1940 el

[Jerry Wieland]

This is a 1940 EL that I bought in early April from the nephew of the original owner. It was bought new in San Diego California by a sailor who was a native of the Brainerd Lakes Area of northern Minnesota. I have extensive documentation (receipts, registrations, and license plates) from 1949. I believe that the HD dealer was on India street in San Diego although it spent most of its life near El Cajon. It was rode extensively until 1961 and then was parked until 1979 when the nephew got it. At that ime it had 94,000 some miles on the odometer. It was restored in 1984 and the odometer now has 100,349 miles on it. The guy I got it from says that it has a little more than that on it because the speedometer drive stripped out after it was restored.

If I read the receipts right it had 2 top end overhauls while the uncle owned it and a total overhaul when it was restored. It has most of the one year only 1940 stuff but the air cleaner is 1941 and up. The picture I have of it in 1961 shows this 7 inch air cleaner so I have no idea where the original 6 inch might have gotten off to.

It is a lot chromier than I usually like but it is none-the-less a real sweetheart. I have only been able to put 10 miles on it since I got it because I have a herniated disc in my back.

Just braggin' Jerry

[c.o.]

Nice scoop Jerry!!! It is mighty shiney but it's a nice knuck nonetheless. It's pretty cool that you have the complete history on it too. I hope your back smartens up so you can get some enjoyment out of it.

[exeric]

Brag away Jerry, it sure is a beauty. Do you have any changes in mind or will you leave it alone?

[Sargehere]

Thass PURR-dey, Jerry! Congrats! And good documentation! The whole history; that's fun.

[Jerry Wieland]

Well - for the most part I am planning on leaving it alone. I do plan on getting rid of the buddy seat (which is actually an Indian Chummy seat) and also replacing the chrome 1940 intake manifold with a cad plated original 1940 utilizing PEEK seals and putting a modern fuel float in the carburator. I got the original solo seat with it when I bought it so that will go back on. The white wall tires have to go but I am cheap enough that I probably will wear them out first unless somebody wants to buy them. For some reason the rear hub is not the original and I will probably replace that when the time comes - I have been thinking of going back to the 18" rubber which it had originally any way. The brake lever is the later aluminum one so it might go also.

Lucky for me that the first knucklehead I ever owned was a 1940 so I have all the parts to make it absolutely original if I so choose. When I first bought that bike 30 years ago I did the right thing and ordered a repop parts manual and operations manual. When I got them the parts manual said 41 to 47 so I ordered the early one and when it arrived I was dismayed to see that it was 36 to 39. I did not realize it at the time but that should have been an omen of what I was up against. 1940 EL's are neither early nor late - they are a combination of both with one year only parts thrown in for good measure. I soon acquired an original 1940 parts manual and it all became obvious - with a lot of studying and tracking part numbers that is.

To this day I like to think that I am the first guy that debunked the old theory that the brass intake manifold was a 1940 item as was commonly believed as is still listed that way in Palmers book. What convinced me that there had to be another manifold was that 2 other items would have needed to change but did not. That is the choke rod and the carberator support bracket - they very obviously did not change until 1941 so I knew there had to be another manifold out there and low and behold in the early 1980's at the Sioux Falls SD ABATE I found and purchased it and I guess the rest is history.

Jerry

[sirhrmechanic]

Jerry:

That's a lot like my '46 EL when I got it. I opted to do much the same as you. Leave it mostly alone as a representative of that "full Dress" era of chrome, bright colors, tassles, etc. Returning GI's wanted bikes (and cars) that were anything but drab. And starting in 1946... would have been hanging chrome and color on anything in sight.

Gorgeous bike. Ride the heck out of it. Only suggestion I have... lose the MT90 tires and get some original style tires from Universal Tire.

Here are some pix of my EL... as bought and as she stands (just waiting for the seats and to have time to re-mount the tanks).

IMG_0068.jpg
As it arrived home from Canada.

knuckle w. new muffler.jpg
Starting to deal with wheels and cleaning

knuck r side.jpg
New tires, muffler and lots of cleaning done. Still has the wrong tanks, but I have the original tanks (came w. the bike.) and emblems. They are getting fixed up to match the rest of the bike.

knuck april 2.jpg
As she sits now. Tanks are done, but I haven't had time to put them on. The seat is almost done by Michael P.

Restoring this bike to 'stock' would have stripped all its character away. Same as your bike, Jerry. Ride it and enjoy the extra 'twinkle' as I am sure the original owners did.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[jwl]

Nice bike!! If you want to run the whitewalls out just clean them with Westley's Bleachwhite and then spray paint them black. I've done that in the past and the black paint stays on until the tires wear out. Kinda redneck but it worked great for the cheapskate in me.

[koanes]

I fear the day when Jerry and the other shiney bike rider that we ride with, Johnain'tgreasy, are on the same run. Long waits at fuel stops while they wipe the dust off, and remove any oil spots they might have caught while riding behind the filthy bikes out front.

[villy]

Very nice bike Jerry. What about showing the picture from 61.??
Regards.
Villy

[dennis49]

very nice Jerry,but I sure would like to see the spotlight mounts reversed
the lights look so much better all in line. also the reflection of the headlight
on the spots will kill you.