recommendations on who to have rebuild my 53 motor and tranny ???

[PanH]

Here's my story ---- I bought my panhead in 1970.. Sometime around 1990 I had another bike and started riding that more, so the panhead was relagated to the back of the garage. there it sat as other bikes joined the fleet. It sat covered but unused. In 2024, .Hurricane Helene hit us and my house was flooded. Panhead too. 2 ft of salt water.. took me a long time to rebuild the house , Fast forward to today, I pulled the bike apart and have the motor and tranny out and want to have them gone through. Who would you recommend for this work ? I see various people on youtube and facebook, but ho knows what is real anymore vs BS . I'd appreciate your input and real expereince. Thanks for your help ! .

[PaulCDF]

PanH

Sorry you went through that hurricane but glad to hear you survived:

Love those Panheads
Here is my 2 cents:

Scott Palmer at Hillside:

Here is a Hillside post (fb) from March 5, 2026

"Mar 5th ·
As we have mentioned many times here, our in-house knowledge has us able to cover from vintage to present.
From a 61" EL, to a M8 132" fire-breather.
Just one of the many, many, aspects that puts us out front, and separates us, from others.
Both of these machines are stunning.
Get some!!
Not made in China.
Scott"

He gets work from all over the country
Reach out to Scott

He did the wheels on my Chief and he is rebuilding my 1941 Indian 741 engine which I think a previous owner used as a boat anchor.

325-495-6650

5225 South Main Street
Munnsville, NY

Hillsidecycle.com

[chuckthebeatertruck]

One of the few things I refuse to take into my shop are flood motors/transmissions. The reason is that unless you've done one; it's hard to imagine that EVERY single part needs to come out and be cleaned/inspected. This includes case races as corrosion can start behind them. In theory that shouldn't happen with press fit parts; in reality, I've seen it more than once.

So, even a "good" shop may not be prepared to do the full strip and inspection -- and you as the owner may not realize you'll be replacing almost every part in the motor or having it rebuilt.

In this regard, I'd recommend people I know for sure have worked on flood stuff successfully.

For folks in the Badger Heritage Chapter; that person is Willie K - https://www.facebook.com/williesrrservice/

You can see right on his facebook site that last week he was doing a flood transmission.

Willie is the real deal -- I wouldn't put his name out there if I didn't know him fully capable of accomplishing what you are after.

Please remember that one of the most overlooked things with flood bikes is the INSIDE of the frame tubes. I've seen about three flood bikes break frames a few years later from internal rust. It's not just draining out the water -- the salt left on the walls of the tubing continues to attract moisture and in areas around joins -- it often blooms into terrible internal rust.