convert early panhead to 65 electric start

[markreehl]

When i was at Denton meet last year I saw a few early panheads converted to 65 panhead electric start.

Can anyone tell me what parts I need to convert my 60 panhead to 65 electtric start ? I think they make a horse shoe oil tank that holds a 12v battery

[duffeycycles]

Auto advance timer[not the POS vtwin]In & out Primarys,starter and solenoid,clutch basket,relay,start button,oil tank,battery,wires....see Robbies post below!

[Rubone]

Lots of parts needed...
Inner and outer primary covers, transmission case and longer mainshaft, clutch drum with ring gear, starter motor, solenoid, relay , cables, either a change to longer engine shaft or offset sprocket, battery, gaskets, modification to left crankcase, misc. hardware. Not a simple bolt on.

[RichO]

Something easier and less costly might be the set-up I have on my '40 EL. Stock four-speed, horseshoe oil tank, rocker clutch, tankshift, tin primaries, still has the kickstarter and a button on the righthand bar. I used the Tech Cycle starter set-up but modified everything so it still looks stock from 15 feet. 65A generator with a 32E cap and one of Terrible Tedd's 12v solid state relays with a shovel coil (his coils don't go the distance but the relays do so far) under a cover w/ a '67 FL timer. Bosch starter relay hidden. Just sayin'. P.S. The battery is a maintance free Big Boar FXE with a tin lid with wing nuts that resembles stock. Black and parkerizes the pieces that show. Oil tank is like the softtails but with a center fill.

[vph-d]

Perhaps look at a right side electric starter conversion.
VPH-D

[RichO]

The only problem if it is one with the right side style is NO kicker for back-up.

[hogchild71]

Mark
Just finished installing '65 set up on my '62. I used a Paughco oil tank with a raised floor for clearance for starter motor. Tank works well, but is wider than stock, leaving no clearance to mount helper spring assembly for buddy seat. Also used STD inner primary, machined to fit the engine without any modification to engine. Had to modify engine breather so engine breathes to the outside, as I am running a sealed primary and machine back side of primary to clear new breather.
I'm sure there are better/other ways to go about this conversion than what I did ,but it is working as I had hoped it would and my old right knee is much happier.
Send me an email (frednan2@gmail) and I will hook you up with the guy in Florida that did most of the electric start conversions on early Pans that were at Denton. He was a great help to me.
Fred.

[Lonnie]

Mark,

There were three panheads set up with the early shovelhead setup at Denton, all originally done by the guy Fred mentions, and one of the three was that gentleman and another was mine. He did the conversion on all three. I've had fitting problems with the STD inner primaries in the past so we went with a H-D inner at his recommendation. Slight machining to the back where it bolts to the engine case in order to cut a groove to leave clearance for the lip there on the case so it could be converted back to original if needed (I have every piece put up). It is modified as Fred states to clear the breather, but on the '60 I am getting the parts together for I had the left case welded and machined by Tom Shaw (RIP) to utilize the shovelhead type breather arrangement so I don't have to modify that inner so dramatically. I am running the dry clutches in the isolated primary with 6-ounces of 60-wt. oil, chain drive. I am using an early shovelhead outer primary machined out to take a clutch derby cover but most folks use the '70-style outer.

Robbie is right, you will need an electric-start transmission case with the '65 - '69 mainshaft. I was fortunate in that I had a '68 transmission which saved a lot of work, plus I have the original transmission set aside.

In regard to the buddy seat arrangement, I had a piece (the one that the springs attach to and that clips to the buddy seat when you have a passenger) that had an offset on one side and I made up a different arrangement using a bolt and spacers instead of the stud that hold the springs to the part that attaches to the rear fender. Of course I could have had a longer stud fabbed to account for the extra length required but that would have been too easy - poor folks, poor ways.

I am still running the stock length sprocket shaft and had no problems to date after running it for about a year and a half. The motor was weak-kneed on the Road Run in West Virgina so I pulled the motpor for a rebuild. All the motor shafts were perfect so I did not change to the '65 - '69 length version. I just use a spacer to place the motor sprocket tin the right position. I had some reservations about doing it in this manner but most of these conversions I have seen the gentleman in Florida do are set up in this manner. I know he has built dozens, starting in the early eighties and has three of his own like this, and he RIDES - all up and down the east coast to AMCA meets and other events.

If the handlebars you are using do not have the hole for a starter button, you can either modify the right handlebar to fit the factory button or do as I did (poor folks, poor ways) and use a push-button starter button off a tractor. Most of the wiring is original on my bike but if I have to pull the bars off I'll modify my bars for the stock switch so I do not catch so much grief and ridicule.

You will need to wire in a breaker rather than a fuse at the battery, makes it easier if you have a problem, just wait for it to reset (hopefully). Also, rather than using a Prestolite or even earlier starter (-65A), the better starter is the -65B Hitachi. Some folks run a Hitachi generator which I used until the motor rebuild, with a Frank's regulator, but I have changed over to a Cycle Electric with the built-in regulator.

I am running a factory Harley auto-advance timer with tach drive and the '68-style Harley tachometer.

I looked into the Tech Cycle setup but I plan to ride a bunch out-of-state in 2016 and I did not want to be in a position where if something went amiss I would not be able to find parts, so I figured the stock Harley setup was the best alternative, especially after checking out the ones done in Florida.

Good luck with your '60 and let us know how you proceed.

[RichO]

Lonnie, The Cycle Tech set-up uses a BDL electric start basket set-up and the starter is just like, if not, a gennie late model H-D unit. The main thing is the mounting set-up which doesn't go bad. Just say'in.

[Lonnie]

Lonnie, The Cycle Tech set-up uses a BDL electric start basket set-up and the starter is just like, if not, a gennie late model H-D unit. The main thing is the mounting set-up which doesn't go bad. Just say'in.

I reckon I'm cheap, I had all the parts and have enough to do the 60 and might do the 63 also.