Hey Guys I'm in over my head...

I'm pretty new to bikes and Buell. I don't log in much but I've spent some ass hours in front of a computer on the forum trying to learn about my new toy. The only motorcycle work I've done is an oil change. My very first bike is an 07 xb12s with around 17000mi I bought from a buddy a year and a half ago. Its mostly stock except for the engine breather reroute(Big thanks to the guys posting on here for that one). Last fall I took it on a 170 mile ride and when I got there I heard a noise and a front exhaust stud had snapped off flush. Not sure what to do I took it to a buddies shop and we drilled it attempted an EZ out and broke that off inside as well (FML). Having to work the next day I tucked my tail between my legs, tightened up the other side, limped it the 170 mi home, and parked it.

A week ago a neighbor gave me use of his shop to work on it. I took it for a test drive first (couldn't help myself) brought it back to the shop and heard a broken stud from the rear head....Yay! With full use of an old auto shop, many hours researching this forum, and enough farming experience to figure out lefty loosey righty tighty...I decided to tear into it. After I removed plastics I found the culprit. The front Exhaust mount on the bottom of the engine was completely missing. I figure the weight of the pipe plus all of the extra vibration was causing the studs to snap.

Engine rotate then removed frame and front fork completely so I could put the engine/rear swing arm up on a table for better access. It scared the **** out of me but after doing about a Junior College degrees worth of research on the subject I decided that my baby was going to have to go through some surgery to removed the 2 broken studs and EZ out. Welded a washer then nut combo to the studs and wiggled back and forth applying lots of lube until they broke off then repeated for about 5 hours while simultaneously drinking beer for moral lubrication and watching the hockey game (Yes this guys got a dish hooked up in his shop!). They both finally came out clean!!! I was so happy I think I cried a little...then I drank one metric **** ton of beer to celebrate!

While it was apart I got new Spark Plugs in it from ASB(the originals were still in it), drove an hour and a half to HD dealer for new studs/nuts, and did an oil change. Put everything except for the plastics back on last night and took it for a test drive about 11:30(again to excited to let it sit). Here's where my new problem starts. If I hit the gas to hard it kills it. It took me 4 tries to get it to 65 MPH because if I hit 3000 RPM it dies until I hold the clutch in down shift and baby it back into gear. When I got it back into the shop I revved it up in Neutral...same issue, it just seems to bog down like its flooding. I unhooked the airbox cover and looked in the throttle body and it revved up no problem...it ran like a top this way. so put the cover back down and it bogged again. While it was running I put pressure down on the air box cover and it killed the engine completely. At this point I'm assuming that its not getting any air.

Now after suffering through that god awful sob story my questions are....


1) Can an air filter go to hell sitting in a clean shop for a week?(I don't no if it has ever been replaced) Could it possibly be that simple?

2) Is the lack of air just a symptom of a different bigger problem and removing the filter just treated the symptom not the main cause?

3) Do I need to track down a cable and plug it in to a computer? If it's electrical I may be at a loss but it won't stop me from trying

4) Is it possible that I just put Humpty Dumpty back together wrong? I didn't think so because it fired up right away and idled fine but I have no idea what I'm doing so it's definitely plausible.


Any responses are greatly appreciated!! Just remember you're talking to a guy with one successful oil change worth of motorcycle mechanicry under his belt so dumb it down a bit.

Thanks!