what is this frame

[51FL]

CIMG0810.jpg

please what is this

[c.o.]

Looks like a '40-'42 Sport Scout front frame section. It's look like the dash mounts have been pruned off.

[51FL]

if more pictures are needed for a definte answer please let me know , i really need help identifying this .

[pisten-bully]

The Indian Motorcycle Restoration Guide, 1932-1953, by Jerry Hatfield, shows the differences in frames. Yours looks like 1937 Sport Scout. Unless, like Cory points out, if the instrument panel mounts have been lopped off it would be 1940-'42.

[c.o.]

I'm thinking you are likely closer to correct than my first assumption Harry. I'm thinking the '40-'42 frames were a little bit on the heavier side and of course had the instrument panel mounts. I believe that '39 had these mounts as well. Well that could put it somewhere between '34 and '37. I don't have any more Scout stuff to measure for references so I'm afraid I can't offer much more in the way of an opinion.

[redfred84]

It's a 741.

[c.o.]

It's a 741.

Once again you've proven why you should hang out on this forum...........

[fillibuster]

It's a 741.

The straight shape of the rear down leg would usually tell me that the frame is 39 and earlier, as the rear cylinders on 40 and later had larger fins that would not clear the straight leg. The 40 and 41 frames had a "dog-leg" down tube that allowed these larger cylinders.

[redfred84]

Good thing I double checked on this, as I went by pure memory the first time. This is NOT a 741, but a 45" Sport Scout frame from '37 (the first year of the forward mounted shifter boss). What clearly depicts a Sport Scout frame in this photo, and NOT a 741 is the generator mounting at the base of the forward down tube. I was going by memory from my own Sport Scout racer, but I had forgotten that I used a 741 frame (this bike is long gone, as is my memory).
So, if there are no modification up at the dash area, (like anything being removed) then this is a '37 front section. By '38 they incorperated the heart-shaped dash, and had a speedo mount to accomadate the new location.
Just for fun, you may check behind the seat tongue pivot/mount, on top of the upper frame rail casting for a DT #. Dispatch Tow bikes had their #s stamped in this location.
Sorry about the original false alarm. This is a '37-39 Sport Scout frame, and most likely a '37 if there is no evidence of the '38-39 speedo mount being removed.
Cheers, RF.

[fillibuster]

Good thing I double checked on this, as I went by pure memory the first time. This is NOT a 741, but a 45" Sport Scout frame from '37 (the first year of the forward mounted shifter boss). What clearly depicts a Sport Scout frame in this photo, and NOT a 741 is the generator mounting at the base of the forward down tube. I was going by memory from my own Sport Scout racer, but I had forgotten that I used a 741 frame (this bike is long gone, as is my memory).
So, if there are no modification up at the dash area, (like anything being removed) then this is a '37 front section. By '38 they incorperated the heart-shaped dash, and had a speedo mount to accomadate the new location.
Just for fun, you may check behind the seat tongue pivot/mount, on top of the upper frame rail casting for a DT #. Dispatch Tow bikes had their #s stamped in this location.
Sorry about the original false alarm. This is a '37-39 Sport Scout frame, and most likely a '37 if there is no evidence of the '38-39 speedo mount being removed.
Cheers, RF.

Looks too clean to have been hacked, rf, so 37 it is, huh? (I have one of those)
Once again, that straight rear down tube, am I out in left field on that? All 40 and later are "dog-legged"?

[redfred84]

HI Phil from the Frozen North!
You are absolutely correct with the mention of the dog-leg rear down-tube on '40-'42 models. This was done to clear the larger finning on the cylinders. The dog-leg is actually a casting! not a tube! It's hollow though.
These dog-legged front frame sections are in high demand, as they are the best for the racers, who like to run the late, square-based cylinders with the big fins. All this is coming back to me now!
RF.

[51FL]

Thanks , and any idea on what the rough value of one of these with a slight tweak in the backbone is worth please help me out

[fillibuster]

Hey 51!
My basket 37 was missing the rear down tube, fixed it last spring. I've also repaired a few more, a 39 and an early 40 that had 1/2" holes in the castings and the appearance of scant speltering (I'm told that early 40's were done this way and that they are "suspect" in strength). ... Yours looks pretty good, and by "yesterday"'s prices I'd suggest that you ask $500 for it. But the 37 is a tough build, with very hard-to-find cylinders, all thanks to class C racing, and stroking, imo. .. It appears to me that the 30's Sport Scouts put you in rare company, so circulate your advertising to the max. ... start here on the forum, it needs the activity!

Did a little research during football yesterday, read some of Harry Sucher's Iron Redskin. He explained that the war contracts provided for a large supply of spare parts inventory including cylinders for the 640-B and 741. This could explain the retro-fit efforts of these later cyls to earlier models, as they were likely plentiful, as well as better-cooling, and stronger at the base.