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New Project : 82 Sturgis

82Sturgi

82Sturgi

Member
Howdy, new to the forum and to restoring a bike so I'll have a ton of questions and hopefully lots to contribute to other folks.

After getting this bike to my house, I noticed it has a pair of RevTech jugs on it, and after reviewing it a bit more it appears as if the previous owner, who passed away, may have been restoring this bike. He has been deceased for about three years and there is no way to know what was actually occuring to this bike. I've checked out the case on it and it is the orig factory case. As you can tell by the picture (oops can't post them yet too new) I am missing a few parts in the cam case and else where.

My 1st question to the group is if I plan on at first seeing if I can get this bike to run, before I tear it down to frame, to complelety restore it. Do you think I should pull off the heads check out the valves and measure the cylinders to determine the type of cam I should put in it? or should i just buy a stock cam and other bits to try and see if she'll run?

The previous owner was an old school bike builder back in the 80s and I'm assuming he tossed on the RevTech components for a quick upgrade, but this is an assumption based on seeing new spray paint around the motor and on some old sparkplugs that are in it.

I somehow need to verify what was going on with this bike so I can determine if I need to rebuild the motor, or if maybe it has already been done? If it has been done I figured I might as well see if I can get it running and get some miles out of the engine as it is.

Any opinions or suggestions? Looking forward to getting started on this bike.

Thanks in advance,
Mitch
 
Hey Mitch, I just wanted to say welcome to the forum. I don't enough to lead you anywhere but I am sure others will be chiming in soon. Enjoy your stay.
 
Welcome to the forum also. Not knowing what parts are missing all together it's a hard to answer your question. If it were me I would do a compression test first. That should tell you the shape of the heads. On deals like this, for myself, I have in the past done as you want ,get it running 1st. then tear it down to rebuild as I want. Once the heads are off you will know the bore and can then ck. the heads for rework and set up for the lift cam you want. I usually have the heads set up on Shovels for the max.,550 lift but don't put that much of a cam in it.But if I did I'm ready to go.Good luck with your project and keep us posted
tourbox
 
If the bike is really a Sturgis, it would be either an '81 or '91. Only two years for that model. I have a '91.

1980 - In honor of the historic Sturgis motorcycle rally, Harley-Davidson releases the FXB Sturgis model (model year '81), employing belt drive, black chrome appointments and 80 cubic inch engine.

1991 - The Dyna line of motorcycles debuts with the 1991 FXDB Dyna Glide Sturgis®.

On the '81, the engine should be a shovel. On the '91 it was the EVO.

If you truly have a Sturgis, then restoring it to Factory condition will be a labor of love and very difficult to accomplish. Getting original '81 Sturgis parts will be a hunt. But that is the only thing that would make the bike unique and worth more than its current value as a '80's shovel.

TQ
 
All, thanks for the welcome I appreciate it.

Tourbox:
Thanks man yeah I think I'm definately going to get it running, though right now I need to figure out what type of cam I need to put in the bike since it is missing a cam. I know if the heads and jugs have been modified the right cam is going to be critical to getting the timing done. Any advice on how to determine what type of cam I should buy? Was thinking I may need to take a look at the heads and the bore then try to size the right one, or just buy a stock one to start to get it running. Not sure how much of an issue it could create.

TQuentin1:
It is an 82 Sturgis, 80% original, 15% missing (tank, forward controls, outer primary cover, cam cover, carb, exhaust), 5% aftermarket (RevTech Jugs and a couple other smaller non critical pieces). I'm not sure i'm going to try to get back to factory. Part of me wants to make this bike mine when tear it all down and put it back together. I plan on keeping it as stock as possible, until I can collect all the right pieces to think about restoring it. But for now I will do some type of 82 Sturgis theme to try and keep it close to orginal and the concept of this first dual belt non-AMF built bike alive.

Thanks a couple more posts and I can attach some pictures as it stands today.

Mitch

TQuentin1:

Sorry just re-read your post. From what I have been able to decipher I believe there were actually 3 years of the Sturgis made, 1 by AMF HD and 2 by non AMF HD. The 1st two were FXB (also noted as FXSB) models 1981 and 1982, then the 1991 FXDB.

The 1981 I believe model came with AMF in the HD logo on the tank and was an AMF bike. The 82 came with out it and was a non AMF bike.

The 1991 like you said is an Evo and has some of the "throw back" concepts to the 82.

Again I'd share a couple links but can't post them yet.

Mitch
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As far as a cam goes you could go stock or an Andrews B grind.It has a 485 lift and no head work needed, if your heads have not been modified.I have ran that cam in several shovels and liked it for street and on the road.Do you have a shop manual, if not I would get one because of cam spacing.It will also show what parts might be missing in the gear(cam) chest. If you think this guy did a bore job on it,and never ran it, raise one of the piston to TDC and look in the spark plug hole. If he did then you should see a new piston with a good flash light.Keep us posted,I like old Shovels.
tourbox
 
For those interested here are some pictures of the bike as is:

pic1.jpg

pic3.jpg

pic2.jpg

pic4.jpg
 
82Sturgi said:
Sorry just re-read your post. From what I have been able to decipher I believe there were actually 3 years of the Sturgis made, 1 by AMF HD and 2 by non AMF HD. The 1st two were FXB (also noted as FXSB) models 1981 and 1982, then the 1991 FXDB.

The 1981 I believe model came with AMF in the HD logo on the tank and was an AMF bike. The 82 came with out it and was a non AMF bike.

The 1991 like you said is an Evo and has some of the "throw back" concepts to the 82.
Click to expand...

Mitch,

Great info, and stuff I did not know about the early Sturgi (I guess that would be the plural version! :s).

The good thing about that is that there may be more stuff out there that would help get yours back closer to stock condition. With mine, there were only 1600 '91 Stugis models made (numbered). So it is a bit more of a challenge.

On the cam, I am partial to Andrews Products also. Here is their info doc. Depends mostly on what you want to do with the bike.

http://www.andrewsproducts.com/PDF_files/catalog/2012-HD-Catalog.pdf

I will follow your progress along as you go. Please take lots of pix!! You can create an album on Photobucket.com to document your project. That is well received here by the membership.

TQ
 
As far as the missing parts in the cam case: Breather, Oil pump drive shaft/gear, looks like the oil pump is gone too. I see a cam bearing in there but I probably would replace it they're cheap enough. I'd go with the Andrews "B" and a new set of lifters since it appears you only have two in their lifter blocks. Make sure you get a set of cam spacer shims before you install the cam, and follow the install instructions from the cam manufacturer. And yes get a real H-D service manual the best, most valuble tool in the box. It looks like it's worth making it as close as possible to stock so go for it and good luck......
 
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