It was a 1999 HD Sportster 1200 Custom, but not anymore

When I get done with it you'll have a hard time figuring out what it was and it should have about twice the HP & Torque

 

I found an old school peanut tank for it and a fat bob fender. Now I'm working on getting rid of the chrome, rust and dirt.

The cylinders were so outta round from the factory that the rings never seated and most all of the original cross hatch is still visible even after 13,000 miles! I'll be selling those 1200 P/Cs off and replacing with a nice set of aftermkt 1250 jugs.

 

You plan on cresting the magical 50 hp mark do you? lol

Interesting project.... enjoy

 

LOL, I rode this thing home down the interstate at 80 mph for 2 hrs and it was maxed out!

Not a lot of fund to ride as it was set up, but when I'm done cutting it up it will weigh about 100lbs less and have ported heads, bigger valves, bigger pistons, bigger cylinders, bigger cams and a new ignition. Shooting for about 100HP and 90Ft-Lbs of torque

 

Good luck. I have a friend who raced a Harley-powered Buell (XB9?) and he told me he spent about 100 hrs on the heads alone (welding, cutting,....). While he did eventually get some semi-decent power out of it, reliability went down the tube.

You may want to look at getting some Buell heads for it as apparently they are different and much more efficient (as a starting point).

 

All true, as I understand it the Buell heads are better and the 1200S heads are also mo better, but I'm having these put on a CNC machine to get reproduceable and proven heads that are perfectly matched and flow like crazy.

As far as reliability they should be bullet proof with new OS stainless valves, high performance springs, titanium retainers, 10 degree locks, and bronze manganese valve guides.

 

Keep us in the loop bud

Sounds interesting.

P.S. While I must admit to despising most everything Harley builds or has ever built, I have a real sweet spot for the XR1200 (put an engine like the one you`re building in it and woohoo!!!!)

 

+1 on the XR1200, but you just can't find one of those for $3k yet

 

At least one of those pieces of junk will be no more.

I love harleys, if I could afford one I would have one. My cousin builds early 1900s board track racers for Fred Lange (google it), that is the kind of Harley I would give both ********* for. That said, I despise sportsters with a passion. The ironhead was a damn joke, I don't know why people even like them other than they are affordable.

Keep us updated, custom projects rule.

 

I'm with you. I seriously thought about an XR1200X with the improved forks and shocks but the dealer wouldn't deal so I'll wait another few years and pick one up for the magical $3k number.

 

End play & run out are well within spec, so I'll split the cases tonight and give everything a good cleaning and relubing and start putting this puzzle back together

 

I laid the base color on the tank and it looks pretty good. It's a Porsche paint called Grand Prix White from 1981. I like the fact that the white is not real bright. I had no idea how it would turn out, but it will work well as part of the old school Martini Racing color scheme and the theme for this build.

 

Well looky what came in the mail today

I'm replacing that old tired 13 year old stock CV40 carb with a big dawg that will get me over 100hp...yep you heard me right that's 100hp on a Sportster, but that's not where the fun is...the fun will be the 90 Ft-Lb of torque