Update On My 1924 Harley-Davidson JDCA

OK, after several months of planning, researching and collecting the right parts we have been making great progress with redoing my 1924 Harley JDCA. After hunting on ebay, on-line and various swapmeets for the correct Schebler carburetor for my year and model Harley I was ready to give up and buy a cool old air cleaner to cover up the incorrect old Indian Linkert carburetor that was on the bike when I bought it almost 20 years ago.

Then I found the right carb with the correct air horn at Oley and pounced on it. I handed it over to Dave Fusiak who took it apart and said, other then the ancient float it was in surprisingly good shape. Here is what it looks like mounted on my old Harley.

When Dave took it out for a ride he said he was having a tough time getting it timed and running right. He'd think it was fine then it would stall and die. Finally he checked the distributor to find out it was pretty well worn out.

Well Worn 1920s Harley Motorcycle Distributor

Luckily he had a nicely rebuild spare distributor of the right age in his shop. Didn't take long to pull the old one and install the new one, time it up and get it running properly. Dave told me it wears at a few places and needs to be rebushed to get it right. I felt fortunate that Dave had the time, parts and expertise to get it done for me.

Then after we went over a few items on the bike (and had to heat and slightly rebend the kicker arm to clear the muffler and exhaust) I took this photo of Dave with my bike just before he and I went out for a ride around his neighborhood. He on his original paint 1917 Harley J andme on the '24. Must have been quite a sight for the neighbours.

Dave Fusiak and My 1924 Harley Just Before We Rode