Got this "garage find" FXEF running this weekend.....

Tommy figured that his Pops (who's still riding in his 80's), needed a project to get him off the sofa. So, Tommy found this 1980 FXEF Fatbob for a really good price for him to tinker on. The bike quit running over 7 years ago, and the owner just parked it in his garage. Tommy hauled it over here for me to get it running again.

It's pretty much original, save for the GME brakes, and the Progressive shocks on the back. The bike has 31,600 mi. on the clock, and somebody in the past put a 93" S&S Sidewinder kit in it, along with S&S barrels, S&S oil pump, and an E carb. They even dual-plugged the heads.

Under the dust and dirt is the original 1980 Vivid Brown Factory paint and decals, and the matching Factory brown vinyl seat upholstery is still in pretty good shape. It even has the Factory 2 into 1 collector exhaust, but somebody's cut the slash cut portion of the collector off square.

We figured out that the Dyna 2000i that was in it was fried, so we replaced it with a Daytona Twin Tec, added in a new battery and a set of NGK Platinum plugs, fiddled with the base settings on the S&S E, put a drain pan under the case vent line (if you work on old Shovels, you know why.....) and hit the starter button. Fired right up, and ran extremely well - just a little carbon smoke, which cleared right out as it warmed up. Oh yeah, it also puked out about a quart of oil from the vent line.....

Tommy's picking it up today, and it'll be on it's way to his Pops in New Orleans shortly, and his Pops can ride it and tinker on it to his heart's content. That is, unless the Saints are playing........

Oh yeah, as a sidenote - see that little Miller 100 MIG welder in the background? I bought that welder in 1990 to use in the body shops I worked, so I wouldn't always be waiting for somebody to finish up so I could use one of the shop welders. Well, that welder is still going strong after 22 years of hard use, never have had any issues with it, and we still use it here weekly for quicky welding jobs. Don't be seduced by low prices on equipment, buy quality.