Topic: Any body have any experience with 1982ish harley shovel heads

[jamesb]

Going to look at a 82 Electra glide Saturday. Any opinions would be helpful. Oh it runs good and has a fresh top end needs tires front brake line and speedo cable. $4000 firm

[754]

Sounds good or would be up here at least.  I think some 82 were a special edition with gold striping and maybe belt drive..

[Red Good]

82 electra glide should be a 4 speed shovel head , from the factory would have had bags  and a fairing and a tour pac . Both ends will have big full coverage fenders . Should have enclosed primary with a chain drive in there and rear chain drive as well .

But I have seen them called flh's and only the serial number corresponds with an flh . Good luck and if you need any more info let me know . 4 isn't a bad price but it better be nice and run super good . Red 

[jamesb]

The guy said it runs very good. Top end was just rebuilt. No fairing it has the hard bags. No badges I'll find out tomorrow afternoon hopefully the picture will down load

[Red Good]

Mufflers and carb are not right or at least it has the wrong cover on the carb . That is very common tho . Bars look right and it needs more seats  . Bills for the rebuild ? Nice looking bike . Not a bad buy , not as good as I like but I buy them to sell so there has to be room . For a ride me keeper bike it's fair . Good luck .

[dave500]

four grand here wouldnt get you half a broken harley engine!

[jamesb]

Thanks for the info red. I did not know what exhaust and breather where supossed to be on the bike. I'm going to research it before I go this afternoon thanks again

[dusterdude]

It has an s&s air filter,if you're lucky it has an s&s carb too

[jamesb]

It's got a Klein carb on it the bike is in very good shape runs good. It only needs a few things speedo cable front brake hose and tires. It's been repainted very nice paint so it looks like I'm going to buy it. I know I'll be cussing the hell out of it when ever it breaks down.

[Terry in Australia]

They were a great bike in their day. My mate Dave had a 1979 (AMF) Sporty which actually went really well, so he imported a 1983 ex-Milwaulkie Police Electra Glide in 1986, and he rode it everywhere.

The only thing that went wrong that I can remember is the (Japanese) starter solenoid crapped out, and we had to push start it on our trip to Bathurst in 1987. He pissed me off as he rode beside me smoking a cigarette behind that barn door fairing, and somehow drinking a cup of coffee too!

Obviously Evo engined bikes are better mechanically than shovels, and you could find a good Evo for 4 grand in the US, but I'm guessing that you want a shovel? Anyway, have fun with it. Cheers, Terry.

[jamesb]

The evos around here are more money the shovels are starting  to come down in price I have had Harley's in the past my first one when I was 18 it was a piece of sh!t then I had a 79 a bigger piece. So now I'm trying my luck with this. The guy is being forced to sell it his wife told him he needs his own car. He's after a quick sale hence the price. I figured it would be a investment.

[72 yellow]

I had a 77 FXE Superglide.  A turd.  Only kept it a year due to repairs and poor build quality and recalls.  Posted a pic on another thread here.

[Terry in Australia]

I'd love a Superglide with an Evo (or better still, an S&S) engine, I could register and insure it with a "Club Permit" for 68 bucks per year, and it'd go as good as a modern Harley. Cheers, Terry.

[jamesb]

Well i got her home tonight. She ran good didn't want to stay running at idle a few little electrical Twerks it's all good though my weekend has been already planned out.

[Terry in Australia]

Well done mate, make sure you post some pics. Cheers, Terry.

[ohiocaferacer]

Hope you have better luck with your bike, than I had with mine.

A few years ago, I purchased a 1982 FLT Classic shovel. Owned in for a couple years and the motor blew up on me twice. Stock motor, with less than 40k miles. First time.....the wrist pin clip in the front cyclinder came lose and allowed the wrist pin slide out and mill a groove in the side of the cyclinder. I honestly believe the bike left the factory without a clip installed. There were no traces or marks showing a clip was ever in the piston. Had to replace the cyclinder, new piston and rings. Second time was about 6mths later, cruising into work at 5am on the freeway at 65mph.......and the piston rods seized to the crank. Fortunate for me, I heard the rod bearings coming apart a split second before I pulled the clutch in, then the motor seized solid. This one required a complete rebuild of the motor.......bottom and upper. When I saw some of the machining on the internal part....my jaw dropped. Several parts must have been from the left over reminants of old mill stock, as parts were'nt even milled....just left as uneven saw cut ends. I had heard from several sources that Harley during that period was trying to get rid of the remaining shovelhead parts, to make way for the Evo's. Therefore their quality control was bad and these late model shovelheads werent as reliable as the early shovel's. I definately found that to be the case.

After I got the motor sorted out....just had a ton of little nit picky issues with the bike. Starter/solenoid issues, electrical issues with the stator, and a ton of issues with the clutch plates sticking.......which would launch the bike as you tried to slip the clutch to take off from a stop.

Dont get me wrong.....this sounds like a negative thread, but I really enjoyed riding the bike....when it was running. The shovel's have a different ride, sound and power.......I really enjoyed that. Just got tired of breaking down on it and having to fix the next issue.......got to the point where I quit riding it for fear of breaking down. Worst time was when the carb decided to freeze open while driving thru town in 15 degree weather and sitting in the cold waiting for the wife to show up with the truck and ramps. Froze my ass off that day.....LOL!!

Honestly, I would have kept my shovel......if I had not needed the money from it, to purchase current Harley. If I would have had the time and money to sort thru all the little issue.....it would have eventually became a nice bike. Here is a pic of mine prior to selling it.


