We are making headway on Mike’s 1948 Indian Chief. The engine is balanced and blueprinted. We put all new gears in the transmission, including mainshaft and countershaft. The engine and transmission are joined together and installed in the frame. We also did the the last sheet metal fitting to make sure that there are no issues or extra holds and that it all fits perfectly prior to painting. Mike chose red and cream; he likes to refer to it as red and vanilla. Much thanks to Dave at The Shop in Ventura California. He is a long time friend and Indian guru.
Indian
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Dennis brought his 1946 Indian to us this last summer for a full restoration. It was a complete bike but was fully disassembled. These pictures show some of the process that the bike is currently going through as we begin our restoration. The frame and finders have been sandblasted in preparation for bodywork and paint. We have cleaned the frame, removing all non-original pieces, and we have gone though most of the parts to see what is good and what is still needed. We will post more updates as we continue working on this bike.
This 1950 Indian was found in a barn in Pennsylvania. It was originally brought to us for restoration, but we talked the owner into getting it running and leaving it original after we saw how special this bike was. 1950 was the first year Indians were produced with a telescopic front fork as well as left-hand shift and right-hand throttle. It was also the first year for the 80 cubic inch motor. This bike was painted black when it came to us, but we removed the black paint to find the original Indian Red paint. Original-paint bikes are much more desirable than restored ones, in our opinion. In order to get it running, we may have to do a top-end on it. We also anticipate having to rewire and rebuild some components. This project may take a couple of months. These pictures may give you an idea of what an original 1950 Indian looks like.
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.
