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I acquired this bike around Christmas time of 2011/12. It came from Maryland and the previous owner had posted pictures of it on this Forum around September 2008. You can take a look for the sake of comparison – page 23. The engine had been rebuilt when I got hold of it and it was a running machine but it needed work.
Since I have had the bike it has had a ground up restoration. I won’t go through all the work done as most people looking at this site will have been there or at least have an idea of what is involved.
Biggest expense was the gearbox. The oil drained off it had the consistency of cold coffee. When I saw that I new I was in trouble. The case was good but all the internals had to be replaced due to water damage. There was even a tide mark around the inside of the case. It was pretty surprising that it ran at all given the degree of corrosion. I should add that the internal rebuilding was done by Iain cottrell of 45 Supplies. One of the few people in the UK who really knows old Harleys.
I would guess that this was a late ’46 maybe early ’47 model and had a bull neck frame. It had in line forks though so at some stage the originals had been damaged or just swapped out.
The fork assembly was fully refurbished and ready to go back on the bike when I got hold of an offset rear fork on ebay. It was expensive and a pain taking all apart again but worth it to get the bike back to its proper running gear – and enabling me to run with 16inch wheels. I also felt that having the proper offset forks would add some value to the bike should I ever wish to sell it (at least that was the justification in my head for spending the money)
With the new offset forks I needed new bars. I had always wanted to run Flanders bars. I picked up an offset top clamp during the project and kept bidding when decent Flanders bars came along. The prices always went well beyond my pocket and I had just about given up when the bars you see on the bike with 3.5 inch risers came up in Australia. I put in a bid at the starting price which was the absolute top of my budget expecting to get outbid as usual. Turned out that nobody else bid and I won them.
A restoration project always throws up some oddities along the way. Although the engine had been rebuilt just before I acquired it I took the opportunity while it was out of the frame to take off the heads and barrels so everything could be checked out. Iain and I were just washing the sump out when he noticed something shiny down in bottom of the engine. Turned out to be a tiny ceramic chip, probably knocked off the coffee cup of the guy who rebuilt it.
The fancy buddy seat is for sale and I was trying it on the bike before making a decision. I’m still undecided. It looks like a later Panhead seat but it does look good and lends a certain presence to the bike.
The bike is back on the road now and with a bit of good weather in the next month I hope to have ironed out all of the gremlins and have it ready to go for next spring.
Martin
In the UK
I acquired this bike around Christmas time of 2011/12. It came from Maryland and the previous owner had posted pictures of it on this Forum around September 2008. You can take a look for the sake of comparison – page 23. The engine had been rebuilt when I got hold of it and it was a running machine but it needed work.
Since I have had the bike it has had a ground up restoration. I won’t go through all the work done as most people looking at this site will have been there or at least have an idea of what is involved.
Biggest expense was the gearbox. The oil drained off it had the consistency of cold coffee. When I saw that I new I was in trouble. The case was good but all the internals had to be replaced due to water damage. There was even a tide mark around the inside of the case. It was pretty surprising that it ran at all given the degree of corrosion. I should add that the internal rebuilding was done by Iain cottrell of 45 Supplies. One of the few people in the UK who really knows old Harleys.
I would guess that this was a late ’46 maybe early ’47 model and had a bull neck frame. It had in line forks though so at some stage the originals had been damaged or just swapped out.
The fork assembly was fully refurbished and ready to go back on the bike when I got hold of an offset rear fork on ebay. It was expensive and a pain taking all apart again but worth it to get the bike back to its proper running gear – and enabling me to run with 16inch wheels. I also felt that having the proper offset forks would add some value to the bike should I ever wish to sell it (at least that was the justification in my head for spending the money)
With the new offset forks I needed new bars. I had always wanted to run Flanders bars. I picked up an offset top clamp during the project and kept bidding when decent Flanders bars came along. The prices always went well beyond my pocket and I had just about given up when the bars you see on the bike with 3.5 inch risers came up in Australia. I put in a bid at the starting price which was the absolute top of my budget expecting to get outbid as usual. Turned out that nobody else bid and I won them.
A restoration project always throws up some oddities along the way. Although the engine had been rebuilt just before I acquired it I took the opportunity while it was out of the frame to take off the heads and barrels so everything could be checked out. Iain and I were just washing the sump out when he noticed something shiny down in bottom of the engine. Turned out to be a tiny ceramic chip, probably knocked off the coffee cup of the guy who rebuilt it.
The fancy buddy seat is for sale and I was trying it on the bike before making a decision. I’m still undecided. It looks like a later Panhead seat but it does look good and lends a certain presence to the bike.
The bike is back on the road now and with a bit of good weather in the next month I hope to have ironed out all of the gremlins and have it ready to go for next spring.
Martin
In the UK
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