Got in late Friday nite/early Saturday moring after going to Aberdeen, South Dakota to get my motor. Need to get some pics up.

Couple of questions.

Easiest way you all use to get the assembled motor back in the frame? At 73 I no longer have the umph to just pick it up and slide it in the frame. I was thinking about leaving the bike on the ground (rather than on the lift), putting the bike level (I have a homestand pops made me), grabbing the motor by the exhaust ports and slipping it in that way. Just have to make sure I clear the bypass tube coming out of the motor (angled at a ninety degrees) and the frame tab for the squish pipe.

Other question is about the tanks. It looks like they have a sealer on the inside. Almost looks yellowish? Haven't a clue what it is (seller did not know either). Can I take the tanks and have that stuff boiled out? I am just concerned that the sealer may not hold up to the unleaded gas and I have heard horror stories about folks using sealer and having it come apart because it was not done poprely. My 49 tanks I had done in Red Kote and they have held up nicley.

 

Sealer concerns me too and my first thought is remove it but if someone knows of a product proven to not come off I would consider it.

Maybe ask a buddy to lift it in for you? Only takes about 15 seconds and its in. Any young neighbours you could ask?

 

Does your sidecar body have an oval tag screwed to it under the leading edge of the seat?

 

Tanks, I have been very successful recently using an old radiator shop. The clean everything, pressure test for leaks then re-seal.

Their business almost went under since radiators are now replaceable parts and not repairable. He shifted gears to the vintage seen, does radiators and gas tanks for the cars, tanks for bikes. He did my original paint tanks, no damage to my paint.

Now you have to find that kind of guy near you, good luck.

PS you need a friend, preferably young, to help you with the motor. You are too far along to lay the motor on it's side and drop the frame on top of it.

 

Went to the rad shop today for something else and asked about my tanks. He assured me the coating won’t come off and that they prep it with acid, blast inside if necessary. I’ll get the 48 tanks done.

 

Took the tanks to the radiator shop. He thinks it is probably Kreme. He's going to boil them and pressure test them as well. He's not sure if that will remove the epoxy or not. Picked some epoxy stripper at my local ACE Hardward Store. If boiling won't remove it all then I will use the stripper to loosen, get out what I can and then take the tanks to him again to get the rest out. Once clean I will use Red Kote sealer.

Good suggestion on the help getting the engine in the frame. Going to have a buddy (he's only 60) help. He's not a m/c guy but is a car gearhead and very good at it. So between us we should get it back in.

 

Couple of pics of the heads before taking them back to Aberdeen SD.

Front....casting date code had to have been ground done because it interfered with the rocker cover. Not sure what the letter "E" means (nothing in palmer's about it). Palmers states that the "K" is located aboved the casting nubers but there is no explanation of what it means


Rear... casting sate code is legible and also has the "E". Palmers states the letter "J" is above the casting numbers but again there is no explanation of what it means

 

Couple of the "before" cylinders









Unfortunately iu did not scrape off the paint before going east in order to get a good read on the cylinder date codes. And the assmebled motor is no help either. Definitely a mistake on my part. I believe the forging casting stands for "Motor Casting Company" (MCC).

 

I don’t know what the E represents but it’s on a lot of heads for Pans. Not all but a lot. The earliest I’ve seen it is on a 1948-49 rear head with casting number 119 482.

I don’t know what the K and J mean but I’d like to see Palmer’s evidence about them being part of the casting numbers. In his 37-64 SE he said 63-65 front heads have casting number 16700-56 K with the K located where yours is. But how did Palmer conclude K was part of the casting number?

For 63-65 rear heads Palmer included J in the casting number (16701-56 J) but now the letter is even further away. How did he conclude J was part of the casting number? And if he thinks J is part of that casting number then what about the letter D in that same position on the Jan 61 rear head below?





I’ve also seen D in that position on 16701-56 rear heads cast in May 61 and Nov 60.


MCC logo was used on Pan cylinders from about mid-63 (model year) thru 65.

Front cylinder looks like it has the letter A indicating January. It’s the right way up and at this stage that appears to be normal practice for letters on Pan front cylinders regardless of casting month. Exceptions? I haven’t seen any yet but it’s possible.
Front plate is small. It seems they were large for a long time but changed to small at some point during the 62 calendar year. I imagine the plate is the right way up? If so, that appears to be normal for plates on most Pan front cylinders but I’ve seen a 1957 plate which was upside down. Hard to read your plate but there may be two characters in the day portion?

Rear cylinder has its letter (A?) upside down and that appears to be normal practice for letters on most Pan rear cylinders. But in 52, 53 and 54 some letters were upside down while others were the right way up.
At least three sizes of plate were used for Pan rear cylinders. Yours is small and obviously upside down as most were although sometimes it was the right way up. Day portion looks like 20 but it’s hard to be sure about the year.
Eric

 

My inner primary is not drilled for the vent line. Is this something I need to address before putting it back together?

Ran it that way since owning it.

The Shovels I have owned all had the primary vent.