According to a shitty government anyways. A harley is a harley...

 

Well, the problem is the California DMV makes those rules, and we have to live with them. Your former Harley would be called "special construction" motorcycle. It is what it is.

 

I have an HD reman from 04/05. The quality is great. That's not to say that I care either way about what they do in the future. If it were S&S that would be fine too.

If you go down to Myrtle Beach Bike Week the SCHP have been known to check frame and engine numbers. They look for stolen bikes every year as far as I have been told. And..if they find some bike stealing SOB I hope they lock their azzes up and toss the key down the well.

 

Man that sucks! I wasn't aware that an aftermarket engine swap had to be re-titled as special construction. A friend of mine offered me a good price on a barely used S&S 111" motor that I've been highly considering all week. On the other hand, in over 40 years of riding (34 years in CA) I've never had my numbers checked. Soooo ...


I wonder what they do if a few years down the road, I put the shock engine back in, does it get titled as a Harley again?


Man, I sure like the performance of the 111" S&S. I rode a friends FXR with that motor in it, and it was insane! That's a lot of motor for a 600lbs bike.

 

That's not so. Changing the frame makes it special construction. Changing the engine does not.

I just put an S&S in my '97 Electragllide. It's still a Harley with a new engine number. Doesn't even say S&S on the registration, just the engine number.

But make sure you have ALL the paperwork! (A receipt from a guy at a swap swap may not be enough....)

 

I just looked it up on the CA DMV website, and I stand corrected. Changing the frame makes it a special construction bike.

With the new engine, you still have to report it to the DMV within 10 days, and apply for a duplicate title (for the new engine number).

They will want to see a Manufacturer's Statement of Origin (MSO) for the engine to verify.

 

Cool, yeah I just call Sacramento DMV, and after being on hold for over an hour, I talked with a guy that perfectly understood what I was asking. He told me that Special Construction Titles are only required for, and issued to a vehicle that has never had a title. He said once I install the new engine to ride the bike to DMV for an inspection & verification of the new engine number. After that they simply reflect the new engine number on the title. He said the only difference I would see in the title is the engine number. That the new issued title would still be for (in my case) a 1993 Harley Davidson.


If I change the motor back to the original, just bring it back to DMV to repeat the process.


I was surprised he told me to ride the bike to DMV. I told him I thought I would have to trailer it to avoid impound if I got pulled over. he said only if the numbers come up as being stolen. Otherwise if the LEO was in a bad mood, the worse he would do is write a fix-it ticket. Simple enough, YAY!

 

the frame is the issue, not the engine... at least here in MA

 

Yes. The frame is considered the "vehicle."

And riding the bike to DMV (and usually to the CHP for VIN verification) SHOULDN'T be a problem. "I'm headed to DMV. Wanna follow me?"

It can get to be a problem with pre-VIN Harleys, which just had an engine number until like the early '60s. Those often wind up with a "blue tag" (in CA) on the frame, hurting the value. (But we were talking about reman motors. No remans for those.)

Remans do save you the paperwork and the fee, which in CA is, I think, $2.00.

Up until the 1950s they used to register the engine number on cars and trucks too....

 

If you're a AAA member, you can do the whole VIN verification thing at the AAA office. I did it with my FXR that I bought in Texas. No line...in and out of there in about 15 min.