1978flh03

1978 H-D FLH BUILD: PAGE 5

I did all of the mock-up, sandblasting, body work and priming at my shop. This gave me a chance to take my time and not rush this most important part of the project. Your final topcoat is only going to be as good as your body work, prep work, priming and sanding. The paint work took more time than I could have ever imagined. First was stripping paint and sandblasting. Some parts were stripped by hand using chemical process, some were sand blasted, some media blasted, some with mechanical sanders and some with nothing but a piece of scotchbrite pad combined with elbow grease. The proper process for each and every part.

Then came body work. There were only a very few small dents in my tins so I lucked out on that. Instead of scratching and filling with body filler, every ding was hammered out and worked till near perfect. Some parts were warmed with a rosebud then loved on with a series of body hammers and hand dollies. The tanks were the best set of original Panhead units I have ever seen. The insides shined like new. There was zero corrosion, all the seams were perfect and the two small dents just took heating then I pressured the tanks and the dents just popped out without any manipulation.

TANKS GET STRIPPED TO THE METAL AND REPAIRED

FENDERS STRIPPED TO METAL AND PREPPED FOR PAINT

INSIDES OF FENDERS WERE COATED WITH SPRAY-ON TRUCK BED LINER

The rear fender was also an original late 1960's vintage Panhead hinged unit that was stunning. There were no holes drilled other than the factory mounting holes, the hinge was straight and perfect also. I spot welded the corners of the two fender halves from the inside so it is invisible and still looks 100% factory correct. They will never wiggle around causing paint wear between the two pieces or paint wear on the hinge halves. Of course I will not be able to hinge up the lower section of the fender to pull the rear wheel out the back for tire changing but every shop has a lift for this type of work these days. Thus the reason the MoCo stopped doing this years ago. It turned out nicer than it probably looked on the showroom floor back in the 1960's. The entire bike has less bondo that would fit in a matchbox.

Before shooting my first coat of primer, the fenders, chain guard, and tourpack components were introduced to professional quality truck bed liner. I taped the fenders and shot the underside of both with two coats of truckbed liner. I have seen other bikes with this feature and you dont have to worry about paint chips from rocks hitting the underside when thrown by a tire. This is some tough stuff. I also spreayed the inside to the 1940's original tool box I restored with this product and the inside of the Tourpak which came off a former Police Model.

TOURPAK REPAIRED AND COATED WITH A FRESH LAYER OF RESIN

TOURPAK PRIMED & BLOCK SANDED AT LEAST A DOZEN TIMES

The first coat of primer was a non sanding ultra high zinc content paint made by Valspar. Next came two coats of high build sandable primer then came a coat of standard primer before the block sanding began. I did not want to risk getting into the protective coating of the zinc based primer. Then the tedious chore of priming and block sanding began. The most time consuming part was priming and block sanding. I put a minimum of 10 coats of primer on each part before the color started. Some took more, like the Tourpak because I couldn't hammer on fiberglass and wanted it slick as something out of the Rolls Royce paint facility.

BUSTED OLD PANHEAD CHAIN GUARD GETS BLASTED & WELDED

The chain guard is another original old O.E.M. factory Panhead part from the 1960's. Yes, a repop Chinese unit could be purchased for a 100 bucks ready to paint or with fresh chrome job. Could have repop fenders, fuel tanks, oil tank, tool box, Toupack and rack, aftermarket brakes, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then guess what I would be riding? A bunch of new Chinese chrome made out of recycled Chinese bicycles with a Harley Davidson tank badge, frame and engine. Just what I never want, a fake Harley. I could go buy a metric cruiser if I wanted an import and skip all the work and buy it halfprice of an American bike. Notice the custom tab welded on the repurposed oil tank. I pulled that tank off a mid 1960's Sportster Chopper and restored it because I could not find another like it and it has a stunning look.

RESTORING A FACTORY KNUCKLEHEAD TOOL BOX TO BEETER THAN NEW

Notice the top right photograph of the vintage tool box. The photo gives a clue how rough it was when found and it was taken after first cleaning. This unit has a history that can be traced back to lots of riders and no new repop unit could ever have 1/1,000th of the heart and soul this piece does. Note all the holes drilled in it over the years as it moved from bike to bike. Then notice that only the three I was using to mount it remained. This box looked like a total loss when I pulled it out of a privately owned m/c shop where it was being used as an ashtray. After a full week of work, it was as new. I probably have 500.00 dollars worth of labor restoring a unit that could be bought as a Chinese copy for 90 bucks. But what person would rather have some Chinese repop as opposed to this stunning O.E.M. part from the 1940's. If your replacing your American Made MoCo parts with Chinese "custom crap & drag queen" think real hard about what your doing to your American Made piece of art.

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