Three and a half years ago my '76 FXE shovelhead started failing me—hard starting, fouled plugs dripping with oil—and after some digging into it I decided it was time to rebuild the top end.
The engine was a S&S 96" top end on the stock cases built in the 90's and took some tearing down and caliper crawling to figure out what parts I'd need, but by December 2019 I had everything needed to rebuild the top end plus a hardtail frame to put it in. I'd just finished building my hardtail Evo bobber a few months prior and was looking for a new project so figured I might as well redo the whole thing.
Might as well do it how I wanted.
Might as well take my time and make every piece I could.
Over the next few months I rebuilt the top end and handmade the exhaust, sissy bar, foot controls, passenger pegs, engine top mounts/speedo mount, jockey shifter and linkage, as well as all the modifications the frame needed to work with a 2 gal. Wassell-style peanut tank, Lowbrow fender, and B&C two-up seat. There were still a few small parts to make and a few others to track down, but nothing that couldn't be done after powder coat and chrome so I snapped a few photos of the bare metal bike and tore it down.
This was April 2020.
The world was scrambling. Things weren't running smoothy.
We all remember.
By the time I had my parts back from chrome and powder coat my daughter was born, work was busy, and life—as it's said—just got in the way.
The time has come for a winter project.
I'll be putting the shovelhead back together this winter and documenting it here as well as with videos on my Instagram and YouTube.
