64 Pan swinger : tear down

64 Panhead swinger : help

Not much for actual progress this last week but I did get a lot of thought progress done with the help of several friends talking going over some of the ideas to see how to make it happen. Matt Wilson, Ryan Mathews "chopper Russ" my father and Gabe of after hours who spent a full day going over my plans and trying to help figure them out (big thanks). Some ideas have been thrown out due to being over complex and not matching the feel of the bike but I'm close to something solid. I cut up a junk tank to see what an inch less would look like from a 3.5 tank (left). I sometimes I get carried away so outside input is good. I still love simple.

64 Panhead swinger : front end

I will clean it all up later. I want some stainless slider covers but for now I just cut some repop ones found in the shop. So this thing ended up 2" narrower than a stock wide glide and 1/2" wider than a narrow glide but it follows the frame and motor lines pretty good. Any narrower the cowl would look wrong. I ordered the headlight and mounting guts thinking I'd get the modern h4 bulb option.. that was a bad idea because I forgot those lens are flat. So now I got to get the older sealed beam bulb which has the nice dome radius.. which I think will look better. I don't know this front end is pretty silly... the big ass headlight that most people don't like is stuck on a narrow front end. I hope and think most people will walk right past it not even noticing it's narrow. Seems like no change because your brain is used to seeing wide glides.. Shaved lower legs for sure.

64 panhead swinger : narrow 41mm jig p2

Here is the jig complete and trees cut up. First weld pass of 4 total and I ran out of argon.

 

64 panhead swinger : narrow 41mm jig p1

Jig started anyhow but not yet finished. I had some repop adjustable top caps and only needed to turn them down a little to fit the tubes I cut. I marked the trees out with the same 1" wide tape on either side just like the cowling. Ryan came over to help out with idears.

 

64 Panhead swinger : narrow light cowl

Narrowing a pan headlight cowl 2 " It dose not appear to be much narrower in the photo but it seems really narrow with fork slider covers and a tire between it. 2" was the most I could do and still keep a resemblance of what it once was so I started here and it will dictate the triple trees.

 

New project : 64 Panhead swinger

Starting a new build with no customer influence or guidelines just as I want it to be.. This won't be rusty it will have lipstick and most these parts will change, just need measurements and ideas.