Best place to get an old panhead engine?

Question

i'm looking for an old panhead engine and i need to know a decent place to get one from. also, about how much cash would i be looking at? i've seen the ones S & S has for sale. $8,125.00... too rich for my blood for now...maybe later though.

Answer 1

old pans in good condition are usually 5 or 6 grand on eBay, walnecks cycle trader or anywhere else you find them.

if you've got your heart set on a pan try to get a 1955 or newer one. they've already got the tapered timkin drive side main bearings.

the cheapest new harley engine you can get would be a 1340cc evo. if you check the add's some harley dealers sell them for less than $2700.

be carefull at swap meets, theres quite a few miss matched cases bolted together that will have to be milled & line bored before their useable.

Answer 2

Swap meets. E-bay, check out some of your local scooter shops and see what they have on the bulletin board.

Answer 3

For looks, the pan and knucklehead can't be beat. But if you are going to be riding a lot and going long distances, The Evo is the engine of choice. Parts are everywhere. They aren't so old that modern Harley mechanics can work on them. And they have a much longer engine life And are more reliable. This may not seem to important now, but when your a thousand miles from your nearest friends, sitting on the side of the road,With a blown head gasket, or dropped valve seat. The Evo starts looking better and better. Also there are complete bikes out there for 8,000 that you could ride for a couple of years.

Answer 4

damb dude just sold a complete pan that I wrecked for 2500 dollars look on craigs list. their out there .

Answer 5

Belive it or not Ebay i have bought a few from there

Or you can buy just the bottom end and put an S&S top end on it  Try to get one after 54 for the splined shaft the older tapered shafts are a pain and if built stronger I dont trust them

I bought one off ebay for $2200 it even ran but not worth a S I rebuild ALL mine anyway so no biggie

Answer 6

Do a search for motorcycle salvage yards in your area. That is if you are willing to do some repairs. Also some towns still have the swap meets (the original motorcycle rally).

Answer 7

I think biker for life has the right answer. Remember, guys were looking for pans in 1975, 85, 95, 05 and all the years in between. I won't say it can't be done but it will surely be a quest. Good luck.  I rememeber a 51', 61 in an Iowa barn but thaty was in 67. Darn, where did the time (and the pans) go?

Now that I think about this I remember a knuckle in a basket, same Iowa town ( it's gone too).

Answer 8

An S&S Pan is a good engine, but it's just a look alike Pan.  It might be hard to find a real HD Pan.