Panhead Inner Primary Cover

[billpedalino]

Good Day,
I purchased an aftermarket inner primary for my '53 FLE but, as suspected things don't line up correctly. Before I commit to the necessary bending, welding, and grinding I thought to reach out to see if anyone has an inner primary cover for a foot-shift machine for sale or trade. This is the cover without the rear chain splash shield, 60620-52. I'm only interested in covers that are in very good to excelent condition. However, if anyone has an old beat up OEM inner cover that I might use for measurement and alignment for modifying my aftermarket cover, I may be interested in that as as an alternative.

Please respond in this forum or directly to my email address: WPedalino@CaldwellMarine.com.

Thanks,
Bill Pedalino

[billpedalino]

Boy - over 100 views and not one response. These things certainly have become scarce!

I have a new Vtwin replica inner primary that I'm wrestling with now and although it looks very nice, it's mis-manufactured. The Vtwin cover is probably ok for a chopper or non-judged machine where obvious changes can be made, but for an accurate restoration this will probably be a task, if even possible depending upon the extent and locations of the inaccurate bends.
And.... I'm not the best sheet metal guy! Without an original to match it up to, it will be quite difficult to see where the adjustments have to be made.

I notice that Paughco also sells a replacement cover. Maybe they're NOT from the same Manufacturer/importer and maybe of better quality. Has anyone had experience with the Paughco inner cover?

Finally, if anyone has a good OEM cover that I might BORROW, I would be very appreciative.

[1950Panhead]

Bill,
Ebay is the best source for covers.
Nice covers are expensive, beat up covers are cheaper and more common, you can repair a beat up cover or use it to fix yours.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Inner...YAAOSwlARfry8r

[RichO]

Paugcho started their business with the manufacturing of inner primary covers in Hollywood in the late 60's. Good stuff Maynard!

[Hack]

Just put a new Paugcho inner on my 50 Pan project and it fit up perfectly on the 1st try. My original old outer went on with minimal fuss too. IMG_20201122_131844_298.jpgIMG_20200830_162707_287.jpg

[billpedalino]

Just put a new Paugcho inner on my 50 Pan project and it fit up perfectly on the 1st try. My original old outer went on with minimal fuss too. [ATTACH=CONFIG]30286[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]30287[/ATTACH]

Hack,
The outer cover screw pattern isn't a problem - it looks like the press-in distances may be off, as the riveted tabs dont appear to line up with the oil tank and frame tabs and the clutch hub clearance looks quite close.. The Paughco looks promising - Is your frame an original OEM?

[Hack]

Bill,
I've used Paughco stuff since the 60's and always had good results with fitment. My frame is a very nice untouched 1948 frame I'd been sitting on since the early 80's. To be honest I was pleasantly shocked when I put it on and everything lined up and fit perfectly the first time, including the big hole around the sprocket, ratchet lid and clutch hub clearance plus the two bolts and springs and washers went right on. OEM oil tank and chain guard.
Best regards, John

[billpedalino]

John,

We used to sell Paughco at the shop where I worked in the 1960's as well and its great that his stuff is still of good quality. It appears that the cover/chain guard/Oil tank tab/lower frame tab and ratchet top screw clearance are all misaligned to with my current cover. But to be fair, this frame has had a lot of restorative work. The frame work is of the highest quality, but a LOT.... So I would like to have an accurate cover to asses exactly what's going on.

That's why I was looking for an OEM cover - even in so-so condition just to check positions and alignment. But I couldn't believe the absolute garbage that people are selling on EBay and the stupid numbers that they're asking for what's literally scrapyard junk!

It's great to know that the Paughco cover lined up so on your OEM frame. I ordered one and am anxious to see how it lines up on my '53 frame. However, I couldn't tell from the advertisement photos if comes with the drain tube fitting installed. I'm fairly certain that his early covers didn't have them but we were chopper kids and couldn't have cared less back then! I might have to weld one in, but that's a small price to pay for a good cover..

Thanks for your feedback....

[Hack]

There is no fitting on the back side, just a smaller hole for the drip. Should be a snap to install a fitting.

[jgbrown59]

I need to revive this old inner primary cover conversation. I've been looking for a good used or very accurate reproduction inner for a 47EL. The front of the original one is mutilated from the chain beating it to death over the years. Does anyone have experience with this one I found on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/306295150099

The title says 36 - 64 but in the description it mentions the correct years for the pictured version.

This is the description:
"2024 New Production replica inner primary cover features a black finish and includes drain fitting. Developed with new tooling for accurate reproduction! Inner cover includes hand shift guard that is welded on. Inner primary cover has a 7mm drain hole in rear bottom. Installer must install fitting as required. Hole must be enlarged to accept fitting. Entire cover is produced by new tooling from V-Twin MFG."

I realize it has the lower dent for a panhead but that is an easy workaround.

I appreciate the information.


Jim

[Chris Haynes]

I have never heard a good word about the V Twin covers. Go with Paughco.

[paddy]

I had bought a Paughco for my 51 and fit like a glove

[51bigtwin]

Starting 1947 the lever on the hand shift cover points down. The chain splash guard on that v twin eBay cover will not clear your shift lever in 4th and probably 3rd gear. The correct inner primary should have the splash guard attached in the opposite direction. Also I would be surprised if the v twin inner primary lined up with more than two of the outer primary cover bosses assuming you have an original outer cover. As for Paughco, it may be close on all ten bosses but two problems I have ran into on a Paughco inner I bought around a year ago. The round opening for the gearbox was about 0.200” towards the rear of the cover. May not seem like much, but if you need your gearbox all the way forward, the oil detector will rub. The other problem I found was the mounting tabs that attach the inner to the frame and oil tank were under sized. See pic showing the interference with the mounting hardware. Compared to an original HD inner cover’s tabs, I measured the hole on the Paughco cover to be about 0.125” too far inboard.
IMG_0352.jpeg

[jgbrown59]

Great timing, I was just working on my response.

Thanks for the feedback on these covers. I did purchase the one I posted (retooled VTwin) since they honor returns. I tested the fit on a 48 I'm working on. The tranny on this bike is almost all the way forward to support a primary belt drive. I'm also comparing it to an excellent condition original inner cover.

Issues, the opening for the tranny is 1/4" too narrow to the front side, same as 51BigTwin's review of the Paughco cover, causing interference with the tranny. Comparative measurements to an original cover confirm this.
As 51BigTwin also mentioned - the chain splash guard on the back side of the cover is different and is installed opposite of how it's supposed to be. Because of this it interferes with the shift lever on the tranny (picture included).

The cover is also a bit too narrow vertically along the center section. I tried it with three original outer covers. I think this can be overcome though.

The rear tabs on the cover do surprisingly align well to the oil tank and the lower frame tab (replaced by WASCO) but the front opening is a bit snug around the motor.
The centerline of the holes in the two rear tabs is about 1/16" closer to the cover than my original so it does not appear to be a problem.

The cover also has the correct stampings, proper oil drain hole (fitting not included), and proper breather tube opening + indent. It does have the dent in the bottom to fit both knuckles and pans.

None of these issues are hard to overcome but we shouldn't have to. If the cover was truly retooled they did a poor job focusing on accuracy.

I'm still debating my next move.

Jim

innerprimary-1.jpg

[dukekleman]

Jim,

Thank you for sharing that information and photo.
I have the same "re-tooled" inner for a project I have not started on yet...