13 Years With the Electra Glide

Quest for Power - Taking the Long Road

My quest started innocently enough. By the end of my first year with the bike, I had installed a K&N air filter. For the next several years, I would be satisfied with the performance such as it was, and concentrated on dressing the bike up instead. But as each year went by, the bike seemed to get slower and slower. It was not because of the additional weight I had been adding in the form of chrome non-essentials, it was most likely because I had gotten too familiar with the bike. Our relationship needed some new pizzazz.

Replacing gaskets.

As the 1994 riding season slowly came to an end, I had decided to revitalize my love affair with the Electra Glide. The justification for the plan's execution would come courtesy of a blown base gasket.

Oil leaks had become a regular occurrence for me. My first one happened one day on my way home from work. I had crossed the bridge from Quebec into Ontario and had just stopped for a red light. The driver from a car stopped next to me called out and asked if I knew I was leaking oil. Somewhat taken by surprise, it took a few moments to digest that observation. I looked down at my engine and was shocked to see a river of dino juice flowing from a lifter block, along the cases, and then disturbingly dripping to the ground. I looked up with the blandest expression I could muster towards the concerned driver and told him that yeah, I was aware, and that no, it was no big deal. Inwardly, I was in near panic. I tried to estimate how far I could go based on the flow rate of the leak before the oil tank would go dry. Surely the 30 odd kilometers I had to do to reach my garage would be ok. As I rode home, I thought of my friend Walter and the major oil leak he had once endured on his Triumph that had lasted from Montreal to Toronto . We had used silicone around the cylinder's base to slow the loss of oil, and were actually successful (somewhat). So what was 30 kilometers compared to that?

During my early years with the Harley, I did all the repair work myself. Although the repairs were relatively simple and had mostly centered on the replacement of various gaskets and warped covers, they had been stressful never-the-less. My bike was my main transportation to work, and thus the completion of any repairs had always been urgent.

I finally gave in and took the bike back to the dealer when the cylinder base gasket let go. In the process of the repair, I was advised to do a top end overhaul at the same time. There had been a lot of carbon build-up, and there was some evident wear, so an over-bore was also recommended.

The work would be done over the winter and the bike would be ready for the 1995 riding season once the snows melted. This gave me time to order some performance parts and have them installed as part of the same job.