March Madness #1

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March Madness #1

Postby hennesse » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:35 pm

March Madness. March 15 is the Ides of March - wear a toga and drink heavily. March 17 is St. Patrick's Day - wear green and drink heavily. College basketball games - sit on the couch and drink heavily. March 19 brings us a different kind of madness - stare at your computer screen and drink heavily.

Can you identify this Harley-Davidson motor ?

march-madness-1.jpg
march-madness-1.jpg (124.01 KiB) Viewed 16082 times
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby mikeslemmon » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:41 am

give me a clue. factory?
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby strong56KH » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:32 am

Is this one of Bill Harley's overhead valve prototypes from the 1930's?
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby Mayday53 » Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:08 pm

Is it the FDWZ Model? Of course "WZ" is for Whazzuppp" with that? :-)

It kinda looks like a "Knuckle-Pan-" head from the pic. :D
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby mikeslemmon » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:18 pm

the valve covers look like sideways KL
is this top end on a W?
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby Mutt » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:35 pm

1939-41 WL with overhead valves. Somewhere I have a picture of the whole bike, from the left side. There was one on eBay about 7 years ago, for sale, in Canada. Opening price a cool 1/4 mil
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby hennesse » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:36 pm

Mutt wrote:1939-41 WL with overhead valves.


In February 1939, factory test riders Art Kauper and Art Earlenbaugh set out on a six week, 5000 mile ride on two experimental OHVs. They left Milwaukee and went to Florida, then Texas, then back to Milwaukee. Kauper mostly rode this experimental WL with overhead valves. Earlenbaugh mostly rode the other experimental bike - a 74 cubic inch Knucklehead.

The 74 went into production in 1941, but the 45 never did. Kauper said the 45 was pretty peppy, almost as fast as the 74. The problem was the 45's transmission - it was designed for the pokey old WL, and wasn't up to the power the 45 OHV produced. Harley realized the WL's flathead engine wasn't going to sell forever, and tried to do an economical conversion to OHV. Trying to upgrade the 45's other components, like the transmission, would jack up the selling price too high.

1942 WL (45" flathead) $350
1942 UL (74" flathead) $385
1942 EL (61" OHV) $425
1942 FL (74" OHV) $465

Sales of the pokey old WL steadily declined through 1952, when a new flathead - the K - eclipsed it.
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby riverdog » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:07 am

Wow, that's a history lesson, can you put up some more pics?
Love to see the whole engine..
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby EKHKHK56 » Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:40 am

Very cool! Yes more... :D
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Re: March Madness #1

Postby hennesse » Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:44 am

The photo is from the book "Harley-Davidson 1930-1941 - Revolutionary Motorcycles & Those Who Rode Them". This book is still in print, so we have to respect author Herbert Wagner's copyright. The doctrine of "Fair use" only allows us to go so far.

This is a wonderful book which you really should add to your collection. Wagner describes the Harley-Davidson founders and company starting with the huge VL engine debacle, struggling through the Great Depression, development and introduction of the revolutionary OHV Knucklehead, and ends as WWII begins. It's a tremendous history lesson just from this respect.

The focus of the book is really on the riders - both individual and motorcycle clubs - you know those guys and gals who all wore matching uniforms (I think my local AMCA chapter needs these), met at their club's clubhouse, and put on large organized rides and competition events. These clubs provided a large part of the motorcyclist's social life back then. But then WWII happened, and the clubs didn't regroup after the war ended. Wagner's book features hundreds of photos of the riders and their activities.

You can get a brand new copy of this book at Amazon or from the publisher. The price is less than a case of good beer. Or four quarts of genuine motor oil.

Used copies can be had for less. Amazon and Abe Books have copies at various prices.
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