Frame Number plate

seattle##gs · Mar 26, 2021

last time I installed a new frame number plate I sent it to OB or Fair Spares. Now I need to put numbers on a BRAND NEW FRAME. New number plates are available but I read here that he plates are different from year to year. How so? I want to get the tools and stamp the plate myself

kommando · Mar 26, 2021

seattle##gs said:
but I read here that he plates are different from year to year. How so?

Because the wording was changed to suit the Federal requirements as they changed. Go to the Andover Norton site and select the year of bike and look at the plate listed for that year.

gortnipper · Mar 26, 2021

Also some info here

Frame Plate Orientation Survey

I didn’t want to hijack Knucles thread so am starting a new one. I am interested to know if there is any pattern in the orientation of the frame plate and the year of manufacture. So, which way is yours positioned, readable from the primary side or the timing side? I will correlate the results...

www.accessnorton.com

gortnipper · Mar 26, 2021

seattle##gs said:
last time I installed a new frame number plate I sent it to OB or Fair Spares. Now I need to put numbers on a BRAND NEW FRAME. New number plates are available but I read here that he plates are different from year to year. How so? I want to get the tools and stamp the plate myself

Fred may still stamp it for you. Or, he might sell you the tools and whatever plates he may have.

ILLF8ED · Mar 26, 2021

This is the original from my ‘72 although it is the ‘71 type. My machine was actually built in Dec ‘71 so may be the reason.

joe czech · Mar 27, 2021

seattle##gs said:
last time I installed a new frame number plate I sent it to OB or Fair Spares. Now I need to put numbers on a BRAND NEW FRAME. New number plates are available but I read here that he plates are different from year to year. How so? I want to get the tools and stamp the plate myself

FWIW - a friend of mine just finished a 73 commando. got a new plate from AN, and found the alpha-numeric stamping kit from harbor freight was very close to his original stampings. if you're not worried about the rivet counters and a reasonable facsimile works, this may be an option. just saying....

Carl H · Mar 27, 2021

It's hard to reproduce one as as you can see they used different stamp sizes and different methods . My Combat has a date on it that is totally out of the box and the info is stamped in backwards, Like they stamped it on a fully assembled bike when it was ready to be crated and shipped out. So if you have the OEM tag at least you have an idea of what it looked like to go by. But any one who knew better could spot it in a heart beat. In the old days Harleys were regularly caught and returned to the real owner, when the engine numbers were found to be altered.

lazyeye6 · Mar 27, 2021

seattle##gs said:
last time I installed a new frame number plate I sent it to OB or Fair Spares. Now I need to put numbers on a BRAND NEW FRAME. New number plates are available but I read here that he plates are different from year to year. How so? I want to get the tools and stamp the plate myself

Practice stamping quite a bit before working on a new plate. It's not that easy to do a quality job.
Before installation, roll the plate to the curvature of the headstock. If you don't it will look very amateurish.

seattle##gs · Mar 27, 2021

The original frame was in an accident so the owner bought a brand new one. There's no question about it's origin. I will buy the HF set and practice before going to the new plate.

joe czech · Mar 27, 2021

seattle##gs said:
The original frame was in an accident so the owner bought a brand new one. There's no question about it's origin. I will buy the HF set and practice before going to the new plate.

went riding with my friend with the 73. ask him, on a scale of 1 to 10, how close the HF set was to his original stampings. he indicated a 8 to 9, and noted that everything was fairly accurate , but the number 2 was slightly different. as i said, the rivet counters may catch the discrepancy, but i doubt anyone else will.

Frame Number plate

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