1947 Knucklehead

[eongaro75]

Thanks Eric
the numbers look good for me.
i know the 47 was a single plate and therefore they must be lined up and not broken down.

I've attached some pics of my engine...
Thank a lot foro your support.

Kind regads
Enry

[Speeding Big Twin]

Thanks Eric
the numbers look good for me.
i know the 47 was a single plate and therefore they must be lined up and not broken down.

I've attached some pics of my engine...
Thank a lot foro your support.

Kind regads
Enry

You’re welcome and I appreciate the extra photos. In the SN the 0 looks rounded which is what I’d expect at 5908. (It later became oblong in shape.) But I’m not convinced about the E. And the back of the 7 looks the same as the back of the 7s in the year portion of the BNs when I would have expected the 7 in the SN to look like the 7s below. Also compare very closely these 4s, Es and the L with what you have.









Re the date codes, you may already know J 6 indicates casting in Oct 46 and E 7 indicates casting in May 47. I’ve seen a few Knuckle cases cast in Oct 46 and with BNs in the 6000s but what is a 6000-range BN doing on a case cast in May 47? On a May 47 case I’d usually expect the BN to be over 10000.

You mentioned the numbers look good for you. Did you mean the BNs? If so, what BNs did you compare yours with?
My opinion of them remains the same as before, meaning I still do not think the 6s are consistent with factory stamping. Here are the two photos I posted earlier. Compare the upper portion of these 6s with the upper portion of your 6s. Do you not see the difference?









When you say you know the 47 was a single plate and therefore they must be lined up and not broken down, are you suggesting the 47 in your BNs was done with a tandem stamp?
On many occasions the 47 in BNs was indeed done with a tandem stamp and my photo collection thus far indicates that when it happened the 47 looked like the 47 in my photos. Notice in my examples the 4 and 7 line up fairly neatly with each other across the top. Also notice the amount of space between my 4 and 7 is about the same in both examples.

But in your 47s the 4 is noticeably higher than the 7 and the space between them is bigger on your left case than it is on your R-H case.
Also compare the back of my 7s with the back of the 7s in your 47s. See the difference just before the back connects to the top?

And notice between your 7 and 6 the dash is horizontal and rectangular but my dash is diagonally-stamped and it is not rectangular. And the left end of my dash is weighted. This type of diagonally-applied dash seems to have been used in the majority of 1947 BNs.

And although some 47 BNs did have a horizontal dash that was rectangular in shape, the few authentic-looking examples I have collected reveal a sans serif 7 in the year portion as opposed to the seriffed 7 we normally find in that position. In other words it seems two set-ups were used for the year portion of 1947 BNs. But your BNs aren’t consistent with either of them.
Eric

[eongaro75]

Thank you so much Eric, you are truly a number whiz
I understand that I have taken a good scam, this certainly serves me as a lesson.

now looking in detail I understand the differences, very important dash is diagonally-stamped and not rectangular.
6 is similar but not egual .. and i am totally agree with you, my engine 4 and 7 look nothing like yours.

I had noticed the different date codes, months and year, and I wondered if Harley could have mixed them, but even here I have confirmation that this engine is a puzzle...

at this point it no longer makes sense to look for a BullNech frame since not even the engine numbers turn out to be original.

I really don't know how to thank you, you were very kind and very important for my restoration knowledge.

[Speeding Big Twin]

I'm glad I could help. The 6s were one of the first things I noticed in your BNs. H-D used several types of round-back 6 (6/9) in BNs over the years but yours were not consistent with factory stamping.

Regarding the dash, although for 1947 BNs the dash is usually diagonally-stamped and not rectangular, it didn’t always happen like that. As I mentioned above I have a few authentic-looking examples where the dash is horizontal and rectangular and here’s one of them on a Knuckle case. The 4 is seriffed and it has an open top which was normal for 1947 but instead of the seriffed 7 we usually see in the year portion the year 7 in this example is sans serif. Also notice this 47 probably wasn’t done with a tandem stamp and the year 7 is the same as the 7 in the sequence portion.





I’ve also got a photo of that type of 47 in a BN at 3+++ on a Flathead case but it appears to be an exception and I wouldn’t expect to find many more 47s like that in BNs outside the 1+++ range.

It’s hard to say if you were scammed or not by the person you bought the cases from because they may not have known about the SN and BNs. Maybe that person too bought the cases thinking the numbers were good. Is it possible to contact that person and explain there are problems with the numbers?
Eric

[eongaro75]

Thanks Again Eric

now everything is much clearer.
Yes, I've already tried to contact the person who sold me the bike, but he hasn't answered me anymore, not even on the phone.
maybe he's not exactly innocent
All experience next time I'll be more careful or I'll read up first.

Kind regards
Enry