Our work on cool engines, both classic and high performance.
Ron bought this 1936 VLH at the Steve McQueen auction in Las Vegas and has been trying to put it together. He brought it to us to finish a few things, and we found some problems with the motor. So, we pulled the engine out and found that it needed to be rebuilt completely. These are some of the process pictures up to this point. It is currently on the bench for final assembly.
This 1928 Harley engine as come to us for a complete rebuild. We are in the process of tearing down and cleaning. These pictures give you a good idea of what kind of condition it was in when it came to us. We will update you as we continue to work on this project.
We have a special guest writer for this newest post. We met Tandy approximately 15 years ago when she came in for some help with her Knucklehead, and she has been a faithful customer and friend ever since. Enjoy.
I bought my bike in 1981. It was love at first sight and I bought her before I could even kick-start her. The current owner started her and despite the suicide/jockey shift, I rode off as if she had been mine for years.
The first few years I lived on her but then life happened ….. my family all sold their bikes but I kept her and rode alone.
I made seat, fender, and paint changes to her over the years but could never find anyone that really seemed to understand her until I met the guys at HWC. They kept her running well for years then one day I had the money and they had the know-how to rebuild the engine and transmission, as well as make some chassie modifications.
Thanks to the guys at Highway Choppers I will be riding my scooter for as long as I possibly can. And yes, a ridge frame at 50 is not as easy as it was at 20 but it is still just as much fun!
Tandy
This bike was brought to us as a Pan/Shovel. The customer wanted to convert it back to a Panhead engine. We pulled the engine and completely balanced and blueprinted it with a Panhead topend instead of a Shovelhead. After running it on the run-stand and making sure everything was in working order, we installed it back into the chassie.
This is a 1953 PanShovel (Panhead lower end with a Shovelhead top end). It came to us from Pennsylvania needing to be rebuilt. It is a 74″ engine. You might notice that we had to fabricate custom top end oil lines because of the unique nature of a PanShovel engine. Part of the final rebuild process includes balancing and blueprinting the engine. Our customer wanted to take it back with him after his stay in Arizona for the winter. We were able to complete this project in about a month and a half.
These cases were brought to us severely broken, and the customer wanted to save them. We have the capability of repairing these cases almost as if they were new. As you can see from the pictures, the top part of the case was broken completely off. In order to repair them, we fit them back together and dovetail ground all the cracks. Then we proceeded to weld the case back together. Early Harley cases are extremely difficult to weld due to the quality of aluminum used in the castings. We have a very talented certified welder, in house, that makes it look easy. Once the cases were repaired, we fit both case halves together and finished alining all surfaces such as motor mounts and cylinder deck. Once the machine work was complete, we went back and refinished the surface to give it a factory original look.
Here are some before and after photos.
These are pictures that we took in our shop of an Indian engine that we are rebuilding for a customer. The pictures show a valve job being done on our guide and seat machine. Also shown are flywheels that are being rebuilt and balanced. Note the red paint on the flywheels, as per factory. The flywheels were balanced on a dynamic engine balancer which means you have to true the them twice. Once without the rods on the crankpin, and then once after you assemble the rods on the flywheel.
This is an engine I found beneath a workbench while helping Bob Bamford on a 47 Offenhauser-powered brickyard racer back in the 80’s.
The story I got from him was that it is as highly modified Harley VL engine from 1936. It has special built components by Andy Koslow of Chicago. The left case half was cast by his foundry for extra strength and larger bearings. The cylinders are oversize and was done by the same company that was making the Harley cylinders at the time. The displacement is somewhere around 105 cubic inches. It has dual bombsight alcohol carbs by Tillotson.
In 1936, overhead valves first emerged in HD Knuckleheads, and these appear to be Harley rocker arms with standard ratio, but they are totally exposed with grease zerks on the ends of the rocker shafts. The side support plates for the rocker arms are also of Koslow design, and are manufactured by him. Although Andy was a famous hill climb enthusiast, he designed and helped bring a few of these engines to production. This engine was used in a race car similar to what’s now known as a midget car. Back then, they were called popsicle racers, I think.
Tony Bettenhausen supposedly won his first professional race sitting behind this very engine. I think it was likely the 1941 race at the Chicago Raceway Park. If anyone knows more about this story, or this engine, I would love to hear it.
Everything aside, this is still an exotic and gorgeous engine. I have the complete toolbox that accompanies the motor, and the special dovetail tools for removing all the nuts. One of these days I’m going to fuel it and fire it up. It turns over and the mag is hot. I bet it’s ready and waiting to go. Now where did I leave that run stand…