I initially thought it was the carb, cos the pilot air hole was filled with oil that had dribbled out out from around loose breather bolts. Anyway, sorted that out but it still won't idle consistently. It will for a few seconds, then it'll pop and bang and die. I've noticed that when it's misbehaving the rev counter is flicking around, shooting up to 3k then back down again. Should I be looking for an electrical problem, rather than a fuelling problem?

There's a clue in there somewhere...

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

Yes, I realise that. What should I be looking for and where

I seem to have made it worse now. Cleaned all the connectors that looked a bit dodgy, now I'm not getting a spark at all

I have the manual, doing the idiot proof testing bits (mostly continuity, I can do that )

Tested the coil resistance as per the manual - both primary and secondary coils in normal operating range.

Long plug cable resistance 7170 ohms - ok
Short cable - 6000 ohms, not OK, should be 1625 to 3796 ohms.

So I need a new short cable, but I wasn't getting a spark on either plug

Take both leads to the local Harley shop, they will have Sportster ones that will fit. Probably a few dollars I guess.

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Try this on yer fueller...........

Yes, I will, but unfortunately bike shops aren't open on saturday afternoons over here (regulations )

Anyway, I put the coil and leads back on, and it fired up, it's even idling, no tacho flickering either

set fire to it
go to the pub
job done

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Obey the principles without being bound by them.
Bruce Lee

Check CPS wiring under/behind the starter.

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Mithered ta death.
92 MB
96 S2T
98 S1W
00 M2
01 X1
03 P3
10 CR

I disconnected that to do some of the easier troubleshooting stuff, everything looked OK in that area. Anyway, took it for a quick spin, seemed OK, just the tickover was a bit high. Hopefully just need to tweak the tickover/ pilot screw settings a bit now and it'll be OK. No sneezing on the quick test ride, which was the first time in a long time

Apparently they don't. They've ordered me a Buell front one from the East coast, $9.60. For that price I thought I may as well get a rear one as well, but it turns out the rear one is obsolete

I guess it all depends what part numbers you use. I definitely got a set of Sportster ones that fitted, I have no idea the part number I used I'm afraid. I might have it at home somewhere, but that's not exactly helpful right now. The coil is the same, just a matter of lead length.

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Try this on yer fueller...........

I suspected that, but I wasn't in a position to argue with the HD guy behind the desk

Yep, I'd suspect the same too. Over the years there must be dozens of not quite the same HT leads across all the different variants of the XL Girlster.

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Try this on yer fueller...........

Was that because his IQ was in single figures?

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.