Now that you can see the nice chrome headlight, you may notice those oval-shaped turn signals. What were they thinking? BTW, did you notice the nice chrome front shock and HD decal? The decal makes the front end in my opinion.
I paid a visit to my pal Joe at Superior Cycles in Edison for a few parts, including a new ignition, some missing hardware and some stock turn signal lights for the front end.
I removed the right tank so that I could wire the signals to the correct molex connectors hiding under there, and after an hour of pulling pins and re-wiring.. I now have some beautiful round turn signals for the front. I also installed a front turn signal relocating bracket on each side so that they wouldn't hit the tanks.
While I was at it, I installed the new HD ignition switch (with a new set of keys!), put the correct bulb in for the high beam indicator, and made a few tweaks to other parts as I try to take the bad parts of the 90's out and just get back to a classic bike. The license plate bracket was big enough for a car plate, so I cut it down and made it the size for a motorcycle plate... way better.
I gave her an oil change, then noticed that the float sticks occasionally if I leave the fuel petcock on and it isn't running. I ordered some new gaskets for the CV carb, and that will be the next installment.
The black headlight was not unattractive, it just didn't go with a chrome front end. I gave it to my brother-in-law for his blacked out springer...it should be perfect for that one.
The mounting hole had been drilled out by the previous owner (gee, thanks), so I needed to drill, tap and install a heli-coil just so that I could put the stock bracket back in for the Chrome headlight. No, I didn't have it... and yes, I had to re-wire the headlight back to the stock connector. The funny thing is that with that black headlight bracket installed by the previous owner, there was no way to mount the front shock back in due to the limited space at the top shock mount now being occupied by the aftermarket headlight mount.
I'll post a pic of the chrome headlight in my next post, with the story of the replacement of the hideous turn signals. Stay tuned.
The shop is packed full, hardly any room to work... so just add another one to the mix, right? I picked up a '91 Springer Softail FXSTS which needed a little love. This model is the same as my old pal George had back when I first started riding (after I got married). It was my favorite with that chrome springer front end, and my son-in-law and his father each have one too. It was a good deal, so I couldn't pass it up.
It came with a ton of extra stock/aftermarket parts, just in case I didn't like the seat of LAF pipes. The most obvious first fix was the need of a new front shock for the Springer (it had been removed and was no longer any good), so I ordered a new one from HD. The previous owner started to "black-out" some chrome, so that also had to be corrected. Luckily there were a few Chrome parts in the boxes, including a chrome headlight... but how to install it would be a job.
I gave her an oil change, then noticed that the float sticks occasionally if I leave the fuel petcock on and it isn't running. I ordered some new gaskets for the CV carb, and that will be the next installment.
