Ron's 1932/37 VL/UL

This is a note I got from Ron J, who made it to Dixon & back last year on the bike he describes below. Ron was preparing to join us this year but some personal issues cropped up and he's off the roster. Basically it's a 1937 UL motor dropped into a 1932 VL frame. To the casual observer, it's a VL, then . . . wait a minit here . . .

Ron did a great job, it's a sweet looking bike. As he described it to me last year, it's "period correct" and may easily be something a hot-rodder might have done back in the day.

Ron is one of the guys who can run circles around me in a shop without breaking a sweat. Oh there is so much yet to learn, I hope it never stops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey Mikey! My bike is a 1932, however I have to register it as a 1937 because I used a later model motor so I could have a reciculating oil system rather than the messy total loss system. Before I begin with a complete run down, I did not destroy or modify any original oem parts. If I had to modify a stock part, I used a high quality after market part so if I ever decided to go the restoration route, it wouldn't be a big deal repairing parts to bring them back to original configuration. The motor is a very correct '37 13 fin cylinders with iron heads with the exception of the oil feed pump which is a '42 and the carburetor is an M-51 Linkert, however it is a '40 with the 3 lines of script rather than the '37-'39 with 4 lines and nickle plating. My '40 Linkert is not painted the correct silver as after I cleaned it up I kind of liked the natural bronze finish.

Transmission is an aftermarket case with stock 1940 oem 4 speed gears and shift cover. Hubs and brakes are oem Harley from early '40's or so that I adapted to the '32 fork and frame and the brake pedal and all the brake rods, foot boards and mountings are original oem. Tins are a mixture of oem and reproduction. Handle bars are oem '32 or so. Seat is a correct reproduction 1932, the last year for the Messinger half pan, extremely comfortable by the way. I'm running a 12 volt 65A generator and electronic regulator that mounts in the stock v location and oem Delco/Remy cover and with some minor mounting hole messaging the oem generator end cover is a perfect fit. Primary covers are '36-54 aftermarket inner and oem '41-'49 outer and house a Primo belt drive. To date, I have had zero problems with that. I hand fabricated the one off exhaust system and used an aftermarket replica muffler and had it all ceramic coated. The foot clutch lever is '46 oem and the mounting bracket is modified aftermarket. I hand fabricated the left hand foot and clutch mounting bar from stonger material and it makes provision for the clutch mounting bracket and it fits the bike better than the nos oem part that I have in stock.

The Luggage rack is my own design to mount the non oem bags.

The paint design is a Harley Davidson 1932 optional factory design, with the green enhanced to be a bit more pleasing to me. Black is pretty much black and the striping is silver grey rather than gold and red as the factory would have done. My sign/striper guy suggested that would be a little more effective and after seeing the finished result, I concur.

The bike is really fun to ride and after a couple of problems at first that were my fault, not because of short comings of the oem parts, it has been very reliable and I would ride it anywhere any time and not worry about breakdowns.

Hope that about covers it.

I'm going to try to scan some photos and send them. I've never done that before so I'm not sure how that will come out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~