Jumping in quite late but I just bought a 46 Flathead 45. Got a good deal from one of my HD customers for a variety of reasons. I'm a Harley mechanic but have never worked on one of these so excited to be looking around to learn as much as I can. Also, struggling to find manuals. I have a Big Twin manual that was in some stuff someone gave me but that isn't for this bike. Several places online are happy to let me download something they claim is the manual for $10 or $15 but with no pictures or sample pages not sure that I'm not just giving them money.
Anyway, good to be here, looking forward to being around more.
And yes, that is mud due to flooding. One of the "reasons" mentioned above.
Start a new post with pictures all around the guys will ID what is real parts and what might not be real parts — and an explain of what you right off need to know - like correct way to start it - what battery is in it will tell charging system type - what year is it
books most will post what correct ones to buy and I might have numbers for you to order them through who ever it is you work for will be the cheapest if they give the guys a deal -
Wow, doesn’t seem like 4 yrs ago I posted this thread. I simply don’t spend much time with it but here’s what I have done, thanks in large part to everyone here and Cass at HD Restorations:
The ignition points distributor was completely hacked. He sent me a used but OEM replacement and now the timing is spot on.
I put in the Ducky float, set the height to as close as close as a guy can get it, and now no carb issues at all.
New fuel tank shut-off rod with seals and it seals off perfectly now.
I rebuilt the oil pump with new springs, ***** and gasket. I ‘lapped’ the seats inside the pump using one of the old(but still good) ***** and it holds the oil in the tank better but still leaks down if I don’t start it every week or so. I’m starting to think that’s just the nature of the beast with these bikes but hell, I don’t know. I have a spare oil feed line and am thinking strongly of putting a shut-off valve in there because its a gawd awful mess when all the oil is in the case.
I have figured out the starting methods pretty well and now I got this bike starting with a couple kicks every time. Clutch action is great, shifting is a piece of cake now. I took it for a nice ride yesterday and it ran great. It’s still a monster with that sidecar on it so it was a good upper body workout as well.
I’m looking for this how-to books as mentioned earlier in this thread. Which edition should I be looking for?
Bottom line: Its been a……interesting project but I’m simply not a vintage Harley guy. I don’t at all regret the purchase and I’ll for sure put more rides on it but it needs to go to a real Harley enthusiast. I would think that a guy with the will and desire, and the right connections could go thru this bike and tidy up things that are not correct and it be worth some pretty good bucks. I saw a ‘47 flathead with a left hand sidecar that sold a couple years ago for 72K(if memory serves). It was mint.
Anyway, I’ll take a bunch more photos of it head to toe and post back this weekend.
A huge thanks again to all that pitched in and helped along the way!
This is the tool i use on all the oil pumps i restore and it work wonders. All the old 45s leak but you should be good for at least a few months befor oil leaks through
Originally Posted by cclay
Wow, doesn’t seem like 4 yrs ago I posted this thread. I simply don’t spend much time with it but here’s what I have done, thanks in large part to everyone here and Cass at HD Restorations:
The ignition points distributor was completely hacked. He sent me a used but OEM replacement and now the timing is spot on.
I put in the Ducky float, set the height to as close as close as a guy can get it, and now no carb issues at all.
New fuel tank shut-off rod with seals and it seals off perfectly now.
I rebuilt the oil pump with new springs, ***** and gasket. I ‘lapped’ the seats inside the pump using one of the old(but still good) ***** and it holds the oil in the tank better but still leaks down if I don’t start it every week or so. I’m starting to think that’s just the nature of the beast with these bikes but hell, I don’t know. I have a spare oil feed line and am thinking strongly of putting a shut-off valve in there because its a gawd awful mess when all the oil is in the case.
I have figured out the starting methods pretty well and now I got this bike starting with a couple kicks every time. Clutch action is great, shifting is a piece of cake now. I took it for a nice ride yesterday and it ran great. It’s still a monster with that sidecar on it so it was a good upper body workout as well.
I’m looking for this how-to books as mentioned earlier in this thread. Which edition should I be looking for?
Bottom line: Its been a……interesting project but I’m simply not a vintage Harley guy. I don’t at all regret the purchase and I’ll for sure put more rides on it but it needs to go to a real Harley enthusiast. I would think that a guy with the will and desire, and the right connections could go thru this bike and tidy up things that are not correct and it be worth some pretty good bucks. I saw a ‘47 flathead with a left hand sidecar that sold a couple years ago for 72K(if memory serves). It was mint.
Anyway, I’ll take a bunch more photos of it head to toe and post back this weekend.
A huge thanks again to all that pitched in and helped along the way!
12-03-2021, 01:44 PM
