My Harley Sportster is losing power.?
Ok, so I’ve had my 93 Sportster for about 2 years now. The previous owners did the 883 to 1200 big bore kit on it. I used to be able to jump the bike off the line and had a hard time keeping the front wheel on the ground. I could take the bike to over 100 with ease. Now the bike is taking off slow and I’m topping out at around 65mph. I replaced the fuel lines and wrapped them in heat tape after a friend thought the gas was boiling. I removed the gas tank and cleaned it out to make sure there was no debris. One day I stopped by Autozone and bought something where I poured it into the oil tank and it said it would help with compression. Surprisingly it did work. For about a week or two. I’m wondering if it’s possible that a piston ring is blown. Should I replace the jugs and pistons or does anyone have any other suggestions?
There are too many possibilites for anyone to give you an answer. You need to take it to a shop and have someone ride it (hard) and do the proper diagnostic tests.
How many miles are on the engine? How many since the 1200 conversion? You say you ride it hard….Could be scored cylinders, bad rings, needs a valve job, intake and/or exhaust leaks, clutch slippage, this one is odd sounding, but I’ve seen it happen ALOT, very notorious on early 5spd Sportsters…front sprocket splines worn out causing the sprocket to slip on the main drive gear (feels like clutch slippage)…etc…too many possibilities to list without being able to ride and test it out, compression & leakdown.
It’s a 93, does it still have the original clutch? If so, one definite possibility ( and PROBABLITY ) is it’s shot and time for a new clutch kit. DO NOT get an HD clutch set, go with a Barnett Extra Plate Kit and a new diaphragm spring. The stock HD clutch has a “spring plate” in the middle of the pack, it is basically two steel plate with small “leaf” springs between them, the assembly is riveted together using soft brass rivets that are notorious for going out and shearing, allowing the springs to break free and circulate though the primary….also, with Barnett clutches DO NOT EVER use HD oil!!!…the Barnett kit say this right on the instructions…use a high qulaity ATF, HD’s Syn 3 and Formula + primary oil will cause the Barnett friction material to failure causing clutch slippage. If the clutch is worn, this would be a perfect time time upgrade the cable to HD’s new “high-efficiency” cable, this cable is specially made with a nylon coating on the actaul cable and a nylon coating inside the cable housing, nylon riding on nylon…makes for a VERY easy and SMOOTH clutch lever pull.
Also note…oil and fuel additives are nothing except “band-aid” cover-ups for an actual mechanical problem…if you need additives to make it run better, it needs to be fixed.
I have some suggestions on how to tune it and pistons, valve/head work etc, too much to list here, just email me here through my profile if you want to know more… it’s EASY to make your bike run even better than before, it just takes a few little-known tuning tricks that most shops just don’t take the time to do…
1995 harley sportster hotrod harley 3
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