1936 Harley Davidson Knucklehead OHV parts that are one year only.

Close up of "telescopic" downtube.

square toolbox bracket

1936-40 neck,if i'm incorrect email me...The folks who make very nice knockoffs dont quite get this casting 100% correct.

1936 fragile sidecar loops, most sheared off from stress load. note the curvature of the tubing, last year for that.

1936 only Knucklehead frame showing brazed welding thru out construction, 1 tube from the neck all the way to the rear axle stays.

Check out this very, very rare foto of the Harley Founders and the "new" E-Series Bikes.
Given that this was February of 1936, Workers who had not been laid off were on a reduced schedule.
Management had all taken pay cuts - - - -(something to be learned by that today!).
The look on their faces tells it all. "This overhead valve v-twin has got to get us out of near bankruptcy".
It did.

A family business w their names on the tanks! I think they took a little bit more pride w that in mind, You cant' always count on outsiders running the family business.

Hell of a assembly line!
More fotos and captions from Paul Seidlers 1936 Knucklehead.

Another view of the '36 only rear brake drum you mentioned in an earlier blog - -
Viewers should note the chain guard mount - - -this is the "revised" style used after the first 150 or so models went down the assembly line. Earlier style was more elaborate/ over-engineered and probably changed due to materials/labor cost shaving.

Also-see the picture of the tank/fork top - - - -the quiz of the week is"what 4 things are shown in this picture that is '36 E-series only????"- - -1) unique shift gate w/ no notches.2) 100 MPH speedo w/ no trip meter. 3) 4 drilled holes on the fork topplate. (no one seems to know why) but this is '36 only. '37 and laterversions were solid w/ no holes.And 4) barely shown---note the ride control adjustment knob is on the rightside - - -'37 and later this shifted to the left side.

The air blow out was added during the Jan-June'36 E-Series production run toblow out debris as you have correctly surmised.My 36 EL-1985 has the air nipple. Please see picture.It is one of those many '36 E series oddities in that no record was made ofwhen they added this plus I've seen later serial numbered bike w/ no airnipple.

Note the picture of the Linkhart M-5 Carb - - -note the raised "4" on theboss on the side. This is '36 only version of the M-5 carb dedicated to theE-Series bikes

My odyssey with 1936 Knuckles started w this obscure 120 mph white face no trip speedo on the right above, I couldn't find it on any bikes or books, Later i learned it was a 1937 HD 45 speedo. 2009 and one can buy excellent "remanufactured" speedos that are identical to the originals, but made in 2009. pointless to search for a junked out original, they are gone to history.

Late 1936 oilbag with "hockey puck" style stoplight switch actuated by chain. Banjo fittings on 1936 and 1937 all models. Some folks would add the rear drain plug line on 1937 oil tanks to make the more valuable 1936 tank. Four styles of oil tanks in 1936. The motor company did alot of experimenting w bikes in 1936, what worked , what didnt.

Closeup of super rare 1936 only Carb cover, when a rider tipped the bike over, the first part to absorb the impact was the carb cover, Some aluminum rocker blocks had a "air blow out" fitting attached to the rocker block, my thinking is that the intention was to blow out debris in the oil line.No clogged oil line therefore no blown apart siezed engine.

1936 only relay bracket for Delco relay, Early distributor with "hole" on the side to feed distributor wires. Hole is not visible and is closest to 4 fin cylinder.

1936-37 only clutch pedal, Square footboards beginning in 1914 continue to 1939. A neat holdover from the earliest bikes. I'm running a belt drive vs stock chain, i've got the original clutch set up boxed up.Far less vibration ,noise and wear and abuse.
The engine case also shows the 1936-39 reinforcement rib at 9 oclock and 11 oclock in this foto, to add strength to the engine case, 1941 -1947 knuckles carried that rib out a further 2 inches.

1936-39 carb manifold secured to Linkert M5 carb, Some of these manifolds would surface w a machined hole w a screwdriver slug, My personal thought is folks were gas priming the carburetor in one location vs 2 locations on each head. Above the manifold, the 1 year only top motor mount. I used about every compound i could to seal up air leaks, the most effective being teflon tape,

Early 1936 rear head w primer cup,early 1936-1937 "baby food jar" rocker housings. Note the reinforcement rib on the support bracket, The story is theres 3 different head styles for 1936.

Presently i dont have fotos of the other styles to post. Primer cups function to "squirt" gasoline into head for hard starting, Gas caps w the "syringe" fuel "injector" are super rare, i have seen well made knockoffs but not in at least 5 years. Definately 1936 only.

