65 FLH King of the Highway fit and finish

[JSB55]

Good to know - thanks!

Unfortunately, not a finish I can easily reproduce, and from what I see on other threads, prone to premature aging.

[flat-happy]

it was cadmium plated in 65

[JSB55]

Doubt it would be chromed under there ... I meant the clutch release *arm* that swings across the top of the transmission and attaches to the mousetrap via the clutch rod, not the handlebar lever.

Mine's painted black, but in HD photos, appears it should be just natural finish.

[Rooster]

If there's chrome under the paint, the paint will probably come off real easy. I have used acetone to remove paint, but there may be (ahem) "safer" ways to do it.

[JSB55]

Thanks for the info.

Somehow it figures that the previous owner chromed the kicker arm when is should be black, and painted the clutch release lever black, when it should be natural finish or silver.

DUH.

[bmh]

Trans case is natural cast like motor cases. Kick cover was not painted silver, don't when they started to put a light polish on them but they were doing it in the early 70's. Kick arm was painted black.

[JSB55]

Thanks for everybody's help so far... the previous owner of this bike applied paint very liberally, and usually in a wrong color, or where no paint belonged, so I'm struggling to get things back to a semblance of "correct".

Now I'm looking over the transmission finish, and can't tell from black and white photos whether that should be a natural metal finish similar to the engine cases, or whether it was originally painted silver to match the cylinders.

Mine seems to have a "natural" finish on the trans itself, but the kicker side cover appears to have been painted silver at some point.

It also has a chrome kicker arm, which photos appear to show was originally parkerized or painted black.

Anyone???

Thanks for the continued input... this is my first frame up redo and intended to be a rider, but I want it as "correct" as I can reasonably get it.

[indianut]

Dang, that confounded Spell-Check must be broken again!

[Chris Haynes]

1914-1965 footboard mats were rivited.

[dommi7]

Chris,
In the factory photo it looks like there are no rivets on the floorboard mats. Is it just my bad eyes, or were the mats changed to glue-on application at some point?

[T. Cotten]

Even after serious distressing with primitive tools (attached), steel shot blasting, and perhaps unspeakable blasting media before normal beading and final brushing,...

Previously polished castings will never have signatures of the original founder's flash grinders, production and salvage fixtures, and errant tosses into the bin.

The educated eye can easily detect a molested part.

But with an original for reference, the piece can at least be given some of its dignity back.


....Cotten

[JSB55]

Thanks for the "blastite" tip ... will look into it.

The motor's completely apart right now... trying to get all the surfaces as close to correct as I can before reassembly.

John

[flat-happy]

i use that silver bead blast and sometimes a couple of applications of it on my knucklehead motors where the lifter blocks and oil pump have been chromed because it seems most of them have been. it gives back the texture pretty nicely. but that is on cast iron or steel parts. when i want to bring back the texture on aluminum i go to a place where they make grave stones and have them blast it LIGHTLY with a steel particle product called blastite. it brings back the surface nicely----makes it rough again. be careful not to do the inside or gasket surface though. if you use a different cam cover you will have to split your cases and align hone the pinion and cam bushings again or you could cause real damage to your engine. i think it is always better to use the original pieces that came on the motor unless they are beyond repair

[JSB55]

Follow Chris's lead. Realize though that the timing cover on the '65 FLH is really a one year cover. You can perhaps find a shovel cover from 66 to 68 that a good machinist can drill out for you to make it a 65 - I did, but it is not an insignificant endeavor. Save that polished 65 timing cover, you might never find a replacement with the original finish.

It was very common for '65 owners to polish out their primary and timing covers to make them look pretty. Very surprised that your inner primary is polished, which make me think it is not original. That would take significant effort from the owner of an original 65 to have the bike torn down just to polish it out. Seems to me that your engine/trans might have been from a different bike.

The former owner had put a chromed pan/shovel outer primary on it, and probably the inner as well, or else he polished it some while things were torn down... I bought the correct outer primary on e-bay.

The inner which I pulled off the bike is a 60620-65. It's not highly polished, by any means, but definitely much smoother than the sand cast finish on the outer cover. Looks exactly like the one pictured in the 58-68 parts catalog, where it's listed as # 60617-65A, which replaced 60620-58B. Go figure.

John

P.S. see my question above re the "bead blast look" paint.

And thanks for the tip about saving parts, but I always do; *everything* I take off a bike goes in a bin for that particular bike, which stays with the bike.

[JSB55]

While ordering the "hi-temp silver" paint from HD for my cylinders, I discovered they also sell something called "bead blast look", which is a grey paint that leaves a somewhat textured finish. I think they use it on sportster motors these days.

Has anybody tried that on an old cam cover to reproduce the original appearance?

I'm not building this bike for judging... just want to get it as correct-looking as I can for my own pleasure.

John