Have a 78 FXE motor in a 77 FLH frame and the PO said the motor was rebuilt to Police spec (no paperwork ) . Any way to tell from outside appearances or do I need to pull the heads ?

 

No way to truly know, now that it's been rebuilt. First two digits of the VIN on the motor will tell you what it was originally:

1A = Model Designation


1A = FL-1200 6E = FXEF-80


2A = FLH-1200 7E = FLHS-1200


3A = XLH-1000 9E = SS-250


4A = XLCH-1000 2F = FXS-1200


5A = GE-750 3F = SXT-125


6A = SS-350 Sprint 4F = SS-175


7A = SX-125 6F = SS-125


8A = M65-S 7F = XLCR-1000


7B = ERS 2G = XLT-1000


8B = MSR-100 3G = FLH-80


2C = FX-1200 5G = FLT-80


3C = SX-350 Sprint 6G = FXE-80


5C = MC-65 7G = FXS-80


6C = SR-100 7T = SST-250


1D = LE Sidecar 8F = SST-350


2D = X-90 9F = SX-350


3D = Z-90 9G = FXWG-80


5D = SX-175 1H = FXB-80


6D = SX-250 2H = CLE Sidecar


7D = MX-250 3H = FLH-80 Classsic


9D = FXE-1200 5H = FLHS-80


4E = XLS-1000 6H = FL-80


5E = FXEF-1200 7H = FLH-1200 Police


8H = FLH-1200 Shrine


9H = FLH-80 Police


1K = FLH-80 Shrine

 

Didn't know if there might be some secret code but the motor is a FXE (9D) and the cylinders do have 10 fins . So what's inside remains a mystery for now .

 

if, rebuilt it could've been pushed to 80" (likely police spec was just cam, carb etc) but if I'm not mistaken in 1978 it would have been 74" from moco

 

9d = fxe-1200 (74")

 

JD 1917 to 1929 and VL 1930 to 1935 had actual police internal parts ( big valve heads and cams / carbs ) in the engines and special clutch discs nothing else I have ever seen - the F in the chassis letters was for foot shifted police with out it was a tank shift, as most were until the evo came along 1984, then it was all foot shift from then on no tank shift available from Harleys evo police parts book anyway

 

Mr. Joe12RK, could you help me make sense of this VIN please?
6E52411H9(5). Same VIN on motor and frame

 

6E = FXEF-80; superglide with electric start, fat bob tanks, 80 cu in motor
H9 = 1979 and if you saying it may be H5 that's 1975, but they didn't make an 80 inch motor in 1975, so go with the H9

 

The 5 in parenthesize is because there looks to be a partial '5' just after the 9. Can't really see in the pic, but quite obvious in person. It must be a dent that just happened to land next to the 9, thank you.