What would be the purpose of putting shovel heads on a pan head engine? There is a panhead for sale locally that has had that done. Would it be something that could easily be reversed? Thanks

 

Some were built that way by HD:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/exhau...an-shovel.html

 

Panheads were a little hard to start because the intake ports were on the left side of the heads and the carb was on the right.
A longer intake manifold was required for that setup and it didn't breathe as well as the later heads with the shorter intake manifold.
I converted more than a few Panheads to Shovelheads back in the day.


Harley built a factory Pan/Shovel as well....It was called the 1966 thru 1969 Shovelhead.

 

OK Thanks. This one is a 1950 model and really should be put back to close to original. What would I need to convert it back?

 

Head/Barrels/Pistons....In other words a new top end.
A word of advice though, If you're not sure how many miles are on the bottom end, rebuild it when you do the top end.

 

And I guess an intake? The motor was rebuilt in 1990 and the shovel heads were added at that time. I dont know how many miles have been put on it but, probably not many. Its a pretty nice old bike priced at $8900.00. Does that sound reasonable for a '50 Pan ?

 

It could be reasonable or ridiculous....Depending on the condition of the bike.
I can't see the bike, so I can't give advice on the price.

 

 

Nice lookin' old bike....I'd probably take a chance on it, and I agree that it ought to be put back to original condition.

 

they converted the oil pump from the cast iron to the alloy and ran ( oil line out of the oil pressure switch hole to feed the top ) not the best way to do that but it works, and yes you can put it back - pricy - oem items hard to get not impossible - correct 1950 heads, intake manifold - and the carb linkert - alloy valve covers very hard to get nice oem - alloy lifter blocks another tough item to find in usable condition, it was a tank shift that one is a foot shift - the distributor is incorrect so are the handlebars - both fenders and the oil tank are re pop as well as almost all the chrome maybe a piece or two is not - 10,000 to find and restore it mechanically to correct doing it your self on the cheep over a couple years / then fenders are a 1000 a piece in original condition with the correct holes for the strips and trim / plus oem paint is 300 a quart and you need two colors and silver maybe