Prepping the Fenders for Painting (Part 3)

Hi 

I am currently busy removing the bit of rust underneath the cable duct of the rear fender. 

I did sand it down, but there were still some rust below the cable duct. I have bought a rust remover and have applied that. 

 

 

I then used a MS Primer (grey) to prime the fenders.

 

 

Engine Rebuild Completed

Hi

Doepie has completed the rebuild of the engine and the Linkert Carburettor!  He sent me these photo's.  I'll collect the engine from him on Saturday and take some more photo's.

This is a really big milestone in any restoration - engine, gearbox and carburettor totally restored!  I am really pleased with the progress on the bike.

The Righ-hand Side of the 45 cubic inch (750cc) Engine
[Notice the original air-cooled spark plugs]

The Left-hand Side of the Engine

Engine Rebuild - Heads Fitted

Hi

Doepie has just e-mailed me some pictures of the engine rebuild.  He has fitted the heads (temporarily - I am still waiting for the new head studs and nuts to arrive).  Doepie had some head studs in stock, which I will just replace when the studs that I have ordered arrive.  He, however, did not have any of the head nuts in stock and used ordinary nuts to fit the heads - to prevent any dirt from getting into the engine.

The Engine with the Head Studs Fitted

The Heads Fitted (Temporarily)

Prepping the Fenders for Painting (Part 2)

Hi

I have been working on the fenders for a while now. The paint has been stripped and the fenders have been sanded down to the bare metal on both sides. All the rust has been removed on both sides.  To do that, I drilled out the rivets for the rear fender hinge, as well as, the fender brace.

This weekend I have filled some of the small dents with extra fine body filler and I have sanded the body filler down.  I am nearly ready for the first coat of etch primer to be applied.  I will sand the fenders again with a 600 grit sanding paper (to make sure that all the small holes are filled).  I will then paint the fender in the matt desert khaki and refit the rivets.

Harley Davidson's that Doepie are Building

Here are some photos of HD's that Doepie are busy building.

Engine Rebuild Progress

Hi

Doepie is making awesome progress with the engine rebuild.

Gearbox Rebuild Completed

Good morning 

I have just had a phone call from Doepie to say that he has finished the rebuild of the gearbox .

The gearbox rebuild involved the replacement of the bushes, bearings, all the seals, the clutch springs, the final drive sprocket with seal, etc. The casing has been bead blasted and some of the parts were repainted. 

The parts that were repainted were done in matt black or the matt desert khaki - as it came out of the factory (according to Bruce Palmer and his book 'How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson')

I will pick up the gearbox this morning and post some pictures of it. 

The Completed Gearbox - the backing plate of the primary cover is just turned around and should face the other way

Hooray! - the Engine and Gearbox Parts have arrived

Hi

The engine and gearbox parts that I have ordered a couple of weeks ago from Clements Trading in the Netherlands have arrived.  This means that we are on track to have the engine and gearbox rebuild completed and fitted back onto the motorcycle during December 2015.

Parts Required	Number Required
35204-41 sprocket with seal  NOS	1
35195-26 keys for sprocket	2
36042-41 bush for kick start	1
2432-41 lock washers on clutch release arm	2
37458-41 bush	1
37335-41 seal kit	1
37462-41 clutch nut lock washer	1
38075-4 clutch springs	8
35344-41, thrust washer	1
9090 rollers
9075 roller @ 2 for both sides    all rollers	1
35216-26 lock washer on engine sprocket	1
26550-38 oil pressure unit	Not Available
31071-37 generator gear (oil slinger type)	Not Available
23960-29 crank pin NOS	1
24060-26 crank thrust washers (thickest available)	2
24331-36 gudgeon pin bushes	2
9321 rollers drive side of engine full set, 2 sets rollers adjacent to one another	1
9241 rollers for crank pin	1
9301 rollers for crank pin has 1 set each side of conrod	2
32585-36 distributor horseshoe  1567-36a	1
9084 rollers +0004” oversize
Primary chain?	1
Linkert Carburettor Bowl	1

Used Harley-Davidson Horn Restored

Hi

My WL had a 6V car horn on when I bought it. I have managed to buy a used 6V H-D horn on eBay a while ago. It was a bit the worse for wear. I have stripped it, sanded it down to bare metal, resprayed it and assembled it. I just need to spray the face plate.

