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Jeff Higgins Jeff Higgins is online now
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Higgs Field
Posts: 22,836
Quote:
Originally Posted by 71scgc View Post
Since we're gettin' our designations straight, isn't it an ironJUG sporty not an ironHEAD??

It's still a shovel...

Carter
Uh, no...

Both the heads and cylinders are cast iron on an Ironhead Sporty. On a Shovelhead, the cylinders are cast iron and the heads are aluminum. Additionally, the Sportster has always been a unit construction design with the motor/primary drive/transmission all sharing a common case (actually one of the first), whereas the "Big Twin" (early sidevalves, Knuckles, Pans, Shovels, Evos, and now Twin Cams) have always had three separate cases - engine, primary drive, and tranny all run in their own individual cases. Two entirely different machines. So, no, an Ironhead Sportster is not a Shovelhead.

As an aside, Trock Cycle did, however, make what they called a "Shovester" kit to put Shovelhead heads on Ironhead Sportsters. They allowed for bigger valves and ports, which we all discovered was a step in the wrong direction on these motors. The real "trick" heads were the old Robeson Industries "Thunderheads", which were aluminum and more or less mimicked XR750 heads, but fit the cast iron cylinders of the 900 and 1000cc Ironhead Sportsters.

So, um, yeah - let's get these designations straight. It's pretty clear you really aren't "an old Harley guy" after all...
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Jeff
'72 911T 3.0 MFI
'93 Ducati 900 Super Sport
"God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world"
Old 09-19-2014, 03:00 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    #50 (permalink)