Monday, March 31, 2014

South Dakota weather in less than 24 hours

Here is My dad took the 65 out for a spin yesterday and put over a 100 miles on it. It was a beautiful day and great for riding bike.   He came back with a small list of tweaks and adjustments to do and sort out

Here is a shot out the front door of the shop that I just took.  There is a full on blizzard going on and we are expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow.   This weather is good for working in the shop and have fun with wrenches. 


The 55 is going good. I finished up the wiring, hooked up the primaries and am going through the odds and ends on this bike.  

Thursday, March 27, 2014

55fl update and photos

The 55 is coming together fairly easily.  It's a pretty unique experience to work on a bike that is so unmolested and complete.  Everything is just falling into place and working out pretty good.  It hasn't gone without its challenges.  I'm working on the exhaust and primary setup todayd


The biggest challenges have been worn out parts and corrosion from sitting.  It's going good and we have freed up almost everything and gotten it back to working condition.  I am having difficulties getting the toolbox lock freed up. This came in a box of parts that came with the bike and it was frozen shut.  I have even soakig it with ob blaster for a month and working the lock back and forth. 
D

Here is a cool shit of the brake drum we replaced the sprocket and dust ring and left the original paint on the drum.   A lot of times the paint is burnt off if the drum from the brakes heating up, this one has really nice paint.  Which means ken either didn't like to stop or rode the bike on lots f rolling hills and prairie terrain 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

More engines!!!

Here  is bob's 39 engine.  It is turning out to be a really nice motor.  This is going in an airway blue and white 39s

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The cam cover and cases have never been polished or really messed with.  I love the texture of sand cast parts.  

This is a 46 fl stroker motor that my dad is putting together for a customer out west.  It looks stock, but is a little hopped up.  It will be a ton of fun for Tim 

We don't do a lot of panheads with mags and black cylinders,  this one is coming along nicely and will be sweet when it's done.  This 52 is going to be awesome 




Monday, March 24, 2014

1955 fl

We have overWe have also been picking away at Bev's 55.  This bike was a high school graduation present for her husband back in 1955.  We have gone through every nut bolt, washer and seal to make it mechanically perfect while maintaining as much of the originality and history as possible.   The color is Hollywood green and it is a one year only color.  I don't thing that there is any other color that Harley offered that embodied the fifties as much as this color.  It is awesome 
We have over 100 hours in cleaning and detailing out each part on the bike.  It is challenging on stuff like this because you have to be so gentle when you work on it, if you use the wrong brush or too much pressure you can damage the original paint or plating.  The bike was in really tough shape when it was brought to us a couple years ago.  The trans had been run with put oil and the top
End was toast.  It's all sorted out now and will last another 60 years or more. 
The rear head needed a new exhaust port welded on, on this photo you can see that some of the original patina and Iowa dirt was left in tact through the process of repairing the damaged head.  The combustion chamber is perfectly cleaned and sorted out while everything on the outside is as it was the last time it was ridden.   
Here is the original paint frame and bottom tree before going together.   All of the plating is original too.

65flh ride report


I have finally been getting the opportunity to ride Jason's. 65.  This bike is awesome.  I know that I am supposed to be a rigid frame guy but this bike has kind of made me think about getting a half frame bike someday.  The bike had a few teething pains and oil leaks to chase down.   It's all sorted now and I'm waiting for another nice weather day to actually ride it again. 

This pic was from the first test run. I have the aircleaner installed and the battery strap too.   I had a problem with the starter relay on the bike, I switched it out with a new one and it still didnt fire right up like I wanted it too.  I put a ground wire on it and it solved the slow starting issue.  The bike just pops right off now.  It is awesome.  

Friday, March 14, 2014

Motor madness

My dad has been jamming out on short blocks.   This is a 47 and a 36.  It's so cool to see book ends and compare all of the changes between them

Here is delmar's 45 e model.  It's a piece together engine that is made up of parts that we have been holding onto for years and have gathered from all corners of the world.  This is especially challenging because we are building him a patina bike and making it look like it has always been together 



Here is a really nice motor for a 49 panhead that my dad did.  It's an original paint bike, so we left the aesthetic part of it intact and did all of the machine work and up grades on the inside of the bikes

Saturday, March 8, 2014

1955 tear down.

We brought in Bev's 1955 fl this week to finish tearing it down and final cleaning and inspection of the chassis.   Her husband got this bike as a highschool graduation present and rode it around for  quite a bit. The bike was in pretty good aesthetic condition but the mechanics were pretty clapped out.  We have gone through the engine, transmission and wheels and left the original patina as in tact as possible.   It's a real honor to get to work on such a special bike and family heirloom



Here is a great shot of the dash wiring 


Here it is before final tear down. The wheels in this picture are just some push around set up wheels.