states:

 

Now there was a whole debarkle around the kickstarter. The setup on these is mickey mouse at best. These are such a cunt to kick over, and all the force it placed on this thin cast alloy sprocket cover. So they just shatter. Good thing this is an electric start model.... with all the starter equipment removed. yay!
I ended up tracking down new kick start shaft, and a new sprocket cover. I made up a supporting bracket to help take some of the kickstarter force. So hopefully the cover should be good for a while anyways....

 

[Goat]

The tank this came with was so fucking yuck. I had to get rid of it. I just bought a repro factory sportster tank. As i just want to get this complied first. Then it will get the chop.

So yeah, not a fan of the ape hangers. So pinched some bars from dad off one of his Bonnevilles (Hinkley not OG) which also have 1" bars.

The front forks stanchions were rust fucked, and not a big fan of big rake bastards. So tracked down some OG one. Had to do alot of checking and cross referencing, as the 1977 is meant to have Showa (not grower eh Chris ;)). But this had Kayaba forks. Which were only on 73 and 74 models. So thankfully i checked and didn't pay heaps for the wrong stanchions.

Looks good with flat bars (and new front and rear shocks)! You can see the sprocket cover and kickstarter installed here

 

I also got some new tyres, which transform the bike. They're Shinkos, i'm too cheap for firestones and avons (i went that route with my XS650, and youch. not again!)

 

I must say, i like the tread on the rear Shinko even more than the firestones! The sidewall transition is just perfect.

 

[Goat]

So yeah, kinda stopped taking pictures of things like wiring and the like. But fully rewired the bike. And installed an aftermarket regulator rectifier on the back of the oldschool generator.
Also managed to get it running. What a cunt. Jesus, i've kicked over a few bikes in my time. But nothing as cunty as this. It can't be cos of the compression ratio, as these are like 8.5:1 or something. My japanese 4 cylinders kick over easy as. So must be the ratio or something. 
I'm not a small unit, and i can jump on the pedal only to bounce off due to it being on compression stroke. Mental. 

I gave the tank a quick satin black to get it complied. I have a full AMF sticker set in brown and orange to decorate the tank. So once its complied, i'll gloss the tank and pop the stickers on. 

Here is as it currently stands. I'm trying to get it complied in the next few weeks. Just chasing some paperwork misery. So will see how it goes.

 

Once its complied, i don't know whether to cut it up straight away. Or enjoy it as is. Likely the latter, as riding it around the hood was a blast. Not only did i feel like a crim, it was actually really pleasant to ride.

Will update my compliance process in detail as it unfolds.

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Run out of likes but great to see another ironhead owner experience the misery of the AMF years product... 

There's a knack to the kicker. Mine's off at the moment but used to find compression and swing through rather than brute force. Got a new side cover so will put it back together at some stage...

I love the 70s AMF stripes too. Look fwd to seeing progress...

[Chris.QCR]

Oh dude ! This was such a great read ! 

Love what you have done already

Hope the compliance is easy peasy

[xsinclairx]

Love a rags to riches build. Good write up!

[tortron]

Its good that you had a 9hr drive to come out to your dad before getting the bike 

i was just thinking of gselling a couple of my bikes and gettting something like this, watching too much lane split boulevard probably 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

There's a heap of knowledge on the XL forum. Some real knowledgable blokes on there (plus assorted American bodge jobs). Used it a lot when I was figuring things out...

[SOHC]

Cool, I have a soft spot for iron head sportsters, i am after a set of pipes like that if you come across any

[Goat]

I love how the engines look like they're from the 1920s.

Def not a powerhouse. But has torque for africa. Was a bit concerned how the 4 speed box would be. 1st and 2nd are fine for around town/hills. Will see what its like on the open road once its complied.

 

Currently doing the dance with compliance people. Go in one day, they give you a list of things you need. And horror stories how you can't register it if it doesn't have this sticker, or before the 1st of November cos if the new abs rule yada yada....

Go in the next day, literally the opposite of what was said before. Don't need the exemption required the day before, but need a different one, as what was acceptable documentation yesterday is not acceptable today and what was not acceptable yesterday, "oh nah mate, thats fine" today 

I don't know... Help a fuller understand....

Why can't it be easy. Should be a solid process. Not down to some persons mood on the day. If they're in a grump, then it makes your life misery. Should not be like that.

 

[Goat]

Alt docs have been approved. 6 days shy of 3 months after i've submitted them.

Need to book compliance now. Probably a 3 month wait on that....

Shit Jeah, I am excite.

[xsinclairx]

Awesome! Standby while everyone that is currently into small bikes move over to old Harley’s! 

[kicker]

 

[HighLUX]

 

[Kimjon]

Fuck yeah, awesome read. Keep up the good work