Hi guys, I'm a certified Technician with 15 years HD experience with a Restoration question.
The bike in question is a 1956 Panhead that a friend of a friend is looking to get restored. The bike was taken apart 8 years ago and been sitting on cardboard boxes and bins since (the current owner bought it a year ago). The only thing that is complete is the engine and transmission that were recently rebuilt. I went through the boxes with a guy that built is own Panhead. It appears that everything is original and that most of the parts are present. Some smaller parts and most of the hardware is missing.
The owner wants to get everything painted by a local painter and wants me to clean up the rest of the parts and put it together and make it road worthy for Him.

This is typically a project you would do yourself and I would rather buy the bike from Him and do it for myself, but he wants to keep it.
Anyway they are asking me for what I would charge to do this. I have no idea what to quote them as I've never done a restoration let alone work on a pan head (oldest I've worked on up to this point has been a couple shovels).

My plan of attack would be:
-Preassemble the bike and make sure all the pieces are present and in working order.
-Tear down and sent to paint
-final assembly and build a new wire harness (all the wires have been chopped).

I am thinking at least a year to complete the job (working weekends and waiting for parts/ paint).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should quote (roughly) for this job. I don't know any shops in the area that would even take on a job like this. Does anyone have any idea of what restoration shops would charge for this kind of project?

Thank you for your time and any suggestions.

 

Shoot man thats a tuff one. Hard to look down a well and tell you how deep it is. Time and materials? One of those projects you have to start to see how bad its going to be. I'm sure others will chime in. Got any pics. I hope its all matching!

 

From what I understand the person he bought it from was the original owner. It needs some tlc, but I think most of the parts will clean up.
I will try to get some pictures, but it won't look like much as all the parts are scattered in random cardboard boxes. The serial number on the engine is a 1957 and the frame is an original, non-molested! Like I mentioned before I would love to have this project be my own and not have to give it up when I'm done with it (if I even take it on)!
I know already if I take it on I'll be spending countless hours I won't be able charge the guy for, but trying to get a rough ballpark of what a shop would charge or what you may charge to rebuild someone's bike for them. Keep in mind, this isn't MY friend I would be doing this for, so I would like to get most of my time paid for. Ideally I would rather quote too high, then come back down on the price if everything goes well, but I don't want to be stuck with 200 hrs in a bike and get paid for 40.

Thanks again for any opinions or suggestions.

 

Having never done a full up on a old big twin i cant be much help but what ever you think it will be double it. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

You might try posting on caimag.com or hydra-glide.com, those sites are frequented by pan-knuckle restoration gurus who have probably done a few and would have a better idea on the typical time involved.

 

The bike in question is a 1956 Panhead that a friend of a friend is looking to get restored.

There is a huge difference between restored and re-assembled in a stock configuration. Restored infers making it like it came from the factory. That means correct fasteners (be they bolts screws, washers and nuts), plating (chrome, cad, parkerized finish). HD parts manual will give you correct lengths and type of bolts and screws, washer and nut dimensions (solid or split, thickness as well as circumference). You will need Palmers Guide to identify what parts are finished for your year model.

Restorations are a very timely process. Re-assemnbled to a stock configuration as a cool looking period piece are far less difficult to do. And finding the correct parts for a restoration can be time consuming and costly because everyone thinks they have the rarest parts made for whatever particular year.

The bike was taken apart 8 years ago and been sitting on cardboard boxes and bins since (the current owner bought it a year ago). The only thing that is complete is the engine and transmission that were recently rebuilt.

Do you have paperwork establishing the rebuild. Do you know/trust the person who did the work? If not or you have doubts you will need to take apart and inspect because if you get it together and the motor goes south due to lack of oil where it needs to be you will be blamed (your fault or not)

I went through the boxes with a guy that built is own Panhead. It appears that everything is original and that most of the parts are present. Some smaller parts and most of the hardware is missing.

A lot of the early parts have a casting code and some have a casting date code on them. Palmers can give you the answers to those questions as well. Colony has some hardware that will pass the litmus test fro restorers.


The owner wants to get everything painted by a local painter....

Local painter without the correct paint will not cut it for restoration purposes. The frame is painted using Harley black paint (not all black paint is alike. Only source I know still sells it is Colorwrite owned by John Pierce. He also sells the correct paint for the sheet metal.

This is typically a project you would do yourself and I would rather buy the bike from Him and do it for myself, but he wants to keep it.
Anyway they are asking me for what I would charge to do this. I have no idea what to quote them as I've never done a restoration let alone work on a pan head (oldest I've worked on up to this point has been a couple shovels).

If you can wrench on a shovel, you can easily wrench on a pan. The pan is a simplified version of a shovel.

My plan of attack would be:
-Preassemble the bike and make sure all the pieces are present and in working order.
-Tear down and sent to paint
-final assembly and build a new wire harness (all the wires have been chopped).

Plan is good. And you could even run the basic wire (ignition, battery, timer, generator) and kick her over and then take apart. Wiring harness are available. They are specific to year as well and color coded.

I am thinking at least a year to complete the job (working weekends and waiting for parts/ paint).

Spent 18 months of weekends doing a 48 pan with a sidecar. Owner wanted a nice looking period piece, not a totally correct bike. Been working on my 49 pan for almost 7 years now, trying to make it a correct restoration. So the 1 year of weekends is easy attainable without killing yourself.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should quote (roughly) for this job. I don't know any shops in the area that would even take on a job like this. Does anyone have any idea of what restoration shops would charge for this kind of project?

Just a thought...why not charge him by the hour and give him a monthly bill of parts and labor. That way he pays as he goes, he pays for work that is done and you have money coming in the door for the services you have performed. Keeps it all above board with no hidden costs.


A pic of the 48 from a photo shoot...

 

What did you decide to do on the Pan? I would guess a very fair price for labor would be $12,000

20 hours a week times 50 weeks comes out to $12/hour. I did a 56 pan a year ago, you'd be surprised how much it cost just to get all the hardware.

Joe

 

[QUOTE=panz4ever;9398356]The bike in question is a 1956 Panhead that a friend of a friend is looking to get restored.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should quote (roughly) for this job. I don't know any shops in the area that would even take on a job like this. Does anyone have any idea of what restoration shops would charge for this kind of project?

Just a thought...why not charge him by the hour and give him a monthly bill of parts and labor. That way he pays as he goes, he pays for work that is done and you have money coming in the door for the services you have performed. Keeps it all above board with no hidden costs.QUOTE]

I'm with panz4ever charge him by the hour or no deal!

 

I would divide it into several smaller projects,and charge by the hour. As you get to points you agree on,You get paid.Get the agreement IN WRITING. I had a 57 sportster in my garage for 2 years,because the guy disappeared. I had no written agreement,so I could not get a mechanics lien on the title. Be clear on what is expected on both sides of the agreement,and keep time logs ,if you agree to hourly pay.Everything takes much longer then you think it will,When someone else took it apart. You have no idea what threads are stripped,brackets are missing wrong part,that just won't fit ect. ect. This is the kind of project that can really try a freindship.Everytime I take one on, I say 'never again" Then I get sucked into 'helping out' and I'm right back at it. I spent a lot of time researching stuff for old bikes,hunting parts on the internet ect. How do you charge for that?Unless you like Panheads and want to learn all about them,you may want to pass.Once it is together, you'll be this guy's "on call mechanic" Everytime something happens,he will call you. and want you to look at it for free. If you really like the project,and the guy seems like some one you want to be freinds with ,then do it. Because you can make a lot more money with your time,doing repairs.