NOS stuff that is too cool to install

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59pan
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NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#1

Post by 59pan »

The rocker clutch/jockey/suicide thread was fun so lets kick another ant hill!
How many new old stock accessories do you have in the drawer that you don't have the b*lls to actually install.
A few years back i stopped at a swap and found a new in the box oil tank sight gauge. I had only seen them in pictures before. The thing is plastic, you drill two 1/4" holes in your oil bag, secure the guage with a "u" bolt and you can see the oil level without having to take off the cap under the seat an check the dipstick. Looks pretty cool too.
Got it home in the original box with original instructions and now I cant bring myself to actually put in on the motorcycle! May as well build an altar and worship it for all the good it does my Pan!
Anybody got a story like mine?
Jack_Hester
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#2

Post by Jack_Hester »

I don't know where to start. But, I have been picking up NOS components for over 30 years. I use them when I absolutely can't find them, otherwise. But, for the most part, I just put them aside, and move them around when they are in the way of another that I find. I also collect used components, if I find them in good condition. I don't open them at all, if I don't need them. The good thing is, I forget that I have them, and enjoy discovering them when I have to move stuff around.

Jack
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#3

Post by mbskeam »

hello,
yea for swap meets, I went thru all the parts that I have collected from the swaps,putting them in some sort of order, man I did not know that I had collected so much stuff.
I end up digging in the boxes of old crusty parts, almost always finding good stuff, and the best part is that I get it cheap, and the busted parts that I get for free even better. I like to find nos in the package also, its got that old Harley smell.

mbskeam
FlatHeadSix
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#4

Post by FlatHeadSix »

The coolest part about installing NOS stuff is that it fits right out of the box! You don't have to file it, bend it, drill it, re-shape it and say naughty words while you try to put it on for the umteenth time and make it work correctly.

Thats why my WL is my favorite scoot, there's still tons of NOS stuff floating around for the old war horses. I wish there was as much stuff for the 49 FL.

Jack, you were right about the cloth wire looms from V-Twin, they finally got something right, but then again its pretty hard to miss on a chunk of tarred cloth
suicideshovel65
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#5

Post by suicideshovel65 »

I had a set of NOS Buco hard bags, the ones with the cool lights set into them. Never got my bike pretty enough to mount them, so sold them on to someone who did.

Maybe one day!
Guest

Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#6

Post by Guest »

I have friends that have milions of cool parts and lot's of cool project cars and bikes that just sits for forewer. I often say to them that you will NEWER use that part or get that bike or car out on the street even if you should bee like three hundred years old!!

I think that it would bee soo much better if those "collectors" sold the stuff they have and probably newer will use to someone who needs it to get their bike or car out where it belongs,,,,The street that is!!!

If everybody just collects and not are willing to sell parts and projects there will bee no kids that will get hooked on the old stuff cause it's to expensive and to hard to find!! Get it?? We sort of destroy our own culture and what we really like to see,,,,Pans, Knuckles, Hot Rods and Custom cars on the road....
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#7

Post by Jack_Hester »

Guest -

Think about what you just said:

"If everybody just collects and not are willing to sell parts and projects there will bee no kids that will get hooked on the old stuff cause it's to expensive and to hard to find!!"

I'd be willing to bet that you collect something. Anything. It doesn't have to be MC parts. But, it's the same. Collecting is for personal enjoyment. Some people get tired of their collection and pass it on, in some manner. Some never do. That's when you go to estate sales, and get it in a big box, because most don't have a clue. Either way, it moves.

I use my collection, as I need something. Otherwise, I enjoy it. I forget about some things. Find them, and enjoy the all over again. Mostly because each has a story.

Jack
03Roadking
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#8

Post by 03Roadking »

Jack
I'm with you on this one all the way. My Pan is my enjoyment a lot of money? Yes maybe by some standards, could I afford it when I was 18 no. But I owned one, It was all I could do to pay rent and fix what had to be fixed so I could ride it to work. When I had to sell it years ago it went to a kid who wanted it bad, sad to say he totaled it a month after he bought it. I have one now and I like going to the swap meets and finding old parts for it and I buy parts I might not need for ten years BUT ten years from now when I do need it I'll have it, because they don't make them anymore and when you see it you better buy it. because when you need it, it might not be out there waiting for you.
I don't collect bikes but I do collect other things some of them I hunted for years until I found it, people come into my house and say it's like walking into a museum I enjoy buying a box of junk and putting it back together the way it was, watching it work and marveling at how they made things work with the knowledge they had back then. Maybe it's how we grew up, recapturing our youth so to speak or proving to ourselves that we have arrived, that now we can afford the things we couldn't when we were young. It might be just the joy of taking something that someone junked or couldn't take care of the way it should have been and restoring it just to preserve the history of the times. I'm not sure.
Funny story
I have a 1959 Rockola jukebox in my kitchen, my ten year old grand daughter brought over some of her friends after school, the juke was playing and these four kids stood in a trance watching the record going round and round while they listened to Elvis P singing Hound Dog. one of them said "what is this"? I said a jukebox he said no this and he pointed to the black disk, I said it's a record haven't you ever seen one? they all said no. They had no knowledge of them and I tried to explain but they just didn't get it till I said "it's a black CD with one song on each side" ooooohhh and they went on watching as it changed records and they began dancing to the music ;)
Rainjester
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#9

