I got "Trouble", my 1977 FXE, in June, 2006. When the bike came up on Craigslist I thought it looked familiar. I knew the owner, and I painted the tank and fenders for him back in the 90s. I knew he had taken good care of it and I had helped him work on it a few times. He decided it was time for him to get something more "comfortable". The bike was pretty much identical to the FXEs I had owned 'back in the day'.
	*	The 'Super Glide' as it looked in the spring of 2008. I don't have a 'before' pictue here, but when I first got the bike it had 6" over fork tubes, an awful looking saddle, and burned up bologna cut pipes. The stock '77 front end had a single disc brake, a 19" front wheel. and the original strutted fender. I picked up 2000 Sportster fender, a set of calipers and lower legs from a '78, refurbished them, and installed them along with a new 21" wheel and a pair of 11" progressive shocks..
Here's ol' Trouble at Shovelfest in Eldred, Illinois in August 2008. I rode 'er there from Seattle, about a 4200 mile round trip, and had a great time on the road and at the 'Fest. The trip took me through a dozen states and I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of my friends from the forum at Shovelhead.US Having ridden 2100 miles to get there I was given the "Iron Butt" award: an 8oz bottle of Loctite !!
		Here are the1978 front end parts. I rebuilt calipers and I shaved off the reflector bosses on the lathe. I built a new 21" front wheel myself. After adding the 11" shocks and a set of Metzlers I had the stance I wanted and some better binders too.
I did a top end rebuild in June 2008. The rear head gasket showed some signs of leaking, so I figured it was time. I had the seats ground and installed Manley valves. I hand decked the heads to be sure I'd have a good tight fit for the new James firering head gaskets..
		The heads were bead blasted and I cleaned up the ports a bit too while I was at it. The guides were in great shape. The cylinders were in good shape too. I checked the clearances, honed them, cleaned the pistons, and installed a set of new Hastings cast iron rings.
This shot shows the nice clean seats, the new Manley valves, and the decking work. This shows the guide seals installed. I used Manley Vitron valve guide seals.
		I had a good set of stock lifter blocks chromed in advance. I honed them and checked the clearances for the new set of Crane lifters. I installed a new inner cam bearing and an Andrews AB cam during the build, but I didn't get any photos of that operation. I was glad to find the oil breather bore in the motor case was in perfect shape. I used a stock HD steel breather.
A lot of polishing and painting was done to give the end result I was after I replaced all the seals in the rocker boxes and cam cover and polshed up the aluminum with my bench lathe. I used VHT satin black on the jugs,
		The heads were aligned and tourqued and were now ready to accept the new S&S E intake manifold and carb. I got an Evo exhaust gasket, split it, and used the sections behind the Shovel exhaust gasket to get a better seal at the exhaust ports.
Things began to go back together by early July, but I knew I would have to get it on the road for a shake down run soon in order to be ready for the 4,000 mile round trip to Illinois. All my time off was thrown into the project
"Trouble" now had a nice tight top end and a nice 'face lift' at the same time. At about 5000 miles she's running really well. As with any bike, there are always lots of projects to do. The next cahpter will be a complete overhaul of the primary drive, but I'll get to that soon. l'll add more pics and updates as things get better. DB