The Refurbished Horn

 

 

 

This is what the horn looked like when I received it.

The Kick Starter Ready

Hi.

I have fitted the newly arrived nuts and bolts for the kick starter and it is now ready for fitment to the gearbox. And the gearbox should be completely rebuilt by next week.

The Kick Starter with the new nuts and bolts

Some Small Parts have arrived

Good morning (South Africa time)

I have received some small parts that I have ordered from 45 Flathead Service in the Netherlands.

Some nuts and bolts that I have ordered, as the stuff on the bike was beyond saving

 

 

Fenders being Prepared for Painting

Hi

I have also been working on the fenders.

Update on the Engine Rebuild (Part 2)

Hi

I dropped off all the parts that I had to paint, as well as, all of the nuts and bolts that I had to parkerize at Doepie this past Saturday.  The engine is back from the Engineering works and it is looking really great!  All still disassembled.  Here are some photo's.

The Cylinder Sleeves with new sleeves, valves and the head machined to fit the heads.

The original Conrods with new gudgeon pins, machined to exactly fit the new pistons

Doepie's work bench - full of 45 parts

New standard sized pistons and rings

The one crankcase - stamped with the number 41 - 5652 (made in 1941)

The other crackcase - with the same number 41 - 5652 (the 41 is a bit faint)

 This means that the engine have matching crankcases!

The engine number (also a 1941 number)

The gearbox is nearly finished - just waiting for some of the parts that I have ordered to arrive

The generator - Doepie says that this looks like an original, as the wires were only wired with the twist in the factory.

Update on the Engine Rebuild

Hi

Murphy has put the proverbial spanner in the engine rebuild.  ;-)

Doepie phoned me during the week to say that the engineering works had contacted him to inform him that they have issues with the re-boring of the piston sleeves to the next over-sized pistons and that that the valves will have to be replaced as well.  We were hoping that we could just replace the pistons with over-sized pistons (this would obviously require the piston sleeves to be re-bored to this size).

Anyway - this means the following:

• We now will have to replace the piston sleeves with new sleeves;
• Rather than using the over-sized pistons, we will have to go back to the standard piston size;
• And we will have to replace all of the valves.

This is a lot more work (and it somes with a much higher price tag)!

I have to take the Linkert Carb Rebuild Kit (it has arrived during the week from the USA) to Doepie on Saturday.  He should have the engine back from the engineering works by then.  I'll take some pictures of the engine and post them next week.

The engine and gearbox rebuild should be finished by mid-December.  I'll fit the engine and gearbox befor Christmas.  If I can accomplish that before Christmas, the resotration of the Harley-Davidson WL will have progressed significantly.  There is still a lot of work ahead, but I am getting there.

Still More Engine Parts Ordered

Hi

Darn!  Just when I thought that I had all of the required engine and gearbox parts ordered that Doepie needs to do the engine, carburetor and the gearbox rebuild, he phones me to say that the head studs were damaged and that he suggests that I buy new studs.  He also mentioned that 3 of the nuts were damaged as well.  I ordered this from the Netherlands as well.

I took the opportunity to also buy the hardware that I need to fasten the primary chain cover, as the chain had mauled the inner and outer cover, as well as, the mounting hardware.  I have been able to fix the covers though.

I consequently ordered:

Ordered Some New Old Stock Parts

Hi

My objective with the restoration is to get back to 100% original with the Harley-Davidson looking like the day that it came out of the factory.

I spoke to Doepie this week and he mentioned that the 3-brush 6V generator is 100% original, but that the regulator is an after-market regulator.  In trawling through eBay I came across a NOS 3-brush Delco-Remy 6V regulator.  It should arrive in South Africa in about 3 weeks time.

The headlight glass lense has been broken and I also came across a Cycle-Ray lense on eBay.

Lastly, the wiring on the bike has been replaced with new, plastic-coated wiring.  Uglyeee!  I came across a NOS coil to distributor wire on eBay.  And yes, it is only one wire, but this wire is very visible on the bike.  As for the rest, I'll use a replica cloth-covered wiring loom that looks identical to the factory original.