More Parts have arrived

Hi

The parts that I have ordered in July arrived last week.  I went to fetch the parts on Saturday.  As I disassemble the components there are still some small items that are required, but overall I really hope that I have bought the bulk of the parts that I will require for the restoration.

Prepping parts for painting

Hi

On Saturday I sand-blasted some more of the parts for painting and I then hand sanded the parts to prepare them for painting:

• the headlight
• the headlight mounting bracket 
• the seat
• the battery box
• the battery box lid
• the skid plate.

I have also set up a makeshift paint booth in the garage.  I strung some cables from the one garage wall to the other and then hung shower curtains on the cables.  This allows me to close off the two end-sections of the garage.

I really would like to get this spray painted this Saturday.

My second parkerizing attempt

Hi there!

I was home relatively early on Friday afternoon and decided that I want to see if I can parkerize the parts that failed to parkerize last week.

Here is the set-up for the second attempt.

On the left (you can just see the Pyrex dish) is the pickling acid.  I then had some water on a gas stove in which to pre-heat the parts, next is the pot containing motor oil (for dropping the parkerized parts into) and the pan containing the parkerizing solution.

After cleaning the parts from the oil that I have dipped them into last week (I used thinners to clean the oil off), the parts went back into the pickling acid, then into the boiling water, then into the parkerizing solution for about 20 minutes, after which they were dropped into the hot motor oil.

Did it work this time?  The answer is partly.  The smaller parts came out nice and black, but the large parts were just a grey colour.  And one can see that the large parts were very thinly coated with gun black.

One of the smaller parts that turned black nicely

After reading some more about it, I am convinced that the large parts were not hot enough when they went into the parkerizing solution.  What I will do next week is to pre-heat them in the oven to about 140 degrees Celsius before I drop them into the parkerizing solution.  Hopefully that will work.

My first parkerizing attempt an epic fail

Hi. 

I spent a lot of time on Saturday to clean all of the foot board nuts and bolts, as I wanted to parkerize the foot boards and all of the related nuts and bolts. Last Saturday and Monday I have sandblasted most of the large parts. The small parts I cleaned with a wire wheel on my bench grinder.

The foot board parts, nicely cleaned from rust and paint

I then poured the pickling acid into a container and put the parts into the pickling acid for a couple of minutes to ensure that all oil, rust and other junk are cleaned off. The pickling acid really cleaned the rust from the grooves in the bolts and the pit marks on the foot boards - you can see the reaction between the rust in the pit marks and the acid (the green tint in the pit marks).

This really worked very well.  But one has to be very cautious in handling the parts to make sure that the acid does not splatter anywhere, as it is a very strong acid!

The parts in the pickling acid solution

The parts then were rinsed and put into the parkerizing Solution container.  I started off with about a litre of tap water in a container.  I then weighed the correct amount of black oxide crystals for a litre of parkerizing solution and poured that into the container (carefully, as it is very caustic) on top of the parts.

About 1l of water in a container

The black oxide crystals being measured to make up 1 litre of parkerizing solution

Next, I heated the solution to the required 120 degrees Celsius and waited 20 minutes.  Nothing happened.

So.  Back to the books to see what I did wrong.  It seems:

• that the chemicals in potable water could hinder the reaction from taking place and that one should use distilled water if the water is highly chlorinated.
• it also appears as if the water have to be heated to 120 degrees Celsius before the black oxide crystals are put into the water.
• and it seems that the parts should be heated by boiling them in water before putting the parts in the parkerizing solution.

I'll try again next weekend with distilled water and make sure that I follow the recipe to a T.

Will keep you posted.

Parkerizing Solution has Arrived

Hi. 

Last night when I got home, a package with the pickling acid (to clean the raw metal from rust, oil,  sweat, etc.) and the parkerizing solution was waiting for me. 

This means that I can now forge ahead and sandblast all of the parts that have to be parkerized and then I can parkerize the cleaned parts. 

I am thinking that I will do this in drips and drabs, rather than all at once. The reason being that I don't want the cleaned / sandblasted parts to sit on a shelf for some time, as they will rust. 

Practically this means that I will sandblast motorcycle parts on a Saturday morning and then parkerize those parts either in the afternoon or the next day. 

But I also want to work on specific areas of the motorcycle. For example the rear brake. Once I have completed both the painting and the parkerizing of all of the parts of the rear brake assembly, I would then like to assemble the parts and shelve the assembly for final fitment.

It's been a productive weekend

Hi

I have had a very productive long-weekend (Monday was a public holiday in South Africa)!

I have managed to:

• set up the compressor and sand blasting cabinet, 
• buy a desert khaki colour,
• we have fixed most of the bent parts on the motorbike (took us most of Saturday),
• I have managed to sand blast:
• the battery box (we had to do some welding on the battery box and the base coat of paint caught fire)
• the battery box lid
• the foot boards with the foot board hinges
• the headlight
• the rear axle rod
• the rear drum 
• the tool box
• the tool box mounting bracket.

I'll more than likely paint these parts this coming Saturday.

Panel Beating and Prepping for Painting / Parkerizing

Hi

A very good friend of mine and I have spent most of Saturday panel beating the bent parts of the Harley-Davidson.  Some of the body panels needed a little bit of work to fit nicely, while the odd part needed some more straightening.

The front fender, rear fender, front stand, rear stand, battery box, etc., now fits beautifully. I can now start with the preparation for painting / parkerizing and the painting / parkerizing.

The front stand now fits really nicely!

And so do the rear stand!

Talking about painting - I have come across a 2nd World War steel helmet used by the Union Defence Force of South Africa on Bid or Buy.  I have bought the steel helmet, as I want to use it when I drive with the bike (once it has been restored).  This helmet was painted a Desert Khaki.

A World War 2 UDF SA steel helmet

The inside of the helmet

I have used the helmet to mix the Desert Khaki colour that I want to paint the bike with.

I have also started with sand blasting the first parts that I want to paint or parkerize.

The Sand Blasting Cabinet that I am using

The Rear Axle, nicely sand-blasted.  Ready to be Parkerized!

The Frame of my Harley-Davidson WL was Manufactured in 1941

Hi

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am down to the frame with the disassembly.  Bruce Palmer has an amazing amount of information in his book on "How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson".  In one of the Chapters in the book he explains the differences between the frames from year to year.

Scanned Image from Bruce Palmer's "How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson" showing what the early to mid 1941 frames for the 45's looks like.

This Photo shows the Clutch Cable Housing Frame Bracket on my 45

Scanned Image from Bruce Palmer's "How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson" showing what the 1931 to mid 1941 Upper Seat Post Forging looks like.

This Photo shows the Upper Seat Post Forging on my 45

Would you agree with me that is exactly the same forging as that shown in the book of Bruce Palmer?  This means that the frame of my Harley-Davidson was manufactured somewhere between January 1941 to June or July 1941!

Scanned Image from Bruce Palmer's "How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson" showing what the early to mid 1941 Steering Head Forging looks like.

This Photo shows the Steering Head Forging on my 45

 This forging was used between January 1941 to June or July 194, which confirms that the frame of my Harley-Davidson was manufactured somewhere between January 1941 to June or July 1941!

Scanned Image from Bruce Palmer's "How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson" showing the details of the UDF (SA) Military U Model's Rear Stand.

This Photo shows the Rear Stand on my 45, clearly showing the sand pads on the rear stand.

I am fairly convinced that I am the fortunate owner of an early to mid 1941 Harley-Davidson 45 cubic inch U-model frame that was supplied to the South African Union Defence Force.

And yes, there is a lot of work ahead to get it back into its original condition, but that is what I would like to do.