Top End History

The Harley 45"

Simplicity at it's finest, and most likely the longest running H-D design now and forever.  From the late 1930s all the way to 1973 - they're still one of the best designs to ever come out of Milwaukee.

The 74" and 80" Sidevalves

Take the tried and true and trusted reliability of the 45" and make it bigger !

The K Model and KH Model

Take the basic good points and mannerisms of the flathead, unitize the engine block with the transmission, and add a healthy dose of cams, racing style carburetion, pop-up pistons and smoothed ports . .  and hold on !

Let's go Overhead !

Since 1936 - it's been the King of the Road for the H-D line.  Highly sought by collectors and retro chopper fiends...The Knucklehead in all it's glory.

The Beauty Queen . . . The Panhead

Arguably the engine that put H-D on the map.  Reliability and beauty at the same time.  The subject of songs, movies and the dream to just have one in the garage with your name on the title (even if it runs or not)  I just don't know why they never made it an 80 incher.....

The Tough Guy !

The end result of all it's forefathers . . . The Shovelhead kept the company's (no pun intended) head afloat and lost credo to the Evo as the savior.  But, ask any die hard old-timer wrench-n-rider and they'd rather run their shovel than the Evo any day.

The Evolution

It's taken many years, but it's early respect has morphed into the historical respect it deserves.  The "rock" of the H-D engine line - It's finally becoming a collector in it's own right.  Long live the Evo and welcome to the club !

 

S&S Air Cleaner (again)

I can see it now....I'm gonna end up with an S&S air cleaner on everything.  I made up another "B" series backing plate to adapt to my "E" series carburetor.... and it just rips now !  All kinds of response, and it just runs better (than the Linkert style, 7" round style).  That round air cleaner didn't like wind or rain much either - but I've never had a problem with the S&S teardrop in those conditions.  Now just need some nice weather.  I'm still riding short runs, so I fulfilled my 2018 goal again of riding every month.

More Mert . . .

He looks tiny on this thing.  Not a real big guy anyway, just stocky and strong.  Looks like it's got aluminum rims?   Anyone know what sauce pan they used to make air-cleaners out of ???  A guy told me once, and I should have wrote it down. 

Mert Lawwill

Iron XR
 

Motorcycles Are Expensive

Every bike I've had pretty much started out like this.  A box of stuff, missing about everything.  Many of you have done the same thing . . . My first bike was wrecked with broken cases.  The next one was all apart, but mostly original H-D parts.  From there on out, they were all in piles, or missing about everything 'cept the vital pieces.  Above is the '54 Panhead.  You sure learn a lot when you do it this way.  Much more than a guy realizes . . . I could probably afford a complete bike now - but why start ?

This is turning into a K Model Blog . . .

I got a deep, dry basement.  It's got neat rustic walls.  I run a dehumidifier all summer so it stays dry.
There's not much down there but a few folding tables where I keep some parts for future builds.  I've sold all my parts (except for the K Model stuff, and a few spares).  I never really had all that much for parts anyway. 

TECH: KK Cylinders

I've had these awhile.  They were rusted, needed a bore job, a base was broken, and cooling fins were missing.  One has now been sleeved.  The fins repaired.  The base repaired.  They have new guides and new valves.  The rusty, pitted valve seats have been ground and lapped. 

That plastic bag has the Eastern Motorcycle Parts spring spacers I'll use to set up the valve springs for a set of KK cams I have collected.  These are nice spacers to use, since they have a small lip on top that fits into the valve spring and helps center it on the guide, and hold it in place.  I'll measure my installed spring height, then subtract my cam lift (and .070).  Then I'll subtract the length of my spring at coil bind.  This will leave me with the proper length to make my spacer/shim for that particular valve.  I used my Valve Spring Tester to check my springs, and I'll run the 2 strongest on the exhaust valves.

Leaky Manifold

When you crank this thing open, the motor gains revs, and likes to hold the revs, even after you back off the throttle.  A leaky manifold was the culprit.  I was having so much fun riding it around the track, and it's on-the-gas most of the time anyway - it didn't really bother me.  But it's a good way to burn a piston, or worse, wreck.  It's fixed now...but I see my Dellorto carb plastic float has a bit of gas sloshing around in it now too - so I ordered a new float. 

Like Marvin The Martian says, "Delays...Delays."

Plumber Intake

These original 1948 heads had been "upgraded" to o-ring style.  It wasn't a nice "upgrade" (if you get my drift?)  Kinda cobbled.  It took a little doin' .. . but we got the stock style plumber back in there, and used some sealer.  Then we drilled holes, and manufactured our own mild steel rivets with factory style heads (after viewing photos).  The rivets were press fitted, with sealer, and peened on the inside like stock.  I painted the rivets with cast-iron-gray high heat.

Cylinders Didn't Fit

It's always a good idea to mock up these motors before you get too carried away with assembling parts for good.  The cylinders didn't fit, requiring sanding, de-burring and plenty of aspirin and head scratching.  It's nice if the cylinders can move on the base studs a bit when aligning the intake manifold. 

This engine was abused by multiple owners over the years.  It has many burrs and dings...and requires checking all sorts of shit before you get too far along.  Parts that normally always fit, for some reason don't fit on this thing????  It's just time consuming - and can make a guy go crazy !