If the Bike had been apart, almost impossible at the time to stop in from leaking, just part of the game.. Japanese bike started the non leaker game, eventually the rest caught on.. O-rings under bolt heads, as well as between case halves, or today, better Permatex! Old Indian's, no better.
My buddy has taken a lot of Harley's apart, he looks now at the old cases, castings, and sees how crude they really were... He's the guy that has machined his own cylinders from solid billets! His shop is full of air flow setups so he can see what's going on in he valve areas, adding, removing material to help.. Smooth isn't always better, sometimes a rougher finish helps the mixture.. This was before injection.. Brand new engine teardown, turns out the crank pin in't really 90 degrees from the cylinder face, makes the rod move side to side as it travels, sloppy, but for a normal rider, never seen... Lots of tiny details add up... Also help set records in the day...
Some good off brand Harley lookalikes out there.. Not cheap either, tho..
- -
| 