I have a 1967 Harley XLH Sportster. I rebuilt the
"Backfiring" is a pretty broad term depending on where you live. Some people refer to backfiring as popping from the exhaust while others refer to it as the engine spitting through the carburetor.
I'll assume that you're talking about popping out the exhaust pipe. If it does this after you rev the engine and it backfires on the way back down to idle, this is typical of an exhaust system sucking air. The mixture is extremely rich under these circumstances and will not ignite. But, if your exhaust system is sucking air, it combines with the fuel air mixture already there and bring it to an explosive mixture thus the backfire.
You can check you valves but I've always found that if the valves on an Ironhead are too tight, it's extremely difficult to get it started due to the low compression on that cylinder.
Check you ignition timing and points setting. Also, what kind of condition is your mechanical advance in the distributor in? I'm assuming this is an XLH model and not the magneto equipped XLCH.
What type of carburetor is on the engine? Hopefully not the original Tillotson that it came with. If it's an S&S, the low jet should be a 28 and the main jet a 66 to 70.
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