A Dealers Point of View
by Boomhower

When Money Is Tight
In 1948 while I was working in the local Harley shop I was able to get my brother-in-law a job there. Newly married and broke, he couldn't afford a bike so one day when a sailor came in the shop with an old 1934 VL and stated that he had the bike in every shop on the East Coast and nobody could make it run. Like most cocky teenagers, I said, "They haven't made one that I can't make run. How much do you want for it?" He said, "$35" so I bought it for my brother-in-law. Long story short, I pulled it down and put it back together twice and nothing! Now I'm frustrated and determined. It suddenly dawned on me to check the valve timing in relation to the crankshaft timing. It was out 90 degrees. I should have known this but, remember, I was about 17 years old at the time. I pulled it apart again and left no two pieces together. Each time I had pulled it down I left the pinion gear on the pinion shaft. This time I pulled it only to learn that the VL had a straight shaft with a key. The key had sheared and spun until it friction welded itself, 90 degrees out. A six-cent key solved the problem and my brother-in-law rode the darn thing for years. We couldn't stand the noise of those round cast iron piston with .014 clearance, and probably another .006 of wear, so we put a pair of used Harley FL dome cam-ground pistons in it. Neither of us could come up with the price of two new pistons at $4.75 each plus rings and the used FL pistons were free.

Now what to do about the dome in the flat head? I went to the bench grinder and started grinding as I rotated the head until I had a concave area. A little more off the top of the piston and it ran forever. It is amazing what you can do when you are broke.

Have fun,
Eddie