QuestionI know it says HARLEY only but I seen you do a lot of performance stuff and s&s is common so I think you are able to help here, thank you very much on your opinion here...
I have a 2005 Iron Horse Chopper with approx 2,000 miles on it. Here is a brief description of what's been done and I was looking for your input or thoughts on this...
I rode last year approx 2,000 miles with no problems at all (it was bought new last year)
I brought it in before this riding season to a shop for a exposed primary, pipes and a aftermarket air cleaner.
The day I picked it up it seemed to be blowing bluish / white color smoke upon start up and in between shifts mostly.
I called the shop and they explained that the valve seals were most likely the cause and its been fairly common recently for the 124's to do that.
I broke the motor down and brought it in to a different shop and the bored it 10 over, did a full valve job and I re-assembled it with all new pistons and gaskets.
Drove it to break it in and it still smokes, seemed no different?
I stopped by another shop of a guy I knew who builds performance Harley motors etc and he took a small line from the front head that was running into a VACUUM port on the carb and ran it from the head to the ground instead...smoke problem 100% completely gone! It actually seems to even run smoother but NO smoke...
I don't know if when the factory air cleaner assembly was removed to install the "cone" shaped one that the line from the front head was re-routed to vacuum and should not have been or? They also ran the rear 3/8 line breather directly back into the new aftermarket air cleaner which the other guy also ran to the ground with a filter at the end.
The new guy claims that this motor is basically a big air pump and the vacuum on the front head was in a nut shell holding oil in the top of the heads with this vacuum from the carb and when it was full or the bike was turned right it would blow out, because it was BOTH pipes getting full of oil sop he said the vacuum line to the head was doing it...
YOUR EXPERT THOUGHTS WOULD REALLY BE APPRECIATED...THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE IF YOU COULD E-MAIL ME BACK RIGHT AWAY...THANKS
AnswerThe line that they ran to the air cleaner is not a vaccumn line, but a vent line. This is where the heads are vented. Alot of people run this line to the ground. When it vents a small amount of oil goes with it and that is probably where the smoke was coming from.
What the second shop did for you is fine and it sounds like the smoke problem is solved
Good luck and happy 4th
Mike
