gressleybear
Member
have a engine .can not find numbers.supposed to be 1986 1200.just want to know .
what engine
- Thread starter gressleybear
- Start date
Bear, I have Allan Girdler's book on HD since 1965 that has a section on the Sportsters that may be of help.
Seems the 1986 models got a revised engine, the Evolution. The cylinders and heads were aluminum instead of iron, so take a magnet and see what you have. If no attraction, great, you have the aluminum engine of 1986 or later. That old, engines and parts could have been swapped.
In 1986 there were two engine sizes, the 883 cc and later in the year an 1100 cc. You can't tell from the outside, the differences were in the bore and valves. You would have to pull the head and measure the bore to know for sure, the 883 bore is 3.00 inches and a 1200 is 3.5 inches so an 1100 would fall somewhere between. Designations were XLX, XLH-883, and XLH-1100. Don't know if the engines got the 17 digit VIN but if it did, the 10th digit, the year, should be a 'G'. The model was not encoded into the VIN so you can't tell from that. Transmission will be a four speed with a chain drive as stock, there was a kit available to convert to belt but that didn't come out until 1991 and was commonly done when the chain or spockets wore out.
Good luck. Let us know what you have.
Seems the 1986 models got a revised engine, the Evolution. The cylinders and heads were aluminum instead of iron, so take a magnet and see what you have. If no attraction, great, you have the aluminum engine of 1986 or later. That old, engines and parts could have been swapped.
In 1986 there were two engine sizes, the 883 cc and later in the year an 1100 cc. You can't tell from the outside, the differences were in the bore and valves. You would have to pull the head and measure the bore to know for sure, the 883 bore is 3.00 inches and a 1200 is 3.5 inches so an 1100 would fall somewhere between. Designations were XLX, XLH-883, and XLH-1100. Don't know if the engines got the 17 digit VIN but if it did, the 10th digit, the year, should be a 'G'. The model was not encoded into the VIN so you can't tell from that. Transmission will be a four speed with a chain drive as stock, there was a kit available to convert to belt but that didn't come out until 1991 and was commonly done when the chain or spockets wore out.
Good luck. Let us know what you have.
Good to know. Thanks.
gressleybear
Member
thanks for the help.will look on case bottom