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Will I ever learn?

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Orcade-Ian:
I was contacted recently by someone I didn't know, via a friend, who had found a dismembered motorcycle in the loft of a building in Shapinsay (one of the smaller Orkney Isles to the north of Kirkwall). His intention is to try to reassemble it but leave it with the proverbial 'oily rag' finish - something I certainly agree with in this case.  It's a 1937 Panther 350 and according to the owners club is one of only a handful known to exist. 
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My task is to see if I can reassemble the engine, which has been stripped completely.

He sent some pics of what it looks like and an old tax disc shows 1951 - no pressure then!  If it could be made to run, that would be a huge bonus - I see no good reason why it shouldn't.

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Christine and I had a trip out on the ferry last Saturday to view this inanimate pile of scrap but I came back with quite a few parts to de-rust, clean and assess.  It actually looks more promising than I first thought.  A couple of frame parts are tied together with a Scarths label, which was a well respected engineering company here, sadly no longer with us and many of the skilled folk who worked there have also shuffled off.

Ian

Laverda Dave:
Looks like you have some work ahead of you there Ian.
Are you going to start a thread, it will keep us all entertained during the winter👍.

Orcade-Ian:
I'll certainly post a few pics of the progress, so far the bore has cleaned up well (standard too), the piston is good and with new rings (available) will be fine. The flywheels have come up well, as have all the gears that go in the timing chest.  It's actually quite a simple machine following most of the types I have worked on before and nowhere near as complicated as an LE Velo (or a Honda Four!). Even if it does run, it's not going to be thrashed up the motorway, so a bit of piston slap and burning less oil than a KH500 will be ok.

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Being a rigid frame with girder forks simplifies matters too.

One problem so far is the appearance of spurious parts from other bikes/cars viz - two Triumph oil pumps in a box of carb parts!

That kind of serves me right for chucking a handful of nuts and bolts and springs into the boxes laid out in the maintenance department at Hawker Siddeley when I was an apprentice!

Ian

Otis:
If anybody was going to reply to this post it would have ben Dave or Ian and i See that they did.

You certainly have a project ahead of you. The very best of luck with your project and ther are very many people on this forum that will happily help you.

Johnny4428:
Bravo Ian! An interesting project indeed. I would offer assistance but I don’t even have a blasting cabinet! Good luck I will maybe even visit to have a browse! 😜

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