QuestionQUESTION: Sir, I read for over an hour on your previous answers but didn't find a clue about this 1989 1200 Sportster has 15,000 miles with S&S/ drag pipes. Purchased bike after it sat for 4 years and had tanked cleaned, carb rebuilt, new battery, plugs & wires. ( Points cover is riveted closed)Bike began to miss intermittently( good days, bad days) had rhythmic miss then progressed to rough cutout. I had carb bowl checked. Do you suggest coils or ignition?
Suggestions to upgrade and if yes/no where to buy parts and how to install?
ANSWER: Pull your plugs and let me know what color they are. Also, what upgrades do you want to do? What are you looking for, more horses?
Mike
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QUESTION: I replaced plugs and wires last week just for posterity
( aged, but functional) the front plug was healthy white on the ceramic and clean burning- although the rear plug had one small brown spot( 15* out of the 360* circle) that looked as if it might have been burning a bit unevenly.
I was asking if you had a suggestion for an upgrade, but actually the bike runs likea racehorse on good days already!
I was curious if the riveted cover meant the ignition module was original and why nobody else had asked about changing theirs on your forum.
Answerthe ignition might not be orgional, since you can put rivits back in after removing them. Since your plugs are good, then it probably not a ignition problem, but a carb problem. I would recheck the carb for dirt as well as the petcock filter. If the coil was bad you would be fouling plugs.
You can change your ignition, but you wouldnt really gain anything by doing it, except spending 200.00 to 400.00 depending on which one you get. Most of the time, people only change the ignition when it goes out.
Good luck and happy riding
Mike
