1950 to 53 Chief engine cases- odd ball 80's, help needed

[cdf6333]

At Jefferson, in my dirty little hand, I held a right case for a Chief. It looked like a early 48 case, machined for scraper, BUT.
1. It came with a 1952 Chief
2. It had a case matching number on the coil/mag boss, #141
3. It had mag bushings, couldn't tell if they were ever used.
4. the biggie, it was machined at the Factory for the 80 rod clearance, ends and center of case.
5. While machining the case for the scraper plate, left slightly visible, were the remains of the pipe threads used in ALL the later cases. In other words, at one time, it had only the pipe threaded hole.
About 15 years ago a guy from Jersey here, Rick S, who only had 80's, had a set of cases with the sump cut out like this. Jim Sutter, Indian Motorcycle Supply, brought some documentation that all New York Police MC's had the scraper. Rick then sold the cases to somebody else.
My question is, does anyone else have a set like this? And does anyone have that documentation?
Seems that a fellow member got dis-qualified from judging for it and I THINK, they may be the correct cases.
Thoughts?
Bob Courboin, Beard Machine

[c.o.]

This doesn't answer your question at all Bob but I was just talking to an old timer that told me that he once had a '48 Chief that was an 80 incher. I found it odd and questioned him further and he said that it had been a Police bike and came from the factory that way. Interesting topic, I'm curious to see what comes of your questions.

[Bill Huth]

1950 to 53 Chief engine cases- odd ball 80's, help needed

Hi Bob. Since the new castings for late '48 have the scraper cast in, why would Indian machine the cast in scraper out, just to bolt in a sheet metal scraper? Leaving the remnant of the pipe thread hole behind? I have also heard the story that some 80" police bikes have the bolt on scraper, but never seen any documentation. Doug Burnett mentioned it too me, and said the bolt in scraper developed immediate return pressure, whereas the cast in scraper did not (I think that was the explanation). And the police specified this in their requirements. Or we could speculate that maybe indian had some '47-early '48 cases left over, and in the '50s, and decided to use them up. All this could be possible. There always seems to be oddball stuff showing up in the Indian world, and is very interesting. From a judging perspective, though, you are correct that documentation is needed for this one. We can't just say we all heard a story so it must be true. I took a look at my stuff, I have 3 1/2 sets of 80" cases, and none match this special set up. Mine all have the cast in scraper.

[cdf6333]

Bill
Thanks, I forgot to mention that this case had a cast in scraper and the threaded hole, at some point. The scraper was then professionally, at the least, machined out and the metal scraper hole machined in. Anthony Cavazza, who I consider kind of the King of 80's was standing next to me during the group discussion at Jefferson. He also did a WFT.

[cdf6333]

and I forgot to mention that Jim Sutter said it was so the New York Police could properly flush the cases after overhauls. I guess he meant top ends,

[Bill Huth]

Flushing out of the cases seems to make more sense for having a removable scraper in the cases. Oil sludge was a bigger issue in the non-detergent days.

[Tom Wilcock]

I remember a 1948 80 inch Chief at Harmony and Brookfield years ago. I believe the engine # was EX4 or something similar. It was an experimental 80 inch model. I don't remember if it had the cast in scraper or not. It seems Indian was doing a lot of experimenting around that time. Tom wilcock AMCA #381