Gomer the Ratster.2

Gomer The Ratster.2

Well, I took a denim jacket that I had, removed the sleeves, sewed some patches on it, and wore it over my leather jacket from then on. I took Gomer into the shop and had the guys repair the oil tank.

But the next time that the chain cut a hole into the oil tank, I learned how to remove the tank and take it in to get it fixed. The oil tank was a wrap-around tank that I had to remove from the left side of the bike.

I was determined to maintain Gomer myself. Draining the oil was easy. I parked her up on a curb, removed an oil line at the motor end, and directed the line into a bottle below on the street.

Checking the ignition timing, though, was a bit of a trick the first time. I had the factory book. The book indicated that I should remove the spark plugs. OK. Then, remove the screw plug from the timing hole on the left side of the motor. OK. Then telescope the front push rod cover. What? What is a push rod cover?

How do you telescope it? At that point, I had not adjusted the valves, so didn't know those things.

I went through the book trying to find something that would tell me what I needed to know. Failing that, I located a shop up a ways and took myself there.

I said: “I am checking the timing on my Sportster. What is a push rod cover? Where is that on the motor?”

The guy behind the counter pointed to a Shovehead parked near him and said: “There is a push rod cover, right there by the carburetor. There's four of them.”

“OK, so how do I telescope a push rod cover?”

“Well, you push down on that round part and pull that top part out. Then you push the tubes together. You do that when you adjust the valves.”

Wow. So simple. Good thing I had not tried to adjust the valves using the factory book to guide me. I might have never got that figured out due to the fact that in the factory book, you adjust tappets.

Later on, I got a Clymer book, after destroying and replacing the factory book. So, anyway, I went back and adjusted the valves, and checked the timing. To this day, I don't know how I managed to check the timing without advancing the circuit breaker against its stop. I did not figure that out until I melted the back piston. I will talk about that later.

More later...