Early 1936 front head w slotted screw vs primer cup, later heads have the unfinished non machined "bump" and 1940s era heads have done away w them. Another holdover from early bikes that were primed w fuel for hard starting

If anyone has fotos of unique rare 1936 Knucklehead parts please contact me so i can post them for study.

I'm more interested in peoples fotos of parts and descriptions vs opinions, I love all motorcycles, scooters etc, to me its all fun. scooters for buzzing down alleyways in Naples or big German iron.

1936 Harley Davidson Knucklehead ohv 1936EL in Virginia

And I thought I was the only one who liked 1936 knuckles! Heres another ,,,pristine 1936EL1985, so the 985th knucklehead made in 1936. This belongs to Paul in Virginia, he may sell it in the spring so you can contact him direct at paulseidler@charter.net , thats one awesome knuckle.
So if you have a 1936 knucklehead correct motorcycle or bastard bike or chopper, drop me a line and i'll post it . I think it would be really kool to track where these bikes are in 2009. email at this blog on my "profile" contact info... be sure to send me some fotos and tell me a little about it, OR if you love motorcycles any kind drop me a line , thanks for writing Paul!

Building Sport Scouts ;634 640 741 642

Above in red-marroon titled as a 1934 Sport Scout, rear frame has 634 as part of the frame number denoting 6 for Sport Scout, 34 for 1934, front half of the 2 piece frame is a 1940-42 dog leg, NOS powerplant that was never stamped by Indian.

Pretty spartan start for a Sport Scout, this evolved into a 1940 Sport Scout.

You can clearly see the dogleg of the middle frame to accomodate the larger square base scout cylinders of 1940-42.

Indian scripted primary of 1934-1939, for whatever reason Indian gave up the script on 1940-53 for all models.

Koko admiring another project, she loved motorcycles, Sport scout gas/oil tanks were just a little larger and fit differently than their military 741 scout cousin.

Dirty , rusty, but reliable, bulletproof,underpowered 741 military scout, the oil pump,handlebars,seat was the same, but all the other parts were unique to 741s.

Fun , quick, but underpowered. 30.50 cubic incher less than 500 cc.

741 models wont fit a scripted primary, their smooth cover was also unique to ww2 741s, I think all of them were 1941 production, so 7 for 30.50 model, 41 for 1941. Indian kept things simple, Indian should have sacked their management and they'd still be building bikes, Its always greedy management that topples a excellent manufacturer.

1940 Sport Scout or 640 model , midway thru rebuild. evolved from the spartan scout above.

1940 -42 models shared the same sheetmetal, 1941-42 models were introduced w rear shocks and rear frames to accomodate the shocks, copying the shock engineering of the larger chief and four models.The kool thing to do is to swap out the flywheels to get 61 cubic inches out of heavy 45 cubic inch sport scout,

1942 Sport Scouts were very low production civilian models,ww2 being the reason.

You could build them w 16 incher rims , but they just dont look or handle right, 18 incher rims are correct and turn and look better.

Start w a pile of parts , but maybe not in your living room!

A virtually nos or new old stock engine, salvaged out of a low miles wreck.Nearly identical to a chief or 741 engine , One can see the heavy duty square base cylinders of 1940-42 that now needs a dogleg frame to accomodate them.

wet clutch or oil filled primary chain resides in the primary cover., HDs were dry, no oil. Anything the 2 rivals could do to distinguish one over the other.

The dogleg sport scout frame of 1940-42 models, Maybe some genius will start reproducing them, these are now very difficult to find..they are heavy duty.

I'm too buried to build more sport scouts now, but they are extremely simple, the least talented person could build one. Hard to believe that Indian a company that could make such bullet proof ,high quality iron went under the waves. They should have been bailed out w excellent management first and "free" govt money like Michigan now.

1936 Harley Davidson Knucklehead in Cyprus,In the Mediterranean Sea

I asked people who might read my blogger if they had a 1936 Harley Davidson, to drop me a line . So Jack in Cyprus was kind enough to send me a foto of his 1936 Knuckle. He is looking for a 1936 oil tank, Dash cover and air filter or Carb cover, If you like you can just send me an email if you have 1936 parts and i can forward it to him. Anyone who has a correct or mixed parts bastard 1936 Knuckle write me and tell me about it. Vin number etc, unique parts on your bike?history on it..Cyprus is pretty far away from Sunny Southern California. I can see this 36 has the mid to late smooth cam cover, Carb cover may be from a flathead, its upside down,so a flatheads carbcover.
This is where Cyprus is...