perks of the job, primaries and wheels

Pete's cam cover showed up for his 40 motor today. It came packed with a couple of old shirts to prevent it from getting scratched.
oh cool the shirts kind of fit. they don't look as good as the cam cover and Pete's 40 cases.

Dan and I laced up a bunch of wheels yesterday. the shiny set is for Pete's 46, and the other ones are for original paint or funky bikes. We are going to do another batch in april for two sidecar bikes! which is nuts.
I know it is kind of over kill to paint the inside of the 65 primaries with Dolph's er44, but I like overkilling things.
Here are all the parts that we are sorting out for the 38 clutch and the 45 wl clutch set ups.
Here is the motor/ trans mount for Doug's 39 it has the big numbers still and the early wrap around reinforcement with smooth seat post. later 39s had the small numbers, later wrap around reinforcement and a relief for the big 74inch motor that was supposed to come out in 40 but didn't meet the deadline.
These wheels are for our 40 el and Delmar's 45 EL. They are kind of funky, but will look nice once the bikes are together.

parts, frames and ferners

Check out the1913 to 1916 sears twin muffler castings that I got for approval today. The aluminum ones on the left were the samples that I got from Steve Huntzinger, and the cast iron ones are the ones that i had made. I am happy with them.


I also welded the foot board frames on the 47 frame that I am workin on. The weld on the cross plate is just fill and cosmetic. Somebody had cut the bar to look like a panhead frame. Knuckle bars wrap all the way around the tube, so I had to fill it in. Once I am done , I will post a pic or two.



And the first guest for our birthday party on Saturday showed up.....all the way from Gibraltar. Tim is back in South Dakota, I already put him to work lol.

christmas in april

There are two really cool things in this picture. 1. Our new knucklehead cases that we got in the mail. The fellow that I bought them from said they were 40 cases, but when they showed up today I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were 41 fl cases. Which is awesome since we don't need another 40. The second cool thing in this picture is my foot, please notice that I am wearing sandals which is great for south dakota. Life is good in the 605


Typical break in the left case and motor mount repairs. UH OH the gene rater mount is missing, I wonder where I could find one of those??? lol



Matched cases woo hoo. These cases were a fair price and I didn't really ask the fellow for too many details since I was so happy to get them. I really lucked out so this is a great deal!!!!!!!!




I spent the rest of the day straightening a 37 frame and welding this late 47 together. Check out this link to see it coming together. I should have it done by the end of the weekend!http://oldbikesinsd.blogspot.com/2010/03/frame-pics.html

Some silly guy tried making clearance for a taller engine in his shovelhead frame with a hacksaw. This is what it looked like yesterday.


I cut out a rectangle and welded in a new .130 piece of metal for strength. This worked well and is a good fix



I also sorted out a tool box strap for a 38 that I am working on. For some strange reason I ended up with a couple extra og 36/37 tool box straps that didn't have a home, so I picked out the worst one to turn into a 38 strap. The spot welds are circled in this pic.




Here they are ground out.





And the finished piece. I already have it welded back on the frame, this is a good deal and will work well.

frame pics!

Here is a frame that I prepped today. It is for a 47 that we are restoring for a friend.



Back bone installed!


Down Tubes and sidecar loops--check!

Here it is all welded up and in place. I have started to grind file and dress all of the welds. It is turning out really well. After the seams are dressed, I will weld the floorboard tabs, gas tank mounts and top motor mount on. The pieces are falling into place! I will post more pics sunday night.

I got an early 38 frame back from sandblasting and saw some things that I didn't like. This is the right down tube, somebody over tightened the crash bar u bolts and crimped the tube.


HEre is one of the bottom rails



and the other side. This thing was a little beat up, too beat up for my liking, so I cut it up to replace some tubes.




Here it is, the neck casting is sorted out, as is the lower motor mount and bottom gas tank mount. I have to clean out the sidecar loops and then it will be ready to go back together. This will make a good repair!

I got a batch of back bones from a vendor this morning. I have been waiting on these for a couple weeks.


Here is a late 47 uu frame that I am retubing for one of my friends in Georgia.



In this pic the bottom tubes and backbone are installed. The left tube has the flat area for primary cover clearance.

Here is the back bone and neck installed


HEre are the down tubes installed.



Bottom tubes, sidecar loops and front motor mount are installed in this pic




Here it is with the crash bar installed. This is as far as I can go before bolting it down in the jig and welding it together.

John's 48 frame

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John's 48 frame is a nice 48 only frame, the only modification that had been done to it was the toolbox strap being cut off. This is a really common deal, I would estimate that 70 percent of the frames that we fix up during the coarse of a year need this bracket welded onto them. Check out the square that is on the fifth mount of the transmission.

Now is a good opportunity to check the measurement before it gets welded on for good.




Here is the finished product! Just like original.

Rear leg fix.

This was welded to the inside of a 46/47 rear springer leg. I guess some chopper guy thought it was a good idea to bolt his fender to the rear leg. It was probably a really clean custom deal, but the new owner of the fork didn't want this set up, so I returned the rear leg back to stock.


Here is a pic of the rear leg after some metal finishing. It turned out pretty good.

front fork leg repair!!!!

This front leg is really messed up, it is all dimpled, kinked and bent out of shape. The other leg is in good shape, which is strange, but it's still a good thing. Roger and I made up a ton of front legs a couple of years ago, they are flat on the inside and dimpled just like originals.


In this pic, I have cut off the old leg, and ground what was left of the original fork leg out of the forging. These legs were pinned and brazed together when they were new. Some guys heat up the casting and try to pull the tube out, which is not good.



I have the fork bolted down and straight when I do the plug welds. This picture is what the leg looks like after being ground and filed. I still have to silver solder it so that it looks cosmetically right. The plug welds and tight fit of the tube in the forging make this a strong enough set up to run as is.






Here is the finished repair, this is a great fix that will last a long time.

36 frame job

Here is the bottom half of a 36 frame that I have been working on for the last couple of days.

Here are the new top legs. It took me three hours to sand the old tubes out of the axle castings. This is the farthest that I have ever had a frame apart. IT is coming back together very nicely

1936 EL frame repairs

Here is the backbone of a 36 frame that I am re tubing for a friend. It is really messed up.


Look at the seat post, MAN O MAN! Somebody beat it in to fit a pan motor into the frame, and then tried to beat it back out. I think that the person that did this must have been on acid or some other type of drugs.

They bent the male part of the casting that the back bone slips onto, but this is not that big of a deal, I can straighten it out and return it back to stock specs.

Tims frame and some messed up tanks???????

Here is Tim's 46 frame all welded back together and straightened out. It turned out really well, We replaced the whole front half of it. Check out older post to see how it worked. I have just been working on frames for the last two weeks, we have been getting a lot done.


We bought a set of 41 to 46 tanks a couple years ago and had our painter strip them, he found this interesting repair in the top of each tank. I have never seen anything like it. These tanks were mint before somebody tried to fix them. They probably would have been good enough to chrome plate until somebody mutilated them. Oh WEll



Here is the left tank, these are going to Ohio to Larry.