the 45 magnum was first developed in the 60's by the late Randy Smith in the states, he saw that the 45 & the sportster were not too far apart in design (as the sportster was developed from the K and that came from the 45) he basicly bored out the cylinder spigot holes on 45 crank cases,welded up the right side behind the tappet blocks to allow the different barrel base stud patern that the sportster has,took the rocker oil feed from the 45 oil pressure switch hole,used XL900 pistons and 45 cams and there you go, a 45 magnum, there are a few more details but that was about all you need to do in the way of ''tricky'' work,he did this to build race motors as they were a hell of a lot lighter than the sportster motor but as powerfull,he would tune them up further and in a high state of tune became a tad fragile at high revs,he blew one up by over reving it racing,in a soft or detuned state they can be reliable powerfull and fun,Randy built 13 of them and recently Willy G chose the original one to go into the Harley museum at the factory,praise or what. I think that they are about the best looking Harley motor that Harley never made, but i would say that as i have just spent the last two years building one,and when i figure out how to post pic's here will.
10-10-2009, 12:49 AM
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