Title: Re: Help Id another barn find Post by: rotorwrench on October 23, 2008, 12:00:46 PM From my collection of information, it appears that you have one of the last Royal Enfield /AMC/Indian Motorcycle Co. Chief models made. The numbers indicate it was manufactured in mid to late 1960 which would probably make it a 1961 model by the time it was shipped to the US. Brockhouse sold the Indian Sales Corp to AMC ( the makers of AJS, Matchless, Norton, Etc.) in 1959, so the Chief was all that AMC bought from Royal Enfield in 1960. They rebadged there own models as Indians after that.
The Chief 700cc engine was set up a little different that the RE Constellation was of the same time frame. It has the 389/16 monoblock Amal carb with a distributor ignition. They used two different cam set ups. One version had 2 Super Meteor exhaust cams and the other had the Constellation cams. The higher performance model with the Connie cams was geared towards police depatment use.
I still see a lot of parts for these on E-pay but you have to suffer through the Indian parts to check all the listings. If you are looking for parts from Hitchcock's you can use the Super Meteor parts book or the Constellation parts book as long as you know that neither use the Amal 389 and that the cams have to be checked for part numbers.
PS: There is a company in Onstead Michigan that has sold RE parts for years named Iota Products Co and the guys name is Bob Michalac. Phone was 517-467-1127 last I checked. Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.
There was a club of Black Shadow owners somewhere around Philadelphia in the mid-60s. They would ride through Bucks County, PA on weekends every once in a while, and they stopped at the little artsy town of New Hope. I'd see three or four of them at a time parked in town.
From a poster on the Royal Enfield/US website, "ID this bike forum"
Title: Re: Help Id another barn find Post by: rotorwrench on October 23, 2008, 12:00:46 PM
"From my collection of information, it appears that you have one of the last Royal Enfield /AMC/Indian Motorcycle Co. Chief models made. The numbers indicate it was manufactured in mid to late 1960 which would probably make it a 1961 model by the time it was shipped to the US. Brockhouse sold the Indian Sales Corp to AMC ( the makers of AJS, Matchless, Norton, Etc.) in 1959, so the Chief was all that AMC bought from Royal Enfield in 1960. They rebadged there own models as Indians after that.
The Chief 700cc engine was set up a little different that the RE Constellation was of the same time frame. It has the 389/16 monoblock Amal carb with a distributor ignition. They used two different cam set ups. One version had 2 Super Meteor exhaust cams and the other had the Constellation cams. The higher performance model with the Connie cams was geared towards police depatment use.
I still see a lot of parts for these on E-pay but you have to suffer through the Indian parts to check all the listings. If you are looking for parts from Hitchcock's you can use the Super Meteor parts book or the Constellation parts book as long as you know that neither use the Amal 389 and that the cams have to be checked for part numbers.
PS: There is a company in Onstead Michigan that has sold RE parts for years named Iota Products Co and the guys name is Bob Michalac. Phone was 517-467-1127 last I checked." Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.
I watched a guy crash a freshly restored one on a BSA club ride a few years ago. We were on a large ride and he chose to ride with the fast group, going into another tight turn on a bad bumpy road I saw the rear tire leave the ground, reaching the limit of the plunger style rear suspension, and momentum brought the bike to a 45 degree angle to the direction of travel before coming down. He highsided, skinned himself up pretty good and damaged the bike as well.
Jay Leno crashed his Vincent and earned my respect when some newsie asked him about it, he replied "Im ok, but I am worried about the bike, i may never find another gas tank for it".
Excellent. I own one of the first BSA unit twins to be imported, one of 4 known in the USA. Now the fun part, getting parts. You may wind up spending 2-3 Gs on it to achieve a proper restoration. A "rat bike" costs a lot less but is just as much fun to ride. Figure out what it could potentially be worth, and compare it with what the bike means to you. Find a parts book to sort out what parts are not stock, if you care about that. Drop me an email at arborigine at yahoo dot com and I will send you a list of parts and info links from my real eddress.
Thanks dude...As I price Stuff...Im leaning strongly towards the Rat Bike idea.
Since I can machine most anything Id want, the costs go way down...All I really need is a proper headlamp of some sort, battery holder and battery, perhaps a closer match to the correct gas tank...(put on a BMW gas tank and call it a Chamberlain?), new rubber and shocks and Ill be golden.
If I use the parts from Honda etc etc easily found at a wrecking yards bike pile....I could call it a Global Mk Iv...Ducati switches, Jap headlight assembly, German shocks, ...maybe even a Harley part someplace...
