How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson Motorcycle (Authentic Restoration Guide) (Authentic Restoration Guide) (Authentic Restoration Guides) - Softcover

Bruce Palmer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879389346 ISBN 13: 9780879389345

Publisher: Motorbooks International, 1994

Synopsis

No nut, bolt or cable is overlooked on 1937-47 Knuckleheads, 1937-48 Flatheads (74ci 80ci), 1937-63 Servi-cars, 1937-52 Solos (45ci) and 1948-64 Panheads. An essential reference for all owners, restorers and enthusiasts. The biggest and best book ever written on authentically restoring the most collectible 1937-1964 Harley-Davidson big twin motorcycles. Every detail on every bike is meticulously described year-by-year and model-by-model down to the correct finish for each part. 750 illustrations.

About this title

Review:

Palmer's book has revolutionized Harley-Davidson restoration. Information that was once the province of a few real experts and many would be experts, obfuscated by lots of opinions, myths, and flawed memory masquerading as facts, is now available to anyone who buys the book. Palmer did a good job of using available resources to assemble, in excruciating detail, the data necessary to build these motorcycles as the consensus of the sources he consulted says they were supposed to be when they rolled off the factory's assembly line. That consensus was not always easy to reach, because, for example, the manufacturer itself used retouched photos of older models to introduce new models, and followed various other practices such as running changes, recalls, and using parts inventory from one model year into the next, that make it difficult to know, today, what was "correct" in 1938. Palmer takes us into the world defined by that level of "correctness" that demands that this manufactured product from days gone by be exactly as it was at the point of origin. We can now "know," through his book, what is "correct." More of us can be knowledgeable about the number of cooling fins on a UL cylinder, or the color, width, and placement of pinstriping, or the fact that fender trim for a particular year is polished stainless, not chrome. This is a book about building your bike to original factory specs, and it is the best available for that purpose. Of course, if you follow this book to its logical conclusion and build a correct motorcycle, don't expect to ride it. It will have decades old tires both too valuable and too aged to ride. You won't want to run it on pump gas, because it needs lead. Taking it out on the road might ding the paint, blue the exhaust, or demonstrate that your assembly procedures weren't quite up to snuff by identifying all of the points where oil can escape. Palmer's approach to the topic seems to hold that these old bikes are artifacts, not transportation. He has affirmed and strengthened a subculture within motorcycling that elevates the machine over the ride. It will be interesting to see if others, such as Kirk Perry's "Mechanics & Owners Guide to 1941-1959 Harley-Davidson O.H.V. Big Twins" will reinforce the ranks of folks who actually want to ride these old hogs. --American Iron

No doubt about it, this book is a must for the Harley restorer. There's info here that you just can't find anywhere else. --American V

This book is has very detailed information and is extremely comprehensive. There are many clear photos and diagrams. If you are thinking about restoring an old harley you should really get hold of this book before you get too far into it. --motobar

It's a bit daunting this: how can i fail to tell - implore even - everybody interested in harley's in genearl and older ones in particular to get their hands on this superb book. if you have and 'old un' it will put you right on everything: how to keep it running, how it's supposed to look, and even where the cabels route, etc. And if you haven't got an an 'old un' it'll still go someway to complete anybody's Harley library. Either way, this book gives ou a flavour of the models gone by, and the way the that the marque has progressed - or, dare I say, evolved over the years. This telephone sized tome was five years in the researching and it shows. nothing is left to wonder, all is explained in great detail and it's full of brilliant period illustrations to keep your brain from boiing on the text! if there's any critisism of this journal, and I'm loath even to mention the word, it's that it may just be more suitable on the other side of the pond regarding availablity of parts at swaps meets/auto-jumble sales etc. We Brits have never had the good fortune to amass piles of old, second-hand parts, readily at hand to repair/restore/renovate, or to build whatever takes our fancy. Also, just maybey, it's showing a bygone era - it was first published neralt fifteen years ago - when there was still old parts in any amount: these days you feel like a lottery winner if any old part is discovered! So, get down the gynm and get those arms pumped up, this is a mighty big book: don't read it in the bath or in bed ( you risk being swamped by a Tsunami of facts or else concussion), but read it you must 'cos its an amazing amalgam of early harley History, and we would all be better for knowing that. --American-V August 2008

If You're restoring a '37 to '64 Harley-Davidson then buy this book! It's a must have! You can find every detail in the book and an answer to almost every question You may have. Buy it! It's that simple. --American Iron

About the Author:

Author Bruce Palmer III is a noted Harley-Davidson restorer who has been building and restoring motorcycles for decades.

About this edition

• Publisher: Motorbooks International
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0879389346
• ISBN 13: 9780879389345
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640