Post by Rainjester »

03Roadking,

That reminds me of the time when our push button phone died one day and I pulled out the old rotary phone. My kids had never seen one and had no idea how it worked! After I showed them how it worked, they whined about how long it took to dial someone's number. Kids of today know no patience!

Anyhow, I've got a number of old pan parts as well as some other stuff that would be considered collectables (but considered trash by the lady of the house!).

Personally, if I see something I need from someone else, I'll either do a trade or I'll sell some of mine on Ebay and buy an old part or item I'm looking for.

jester-
BigMike
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#10

Post by BigMike »

I found 2 NOS 24 tooth compensator equipped sprockets. bought them both, installed one, (put my worn out 22t back in the HD packaging) and sold the other to a fellow pan rider. I'm a firm believer in "use it, share it or sell it to another rider who needs it." if necessary save it until you need it, share it or sell it. Trading works too. The only thing I won't do is sell to someone else for resale or to become the sole source.
03Roadking
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#11

Post by 03Roadking »

Bigmike
I agree If some one has a need then pass it on. Some of these people think there sitting on a gold mine and they need top dollar because you need it and I've got it attitude. if you want it pay my price. don't get me wrong I believe you should make money for your time and energy. But it is like I've always said "I Don't mind a man making a profit off of me, it's when I'm his sole support that ticks me off".
Rainjester
I have a full size pay phone booth in my den with rotary dial my grand daughter uses it for privacy when she is on the phone My wife went to the costume shop two years ago Halloween and bought a Superman costume and hung it in the booth, no one under 25 gets the joke
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#12

Post by sleeper »

Not all NOS but,
I do have considerable collections of 'old' HD collectibles & memorabilia, you name it.. (bit of a pack-rat) ha!

& boxes of precious parts that I will never sell. (squirreled away) next BT project ?

I also collect all sorts of hand-shift knobs. Which I do use different ones as my mood dictates.
Latest is a "Dr. Graybo" from Cotten.. (Thank you, T.C.)

I've been collecting marbles since I was a kid. As I was told at a young age, that I had lost all mine !!! ;)

You don't really realize how much stuff you have, until you start packing it up.....
Wow!! I swear it grows!! :o
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#13

Post by Cotten »

If I've got more than one of something, then its a collection.

I think I collect art-deco vacuum sweepers.

In my aimless dumpster searching, I often sense treasures down particular alleys before I get there. It's almost as if I can smell garbage. A couple of weeks have gone by since I found any Genuine hardwa

re: a fresh footboard rubber!

As far as "too cool to install NOS" hardware, one of my favorites is the WW2 Ordinance package for the 45" clutch pushrod seal assembly. Not only is the lithographed detailed blueprint upon the package awesome, the seal assembly isn't worth opening the package.
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Re: NOS stuff that is too cool to install

#14

Post by FlatHeadSix »

I've got a couple of those NOS tranny push-rod seal kits Cotten. I've been saving them for a rainy day but I'm willing to share one if your WL clutch rod springs a big leak, I'm sure that the rubber plug would soften up a little and with moderate force you could cram it down the mainshaft, and that piece of leather from some ancient dead cow would probably slow down the big gushes. It would help keep the clutch arm and pressure plate oiled up, you might even be able to shut off the primary chain oiler feed. And that machinest drawing is real pretty too, suitable for framing!

Some of that WW2 Ordinance stuff is not only too cool to install, its even too cool to open or unwrap. Most of that stuff was sprayed with cosmoline, wrapped in cheesecloth and then dipped in parafine before it was put in the outer package with the nomenclature and government stock number. Whenever I actually do unwrap any of those items I feel like an archeologist violating some ancient diggings. I never tear into them like a kid at Christmas, for some reason I try to carefully preserve the packaging as if it was as valuable as the part. I bet if you look out in my shop you'll find pieces of carefully folded butcher paper soaked in 65 year old grease (I love the smell) that came wrapped around a set of NOS seat post springs which I actually did install.

Enough of that, now everyone knows I'm as crazy as the rest of you.
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