Good luck with your new ride and have fun with it. Its a nice looking FLH!!

[dusterdude]

Buy a super e and dump the keihin

[jamesb]

Here it is at home

[Duke McDukiedook]

So, if Ohio's experience is the norm they are basically Range Rovers or Jaguars on two wheels.

[jamesb]

I guess the pics didn't download. I'll try it again

[Terry in Australia]

So, if Ohio's experience is the norm they are basically Range Rovers or Jaguars on two wheels.

Nah, that's not the norm mate, go to the PO thread and you'll find plenty of stories about Honda's with major issues too. I've only owned one Harley (1984 iron head Sporty) and I loved it, but back then, I paid cash for the bike, but couldn't afford the insurance, so sold it.

I wish I still had it now though, it was a brilliant bike. All the myths I'd heard about unreliability, oil leaks, dodgy electrics, poor handling, lousy brakes, etc etc, turned out to be total bullschmidt, I did a 1000 mile weekend ride only weeks after buying it, and the only bike in our group (2 Harleys, 1 Moto Guzzi and a CB750) that broke down was my mate on his mint K2 when the contact breaker arm for cyls 2&3 on his new OEM points plate broke in half and we had to do an ignition swap on the side of the road.

Then again, I know guys who own Range Rovers and Jaguars who think they're fantastic too, so what do I know...............

[Bailgang]

So, if Ohio's experience is the norm they are basically Range Rovers or Jaguars on two wheels.

Nah, that's not the norm mate, go to the PO thread and you'll find plenty of stories about Honda's with major issues too. I've only owned one Harley (1984 iron head Sporty) and I loved it, but back then, I paid cash for the bike, but couldn't afford the insurance, so sold it.

I wish I still had it now though, it was a brilliant bike. All the myths I'd heard about unreliability, oil leaks, dodgy electrics, poor handling, lousy brakes, etc etc, turned out to be total bullschmidt, I did a 1000 mile weekend ride only weeks after buying it, and the only bike in our group (2 Harleys, 1 Moto Guzzi and a CB750) that broke down was my mate on his mint K2 when the contact breaker arm for cyls 2&3 on his new OEM points plate broke in half and we had to do an ignition swap on the side of the road.

Then again, I know guys who own Range Rovers and Jaguars who think they're fantastic too, so what do I know...............

I wouldn't quite say it's the norm but back then you would would've been rolling the dice with any HD that was built during the AMF years. A brother of mine briefly owned a 78 XLCR and it's build quality was absolutely horrible. I think it was during those AMF years that HD earned most of the bad rep you always hear about. 

[jamesb]

AMF was out to make money and in doing so had to cut back on quality. Is the reason those years where bad. I hope this one does me good I've already spent about 75.00 on it and haven't even got the tags yet. The po really didn't do much but ride it. It appears that 45% of the bike is loose so this atfternoon it gets a good once over tonight . Tomorrow I'm taking her for some serious crusin. I figured I'll have about $300-$400 in it right off the get go. Tires,speedo cable,brake line and a few other piddly things. Thanks for the positive replys

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yeah, I meant but did not say during that time period they seemed to be a little sketchy on QC.
No generic Harley bashing here, I know they make decent stuff- you just pay and pay for it.

[72 yellow]

The poor build quality was also due to sabotage on the line.  I was talking to a guy who worked at Detroit H-D back in the early 70's when I bought my 73 XLH Sportster.  He was going to open a crate to prep a new bike.  Inside was a note saying "I lost my wrench, hope you can find it."  He ended up tearing into the bike to check.  Inside the trans was a combination wrench.  I had no problems with my Sportster.  My 77 FXE was another story.  Never understood the mentality of sabotaging your own job.

[dusterdude]

Union issues at the time

[seanbarney41]

from what I have read, union issues go back to the '50s at Harley...from what I have seen of the bikes, the engineering departement were part of the union!
...overall though, even the AMF bikes can be made to work very good...it just takes a huge aftermarket and huge body of specialist knowledge to do it.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I don't know if all AMF bikes were lemons either, Davey (my mate with the Electra Glide) had a 1979 AMF Sporty and it was brilliant, I loved riding it and even offered to buy it, but Davey wouldn't sell it, so I bought my 1984 XLH in Feb 1987 and shortly after, Davey traded the sporty in on the 'Glide.

To give this all a little contrast, after I sold it and moved to Queensland in 1989, I bought a 1980 Ducati 900SS. Well what can I say, it was the most beautiful POS that I ever owned. While it looked superb, handled like it was on rails and sounded like a big V twin should through it's Conti pipes, I had problems with it from day one. When it got hot the valves would stick due to dodgy cast iron valve guides, the electrics were 1950's lawn mower quality, it vibrated worse than any bike I've ever owned, things fell off it on a regular basis, and that was just the start.

I did an oil change and there was just too much metal to ignore, so I took it to a Ducati specialist. He quoted me 4000 bucks just for parts, (a crank pin and rods assembly was $1300, compared to only $300 for the same item for a Sporty, back then) so I brought it back to Victoria in pieces and bought my first BMW K series bike, which crapped all over the Ducati in every aspect, apart from perhaps, "Soul", but I didn't care, I just loved being able to ride 6 or 7 hundred miles in one day, in comfort.

I sold the Ducati for $2750 at a swap meet, and even though they're selling for up to 10 times that amount now, I've never been tempted to buy another one. I do like the modern Ducati's though, so if I wanted a bike that I wouldn't ride much, I'd probably buy one. I'd still rather have a Harley though, they're a great bike. Cheers, Terry.