Ive got a pantograph..and since the ignition switch/light switch will need fabrication..and its got Lucas electronics..perhaps now is the time to consider the lighting markings..."Dim/Flicker/Off"
Gunners "61 Scroungers Special"
Has a nice ring to it, dont it?
Reminds me of the Jonny Cash song.......
"One Piece At A Time"
Well, I left Kentucky back in '49 An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line The first year they had me puttin' wheels on cadillacs
Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry 'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.
One day I devised myself a plan That should be the envy of most any man I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.
[CHORUS] I'd get it one piece at a time And it wouldn't cost me a dime You'll know it's me when I come through your town I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild 'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.
So the very next day when I punched in With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends I left that day with a lunch box full of gears Now, I never considered myself a thief GM wouldn't miss just one little piece Especially if I strung it out over several years.
The first day I got me a fuel pump And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk Then I got me a transmission and all of the chrome The little things I could get in my big lunchbox Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.
Now, up to now my plan went all right 'Til we tried to put it all together one night And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.
The transmission was a '53 And the motor turned out to be a '73 And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.
So we drilled it out so that it would fit And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit We had that engine runnin' just like a song Now the headlight' was another sight We had two on the left and one on the right But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.
The back end looked kinda funny too But we put it together and when we got thru Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin About that time my wife walked out And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."
So we drove up town just to get the tags And I headed her right on down main drag I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around But up there at the court house they didn't laugh 'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.
[CHORUS] I got it one piece at a time And it didn't cost me a dime You'll know it's me when I come through your town I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.
[Spoken] Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER This is the COTTON MOUTH In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on
Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER You might say I went right up to the factory And picked it up, it's cheaper that way Ugh!, what model is it?
Just name the oil spot underneath 'the Harley part'. ;-)
Gee, you might want to pick out an appropriate name for your new motorcycle factory, and run down and Trademark it real fast before... Oh well, too late. ;-P
I came up with one, but I'm not putting it up in a public forum for obvious reasons. I was watching "Call For Help!" that fateful day when Leo Laporte (Leoville.com) was covering Domain Registration, thought up "Kateville" and went to register it Live on the air - some bastard beat them to the domain by 10 seconds and cyber-squatted it.
Down the street from where I grew up was a fellow that did museum quality restorations on motorcycles. Did them just for his own pleasure. But he had some unrestored riders too, a Henderson inline 4 being one of them. One day I head down the street, and there's 4 Hendersons lined up in front of his house. Greasy, oily, dusty bikes, just like one would have found back in the day. They all liked to dress for the era and go riding together. Probably the first and last time I'll see four Hendersons lined up along a curb...
Wow, that's an oldie. I don't think I've ever seen one. That inline-4 design carried over to the Indian Four when the engineers all shuffled around during the Depression.
I mentioned that my dad had a pre-war Indian Four but I never saw that one, either. He got rid of it as soon as I was born.
What does a dog and a Harley have in common? Both mark their territory, and both love to ride in the back of a pickup truck
LOL
Gunner
Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.
Indeed. I have noticed even the newer Harleys have a habit of doing this. No real excuse these days.
But a lot of this stuff can be urban legend and nothing more. AJS and Matchless were about the worse for spilling their oil though, FFS what a crap design that primary chaincase was. RTV to the rescue though!
Personally I always have to just grin when I hear the Lucas stories. I've had many vehicles both car and bike with Lucas gear and never a problem, maybe because I live in it's homeland;) Water Cooling ;) ?
I've had more issues with Wipac gear, and some french stuff. The CEV stuff on my Moto Morini has them all beat for reliability issues though.
And I do - but it's a FL350 Odyssey. With Unity Hose Lights on the front cage arms (one easily replaceable with a 4001R lamp) electric Hi-Lo's, a little dash with CHT and Voltage gauges, and a properly calibrated speedometer.
(Thoroughly blew the Auto Club Speedo Test Truck guy's mind when I brought it in - but I have the card for "E45F80, 1985 Honda" stashed with the registration papers...)
Need to get it out again.
Bikes can't ride in the back of my truck yet - I Sawzalled out the rear bar of the ladder rack, but I still have to take out the center bar, get some weld tabs and rig up saddles so they swing away.
Yep on the AJS primary case (I had 3 AJS's)500 thumpers & 1 Norton). I machined a primary case out of a block 6061 for 1 AJS & fixed that. That was in 1972.
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